Letters

United Republican Club of Howell offers support for Councilman Wayne Lucey in his bid for re-election

I was dismayed to read an article in the June 16 edition of the Tri-Town News that seemed to imply that the United Republican Club (URC) in Howell was supporting Robert Walsh, an independent candidate for Township Council, just because he happens to be a club member. Not true. The club is endorsing the incumbent, Wayne Lucey.

Mr. Walsh, a URC member for only two months, had come to the club expressing an interest in running a primary for the one-year unexpired term.

When told that the club was supporting Councilman Lucey, Mr. Walsh had agreed to wait for other opportunities to run a slate within the Republican organization. Apparently, he changed his mind.

For the record, the URC did not submit any names to the Township Council as possible candidates to fill the unexpired term that the mayor and council ultimately awarded to Council-man Lucey. That was the job of the Republican County Com-mittee.

Your article also incorrectly stated that another independent candidate, former Democrat Reinhard “Fritz” Kirchhof, was the only former elected official to testify at a series of special hearings which examined the municipal approval process surrounding the Colts Neck Cross-ing adult community along Route 33.

The governing body ultimately concluded that the prior Democratic administration had an appearance of a conflict of interest in accepting jobs and campaign cash from a developer while rezoning a tract along Route 33. You failed to mention that former Democratic Council-man George Pettignano also testified.

Mr. Pettignano’s responses to serious questions provided the governing body with additional information that rolled up in their decision.

While it is true that Mr. Kirchhof did not vote on the rezoning issue due to his absence (he was often absent), he was very much a part of that past Democratic administration.

The Republican-controlled council, especially since Mayor Joseph DiBella was elected last year, has done a terrific job of reining in uncontrolled spending by finding innovative ways to let the hard-working citizens of Howell keep more of what they earn in their pockets.

Councilman Lucey has done an admirable job these past five months. Councilman Lucey is modest, dedicated to public service, and has many initiatives in the pipeline that maintains the best interest of all Howell residents. I applaud Councilman Lucey’s efforts and the residents of Howell can be proud of him as their councilman.

In any organization there are those who are unhappy, and the Howell URC is no exception. Make no mistake: the URC is committed to supporting candidates who value a hard day’s work, smaller government and the principles of the Republican Party. To imply that it is now backing Mr. Walsh is fallacy.

Councilman Lucey is our URC membership-supported candidate for this year’s council seat and he deserves to be elected. As for who testified at the hearing, your reporter wrote on April 20 that both Kirchhof and Pettignano testified. I don’t know why you got it wrong now.

Paul Sayah

president

United Republican Club

of Howell Township

Howell