Kind of Like One Hand Clapping

I wish to correct the Mayor's assertion that the Candidate Forum is being sponsored by the "alternate slate." The forum is being co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters, a neutral organization, and the Bloomfield Neighborhood Association, a coalition of neighborhood associations that was in fact founded by the mayor of Bloomfield at the time. This forum is being sponsored by the same groups as in past years, and the Mayor and his team gladly participated in those forums. His assertions are incorrect. It is unfortunate if he and his team are unable to participate in the Democratic process.

Well, it's an oppurtunity for the voters to meet the candidates.

It too bad that the McCarthy line isn't going to show up. Do you think they know they are finished?

I must respectfully disagree with the Mayor's comments above. This event is a non-partisan evening and is being moderated by the LOWV, which is about as neutral as you can get. While I agree that the timing is not the best given that it is Memorial Day weekend, I know firsthand, having worked on many candidate forums with the WHNA and the BNAC that when a letter is sent to the candidates inviting them to a venue such as this, that one date is picked well in advance and set out in the letter. And all the letters are also sent return receipt requested, so no one can state that they did not receive an invitation.

It is also my understanding that all but one of the reply cards were received (as of a week ago) and while I do not know the exact date of the mailing, I am sure it wasn't just last week.

I also agree that it is unfortunate that the Line A team will not attend this forum tonight. This would have been a perfect opportunity for ALL six candidates who are running for the at-large Council to get their message across to the voters in Bloomfield. In my personal opinion it does not shed a favorable light to the A Team.

Um, can we talk about more important things, such as the Wine and Blues Festival being held at Four Sisters Winery in Belvidere, NJ this weekend? 12-5 Sat/Sun Rt 80 to Exit 12, hang a left.

I was really disappointed not to have all the candidates there to hear the different answers. I know the candidates and or the people working with them on their campaign, look at the blogs. Hey folks, we want to hear your voice before going to the polls. And plese keep in mind, we may not vote for the entire line. I for one, Only found 1 candidate tonight willing to actually give an answer and not dance around so it doesn't come back and bite them later.

Tonight's Candidates Forum was very informative. For a lot of reasons. The loudest message was sent by the "real" Democrats of Line A. The arrogance of the mayoral candidate and their combined lack of interest in what is important to Bloomfield residents was made abundantly clear by the empty seats behind the name cards for Dunnigan, Lopez and Strumolo.

The three candidates from Line B - incumbents Pat Spychala and Bernard Hamilton - and Pat Barker did themselves and Bloomfield proud. They were sincere, obviously interested in the concerns of Bloomfield's citizens, and as Councilman Hamilton noted were working "from the heart".

Bloomfield needs more heart and less arrogance and bullshit.

Progress not Politics. Line B all the way.

Tonight's Candidates Forum was very informative. For a lot of reasons. The loudest message was sent by the "real" Democrats of Line A. The arrogance of the mayoral candidate and their combined lack of interest in what is important to Bloomfield residents was made abundantly clear by the empty seats behind the name cards for Dunnigan, Lopez and Strumolo.

The three candidates from Line B - incumbents Pat Spychala and Bernard Hamilton - and Pat Barker did themselves and Bloomfield proud. They were sincere, obviously interested in the concerns of Bloomfield's citizens, and as Councilman Hamilton noted were working "from the heart".

Bloomfield needs more heart and less arrogance and bullshit.

Progress not Politics. Line B all the way.

Sorry, but everything about the mayor's statement is a bunch of crap.

Let's look at his statement, shall we?

"Regarding the proposed 'debate'" – Note the quotes? He is trying to belittle the forum in order to justify not attending.

"…which we now understand is scheduled for this evening" – He is pretending they didn't know the scheduled date of the forum. That's BS, they knew the date. It not like it was scheduled yesterday.

"please be advised that due to scheduling conflicts and other commitments" – Okay citizens of Bloomfield, the mayor and his slate have more important things to do than show up and answer your questions.

