Lori:
As a person, I think you’re pretty terrific! Friendly, warm, personable, smart, neighborly, very intelligent, and always willing to help someone. I admire all of these qualities together with our friendship and joint understanding that politically we don’t share a lot of the same resolutions to the same problems.
But as an old lady who has been around politics, Highlands and Atlantic Highlands for a few decades, and has seen lots of politicians come and go through the years, let me give you a little advice….as a friend.
Councilwoman: You can’t have it both ways!
And….too much to hope for from any politician….be honest with everyone, no matter what happens to you!
By way of background, because comparatively speaking, you haven’t been around here very long, I’ve never been a politician…
I served on the Highlands School Board at a time when nobody else wanted to.
My husband was a Highlands Councilman at a different time when parties agreed or disagreed, but friendships never wavered….ah, the good old days.
But listening to the recordings of the Atlantic Highlands Council meeting when YOU MADE THE MOTION TO APPROVE THE REGIONALIZATION QUESTION that is taking away funds from Highlands then listening to the Highlands Council meeting you attended when you tearfully, choking back more tears … said you were “Heartbroken” and sorry some people feel “They’ve had a fast one pulled” was just too much for me to overlook.
Lori, as that nice, friendly person, why didn’t you tell the Highlands folks you not only made the motion, but you went so far as to correct typos in it that wouldn’t have made a whit of difference either way?
Why didn’t you tell them that while those 3 insignificant typos (which would have been cleaned up anyway) were so important to be noticed, but when it came to the cannabis issue in your own town last month, you not only overlooked but proceeded to approve the minutes where you overlooked an all-important fact about its introduction? As well as a few other things, all of which forced that ordinance to be postponed and cost the taxpayers even more wasted money?
You told the Highlands folks “we’re working on our relationship….” Kinda like a marriage….” But why didn’t you tell them you and the rest of your council or at least the folks you hired said the NEW Resolution you voted on that would take funds from Highlands was already agreed upon by Highlands?
You know full well that wasn’t so, and how could it be? You only voted on those changes and got the news to Highlands after you had done it a couple of hours before their meeting.
Why didn’t you tell them you introduced and voted to pass a resolution YOU said Highlands already agreed to, knowing that was a lie.
That seems like a lie, Lori, yes, even more than a political misstatement.
Another little hint for you here. As a widow who was deliriously happy as a wife for 51 years and four days, the way you’re working on a relationship with Highlands is certainly not “kinda like a marriage.” Happily married couples do not lie to each other. But perhaps honesty isn’t necessary in some marriages, I don’t know.
You said you came to the Highlands Council meeting so you could “Look you in the eye” and tell the Highlands folks “how deeply I care.” And do you know what? Those nice Highlands people applauded you for being there, talking, choking back tears, and telling parts of your story but never the whole truth.
And that, Councilwoman, seems cowardly, deceiving, and not the works of a very nice person.
