Taking a Flier?

Being an unaffiliated voter - not registered with either political party - has its advantages. One is that I tend to get election mailers from both parties. Maybe they consider me a swing vote. After all I did vote for Ross Perot - twice!

In the past two weeks I have received four campaign fliers from candidates running for election to the Hillsborough Township Committee - two from Dawson/Foranoce and two from Ferrera/McCauley. The number of mailings was the only thing the two campaigns have in common. The tone and information value of the two sets of campaign pieces couldn't be any more different.

One Ferrera/McCauley piece described their political philosophy and their personal accomplishments, and the other touted specific accomplishments of the township committee over the last several years.

The Dawson/Foranoce literature - one piece on taxes and the other alleging that the Hillsborough Township Committee is controlled by developers - told me nothing about the candidates and nothing about what their plan is for Hillsborough.

I understand that challengers need to attack, but at some point we need to know what their plan is. At this point, it appears that their plan is to do everything, make every decision, just the opposite of how the current township committee has done things.

Right now Hillsborough is in great financial shape (while the state and nation collapse all around us), we have controlled spending and reduced costs (spending less per person than Bridgewater. Montgomery, or Franklin), and we are a leader in quality of life issues (including open space, recreation, and railroad quiet zones).

Do you really think Hillsborough would excel in all of these areas if every decision had been made "just the opposite"? Of course not.

My mailbox is still open for business, and I'll be checking every day for new fliers. Keep 'em coming!