Join the Citizen Army!

I just returned from the Bound Brook Mayoral Candidates’ debate at St Joseph’s School gymnasium. Video of the debate to be post on http://www.08805.com/

Father Charlie, the host moderator of the debate, made a powerful and profound statement. He said that all of the candidates have demonstrated their dedication to the community and that he would be proud to serve as a citizen under anyone of them.

I never heard it put that way! As I thought about what he said it struck me that that is exactly what we must all do in order to survive as a nation and keep our traditions of self-government, independence and our precious four freedoms as depicted by Norman Rockwell’s famous paintings – Freedom from Fear, freedom from Want, Freedom of Speech, freedom to Worship.
Serving as a citizen means meeting the responsibilities of citizenship. There are six basic responsibilities of U.S. Citizenship – five mandatory and one voluntary. The voluntary one is voting.

The right to vote is a duty or responsibility as well as a privilege. It is important for all citizens to vote in every election to make sure that the democratic, representative system of government is maintained. Persons who do not vote lose their voice in the government. Before voting in an election, each citizen should be well informed about the issues and candidates.

I was in the company of almost 200 Bound Brookers who apparently take their citizenship seriously and are willing to “serve as citizens”. I salute them.

I also salute the candidates Phyllis Pounaras, Javier Vasquez, and Cary Pilato for being there and for their willingness to serve. I thought that they handled the questions posed to them well (although I did not believe some of the rhetoric). I was particularly impressed by Javier’s knowledge of the needs of Bound Brook and his ideas on how to meet them. I’m sorry to say that the performance and words of Cary Pilato were tarnished by his rude refusal to accept my congratulatory handshake. It underscored his propensity to say what sounds nice but not what he truly believes. He indicated during his discourse something to the effect that people had the right to disagree but that we were still all friends and neighbors. Apparently I am not considered a citizen who deserves the same respect that I pay him.

Both Javier and Phyllis graciously accepted my heartfelt congratulations.

The Latest From Late Night Comedians:

Conan O'Brien-10/31/07 -"Last night during the Democratic presidential debate, Senator Barack Obama accused Hillary Clinton of frequently changing positions. After hearing this, Bill Clinton said, 'I wish.'"

Until Next Time,

Ben

Where are the Republicans and Independents?

Photo: 2007 Bound Brook Democratic Candidates: Ben F. Auletta, Anthony "Tony" Pranzatelli, Debbie Cozza, Javier G. Vasquez


Where are the Republicans and Independents?

Today (Sunday – Oct 28) the Courier-News published information on all local candidates for election. click here for The Courier News Election article

C-N requested information from all candidates, weeks ago. It is painfully revealing to see that the Bound Brook Republican candidates and the one Independent candidate did not provide any information about themselves. This omission underscores their lack of real interest in meeting their responsibilities as citizens, besides revealing their disrespect to the citizens of Bound Brook who are entitled to hear from those who seek to represent their interests as elected officials (you will not find them on cable TV (See our speeches below), nor in the Star-Ledger either – but you will find the Democrats). It makes me wonder if they really care to be elected!

Every single Bound Brook Democratic candidate did communicate his or her outstanding qualifications for public service.

It is these very same qualifications and abilities that encouraged me to seek to recover my former seat on the council.
· Javier Vasquez – a conscientious current councilman who attends most community events because he really cares about Bound Brook. Has appropriate education and experience. Takes his responsibility seriously and does his job. Has leadership ability – works amicably with citizens and other officials and has developed valuable contacts throughout the state. He would be a Mayor that we can be proud of and one that would not bring embarrassment to Bound Brook.
· Debbie Cozza – a former councilwoman with a distinguished record of community service and governing experience.
· Tony Pranzatelli – an independent businessman with energy and creativity who will bring a fresh view to the council table.
· Ben Auletta – with years of experience and service in business and government operation with special expertise, education, and training in finance, planning, and cost reduction techniques.

I am excited about the possibilities for real progress in “putting Bound Brook first”. A new Democratic council has the potential to be one the best in the history of Bound Brook. From my conversations with citizens I am convinced that there are two very real concerns – high property tax and property market value.

The first is obvious – it simply costs too much to live in NJ. Even paying off the mortgage does not give you complete ownership of your property. You always have a landlord – the municipality that you live in – and they are always raising the rent. The reputation of living in a flood-prone community together with these high taxes exerts a downward pressure on property market value.

Our team’s main concerns are:
· Getting flood project completed
a. Make daily contacts by borough officials, together with citizen volunteers to keep updated on status of project
b. Keep badgering and pressuring anyone who is in a position to help secure funds from Federal, State, and county resources to complete the project now. Stop ignoring the needs of Somerset County’s oldest community -30 years is an unreasonably long time to wait. We have been patient long enough – especially when we see how much government money is being spent all around us. Maybe we need to develop a basis for action through the court system.
c. When project is complete – turn our attention to redevelopment to generate increased revenue and improve property market vales in community.

