Today's letters: in defense of Hamilton Mayor Kelly Yaede & when Nov. 3 rolls around, make your vote count
There's an overused phrase that goes "There they go again" but it's amazing how it fits. A letter from Peter Dabbene, Yaede Administration is like Masters of Spin-Jitsu is a perfect example. First, however, Mr. Dabbene, in the interest of full disclosure, should identify himself as the spouse of the Democratic Mayoral candidate. Also, it should be noted that Mr. Dabbene writes a column for a local monthly newspaper. Someone with that background should know that the Health Officer is part of the Administration and would speak with the blessing of the Mayor. Yet Mr. Dabbene indicates that the Mayor fought to oppose the ordinance raising fines for restaurants that fail inspections. That ordinance was approved by Mayor Yaede before it went to Council as most ordinances are! Yes, Council had a few issues but passed it after tweaking some of the content.
Mr. Dabbene also criticizes a letter from Mayor Yaede requesting support, anticipating Democratic negative attacks yet the scurrilous and disingenuous nature of his letter is a perfect example of what Mayor Yaede mentions. Local democrats have done it before and will try it again. Keep Hamilton moving in the right direction by rejecting this type of campaign.
Martin Flynn
Hamilton
Many people in Princeton do not realize that their representatives in the New Jersey Senate and Assembly are all Republicans. Yes! It's true. If you don't believe me go to:
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/districts/districtnumbers.asp#16.
How did this happen? As a result of the 2010 national census, New Jersey State Legislative Districts were redrawn. Princeton was transferred from State Legislative District 15--represented by three Democrats--to State Legislative District 16, represented by three Republicans, one of them endorsed by the Tea Party. All of them have voted to back Gov. Chris Christie's initiatives to roll back environmental advances, decimate funding for women's health care and divert money intended for transportation infrastructure (including turning down $3 billion from the federal government to build a second train tunnel from New Jersey to New York), while blaming teachers for everything that is wrong with the state.
We have two excellent Democratic candidates running this year for the New Jersey State Assembly: Andrew Zwicker, a scientist and educator, and Maureen Vella, an attorney who gave up a judgeship in order to run. Check them out at: http://www.zwickervella.com.
Your vote will be crucial on November 3, 2015. Better yet, don't wait until November 3 to vote. You can get an application for a mail-in ballot that you can fill out ahead of time so you don't need to worry about getting to the polls. You can request a vote-by-mail application from the Mercer County Clerk, http://nj.gov/counties/mercer/officials/clerk/elections/index.html.
Make your vote count!
Scotia W. MacRae
Princeton
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