Given how Bloomfield politics has been going lately, one might have expected tomatoes hurled from the audience at the Democrats lined up on stage at last night’s candidates’ night at the Van Fossan Theatre. But things were relatively civil and, in fact, both Lines A and B promised that they would be the ones to restore civility to Bloomfield’s troubled governing council.
“In Bloomfield the Democratic party has been hijacked,” said Line B council candidate Rich Rockwell. “If you vote for Line B, you won’t see fighting in council meetings anymore.” Ticketmate Pat Spychala, who challenges Mayor McCarthy for mayor in the June 8 primary, also said “civility needs to be restored” and specifically mentioned the right of people to speak without heckling.
Mayor McCarthy, who heads the Line A ticket, presented his side as the champions of civility. “We need to bring civility back,” he said. “We need to have a council that is no longer the laughingstock of Essex County.”
Certain themes were repeated often. Line B challengers pointed out the excessive litigation that has riddled the town under the McCarthy administration, including the lawsuits that arose from the town’s botched initial efforts at downtown revitalization. “At the end of the day, I don’t think things have been going well for this town,” said incumbent Pat Barker of the Line B slate. She said McCarthy was “a mayor who sued his running mate” and who “gave statements against his own town.”
Line A, for its part, accused Spychala, who works as tax assessor of Summit and New Providence by day, of bringing in expensive consultants. McCarthy hit a softball question about jobs for local union workers out of the park and his slate positioned itself as the champions of the rank-and-file.
Members of the audience brought up some of the more controversial aspects of the candidates in the public Q&A period. McCarthy has retained medical benefits of his mayor job, while other council members have dropped their benefits voluntarily. “When we took the job, the benefits were there,” he said.
Another audience member asked about a recent story that said Spychala was being investigated by the Essex County Prosecutors Office. When Spychala said it was much ado about nothing, and that the mayor and councilman Bernard Hamilton, also line A, “decided to take trips down to the prosecutor’s office” to spread “propaganda,” McCarthy countered that “Mrs. Spychala doesn’t know the difference between a trip to the prosecutor’s office and a subpoena.”
The Democratic primary is June 8. Spychala is McCarthy’s first party challenger for mayor.
Bottom photo by Geoff Gove.
Civility and Bloomfield politics? Never happen.
Nothing funnier then watching the Dems crush eachother to see who gets to do nothing next. Another NJ town being run to ground by the Democratic party, when will people ever learn.
I’ve been to quite a few Bloomfield town council meetings lately and the Mayor keeps no order at them at all. Township employees are allowed and encouraged to sit in the back of the room and heckle both the speakers and the rest of the town council. People are allowed to come up to speak and say that they live at 1 Municipal Plaza, when they clearly don’t. The Mayor does not require them to indicate what town they live in.
The business about consultants is a red herring. We need to be able to hire specialists for as long as we need them, not to have to put them on staff and pay them benefits. Our township employees are not redevelopment specialists and it shows. Lets get the amatuers out and the professionals in for the project.
Bloomfield’s redevelopment has been a total fiasco. First a developer was hired and the town attempted to take small business owners properties from them using eminent domain. The business owners sued and won.
Then the developer sued because Bloomfield was not keeping it’s side of the contract. When the court ruled against Bloomfield they quoted what Mayor Mccarthy had said to the developer, and awarded the developer $4,700,000.00 of our money.
Money that we had bonded for and are still paying interest on. It is my understanding that both the Mayor and Bernard Hamilton were members of the subcommittee that dealt with the developer. They are more than responsible for this fiasco and the $4.7 million dollar cost to Bloomfield.
Spychala has spearheaded the recent redevelopment project and the residents have been included in it’s planning. Bloomfield won a 2009 New Jersey Future’s Smart Growth Award for the current redevelopment plan. Could that have been done without the consultants? Not in my opinion.
In the 9 years that Ray McCarthy has been Mayor our taxes have increased approx 70%, I don’t believe we should re-elect him so that we can see the other 30% rise in the next 3 years.
We need open and transparent governement, governement that will balance the budget and make cuts when necessary and not pander to the town employees, not a Mayor who vetoes the town council’s resolutions in order to keep his own benefits. How many part timers do you know who have full time benefits?
I’m voting LINE B for Spychala, Barker, Rockwell and Pomares, a slate that will encourage feasable initiatives and dialogue with neighboring communities to create cooperative programs to save taxpayer dollars. A slate that will fight the status quo. A slate that will end “business as uusual” in town hall. Long term strategic planning and unique, innovative, progressive and proactive governance is their mandate.
Civility is nice; but how about some programs to get our taxes back below the average professional athelete’s salary?
There is nothing funny about watching those council meetings. Not one thing. And the problem isn’t the entire Democratic party.
