Party politics driving job appointments in Brick
Guest Column
Sal Petoia
The Jan. 31 issue of the Brick Township Bulletin opinion page contained an editorial and letters discussing the selection of the new executive director for the Brick Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA) and other matters relating to partisan favoritism and bias.

The night that Freeholder Jim Lacey was voted in as the new executive director was my last meeting as a sitting commissioner on theMUA.All that themedia indicated was that Mr. Lacy received a unanimous five votes favoring his selection. However, I wish it to be known that I withdrew from the process due to a potential conflict of interest and did not vote. Those voting for the appointment were regular Commissioners Dennis Salerno, Alan Cartine, andMUAChairman Patrick Bottazzi. Also voting favorably were alternate Commissioners Joseph Buttacavoli and recently appointedMadeline Iannarone. All of these people are Republicans. Regular Commissioner Joseph Veni was absent that evening.

Before the vote was taken, I announced that I would not participate since I hold a position on the Ocean County Transportation Advisory Board, whose members are appointed by the freeholders. That is the reason for my conflict, and I considered it improper to vote. However, I also stated that I was aware of Mr. Lacey's qualifications and that I believed he has satisfactory educational and managerial background for the job. A topic we mutually agree on is that the MUA should not be relying entirely on the Metedeconk River, fromwhich 70 percent of our water is derived, as the primary source of potable water. He indicated support for a programto investigate alternatives such as desalinization as a future means to assure an unlimited supply of water, and he appears knowledgeable about reverse osmosis and other desalinization techniques.

My argument for looking at sources other than the river, a project that is now being abandoned by the MUA even though money was put in the budget for it, is threefold. Two months ago the river intakes had to be shut down because of saltwater intrusion due to lowriver flowand high tides; the use of toxic products for gypsy moth spraying in upstream Jackson Township threatens the water quality; and upstream development and greater extraction of water is certain to have a negative effect on the river flow. I do not believe that Brick has a right to seek curtailment of development in Jackson simply to preserve the water for Brick's use.

While I concur that Mr. Lacey has the credentials to lead theMUA, I regret to say that some of the other commissioners and I were never provided the names or qualifications of the other seven applicants for the job. Yet, Mayor Acropolis had the information. I have to assume that only Republican Party eliteswere privy to that important information. I don't know if any of the other applicants were better qualified or not.

I do know that the acting executive director, Steve Specht,who took over after former director Kevin Donald left last April, did an outstanding job and should have been the best applicant had he applied. However, as Chairman Bottazzi told the public,Mr. Specht was not interested in the job. And anyone who really believes that, should be an easymark to sell the Brooklyn Bridge to. I am certain that Mr. Specht would publicly deny any interest in becoming the executive director, but under the circumstances what else could he be expected to say?

The point of my letter is not so much what happened at the BTMUA.My point is that partisan politics has again reared its ugly head with regard to top-level jobs and that the party in control does anything it wants. Republicans now control all the boards and agencies in town and only Republicans get appointed to these, qualified or not. It is my opinion that as far as local Republicans are concerned, the party comes first and the people last. My experience is that Democrats aren't nearly so parochial and that in sharp contrast to Republicans, they appoint people from both parties as well as independents to key positions.

For years I have been an advocate of nonpartisan government in Brick. We had nonpartisan government until around 1988 when the Republicans pushed to change the date of municipal elections from May to November, allegedly to save the cost of the separate May election. However, they cleverly avoided any mention that the change would take us from nonpartisan to partisan government. The change introduced strong intervention by the county Republican bosses who make many decisions affecting Brick. Partisan government also has resulted in a strong influx of county Republican organization fundingwhich is used to influence elections. If anyone has any doubt and has the least bit of interest, witness recent events about what has gone on in the town. Better yet, concerned people should read the editorial and the letters, which appear in the issue of the Bulletin mentioned above. Everything that needs to be said is right there.

I want to dispel any response that I am a disgruntled closet Democrat. I am an Independent who has lived in Brick for nearly 46 years and has served in many capacities for over 43 of those years. I have been fortunate to have been appointed to many positions by both Democrat and Republican leaders, although as of late, Republicans selfishly reserve those positions for only their own. Also, I have strong feelings that persons elected by the people should run the government, not political party bosses.Nonpartisan government provides the opportunity tomore closely attain that ideal.Under nonpartisan government, virtually any interested citizen can seek to hold office, and with no party affiliation on the ballot, independents have a better chance of being elected based on their merits and not because they happen to belong to the party that enjoys themajority of registered voters.

Courtesy of the Republicans, my service as a Brick public official is now over, butmy dedication to the community remains unchanged. I will continue to be an advocate for a return to nonpartisan government in Brick for as long as I reside here. I could only wish that more citizens would share my goal and become active to help return us to the nonpartisan government that served Brick so well for over 22 years.

Only when we have a government that is fair and balanced and void of overt partisan influence will those who are supposed to represent them serve the people of Brick best. And that will only happen when the people become fed up with "politics as usual." When I was serving on the Brick Board of Educationmore than 35 years ago, I can't help but remember a Brick politician who is long gone once remarked, "…the people of Brick are being raped…and they love it"! Apparently we still do.

Sal Petoia is a resident of Brick