Welcome to the official homepage of the Municipal Candidates for a New Piscataway!
We have a plan to stabilize your municipal taxes while improving your quality of life. Click here to read our Contract With Piscataway!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
Important Council Meeting Thursday
IMPORTANT: Although the election is over, our mayor and council do not have a mandate to continue with their closed government. You can still keep them accountable
Next year's budget, calls for another double-digit tax increase, and the council will vote on it tomorrow night at 8pm in town hall. Please be there and tell them what you think.
Wonder why they are voting on the budget after the election?
We want to thank you for your support. Words cannot describe the gratitude we have toward all of you who took the time to hear our message and truly understand what an excellent opportunity Piscataway had to elect a strong, open and honest government.
First, we did not win. That's the "negative".
The positive is in the analysis below.
* Results not available for Ward 3 District 2
At the top of the ticket Democrats beat Republicans 3-1. Now if the voting went straight down the party line, we would see the exact same results for the mayoral and council candidates. In a normal election that doesn't happen, but rather there is a drop off, meaning less people vote for the lower ticket offices as some just vote for President. In that regard, you might see something like 14,000 for Wahler and crew and maybe 4,000 for us.
What actually happened is Whaler and his crew lost party votes, while the Schilp ticket got more votes than McCain. In fact, Joe Schilp got 20% more than his party. This doesnt happen regularly.
We can thank our independent minded neighbors; the party faithful, the independents and the open minded Democrats for crossing the party lines and voting for the people they knew would run the township better. Unfortunately, you were outnumbered by those who just voted party lines.
Final outcome: Obama beat McCain 3-1 while the candidates for a New Piscataway lost by only 2-1, which is a moral victory. It also shows that people that know the current administration rejected them and voted for us.
Once again, THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN FOR YOUR HELP AND SUPPORT.
NewPiscataway's Channel on YouTube
Empty Room, Empty Promises Piscataway Cares, a non-partisan organization based in Piscataway, had planned a Meet Your Candidates Night to afford the townspeople an opportunity to see and hear the people who are seeking the offices of mayor and council in our community. The function was scheduled for Tuesday evening, October 21, in the meeting room of the JFK Library. Piscataway Cares does not endorse either political party. Its main objective is keeping the community informed. The organization worked diligently to inform the township residents of the upcoming event. What better way to learn of the issues facing the town and how each candidate views the future of Piscataway? At the eleventh hour, the Democrats refused to participate in the forum. Immediately thereafter, the public library denied access to their meeting room, and returned the check Piscataway Cares had paid for the use of the public facility. Every effort was made by the organization to find another location. It was their decision to hold the event even though the Democrats were not interested in sharing any plans for the future of our community. To no avail, every door to public and private meeting rooms in the township was slammed in the face of Piscataway Cares. They were told that the Democrats party bosses used their considerable influence in dooming the event, no need to ask why. Joseph Schilp, candidate for mayor who, with his running mates, waited outside the library to speak with those who missed the notification of the cancelled meeting said, Any governing mayor and council that refuses to telecast its public meetings, refuses to adopt an ordinance banning pay to play, and recklessly spends taxpayers money does not want to be available for any interaction with the public who pay the bills. We know that this is an important election year in our county. We need to feel secure in our vote for president. We must also be confident that the election of town officials shares our views of honesty and integrity, and truly represents the best of what local governance is designed to do. |
Candidate Spotlight Thursday, October 31, 8:30pm Saturday, November 1, 9 pm Sunday, November 2, 9 pm Monday, November 3, 9 pm Tune in to Piscataway Community Television (Channel 15 on Cablevision) or Channel 40 on Verizon FIOS. |
To The Editor
Referencing the article that appeared in the paper of Sunday, September 14th, I was struck by the comments of Piscataway mayor Brian Wahler as he attempts to explain our ever increasing property tax while hoping to distance himself from a further increase in this over-burdening tax.
Wahler admits that in the first year of his first term in office, he knew that the commercial tax base was declining. Why then did he contract for architectural drawings at $800,000 for a community center that may or may not be constructed? Why did the mayor contract for a building on the Little League ball field that cost twice what was originally proposed? Why did he have sidewalks and expensive Belgian block curbing created in areas where residents did not want them?
The Piscataway Township records will show that Mayor Wahler purchased an upscale vehicle with taxpayer money for his personal use. He increased his salary from $17,000 to over $41,000 and enjoys full health benefits at the expense of the local taxpayers, even though he has a full time position with the state government offering the same benefits. And while he enjoys these and other perks, he also increased the salaries of the council members - all Democrats.
Mayor Wahler tells us that the cost associated with the condemnation of the Halper property will be offset by grants and open-space revenue. He forgot to remind us that this revenue is not a free lunch but comes from the taxpayers as well.
Mayor Wahler might think about the old adage-
"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time"Bobbi Goodman, Chairman, Piscataway Republican
Meet the Candidates
- Joe Schilp, Mayoral Candidate
- Sean Moran, Council at Large
- Jan Braverman, Council at Large
- Gene Bozzo, Council at Large
Why are we running for office?
Our TAXES are TOO HIGH and our QUALITY OF LIFE is in DECLINE!
How have Piscataway Residents been victimized by rising property taxes?
- Current Mayor Brian Wahler drives a township SUV paid for by you, insured by you and filled with gas by you!
- Mayor Brian Wahler has more than doubled his salary as your part-time mayor to $40,000 a year since taking office in 2001!
- Mayor Brian Wahler and his complicit Township Council have increased municipal taxes 78% over his 8 years as mayor.
- Thanks to Mayor Wahler and the Council, Piscataway residents will be left with a $17 million bill after taking the Cornell dairy farm from the Halper family.
How have Brian Wahler's policies adversely affected you?
- Wahler approved a plan to turn the Fairway Golf Center into 330+ housing units! He wasted $17 million on the Cornell Dairy Farm but chose not preserve a public golf course - the epitome of recreational open space - so developer Jack Morris could benefit at your expense!
- Within the last year, Brian Wahler and his Council spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to re-roof the Police Headquarters and Library without putting solar panels on the roof that would make Piscataway a greener community while saving tax dollars on monthly energy bills.
- Six years ago Brian Wahler promised to replace the township pool that he bulldozed with a YMCA that isn't any closer to reality now than it was when proposed six years ago.
- Brian Wahler and his council are backing Rutgers University in a suit brought by the Piscataway School Board. The School Board is trying to recover the $600,000 spent annually to educate children of Rutgers graduate students living tax free in Piscataway.
Issues
Eminent Domain Abuse - Brian Wahler and his Council will have wasted over $18 million of your money to take the Cornell Dairy Farm away from the family that owned it for 4 generations in an effort to "protect open space." And yet, this past spring, Wahler approved a plan to turn the Fairway Golf Center - recreational open space - into a transit village with over 350 housing units.
Taxes - Piscataway's municipal taxes are rising at an incredible rate. Here are some staggering statistics, showing increases since 2000:
- Municipal tax, 78% increase
- County tax, 32% increase
- School tax, 38% increase
- Fire district, 1% increase
Solutions
The Schilp team believes that it is a privilege and an honor to serve the people and that the present administration is taking advantage of the taxpayers of Piscataway. If elected, we will slash the salaries of the mayor and council by 20% and freeze those salaries for the next four years. We will establish term limits to insure honesty and integrity. We will sell all nonessential township vehicles starting with the mayor's vehicle. We will establish comprehensive legislation to eliminate pay-to-play abuse. We will enact laws limiting the power of government to take your property from you. We will also televise council meetings and ask that you watch so you can hold us accountable!