"some forums are being sponsored by the alternate slate" – More blatant BS. This was a non-partisan event. And even if there was any question about the leanings of the sponsors, this is a forum among candidates FROM THE SAME PARTY.

"arranging for commitments for more than seven candidates requires advanced planning" – So all of the Line A candidates had commitments they couldn’t break? Not one could make it?

This guy just makes up stuff, and it's really indicative of the way he works. There's really no excuse for blowing this off. If he and his slate can't face the public and then go about fabricating reasons not to attend it just proves this group does't belong in office.

Anyone care to speculate on the reasons why the Line A slate chose to skip this event? Was it just that they’d rather not face the tough questions?

You hit the nail on the head, Pete!

Thanks to the Line A Dems for making the decision a no-brainer if it wasn't before.

Line B all the way!

You hit the nail on the head, Pete!

Thanks to the Line A Dems for making the decision a no-brainer if it wasn't before.

Line B all the way!

You hit the nail on the head, Pete!

Thanks to the Line A Dems for making the decision a no-brainer if it wasn't before.

Line B all the way!

Dear Mayor McCarthy,

Considering the inflexibility of your stand on the event, I regret any inconvenience, must graciously decline to vote for you.

Actions speak louder than words. Your actions show what you think of the voters of Bloomfiled.

Hasta la vista!

Bravo to Line B for their wonderful perfomance last evening. It shows beyond a shadow of a doubt who the Democrats in Bloomfield should be supporting. The ones who are willing to show up and listen to the people whose lives they will be affecting!!

VOTE LINE B!!!!

Pete Strumolo and the "Line A"
team must be worried about letting their candidates talk to people and be asked the hard questions. I heard that was part of Junior's downfall when Dad tried to foist him upon the good people of Verona. They've probably got him hiding in an "undisclosed location" with Dick Cheney!

So if you don't vote for McCarthy then the only other choice is Lazar.

If you hate both of them, what is a voter to do?

I am going to write in 'Anne Prince'

Anybody else?

Shitalker - does that mean I win even though I didn't debate you?

Anne would get my vote!

hey Shitalker!

With Barker, Hamilton, Spychala, Ritchings and Maly on the Council McNasty will be neutralized as would LaCzar.

Maybe then the political movers and shakers (or wannabes and wish they were) in this godforsaken town will realize we all have to work together to get anything accomplished.

One of the things I liked most about the Line B candidates was the feeling that we are ALL in this together. They were all taxpayers like we are, Bloomfield residents like we are. The difference is they are willing to put their free time into the service of the rest of us who can't be bothered to get involved. I never ever got that feeling from McC or his good buddy Mrs. Dunnigan.

To be fair, Mrs. Dunnigan is probably a very nice person and one we would all like to have for a neighbor. But on the council she served only as McC's rubber stamp. That was and is a wasted council seat from where I stand.

We need more people to get involved like Hamilton, Spychala, Barker and the incumbents Ritchings and Maly. They started out in concert with McC but realized the problems he was creating for this town and separated themselves over a year ago.

I prefer to have incumbents who realize the error of their ways, learned from past experience and know they need to move in another direction. The incumbents who refuse to accept responsibility for what hasn't happened in this town we don't need to deal with any longer.

McCarthy and his buddy have had 6 years to get something, anything, accomplished. Nothing positive has happened on their watch.

The Line B Democrats acknowledged that a while ago and have the experience of having served in Hamilton's case for 6 years and Spychala for 3. Ms. Barker has had her own experiences on the Board of Health.

I don't know about the rest of Bloomfield's residents, but I have much more confidence in people who acknowledge where they went wrong and know the mistakes they made in the past and can move beyond them.

All McC and his ticket do is find fault with others.

Sorry, but that doesn't fly.

Ms. Barker made a strong closing statement part of which was that there was no more important place for any of the Line B candidates to be on Friday night but at the candidates' forum.

McC and crew most obviviously had more important places to be.

