Resident Wants Non-Partisan Elections, an End to Ward Representation

Now that the election results are in and all the republican incumbents were re-elected I read Mayor Chris Vergano's victory remarks you printed where he says “we must be doing something right” in order to have been re-elected by the majority.

May I remind the mayor, council, editor, and you the readers, that only about one third of Wayne's 35,661 registered voters actually voted. And while the incumbents can claim 60 percent of the close to 13,000 votes cast, 2/3rd's of the remaining voters did not express their preference besides deciding to sit this one out.

This, mind you, as a seething contempt for the status quo was expressed from both sides of the political aisle when it came to council decisions that resulted in several adverse rulings, and the Townships failed appeals in the Victor Alfieri, Rob Burke, and Milky Way School matters that cost the tax payers hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of dollars per occurrence in unnecessary litigation.

And then there was the 11th hour dust up over mixed use development, to say nothing of the highly relevant and eye-popping tax graphic presented by the Democratic contenders that clearly demonstrate the runaway councils record in failing to reign in taxes and the dearth of business leaving Wayne Township.

In my opinion what Wayne Township needs to reconsider is how it is governed and how elections are conducted and to that end, I call for two years of non-partisan elections, as well as the dissolution of the antiquated ward system, and doing away with serial appointments to unfinished terms by calling for a special election to fill vacated elected office, and that Wayne introduces term limits as well as campaign donation limits by both individuals and corporations to $100 dollars per election cycle.

So as the mayor and council members do their high flying victory roll, they would do well to keep their eyes on the real horizon and not the artificial one they have created for themselves in their cockpit, because their status quo of doing things as they have always been done, are being done and will continue to be done this crowd seems determined to cling on to will simply not comport in an ever changing world.

And as they do the 2/3rd's that did not vote will be left to decide what to do really do about it next time around.

Stewart Resmer

Wayne, NJ