With all due respect to Mr. McCarthy, his splitting the party ticket in the last election set the stage for the events of the last three years. Suing Mr. Hamilton didn’t do much toward fostering civility either. When the voters spoke with their votes in the primary and he was forced to run in the November 2007 election with the people he tossed to the curb, the battle was on. What made Mr. Hamilton turn his back on and attack his former running mates and rejoin forces with the person who didn’t think he was fit to run with three years ago is up for question. I have my ideas but will keep them to myself for now. I also supported Mr. Hamilton three years ago. To say he is a major disappointment is an understatement.
Week after week Mr. McCarthy allows the jeering and heckling, name calling and cursing of certain speakers at council meetings by a group of his supporters sitting in the back of the council chambers. He knows who they are and he knows why they’re there. He can have them removed or silenced but he doesn’t. It plays well on the televised playback. They were also at the forum last night on either side of the room. The disrespect they showed Mrs. Spychala and other Line B candidates was obnoxious and childish. Thankfully the woman facilitating the Forum from The League of Women Voters had no agenda of her own and shut them down.
Mr. McCarthy has been mayor for nine years. All I know is that Bloomfield Center looks much worse now than it did in 2000. He and his Line A candidates can point fingers all they like at Mrs. Spychalla and her team and he can make all the noise he wants about the last three years on the council. The fact remains that he is the one constant. He pressed emminent domain, he lead an effort which, as one Line B candidate stated put the cart before the horse, which was seizing land and engaging developers without having a plan in place first.
Mrs. Spychala and Ms. Barker were part of helping to develop an award-winning plan for the Redevelopment of Bloomfield Center which specifically included feedback and suggestions from the public. That is an example of working with the people.
I make no bones about wholehearted supporting Line B all the way. I’ve known Ms. Barker and Mrs. Spychala through their work with the town and have the utmost admiration and respect for them. I’ve also come to know and respect Rich Rockwell and Carlos Pomares. They all have talents to bring to Bloomfield which are desperately needed, and they are passionate about and dedicated to Bloomfield and the quality of life for all residents.
BTW- I “mis-spoke”. I don’t think it’s funny seeing communities going down hill and I do hope people start coming to their senses and stop electing people that really have no interest in serving besides for their self advancement. Bloomfield is a nice town and i hope it can return to its former glory.
I agree the current mayor has to go, but I don’t agree that the issue of consultants is a red herring. Every “consultant” I’ve ever met or worked with was a bag of hot air who needed a job. I’m also not happy with anyone having positions in other towns, we need someone focused here. I’m trying to see the lesser of two evils, but all I see are squabbling kids and the position of mayor is some toy.
Mrs. Spychala works hard in her chosen field. Working for other towns allows her to see firsthand how other towns handle or mishandle similar problems and situations Bloomfield faces. It’s a benefit, not a detriment, to her role as Councilwoman-at-Large and as Mayor. With her 20+ years’ experience she has more working knowledge of municipal government than the current mayor has when he first took office or now for that matter.
The job of Mayor and Town Councilor is part time and so they work full time at their chosen occupations. Pat Spychala is Tax Assessor for
New Providence, Summit and High Bridge – she works in an area that uses shared services.
We benefit from her 20 yerars of experience.
I was at the forum last night and was absolutely amazed at the mayor’s cockiness. The mayor, who has thus far been fined $14,000 for campaign filing violations, who has managed to see two Bloomfield houses he owns go into foreclosure, including the one he has lived in since 1993, who signed the contract with the redevelopment firm that tried to seize private property for private profit (and cost us more than $4.7 million in a judgement against the town when this scheme failed), who continues to collect full medical benefits for himself and his family when no other part time employee of the town is able to do so. This is the guy who thinks he deserves another shot at mayor? I want to know how a guy who can’t pay the bills for two little houses believes we should trust him to manage our $60 million budget? How do you end up owing $550,000 for a house you paid $178,000 to live in. How do you come up with $550,000 to get the house back from the bank when you can’t come up with enough cash to keep up with your monthly bills? How do you come off being so cocky when you should be embarrassed by your poor performance? I say three strikes and you’re OUT!!
Ms. Banda, your comments are well taken.
I’m certainly voting for the B-Liners. We need some new ideas, new ideals and a dose of long-awaited fresh air!
I will be voting against McCarthy whenever I have the opportunity to do so.
Hmmm. Only about 10 posts, 7 of which are pro Line B, but so many negative votes. How did that happen I wonder?