Important to who? Obviously not Bloomfield.

Yes Anne you get my vote. I concede.

Now does it matter if I write you in for Democrat or Republican?

Hey Hey!

Ho Ho!

Ray McCarthy's gotta GO!

Just wondering -- what/when did the line B candidates Spychala and Hamilton, along with ward reps Maly and Ritchings, admit they were wrong about something? (re Katzenmutter's statement above)

When and where was this candidate's night publicized? I heard of it through a friend in an email. Was there a mailer or door knocker that I somehow missed? Was it in the Star Ledger? Was it even given an advance write-up on Baristanet?

Why was Memorial Day weekend chosen? Were both lines given a list of dates to choose from, or consulted as to availability? When were both lines invited? Were all candidates consulted as to the format?

One more question: Why is "everything" being blamed on McCarthy & Dunnigan, when Spychala/Hamilton/Maly/Ritchings already have the majority vote on the council?

That was the only date the venue was available before the election. All candidates were sent certified letters, called twice at home, called at campaign headquarters. It was in the Independent Press
and on the online forums. I don't know if the Ledger had it. The candidates all knew about the event more than two weeks in advance. They informed the Bloomfield Neighborhood Association that
they would not be attending
on this forum at around 4:30 P.M. on the day of the event.

Bloomfield deserves candidates better than these!

Vote Line B!!!

IrishCoffee,

I heard about it several times - here on Baristanet once or twice through e-mails sent out by the Bloomfield Neighborhood association- the first one was received on 5/9/07.

It was also in The Independent Press on May 17 and on NJ.com.

It is also in the Baristanet calendar
http://www.baristanet.com/calendar/events/index.php?com=detail&eID=1587&year=2007&month=5

on the league of women voters calendar:
http://montclairarea.nj.lwvnet.org/calendar.html

Too bad you didn't "hear" about it. Lots of others did. Maybe you should join your local neighborhood Association to get in synch with the town.

Do you know that there's an election coming? Where do you want that announced so that you "see" it?

...more

it was also announced on the Bloomfield Third Riverbank yahoo group

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Thirdriverbank/

Wow, lots of groups that you could joint to volunteer your time.

Vote Line B and Anne Prince for mayor

Word has it that young Strumolo can't wait to get on the Bloomfield council. He's got lots of friends in businesses he wants to throw town contracts to.

That's exactly what Bloomfield does not need more of.

Strumolo senior has demonstrated his lack of respect and concern for Bloomfield residents by foisting junior on us.

Junior is a chip off the old block.

Verona didn't want him and neither does Bloomfield.

Line B all the way - B for Bloomfield.

Word has it that young Strumolo can't wait to get on the Bloomfield council. He's got lots of friends in businesses he wants to throw town contracts to.

That's exactly what Bloomfield does not need more of.

Strumolo senior has demonstrated his lack of respect and concern for Bloomfield residents by foisting junior on us.

Junior is a chip off the old block.

Verona didn't want him and neither does Bloomfield.

Line B all the way - B for Bloomfield.

Does he (young stromolo)live in Bloomfield or does he just keep moving from town to town as he's rejected by the voters?

Hiding,

You seem to have taken my comments way too personally. I said I heard about it in an email through a friend (as did you). Could it be we have received the same email? I had questions. I asked them. Big deal. Why be so defensive and nasty?

BTW, I'm still wondering what it is that the 4 admitted making a mistake about.

Irish, I think the fact that they are in favor of involving the existing businesses in the redevelopment plan and realizing that eminent domain is not viable is a sign that their viewpoints continue to evolve. In the beginning when the agreement was made with Forest City Daly, the local business involvement was left up to FCD and apparently was not part of the contract; therefore FCD did not involve the local businesses in their plans. So changing the way they go about the redevelopment is a sign of their admitting the first way was not the way to go. And it takes strong people to realize that something isn't working and cut their losses and move on. It is their experience in going through this process that is invaluable to the town. We don't want newbies getting on the council who have no idea what anything involves. I mean, I haven't ever even seen either Lopez or Strumulo Jr. involved in the town before now. How can they possibly know what it takes to get things done? The Line B team has the experience. Even Pat Barker isn't new to the process. She's been on the Board of Health and has been involved in neighborhood groups for ten years at least.

