| Author | Message | ||
     mayhewdrive Citizen Username: Mayhewdrive Post Number: 180 Registered: 5-2001 |
For those of you who did not see the Star Ledger this morning (or the South Orange website), it has now been officially announced that 3 people have filed to oppose the incumbents in the election for Village President & Trustees on May 13th. I think it's great news that there will be a contested race in town and hopefully it will lead to meaningful and productive debate. I am sure everyone will agree that no residents desire to see a repeat of the juvenille and offensive mudslinging done by Theroux & Steglitz 2 years ago. Here's wishing all the candidates good luck. I know that at least 1 incumbent and 1 challenger already posts here online. I hope we will see more online interaction among all the candidates here in our virtual world. | ||
| Brian O'Leary Citizen Username: Brianoleary Post Number: 1125 Registered: 3-2002 |
I must be the challenger who posts  | ||
| mayhewdrive Citizen Username: Mayhewdrive Post Number: 181 Registered: 5-2001 |
Brian, Yup...I was referring to you and your frequent posts here online. I'm very excited to have you in the race & I know that many of my neighbors are equally excited about the prospect of some change in our government. | ||
| Brian O'Leary Citizen Username: Brianoleary Post Number: 1133 Registered: 3-2002 |
Dave says that 1100 posts in a year is a sign of something, but he's not sure whether he is allowed to say it on his own site. | ||
| tototoo Citizen Username: Tototoo Post Number: 123 Registered: 1-2002 |
Mr. O'Leary, you have my vote, count on it! | ||
| Brian O'Leary Citizen Username: Brianoleary Post Number: 1144 Registered: 3-2002 |
Thanks... I am running for village president along with two candidates for trustee, Eric DeVaris and David Lackey, on the "Open South Orange" slate. We'll be working over the next several weeks (the election is May 13) to provide information here and elsewhere about our campaign. If you're interested in helping us out on the campaign, please feel free to call me, Roz Diamond (who is our campaign manager), Eric or David. Many hands make for light work. Thanks. | ||
| Ed May Citizen Username: Edmay Post Number: 1259 Registered: 9-2001  |
Brian Are you running as a Republican or a Democrat or does that not matter in South Orange? Why is the campaign so short? What is your platform? Do you have a website? Ed May | ||
| spw784 Citizen Username: Spw784 Post Number: 307 Registered: 5-2001 |
I'd vote for you too, Mr O'Leary, except I'm not eligible to. | ||
| bobk Supporter Username: Bobk Post Number: 2788 Registered: 5-2001 |
Ed, unlike Maplewood where national party affiliation is the major criteria for election to local government posts, South Orange has non-partisan elections which concentrate on local issues. Non-partisan is a little bit of a misnomer, since the various candidates tend to band together based on their views of local issues. To be honest, I wish Maplewood elections were handled in the same manner. | ||
| Brian O'Leary Citizen Username: Brianoleary Post Number: 1148 Registered: 3-2002 |
Bobk beat me to the punch ... elections in South Orange are non-partisan (that's why the election is scheduled for May 13th rather than in June or November). I am part of a slate of three candidates whose theme is "Open South Orange". I don't think our views are aligned in any consistent fashion with either major party. People who may not be eligible to vote in this election but would like to see our slate given an opportunity can contribute in other ways: time, letters to friends and the newspaper and financial support are all examples. If you are interested, I've provided some contact names above. Thanks. | ||
| campbell29 Citizen Username: Campbell29 Post Number: 20 Registered: 4-2002 |
Brian: Could you please explain "Open South Orange" and how it differs from what we have now? Also, how does one know if they are eligible to vote? Where does one vote? | ||
| snshirsch Citizen Username: Snshirsch Post Number: 19 Registered: 1-2003 |
Brian, I have not heard a thing about your campaign and your thoughts about the village. I hope that you will provide some information regarding you and your campaign. When can we expect to see something? Good Luck | ||
| Brian O'Leary Citizen Username: Brianoleary Post Number: 1151 Registered: 3-2002 |
You're eligible to vote if you live in South Orange and are registered there. I assumed that a fair share of the people reading MOL are living in Maplewood, taking them out of this election. The polling places for the May 13 election are the same as for other elections. The county distributes sample ballots to registered voters a week or two ahead of the election, and the sample ballots tell where to vote. If you're not registered in South Orange, there may be time to do so. I'll look for the information on the cut-off date for registering in time to vote in this election. Thanks for your interest in Open South Orange. To get started, perhaps I could direct you to the campaign web site, www.OpenSouthOrange.com. It is a work in progress, but there is some background on what brings us to this race. | ||
