God’s speed Officer Auricchio

This brave, decorated war veteran and serving police officer is a victim of ignorant and, most likely, drunken thugs. Fortunately, he will soon be back with his family and back at his job; protecting Woodbridge residents. When he does come home, let’s hope he doesn’t get attacked by “politicians” looking for photo-ops!
http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20120105/NJNEWS/301050038/Woodbridge-cop-recovering-from-attack-by-Flyers-fans?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Will Woodbridge Township Elect a Mayor on November 8 or will it Affirm a Caesar?

How ironic that after working for three governors, it was Jon Corzine (of all people) who showed John McCormac the door at the NJ Statehouse back in 1996; thus giving rise to McCormac’s mayoral aspirations. As bad as Corzine’s financial practices appear to be, ala the latest news coverage about his stewardship at MF Global Holdings, Corzine found he could do without the further services of NJ Treasurer, John McCormac.

Mac doesn’t have much to say about his tenure in Trenton these days, especially his artful handling of the bonds. In fact, he usually deflects any questions on the whole debacle by saying something like, I don’t recall that! Well Mac, the taxpayers and state pensioners will be recalling your artful bond strategies for many years to come.

Of course, Mac took some of his loyal followers in Trenton back with him to Woodbridge, where people like his Chief of Staff/ Director of Redevelopment and his Communication Director found well paid position in the McCormac Administration.

So what memorable achievements has John McCormac done for Woodbridge Township during his time as mayor? Consider this:

1. Eliminated the positions of Police Chief and Assistant Chief of Police, and replaced them with retired police officers, who now get a nice pension, plus sizable paychecks for their current positions. Other key positions in the township have been, or may likely be, filed in a similar manner. Don’t all Emperor’s select and control their Praetorian Guard?

2. Shutdown St. John’s First Aid Squad because, according to some, the squad wouldn’t merge with Woodbridge Township Ambulance and Rescue Service WTARS). Reportedly, WTARS has a close relationship with John McCormac, who, in turn, has close financial contacts with financial institutions like NW Financial and Allegiance Bank. Doesn’t WARTS gets substantial financial assistance from the township, which they may well need to stay in service?

3. McCormac tried to destroy the self-sustaining Avenel Colonia First Aid Squad (ACFAS) with overblown allegation of criminal activity and personal improprieties. That didn’t work out to well for McCormac, as the squad was brought back into service by the voters. McCormac is still using taxpayer money to defend himself from a lawsuit by a former squad member. A lawsuit, by the way, McCormac apparently continues to stall until after the election. What does that say about a mayor who claims to be truly concerned about citizen’s rights? Maybe, McCormac doesn’t feel, justice delayed is justice denied, when a lawsuit is against him! And let’s not forget, McCormac has diverted a honorable and experienced police officer/fire inspector (Approx. $120,000.00 and $25,000.00, respectively, by position, plus pensions, a police car and a fire inspectors car) to act as the Operation Manager at ACFAS. The township taxpayers receive no reimbursement from the private, not for profit squad. Now that’s a Super MacDeal!

4. The Colonia Country Club was an absolute win for the owners of the Club. McCormac’s grand scheme to own the club and run it was far from a win. However, the residents of Middlesex County and Woodbridge Township did win by acquiring the development rights to the club’s property. The property, certainly to the delight of McCormac’s neighbors in Colonia, shall remain open space.

5. Speaking of McCormac’s neighborhood, he did get them a $500,000.00 skateboard park, next to a senior’s center. Of course that skateboard park took precedence over other important community issues, like the cleanup of the South Branch of the Rahway River (Sucker Brook). Then too, there are the monies McCormac could have used to saved residents thousands of dollars for surveys necessitated by FEMA redefining flood zones in the township. Unfortunately, for those residents in the flood zones, photo-ops of skateboard parks seem to be a higher priority in McCormacville.

6. Residents in the non-Colonia areas of Woodbridge Township are not being forgotten. Fords will soon have a $500,000.00 miniature golf course atop a capped landfill, a WAWA, a no fills super market and a nice, big, new housing project near Fords park. Decedents of Keasbey residents may one day enjoy a waterfront park along the Raritan River. And for those along the Woodbridge River, the new Evergreen housing construction in Avenel is removing part of those pesty wetlands which contribute to your flooding woes, and those of your neighbors in areas of Port Reading. While helping you, Mac is promoting construction jobs and providing economical enhancement for his developer supporters. Sewaren and Port Reading, someday, maybe, you will get a nice marina and dog park, if the grants for improving your area are not diverted to Colonia or elsewhere.

7. Our schools, which have the greatest impact on taxes and property values are aging and not doing too well according to the latest ASK test scores. With all the influence McCormac has on the BOE and the Superintendent’s Office, why aren’t property taxes lower and scores higher? If you think the Woodbridge School District is politically neutral, think again. John Crowe, the Superintendent of Woodbridge Schools endorsed McCormac in Sunday’s Star-Ledger.