Thank you for the info, mauigirl.

Mauigirl52 - Bloomfield businesses were left out of the old redevelopment plan by Forest City Daly - because the town government ALLOWED them to do so. Please don't kid yourself or others by saying things like "it takes strong people to realize something isn't working and cut their losses and move on"-WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. IT TAKES THREE NJ COURTS AND TONS OF MONEY SPENT ON ATTORNEYS FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO MOVE ON. The only reason why the redevelopment has changed directions now, is because the thick headed arrogant local government was forced to by the courts. If the government was as wise as you wish to believe, this correction would have been done YEARS ago - and there would be progress by now. Instead we have a rotten downtown area that was created by the local government. There is no one to blame but themselves. They made their bed, now they must lay in it. Any experience this current government has would be best left far behind if the desire of Bloomfield is to progress anywhere in the near future. Its time to clean house - wake up, and move on.

I totally disagree with your take, Blomfieldbusinessowner. It most certainly IS a sign of a strong person whose thinking has evolved over the years to admit in an open forum - one in which they will hopefully earn votes - that they were a part of the mistakes that were made but have learned from those mistakes and embraced a new direction.

Hell, the mayor couldn't even admit the real reason his running mates blew off the Candidates' Forum. He did what he always does, makes crap up and double-talks himself into a hole. That, too, is usually the fault of someone else.

The line A candidates either (1) didn't learn about the forum until the last minute or (b) had scheduling conflicts.

Which was it Ray? Or the real reason you are all too arrogant to be bothered and think you've got the election in the bag.

Mauigirl is right and I have a number of friends and neighbors who agree. After all of the missteps and mistakes, Bloomfield cannot afford to have newbies take over the processes. Especially newbies with so little respect or consideration for Bloomfield's residents they ignored the Candidates' Forum and lied about the reasons.

Yeah, they sound like EXACTLY the bunch we need in town hall to move Bloomfield forward.

Line B all the way: Progress not Politics - or more excuses and lies.

I did see Christian Strumolo conveniently handing out free ice cream cone tickets at today's parade.....guess he got back in time from wherever he was to be able to do that, but not participate in the non-partisan LOWV's moderated candidates forum on Friday. By my count there were at least 65 people in attendance and before anyone states that they were all "B" team groupies, there were plenty of questions that were quite critical of the candidates that were there. It was definitely not a one sided forum.

What you don't realize is that their thinking has not "evolved" - it's been FORCED to change. It only takes a sleazy politician to make a court ordered change into a "I learned from my mistakes" excuse. They are not "strong" people, they are weak insecure power mongers who now are trying to somehow save face since the democratic court system forced them to change. If it wasn't for the court system, they would still be at their old games and Bloomfield would continue to stagnate in its homemade quagmire. Change is good. People should not stick with politicians only for fear that change could be worse. It this case, it can't be.

Sure, change is often good. But not with stealth candidates who have no experience or ideas to discuss. These newbies have just ducked out of the only opportunity they had to to state their case and answer questions.
What were they afraid of?
As Anne indicated, the questions from the audience Friday were pretty tough. I don't recall any softballs flying.

Change is good, but the "new blood" on the Line A ticket(Lopez and Strumolo) is not what I'm looking for. They will do the mayor's bidding and that's the LAST thing we need.

I'm really looking for a new mayor but I have little hope in getting that. But I will write in Anne for mayor.

The most important thing is to get Spychala, Hamilton and Barker in there, and then whichever mayor we get (and we are truly between a rock and a hard place with this choice we're going to have) it won't even matter since he'll be outvoted.