Belletones and the rest of the line B supporters are huge losers. They seem scared that line A did such a great job at the debate last night. They are now on here today bashing line A left and right. Instead of bashing line A they should focus on the good that councilwomen Spychala and Barker have done during their time in office….oh that’s right, there is nothing!! Besides wasting taxpayer money on hiring friends, bosses and campaign contributors as part time professionals that clearly are not doing their jobs. If they were we would not be in the mess we are in now. And also causing lawsuits by secretly meeting with and then promoting the number 2 candidate for police chief, and then supporting him and the vindictive moves he made to punish the men that spoke out against skipping the number 1 candidate. Also Spychala is arguing that the mayor and other part time employees are not entitled to health benefits when she herself is a part time employee in other towns and also receives benefits from these towns. Gary is a degenerate loser and it is rubbing off on all of line B. Vote for line A on June 8 and send Gary, his flunky candidates and their creepy mannequin family packing!!
ppstrr, are you the spokesperson for Line A? Are you Bloomfield’s very own Michael Steele? As Shrub used to say, BRING IT ON!!! By all means, keep talking!
ppstr = Pete Strumulo?
Or maybe his son. What was his name? You know, the Strumolo kid that keeps running for office in all of the local towns!
Point of fact, Pat Barker did not veto a town council decision in order to get any benefits. It is my understanding that she is a fiull time employee but work in several municipalities.
The Mayor, McCarthy, did on the other hand, veto a Bloomfield town council decision so that he could keep HIS benefits. I don’t think he should have been allowed to do that, since he was only thinking about himself and not the town or the right thing to do!
I’ll be voting line B
Spychala/Barker/Rockwell/Pomares
A vote for line B is a vote for Bloomfield!
I am going to vote for the party that is going to come up with some plan to fight Bloomfields increasing crime rate. I live in the 3rd ward and the area is circling the drain.
“A vote for line B is a vote for Bloomfield!”
Wow the Foley mantra retread. Both the line a and line b teams are bad for Bloomfield. Just like the semi legal election on giving a blank check for Foley was bad for Bloomfield.
So who is running from the Republicans? Please tell me there is another option.
Copied and pasted from the Bloomfield forum and a prime example of the tone of the line A supporters who post there. If it’s not Pete Strumolo himself it’s one of his minions.
Interesting Karen should say that PS can see mistakes made by other municipalities because she works there. Well, how is she to manage Bloomfield when she holds two other positions, in two other towns? As an employee involved with the management of those towns, isn’t she then part of the problems being referred to?
PS and her cronies are the ones that derail the meetings. While the mayor does not keep as tight a lid on the audience, she takes things off topic. When the PBA came to the council with concessions over and above what the town council requested, she chose to stop the acceptance. This was even done against the recommendations of her buddy Fred Carr. (part of the public record)
While the mayor led the screwup of the town center, he needed a majority of the town council to move ahead with it. PS was part of that majority. The mayor was forced to testify by the prosecutor’s office. PS illegally met with an interviewed the current police chief according to the Sunshine Law. Her cohort, Maly and the chief admitted as such. Then, when the mayor went to veto this move, her party of four ignored his power as chairman of the council. His power of veto was upheld by the state courts. This means the hiring as a result of the illegal meeting would have been blocked and open to a full investigation and interview. This same decision by PS and her cronies has led to a number of lawsuits filed against the town council because she violated the law. Then to add insult to injury, she and her majority voted for the taxpayers to cover their lawyer’s costs. In a double standard, they rejected the mayor’s rights to the same deal. (part of the public record)
Consultants, including PS’s past boss, have been hired after her group of four formed a majority to hire them. One in particular makes over $120,000 a year for a job he is quoted as saying takes less than 12 hours a week. (part of the public record)
PS has publicly announced she has no problem firing police and firefighters. (part of the public record)
There has been mention of an award winning plan for redevelopment, but I don’t know of any resident consulted with or who has seen this plan. If such a plan exists and is so great, than why doesn’t her majority of four pass a resolution at the meeting to go ahead with it?
What about a line member that has been associated with a controversial website that the party decided to take-down for a time? (part of the public record)
At the Bloomfield National Little League opening day, Nick Joanow, Bernard Hamilton and the mayor all took time to speak to the residents and say hi. No discussion of politics (Joanow is part of the PS4). PS, stayed in the outfield of the ball field speaking to two people.
Over the past six years, PS has regularly shown up at Memorial Day ceremonies with the PD and FD late, while both departments are paying tribute to fallen comrades and soldiers.
The Line B people keep referring to the mayor and Bernard Hamilton lying about academic credentials. If this is the worst thing they can come up with, doesn’t it pale in comparison to being investigated by the county prosecutor, having friends admit to an illegal meeting, opening admitting a willingness to fire public safety personnel, unethically spending taxpayer money on lawsuits brought on by their actions?
In the end, it seems to me to be a simple decision. A person with poor academic records versus a person being investigated by the prosecutor.