PITMAN:
"I WON'T BACK DOWN TO THOSE WHO WANT RAISE TAXES AGAIN!"
PACKED
HOUSE AT EURO CLUB SHOWS DEEP SUPPORT FOR PITMAN'S AGENDA!
PITMAN
CALLS FOR SPECIAL MEETING FRIDAY MORNING!
NORTH
ARLINGTON - With the pressure from partisans and
special interests to raise taxes at a fever pitch, North
Arlington Mayor Russ Pitman thanked his closest supporters
and promised to "move forward and put the borough's
finances back on track."
About
100 locals and fifty county Democrats ascended upon
The Euro Club to hear the Mayor and his new
majority of Carey Ann Rosenblatt, Patrick Roche and
James Ferriero take up the cause of defending taxpayers
in the face of two decades of Republican waste and mismanagement.
"What
is the message of the local Republicans? Let's raise
taxes again in 2004? Let's incite near riots because
the Democrats won the election? Let's make sure every
cop in North Arlington makes $100K? Do these people
actually think homeowners and taxpayers are going to
stand for such intimidation tactics? The reality is
that beyond their small following of partisan employees,
no one supports what happened on February 12th",
said one local Democrat.
According
to polling conducted last week by Neighborhood Research,
65% of all residents want council members who will
work with Mayor Russ Pitman.
That
spells bad news for the three Republicans who will face
the voters wrath come November.
"The
people back Pitman. The GOP in North Arlington
represent government waste, mismanagement, over expenditures
and a complete abdication of the borough's finances.
The Democratic Party represents homeowners &
taxpayers who want tax relief and an affordable community
that will fight low income housing. That's the difference
between them and us," observed Democratic Party Chairman
Nicholas Antonicello, Sr.
Mayor
Pitman promised to move forward with his agenda to change
the culture of Borough Hall.
"This
has been a difficult time for all of us. The scene we
witnessed at Borough Hall last week never should have never occurred.
It was carefully orchestrated by individuals
who want to see me fail and intimidate this majority
from doing the right thing. Not a single person
was being let go, terminated or demoted. Those people
who want to infuse partisan politics into the operation
of this municipality are the culprits," said Pitman.
Pitman
announced that a special meeting of the governing body
will include the very same agenda that was supposed
to be considered last Thursday on Friday morning at
10:00 AM.
"The
business of government cannot be compromised by politics
and partisan demonstrations. We need to vote on several
issues including raffle licenses and the refinancing
of bond anticipation notes (BANS) made necessary
by the former, defeated Kaiser Administration.
North Arlington cannot be held hostage," observed the
Mayor.
Most
Democrats in attendance had few kind words for
appointed Councilman, James Herrmann.
"Councilman
Herrmann does not care about taxpayers or homeowners.
His role in that near riot needs to be exposed. Why
did we need the Bergen County Police Department to keep
the peace? Italiano's comments in this week's Leader
were disgraceful and only confirms his complete
lack of cooperation with Mayor Pitman," said one Democrat
who wished to remain unidentified for fear of retribution.
According
to the Kearny Observer, Bergen County Police
Chief John Schmidig "advised Pitman to cancel the meeting
due to safety reasons and told the mayor to remain in
his office for security reasons."
Many
in attendance tonight wanted to know why the county
police had to takeover control of the meeting. "What
was Italiano doing?", questioned another attendee.
Borough
Hall sources tell NA TODAY that Councilman-select James
Herrmann
and Mr.
Italiano met at least once before the February
12th meeting. Italiano is a partisan Republican
who openly supported Herrmann in his 1,000 vote, landslide
defeat last November. Herrmann is now serving in a temporary basis
because of Jim Ward's abrupt "resignation without explanation"
on December 26th of last year. Italiano was
seen at Republican headquarters election night and
proudly displayed signs on his residence supporting
Herrmann and Caputo.
He
was the only municipal department head to openly
display a partisan sign on his property. Italiano
earned in excess of $130,000 in 2003 as the borough's
police chief. He was appointed chief by defeated
Mayor Len Kaiser.
Italiano
was elected without opposition last year to the North
Arlington Board of Education where his wife is employed
full-time in the board's business office.
Many
in the room wondered how large the school tax increase
will be this year since Italiano seems to oppose
any semblance of fiscal belt tightening.
"Italiano seems
interested in raising taxes and opposing Mayor Pitman.
He seems to oppose any reduction in expenditures
for his department. He opposes an independent review.
He supports six-figure salaries for every police officer
and supervisor. He supports one-to-one supervision
which is costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of
dollars. If Italiano has his way, we'll have another
school & municipal tax increase again this
year! Do these Republicans have any respect for homeowners,"
questioned one retiree who supports Pitman.
