It is with much enthusiasm and hope for the future that I write to provide my wholehearted endorsement of Dan Buck and Tom Booth for Voorhees Township Committee this year. I am both enthusiastic and hopeful because our town finally has a real opportunity to choose a new, prosperous direction for Voorhees Township and away from the unchecked power of the destructive one party monopoly that has ruled our town for more than a decade. Both Dan and Tom are long time Voorhees residents who have chosen to raise their young families here and have remained in town despite backbreaking taxes in the hopes that they will soon see change. Buck, Booth and their wives have all been active members in every facet of their communities since they have been in Voorhees, doing everything from coaching youth sports teams to supporting their children’s schools in the form of leadership in the Parent Teacher Associations, to serving in their local churches and in the Knights of Columbus to name a few. In addition to serving as the past President and current Vice President of the Sturbridge Lakes Association, Booth also continues to serve our country as an active member of the United States Armed Forces. Lastly, but certainly not least, both Buck and Booth have exhibited the business acumen that our current majority lacks by efficiently and responsibly managing budgets and making difficult financial decisions in connection with their successful small businesses (headquartered right here in Voorhees) where Buck has built two companies which buy, renovate, sell and manage real estate and Tom has his own successful law practice.
When I had the honor of being the first new member elected to Committee in nearly a decade two years ago, our residents were sending a message to the business as usual Committee. That message was a desire for checks and balances in local government, a desire for innovative new ideas in government, increased transparency/accountability in government, and ultimately a respect for their tax dollars which they had not seen previously.
Since I’ve come aboard, I am happy to say Voorhees has made some terrific strides in the above areas. However, because I have been blocked at so many turns by the “politics as usual/business as usual” majority, Voorhees will not see major, impactful change until Tom and Dan join me on Committee and we can finally set a new course for our great town. What are the priorities of that new course you ask? Well, here they are in short, as opposed to the mere rhetoric from the incumbents:
Dan, Tom and I will immediately pass an Ordinance outlawing the disgraceful policy of the majority where quarter-time elected officials have been permitted to take taxpayer funded health benefits to the tune of $24,000 a year. Mario DiNatale has forced you to pay for his benefits since 2003 when he was elected costing the township nearly $200,000 in tax payer money during that time. . DiNatale also has the disdainful habit of submitting receipts to obtain additional expense reimbursements when he already receives a taxpayer funded expense stipend to cover same.
First in the form of pushing the Fair School Funding plan which I brought to the forefront in Voorhees last year and which if enacted, would bring four times as much school aid to Voorhees public schools having an immediate net positive impact on our schools and our tax bill. DiNatale’s party fought against it in 2011 while I fought for it.
Attract Corporate sponsors to defray the costs of improvements to township fields, parks, and other properties
Attract new business ratables through innovative measures such as easing and streamlining the process which businesses go through to establish themselves in town. We are lucky that on their own volition, Virtua Hospital and PREIT came to Voorhees (despite Mr. DiNatale’s undeserved claim of credit for both ventures), but outside of that, tens of millions of dollars in business ratables have left the town
And DiNatale and the majority have failed to act proactively in any way to attract new business ratable.
Actively pursue additional shared services. DiNatale has improperly taken full credit in political ads for obtaining shared service agreements when in reality it is Voorhees Administrator Larry Spellman who has sought out and closed every shared service agreement the township has. Additionally, the jury is still very much out on whether DiNatale’s oft championed move from Voorhees local emergency dispatch to county dispatch has in actually made our township less safe and less able to respond to emergencies.
Administrative Spending alone has exploded since Mr. DiNatale was elected seeing a 91.4% increase since 2003(1.61 million in 2003 and 3.08 million 2012)(Source: Voorhees Twp. Budget). Yet somehow, Mr. DiNatale touts over and over again his hand in a reduction of operational costs mainly due to “attrition”. So Mr. DiNatale’s main budgeting strategy apparently is to watch people retire? This is irresponsible and we will bring back common sense, fiscally responsible zero-based budgeting to properly manage your money.
We will eliminate the majority’s rampant use of the political “pay to play” system in choosing township contractors. Over the last four years the Mr. DiNatale and his friends have collected over $104,000 from current overpriced township professionals that we know about. Some of it is not reportable and this number is probably much higher.
As opposed to simply giving lucrative township jobs and contracts to political contributors, Buck, Booth and I will use “best and lowest” contracting and choose the professional best suited for the township, not the one who donates the most to a campaign.
If DiNatale and his friends had done this we would have saved over one hundred thousand dollars this year alone.
On this note, we will also eliminate overpriced political contributor township lawyers who bill by the hour and replace them with attorneys who will provide the same or better service for a flat fee. Other towns such as Haddonfield and Berlin already do this and Voorhees would save hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Buck, Booth and I will be at the forefront to protect Voorhees schools. Last year, I pushed the resolution supporting legislation which would allow the voters to decide whether or not they wanted charter schools in Voorhees and which would establish accountability in such schools.
DiNatale and his running mate were nowhere to be found during this important fight.
We will continue the Citizen’s Budget Panel which I started last year to reach out for citizen input on the budget, an idea that was strangely fought by DiNatale’s party last year. Add a virtual suggestion box on the website, an actual suggestion box in Town Hall, and take the township committee meetings on the road to the different local schools and bring the meetings to the voters to get them more involved. DiNatale and his party have shown no effort in reaching out to get the residents of Voorhees more involved in their local government.
These are just some of the innovative new ideas that will be brought to the table following a Buck and Booth election day victory. However, if you are happy with skyrocketing taxes (up another 5.92 percent this year!!), stale ideas and a one party unchecked machine running Voorhees , then DiNatale and his running mate are certainly the candidates for you.
But if you think we can do better, if you feel that your government should think outside the box to solve problems and if you think our great town needs new blood to lead Voorhees on a new path, then I urge you to vote for Dan Buck and Tom Booth on Nov. 6
-Michael Friedman