| Brian O'Leary Citizen Username: Brianoleary Post Number: 1153 Registered: 3-2002 |
I missed mentioning before that the web site for Open South Orange includes links at the bottom for voter registration forms (a pdf file) and also to volunteer to work on the campaign. Since posting this morning, I've learned that a voter be registered no later than 29 days before an election, which this year would make April 14 the cutoff for registering to vote in the municipal election. Hope that helps. | ||
| sac Citizen Username: Sac Post Number: 728 Registered: 5-2001 |
I also wish that Maplewood's elections were handled this way. Believe it or not, the big city of Houston, where I lived before coming here, also has non-partisan elections. Now, no one is kidding themselves that many, if not most, candidates are not partisan or that there aren't party influences on non-partisan elections, BUT it takes a lot of that out of the election and promotes focus on local issues. It also seemed to result in many choices of candidates for the offices at times. I don't know if that is a good thing or not (more runoffs), but it did seem to open up the political process more. | ||
| Shelley Stile Citizen Username: Sstile Post Number: 9 Registered: 12-2002 |
I too am excited for the opportunity to effect real change in South Orange. After years of working with the town government, both as part of Main Street and more recently as the founder of SOAR, my experiences, along with a great many others in town, have been highly disapointing to say the least and a fiasco at best. The recent controversy over SOPAC tells us exactl why we need Open South Orange...even with the state legal system behind us, the powers that be continue to block access to what are public records that the State says they must release. As recently as this week, they once again went back on their promise to dweliver the information once and for all. Drawings were shown but no other items requested were there: feasibility studies to see if this conmcept will even work as well as v=consultant's reports that will backup all of SOAR's contentions regarding the poor state of the Arts Center. We desperatly need Opem Government and we will NOT see that with the present Board, with a couple of exceptions. That is why we must all work and vote to create Open South Orange. Should you wish for more details on SOPAC as well as the other issuesd and cncerns that SOAR has uncoverdin the redevelopment process, please go to www.southorangesoar.com we welcome you! Shelley Stile/Chairperson SOAR | ||
| Shelley Stile Citizen Username: Sstile Post Number: 11 Registered: 12-2002 |
I too am excited for the opportunity to effect real change in South Orange. After years of working with the town government, both as part of Main Street and more recently as the founder of SOAR, my experiences, along with a great many others in town, have been highly disapointing to say the least and a fiasco at best. The recent controversy over SOPAC tells us exactly why we need Open South Orange...even with the state legal system behind us, the powers that be continue to block access to what are public records that the State says they must release. As recently as this week, they once again went back on their promise to deliver the information requested once and for all. Drawings were shown but no other items requested were there: no critical feasibility studies to see if this conmcept will even work as well as consultant's reports that will backup all of SOAR's contentions regarding the poor state of the Arts Center. We desperatly need Opem Government and we will NOT see that with the present Board, with a couple of exceptions. That is why we must all work and vote to create Open South Orange. Should you wish for more details on SOPAC as well as the other issuesd and cncerns that SOAR has uncoverded in the redevelopment process, please go to www.southorangesoar.com we welcome you! Shelley Stile/Chairperson SOAR | ||
| Edwin R. Matthews Citizen Username: Edwinrmatthews Post Number: 1 Registered: 3-2003 |