The list of McCormac notables could go on, but to what avail. As long as Woodbridge enjoys having a Caesar that controls almost all things Woodbridge, including jobs and appointed positions, why change the Administration or the Town Council (Caesar’s Senate, if you will) that support it? Apparently, Woodbridge loves having closed stores, warehouses, declining schools, increasing unemployment and more spending and taxing by its Emperor. Don’t believe me, well just wait to see the November 8 election results. McCormac believes the township can afford him and he demands another four years to prove it. But maybe, just maybe, the voters will say they no longer want to be bonded, indentured servants of the McCormac administration and they will take back their community.

God Bless America!

A Snowjob?

see: http://www.mycentraljersey.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=PluckPersona&U=322800f60687437299e53f05d5ffb054&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckUserId=322800f60687437299e53f05d5ffb054&plckPostId=Blog%3a322800f60687437299e53f05d5ffb054Post%3a75c4fabd-796f-4db5-925a-9d46c8a76952&plckBlogItemsPerPage=5

Can the Rifts in the Republican Party Heal in Time for the November Election?

Only weeks from the general election, the fighting factions of the Woodbridge Republican party look like they may be putting aside their differences in time for Nov. 8.

By Deborah Bell
Email the author
October 11, 2011

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Photos (5)
The Boros fundraiser at Woodbridge Bowling Center.
Councilman Bob Luban at the Boros event.
Sue Boros (center) meets her supporters.
Republican mayor candidate Chris Struben and Council at-large candidate Sue Boros pose for a picture.
Republican councilman Bob Luban (left), and Republican mayoral contender Chris Struben join forces for the November election in Woodbridge.
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With less than a month to go before Woodbridge municipal election, the Republican candidates have been quietly working the phones and ringing doorbells.

The effort hides the fact that the politicking has been going on in two equal but separate Republican camps. The animosity in the Woodbridge Republican party is borne from the June primary, when mayoral candidate Chris Struben and his slate beat out Republican councilman Bob Luban and his team in an upset, still hasn’t evaporated.

There may have been some progress, though, in the unification of the disparate party factions in time for the Nov. 8 general election.

Sue Boros, the one council-at-large candidate from the Luban ticket who won in the primary, has been running separately from the Struben team. At local events which politicians traditionally use to establish a presence with the public, the Struben slate has set up their tables, while Boros has been doing the politicking for her campaign by herself.

Boros held a fundraiser Monday night at the Woodbridge Bowling Center. She expected supporters, part of what she calls ”a truly grassroots effort”, to show up and lend support.

They appeared, and so, surprisingly, did Chris Struben.

It was, to anyone’s recollection, one of the few times Struben and Boros had appeared together in public since the primary.

Struben is running against incumbent Democrat John McCormac for the mayor’s seat. Republican council at-large candidates Eduardo Ascolese, Walter Kaczmarek, Jr., and Debra Reinhart who ran with Struben are running on the regular Republican line for election, as is Sue Boros, the only candidate from the Luban team to win in the June primary.

They are pitted against Democratic incumbent council members James Carroll, Gregg Ficarra, and Brenda Yori Velasco. Kyle Anderson, another Democrat who was appointed to his at-large seat, is also running for a first time election.

In the Third Ward, Michele Charmello, who was appointed to her seat by McCormac to fill the term left by a resignation, is running for election to the seat she holds. On the Republican side, Pradip ”Peter” Kothari is aiming at the Third Ward council slot.

Whether it was a sign of a rapprochement between the feuding factions of the local Republican party, though, was unclear. Struben posed for pictures at the Boros fundraiser with the candidate herself, and in one picture, Luban and Struban appeared to be cordial.

Neither Struben nor Boros, though, were particularly anxious to discuss the ongoing problems with party infighting.

”I wish Sue all the luck in the world as a Republican candidate,” Struben said in an interview.

Boros said that Struben came to the fundraiser, but not at her invitation. ”Struben turned his back on me. He’s made up his signs, they’re out on lawns. My name isn’t on them,” she said.

For his part, Struben said he only cared about getting Republicans elected next month, and letting ”bygones be bygones” over the party’s seeming inability to heal their internal rifts.

”All that matters is that Republicans get elected in the general election. Sue is a Republican I support. I was happy to donate to her campaign,” Struben said. ”I want her, and all Republicans in Woodbridge, to win.”

Boros has held several fundraisers, and keeps her campaign moving along with the help of neighbors and friends. ”We’re cruising along. I have high school kids, we’re going out every weekend. We’re trying to win an election,” she said. ”We’re beyond grass roots in how we’ve drawn people to work on my campaign.”

Luban, the sole Republican on the council, has been helping Boros with her fundraising and campaigning. He was cordial towards Struben.

”We’re all Republicans. We’re all working toward one goal,” Luban said.

Tom Maras, a former Republican ward chairman who recently resigned from the Republican party to become an independent, said he was glad to see the two sides trying to work their differences out.

”I’m glad to see that the factions inside the party are coming together in a more united way to stand against the McCormac regime,” Maras said.

He said he was ”glad to witness the closing of ranks” against the mayor