This letter to the editor was submitted to The Sun from Mt. Laurel resident Dave Lipshutz:
It’s amusing that Mt. Laurel Republicans frame any opposition to the Republicans’ desperate attempt to get their party name off the 2020 ballot through an ordinance as “partisan” and “opposing letting the people have the opportunity to vote on the matter.”
There’s nothing more “partisan” than the Republicans having 5-0 Township Council majorities for the last 20 years.
There’s nothing more “partisan” than keeping the “Republican” and “Democratic” tags on council candidates’ names for those twenty years while the going was good for Republicans- but suddenly, wanting to ditch the labels after the Democrats win two seats and a fool like Trump sits atop the Republican ticket on the next ballot (I mean, how naive do they think we are?).
There’s nothing more “partisan” than trying to join the only other three towns in Burlington County to hold “nonpartisan” township elections– Bass River, Bordentown City, and Medford Lakes– when those towns’ average voter turnout has been a pathetic 23.7 percent in council elections during the last decade. Mt. Laurel’s has been 74% during presidential election years.
There’s nothing more “partisan” than claiming that “local” issues aren’t “partisan”. At the May 20 council meeting, Mayor Kurt Folcher stated that “my job is to maximize property values.”
That’s pure Republicanism. Democrats prioritize other issues. Party affiliation does influence governing, even at the local level.
Finally, there’s nothing more “partisan” than Republican Deputy Mayor Linda Bobo insulting, in a meeting before the public, her two Democratic colleagues on the council as lazy – while at the same time arguing for a “nonpartisan” ballot.
Any irony there?
Republicans should stop trying to suddenly hide their party name through an obvious ploy.
If they’re proud of their party and their president, they should affix the R-word for the voters to see.
That’s truly “letting the people have the opportunity to vote on the matter.”
Dave Lipshutz
