Other than some signs around and from door to door visits I’m hearing about…certainly no one has come to my door…it seems to be a quiet election campaign in Atlantic Highlands and that makes me wonder.
From Facebook, which I suppose is the newest “newspaper”, I learned about the experience of the two incumbent council candidates, the committees on which they serve, the work they’ve done on these committees and their background. I was particularly interested because it looks like those candidates were not allowed on some pages, and that makes me curious.
Happens to me all the time, so indeed, I can sympathize.
Folks that manage Facebook pages have control over who can be on them and who can’t, and it’s a shame when they use that authority to prevent people from reading everybody. If folks are being banned, Atlantic Highlands should never be in their title because it’s hard to differentiate whether it’s an official or unofficial page. Not very transparent.
But through some things I’ve seen and personal knowledge from their years of being in the public eye, I know one candidate is a Naval Academy graduate, and of course, with my having a daughter who is also a Naval officer, and two other offspring who were Marines, one flying 46’s, similar to helicopters the Academy grad military Officer deployed, I know what his training and background are and can appreciate how they have been instilled in him. I know he’s been in the chemical business and even owned a very successful cannabis business, but has not muddied the waters on what he thinks of a shop in his own home town until he hears from the people. I know he belonged to some group working hard on cleaning buses of all those sickening fumes because of his dedication to the environment, and seeing him at meetings he strikes me as a thinking, quiet man who listens to the people before giving any opinions.
I know his running mate, the other incumbent, has a long career in both finance and business, from Wall Street to real estate as well as being heavily involved with new construction. From personal experience, I certainly know he’s chairman of the County Library Commission and oversees the $18 million business in its 17 buildings and affiliate libraries. I’ve seen his actions and activities on this Board which heads up what must be the best library system in the state. I also know he’s been involved with the Education Foundation and is big on saving the beauty of the ocean. From being a neighbor for a while, I know he is very involved dad with his son and even clears snow from neighbors porches, stairs and sidewalks. I see them both at meetings, and agree or disagree, as I often do, they know their jobs and do what they have to do.
But I haven’t seen anything about their opponents, though I have heard about them. And from what I’ve heard, it doesn’t sound like the transparency issue that both sides always talk about, has been completely thorough or in depth.
But some of it I know from covering meetings and events for other newspapers through the years. I certainly know the Eastern Monmouth Area Chamber of Commerce from years past. And I know it was, at the time I was aware of it, a dynamic organization that involved so many businesses and offered so much help and events and meetings to keep them all successful. I know it’s a thriving and wonderful organization right now and I continue to hear wonderful things about their events, their camaraderie, their successful plans for the future.
But sometime in between the time I was covering meetings and events, and the present successful era of the Chamber, there was a time a woman was heading the Chamber. From what I understand it went down the tubes, was insolvent. Chamber members borrowed money to save it before it was gone completely.
Now I’m hearing that the head of that group at the time it was failing is a candidate for Council in Atlantic Highlands. I question the veracity of that. The Chamber was successful, it suddenly went downhill, almost disappeared, and besides all that, some tax returns were never filed! And that’s a candidate for council in Atlantic Highlands? I heard after all this happened, the head of the Chamber was ousted, that she was going to sue if she didn’t get her insurance benefits…but that didn’t happen, it seems, because her contract spelled out what was hers upon termination…and insurance benefits were not listed. And now she is running for election in the borough.
Could any or all of this be true? IF so, why wasn’t information about it part of the transparency people are always asking for.
I don’t know the council candidate running for office in the borough for the first time. Nor do I know her partner. To the best of my knowledge, I never met either one of them. I do know I have not seen anything about their campaign on Facebook, but then I don’t visit Facebook very much. I also know they have never knocked on my door nor dropped off any literature for me to get to know them. I don’t recall either hearing their names as members of any committees or commissions, or organizations that assist others in town. They might well be there; it’s just that I don’t know them or what they do.
But if it’s true one of the two candidates really was head of a great group when it went under, oversaw or at least was head of the group when tax returns were not filed, and now wants to be on the council that runs my town, I truly wonder.
