Kim Turner - Lead Sara Chobert - Supporting Lawrence Town

Kim Turner - Lead Sara Chobert - Supporting Lawrence Town Council Democrats in Lawrence take both council seats LAWRENCE, N.J. — After reigning for 16 years, former Lawrence Councilman Rick Miller, 46, was unseated Tuesday as Democratic Councilman Greg Puliti, 51, out-polled his opponent in the election results. In the final vote tally by Lawrence Township, Miller and running mate Ginny Bigley received 8,512 votes — not enough to counter Puliti and running mate James Kownacki’s 9,827 votes. Miller, a life-long Lawrence resident, said that even though that their campaign was issue-based and factual, there were circumstances — such as voter registration in Lawrence and the incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine’s campaign targeting the town with paid street workers — that could not be overcome. “Republicans were outnumbered by Democrats by a two to one margin,” Miller said. “It is like running a 100-yard dash with your opponent starting on the 50-yard line; no matter how hard you run, it’s hard to make up the distance.” Puliti, also a life-long Lawrence resident, and Kownacki, a resident of South Lawrence, believed there were other factors that created their victorious results. “We knocked on doors weeknights and weekends since the middle of August whenever we could,” Puliti said. “We kept statistics and one in 3.5 households were home when we knocked and one out of every 15 households was a positive guaranteed vote.”

Miller and Bigley, a school board member of Lawrence Township, focused their campaign on fiscal responsibility, openness in the government and a common sense approach. Countering that, Puliti and Kownacki based their campaign on what they deemed to be community concerns. “There were no issues per se. My running mate and I chose taxes and ethics,” Puliti said. For the Miller/ Bigley campaign, being fiscally responsible was important because it would be essential in order to cut the spending of residents’ tax dollars, as Miller had done in the past. “The year I served as mayor, our tax rate for municipal purposes was $0.43. Since the current majority took control the following year, the tax rate has jumped by more than 65 percent,” Miller said. “This tax and spend approach to local government has got to stop.” Bigley, a founding chairperson of the Community Relations Committee, added that even though the cost has been rising in mandate spending categories, tough decisions would need to be made to keep the budget flat. “My hope is that Lawrence remains an affordable place where young people can afford to raise their families and where our senior citizens can continue to enjoy the community they helped build,” Bigley said. “It’s time to bring fiscal responsibility and accountability back to our local government.” According to Miller, a plan was also proposed to attract new businesses to the Lawrence community to keep its vibrant appeal.

“The days of sitting back and waiting for new businesses to come to Lawrence are over,” Miller said. “We have to be much more aggressive in attracting new businesses to our community. New businesses create jobs and help keep our tax rate down.” For Puliti and Kownacki, saving tax payers money was important to them as well. However, Puliti took a different view on how to reduce costs — change the current waste collection system. “I am always trying to find new and better ways to save residents money and provide better services,” Puliti said. “This new system will build on the costsaving measures we implemented in 2001.” Puliti proposed the township shift to an “in-house” collection process, rather than hiring a private contractor to do the bidding. Additionally, he proposed saving money by establishing a shared service with neighboring towns. “We must look for ways to reduce costs in order to provide the taxpayers with savings; exploring these new partnerships only makes sense,” said Puliti. “By working to cut costs without sacrificing services, the residents will see results in their tax bill.” The Republican candidates felt openness to government was an important issue for the community of Lawrence. “Local government is closest to the people. It should also be the most open in all its dealings,” Miller said. “The current majority took control of the town council in 1995. It has been growing less and less transparent about the way it does things ever since.”

Miller saw that transparency cloud with the failure of the council to agree on a procedure to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of former Mayor Mark Holmes last year. The Democrats wanted to interview the possible replacements behind closed doors for only 15 minutes each. “I called for an open process, with interviews conducted in public, so the people could hear from the candidates firsthand,” said Miller. Bigley added that openness of an appointment is the process of the school board, and should be the process everywhere. “I was shocked that the current majority fought Rick on what seemed to be a simple request for an open process,” said Bigley. Puliti and Kownacki responded to this issue in the campaign by agreeing Lawrence Township needs openness in government. They stated that the best way to do this is to establish an Ethics Advisory Committee, a committee that would provide every elected township official with adequate ethics training. “This committee would ensure that all our officials keep up with changes to the laws and would serve as an advisory board should any questions arise,” Puliti said. “This is just one more step to make our government more open and honest.” The last issue for the Miller/Bigley campaign was a common sense approach to government. This past summer Miller, with council colleague Republican Bob Bostock, negotiated with the trustees of the Lawrence Township First Aid Squad to turn over their headquarters to the town for $1.00, to house the new 24/7 township Emergency Medical Service. This full-time EMS service

was created so that no one in Lawrence Township would ever have to worry about whether they could afford an ambulance when they needed one. However, to Bigley’s disbelief, when the deal was presented to the council, they objected to it. “Didn’t these people understand they were being given, for just a dollar, a building it would cost as much as $750,000 to build new?” Bigley said. According to a local paper at the time of the proposal, the reason for objecting was additional demands of adding two extra vacant lots to the proposal and if the volunteer squad was going to change its name or disband. “They could have jeopardized the entire deal,” Miller said. However, the results boiled down to a Republican defeat on Tuesday. Miller, Bigley, Puliti and Kownacki anxiously awaited the results. Through the red, white and blue balloon decorations, each pair was informed that the votes were in the Democrats’ favor. Puliti and Kownacki rejoiced, as the Democrats now hold five seats out of the six on the council. “I am proud of my service to Lawrence and I can hold my head up high,” said Miller after the results came in. “I wish Councilman Bob Bostock [the only remaining Republican] all the best, as he will fill a role that I had for six years.”