"Change for the sake of change" is an arbitrary and knee-jerk reaction to deep-seated problems that require much more thoughtful consideration than simply saying, "throw da bums out!"

Here are the official Pork Roll recommendations for the municipal Democratic primary:

McCarthy - Deserves to be "changed" due to his arrogant and heavy-handed leadership style, especially as concerns development and re-development in the town. His attitude and outlook are part of our problem, not the solution. Unfortunately, his de-facto Republican opponent in the General Election, John Lazar, resembles McCarthy more than either man cares to admit.

Hamilton - Deserves to be re-elected. His experience both inside and outside municipal government are an asset, and he seems to have evolved into a more independent voice on the council.

Spychala - Deserves to be re-elected. I expect her experience and learning from the failed redevelopment effort, and her own evolving independent voice on the council, to be both be assets.

Dunigan - Deserves to be changed. I'm sure she is a nice person, but since that is the only thing I can say about her, it does not say much for her work on the council. She strikes me as being a quite un-dynamic force at a time when this town really needs movers and shakers. I suspect she is just a get-along, go-along type loyal to the Strumolo/McCarthy faction, and will simply do their bidding (i.e., she is a "minion".)

Barker - Deserves to be elected. Previous involvement with neighborhood groups and the Board of Health would suggest that Pat has a sincere and abiding interest in contributing to the welfare of the town; she's not just running to fill a slot.

Strumolo - Does not deserve to be elected. All we know of Christian Strumolo so far is that (1) his daddy is the bigwig in the local Democratic machine, (2) he lived in Bloomfield before moving to Verona where he lost his election bid for council 2 years ago; (3) he apparently moved back to Bloomfield after being rejected by the voters of Verona; (4) he runs an office cleaning company in town. There is no evidence of altruistic motivation or unique experience to contribute, but ample evidence of nepotism and cronyism. If you have ever complained about New Jersey politics and you vote for Strumolo anyway, you are part of the problem.

Jose Lopez - Jose who? Does not deserve to be elected for the glaringly obvious fact that he is a complete unknown. This is a classic example of an obscure and likely easily controlled candidate being put on the ballot by the local machine. Perhaps they think he might appeal to the 15% of Bloomfield residents who identify as Hispanic, considering there are currently no Latinos on the council.

No matter who you vote for, vote your conscience. Don't vote for a candidate just because they are the "official" party candidate, or someone's running mate. You would not hire just anybody to be your babysitter, or a caregiver to your parents. You should give the same thought and consideration to the people who are going to run your town.

So, who do we vote for for Mayor?

I can't/won't vote for Lazar.

I don't want to vote for McCarthy.

I'd gladly write Anne Prince in but if she's not running I don't want to waste my vote.

Easy answer. Who to vote for? Vote Republican in November.

BfdBsOwner - excellent point. They "learned from their mistakes" only after the court forced this learning experience. Then it's Spin spin spin.

Pork Roll - excellent summary!

Sorry I missed the Forum. However, from where I sit PorkRoll's assessments are right on the money.

As to Bloomfieldbusinessowner I don't care how or what changed re Hamilton and Spychala and their new direction for redevelopment. Whatever affected their opinion they still had the balls to admit their mistakes in public and have a clear new direction. They learned from the mistakes of the previous six years and have evolved. However that came about isn't the issue. The issue is the new direction is better for Bloomfield.

McNasty and co not only can't admit ever having made a mistake they have not evolved. They also showed their complete and utter lack of respect for township residents by blowing off the candidate's forum. That speaks volumes.

So Anne, what say yee? If nominated will you run? If elected will you serve? I know the WHNA keeps you busy but you seem like just what we need in this town.

While I am flattered by my loyal supports (LOL!), I must respecfully decline.

ummm...that should read loyal supportERS.

*Sigh*

In mayoral elections as in marriage, the good ones are (always) already taken!

Once again Mayor McCarthy lies and speaks from both sides of his mouth. I guess the Strumolo kid is following in the Mayor's footsteps.