For too many years, West Windsor has been a diamond in the rough by failing to live up to its extraordinary geographical potential and economic advantage. Freedom is not free, and ignorance is insanely expensive. In 1993, the form of government changed from Township Committee — largely a few paid professional staff with copious resident volunteers — to a directly elected Mayor-Council form with endless no-bid, paid professionals with false promises of a lower cost of government and greater accountability. This has been a remarkably failed experiment.
Serving previously on many volunteer township committees, it mattered little to what political party the local leadership belonged. Elected positions were unceremoniously rotated with a politics of inclusion. Once the current NON-partisan politicians were elected, the card-carrying politicos reverted to back-room deals and operations. Despite a pledge of non-partisanship, West Windsor is more polarized than ever! After the last mayoral election, the mayor exited the political closet.
Despite a directly elected, fully accountable mayor, West Windsor taxpayers continue to subsidize shenanigans best described for entries in Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.
To wit: Helicopter lessons permitted due to a lack of professional and personal oversight of labor contracts despite legal counsel costs up the wazoo. West Windsor’s mayor and staff feign ignorance on how bizarre matters such as Furries in the First Aid Squad and the theft of taxpayer property are quietly permitted to disappear with a resignation in lieu of prosecution. The Animal Control Officer debacle is largely a political vendetta. Taxpayers and Council have spent more than $40,000 to a special lawyer to protect the mayor from having to answer questions. Operating information from various taxpayer-subsidized enterprises are blocked from public view.
From my own experience, it is burdensome to obtain meaningful information from the Hsueh Administration. Endless Open Public Record Act requests yield limited information because it doesn’t exist or is not in the format requested. This was particularly evident when the Grover Restoration Committee sought information included in the police investigation currently sealed by the township attorney. Excellent attorneys keep enterprises OUT of litigation, not create it. Volunteers performed most of the leg-work to uncover the politically embarrassing “who-done-it.”
You might be surprised at the legal expenses subsidized by West Windsor taxpayers each year. The mayor rarely heralds this glaring failure because litigation is simply one tool for bullying his way and burying political bones. Transit Village expenditures? Slum area behind Ellsworth Center? Mysterious solar fields on open space? Roadway obstacle on Route 571 between Alexander and Clarksville Roads? Gerrymandering the video camera for filming Council meetings? Grover House cover-up? There is a long list.
I remain eager to help make West Windsor the best community it can be. But until taxpayers start holding their elected officials accountable, it will simply be more of the same.
Pete Weale
Penns Neck
