Letter writer Brian Lestini writes about the “lack of transparency” in Pinelands Commission appointment.
On Dec. 13, I attended the Burlington County Freeholder’s meeting, during which Sean Earlen was re-appointed to the Pinelands Commission. As in 2014, it was abundantly clear that this Freeholders board had no intention of following a transparent process in nominating the next Pinelands Commissioner. Instead, they chose to repeat history by selecting a nominee behind closed doors, with no opportunity for public input or scrutiny of the candidates.
Put aside for a moment that Commissioner Earlen arguably violated the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP) by voting for the Southern Reliability Link (SRL) pipeline. Ignore the political theater of Freeholder Gibbs’ partisan and biased disparaging of the Pinelands Commission’s important work to uphold the CMP while lavishing praise on Mr. Earlen. The much bigger issue is that, once a government has eroded the public trust on one issue by denying citizens the courtesy and right to information, that trust is broken on every issue. What will be the next time your rights are denied? What issue will be decided in secrecy that directly impacts you?
While it’s clear that the lesson of transparency has still not been learned by this Freeholders board, there is another, more recent, history lesson that is also being ignored. A month ago, the voters of Burlington County sent a clear message that the current means of governing, with inadequate transparency and accountability, needs to change. The completely opaque process followed in re-appointing Mr. Earlen indicates that even more change is required during next year’s Freeholder election. This seems to be the only means to hold them accountable and ensure that the message is adequately heard and addressed.
Brian Lestini