· Real Estate Tax
Thoroughly study current Borough Government organization, policies and procedures with an eye towards re-engineering them for more efficient operation and instilling true control systems in order to control costs and deliver enhanced services. Need to demand more economic support from higher levels of government and seek worthwhile grants and shared services opportunities.

· Dealing with our changing demographics

With your help – and of course your votes – we can succeed.

Links to speeches and Interviews: My Interview with the guys at http://www.08805.com/ here is the link: Ben Auletta, Sr. Interview (if this link does work go to http://www.08805.com/) all other speeches can be found at http://www.08805.com/
Here are speeches from youtube:
BB Seniors Candidate’s Night My SpeechThe other Speeches can be found at Link To Other Dems Speeches
BB Candidate’s Speeches from Piscataway TV Candidates Forum My SpeechThe other Speeches can be found at Link To Other Dems Speeches

Until Next time

Ben

The Latest From Late Night Comedians:
Conan O'Brien 10/18/2007-"Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich caused some trouble this week, because he was campaigning in Red Sox territory while wearing a Cleveland Indians hat. Apparently, somebody walked up to Kucinich's wife and said, 'Tell your son to take off that baseball hat.'"

Are we repeating the mistakes of Vietnam?

I want to share some material from newsman Bob Schieffer’s recent book “Face the Nation”. On page 87 he quotes President Nixon’s chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman commenting to the President on the implications of the printing of the “Pentagon Papers” in the NY Times the day before - “Out of the gobbledygook, comes a very clear thing … you can’t trust the government, you can not believe what they say and you can’t rely on their judgment. And, the implicit infallibility of presidents, which has been an accepted thing in America is badly hurt by this because it shows that people do things the President wants to do even though it is wrong and the President can be wrong.”

The “Pentagon Papers” was a top-secret government document that was released to the press by Daniel Ellsberg, a think tank analyst and a Vietnam veteran, that detailed the decision making process of policy makers in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations who had taken the county to war in Vietnam. The report indicated that time and again, over years of the war, those government officials lied to us. The favorable reports of real progress and achievement were in direct contradiction of the facts and in what they themselves truly knew and believed. We all know the results of that deception.

Sound familiar?

We are constantly hearing conflicting reports of success in Iraq, but all we see are more of our kids and Iraq citizens dieing, enormous amounts of money being spent, no relief from high gasoline prices, and lots of money being made by defense contractors and Exxon. However we see no near end of the war, which has already lasted longer then WW II, in sight! And we really do not have a clear and believable reason for continuing.

The Latest From Late Night Comedians:

Jay Leno: "It's getting pretty nasty out there on the campaign trail. This week, Hillary Clinton referred to Vice President Dick Cheney as Darth Vader. And today, he demanded an apology -- not Dick Cheney, Darth Vader."

Jay Leno: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, "'There are 300 million people in America with many different points of view.' As opposed to Iran, which has 70 million people who aren't allowed any point of view."

Until next time.

Ben

BB Downtown Gets Money To Help Restart After Flood

Bound Brook's downtown business community received some welcome aide from unexpected sources. Not from where you would most expect - not from government sources - but from fellow businessmen.

Grainger, a Fortune 500 company and a perennial member of Fortune magazine's Most Admired Companies list provided $1,515.15 checks to individual Bound Brook, NJ Business entities on Main Street that suffered catastrophic losses during the April 15, 2007 flood. Among criteria for receiving the funds was the likelihood of continued presence in Bound Brook.Partnering with Grainger was the Somerset Business Partnership that awarded these same businesses a one year paid membership in the Partnership.Video clips of the presentation at the Van Horne Plaza downtown can be viewed by scrolling down to the two screens below and clicking on each clip.
Until next time
Ben

Jay Leno: "Well, the Republicans had their 789th debate last night. The big issue, of course, was the war in Iraq, and the candidates were split over it. Some Republicans were in favor of it. The other Republicans were really, really in favor of it”

Bound Brook Police Department National Night Out Against Crime

The Bound Brook Police Department hosted this year's National Night Out Against Crime at Codrington Park. It is really a good community "meet your neighbor" event. There were plenty of kids enjoying the activities accompanied by quite a few adults. The food and drink was plentiful - they wanted to be certain that they did not run out of food like the previous year - and no one was disappointed. The police Department is to be commended for doing this for our community.

Everyone was super friendly and the Police Dept seemed to have ample volunteer helpers. The police were also signing up neighborhood watch activists and had a table loaded with crime prevention brochures and a manual for neighborhood watch procedures. I urge all citizens to contact the Bound Brook Police Department to get more information about the program. Citizen safety and security is a major concern for all of us, particularly in light of the recent accounts of home break-ins and increased crime in nearby communities, (thankfully, Bound Brook has not been targeted) but prevention is better than correction!

The Latest From Late Night Comedians:

Jay Leno: "It seems a brain-injured man who had been in a coma for the last six years, is now awake, eating and speaking with his family. In fact, you know what you call a man who has been in a coma for the last six years? 'Mr. President.'"

Until Till next time - Ben