Shelly Stile: Your posts of March 28th at 11:45pm and 11:48pm are are misleading and contain inaccurate information. Initially your claim that as part of Main Street and sore that you spent "years of working with the town government" is at best hyperbole and in fact false. While I can't speak to what involvement you have had with Main Street your interaction with the Village governement was limited to a few discreet issues. Your work as a founding member of sore has been that of an antagonist and by all objective standards it could not be construed that you were working with the Village government. Your public statements were often laced with false information, which appeared to have been made up by you as you went along. In other cases you made statements that were only loosely based upon fact. Your goal appears to be to embarass the elected officials and disrupt the redevelopment effort. There is no clearer example of your dsiruptive activities than with the Village Art Center. Despite the fact that you admit that you have not seen and reviewed the current plans you keep insisting there are problems with the Art Center. You claim that you raise the issues based upon information from consultants intimately involved with the process. You refuse to identify the consultants or the information they have provided you. One can question whether these unnamed consultants exist or whether they provided any information if they do. Indeed one has to wonder if these consultants would really have breached their fiduciary duty to the Art Center and the code of ethics of their profession to provide such information. In the end the Art Center Board had to make decisions based upon all the information available to it. This includes the consultants recently hired by the Village Art Center Board and Seton Hall to review the cost estimates. This independent firm determined after study that the Art Center contract is almost $750,000.00 less than their cost estimate and that the cost per square foot is the low side of the expected range for such a facility. It is always easy to criticize when you do not have all the information or where you are not required to put your professional license on the line as you do so. Criticism when backed up fact and supported by real evidence is appropriate and productive. Virtually all of your and sore's criticisms have no basis and indeed you have steadfastly refused to provide the details which form the basis for your criticism. After whining and stomping you feet demanding Village Art Center records you declined to attend a meeting at which the Art Center made records available. Instead you post falsely stating "even with the state legal syatem behind us, the porwers to be continue to block access to what are public records that the State says they must release." First the Village Art Center records are nor public records and second the state has never told the Village Art Center that it must release any records. Neither has the Art Center gone back on a promise to deliver the information requested. The Village Art Center is prepared to release most information in its possession. It must keep some documents confidential like consultants' reports and its business plan. In the latter case it is important to keep the business plan confidential since a premature disclosue of the plan could compromise the Village Art Center's ability to implement the plan. With respect to consultant's reports, particularly interim reports, it is important that they be kept confidential to insure that consultants are frank and candid in their reviews and criticisms. If consultants anticipate disclosure it can have a chilling effect on their reporting. The finished plans which have been approved by the Village Art Center Board have been made available to the public. An critique sore wants to make of the plans can be done from those plans and do not require any of the consultants reports. While you have continually criticized virtually every action taken by the Village as part of the redevelopment effort and most recently the Art Center Board you have yet to state positively how anything could have or should have been done differently. Neither have you and sore explained how replacing the Board of Trustees as the redevelopment agency for South Orange and replacing it with new board of inexperienced people will not disrupt the redevelopment process. Indeed if the process is not halted until the new Board is ready to take over most of the redevelopment and all of the major pieces of it will be completed before the new board is ready. While your campaign of the last six months has clearly demonstrated that truth is the first casulty of some political campaigns I hope that all of the candidates in the upcoming election will be honest and truthful. I fear based upon the press releases so far that will not be the case. | ||
| Brian O'Leary Citizen Username: Brianoleary Post Number: 1159 Registered: 3-2002 |
Ed, members of the Open South Orange team are committed to campaigning as we will govern. If you feel that parts of our communications are not honest or truthful, please take some time here to point that out and I'll be happy to respond or amend the materials. I assume that you are posting here as an individual and not an employee of the village; is that a fair assessment? | ||
| Edwin R. Matthews Citizen Username: Edwinrmatthews Post Number: 2 Registered: 3-2003 |
Brian: The answer to your question is yes I am posting as a citizen and not in my capacity as Village Counsel If you call me I will be more than willing to sit down with you and discuss with you the specifics which lead me to fear that the upcoming election will not be honest and truthful. |
