GOP official’s comments draw response from Dems

BY DAVE BENJAMIN
Staff Writer

MANALAPAN — A Democratic candidate for Township Committee has fired back at a comment made about her by a member of the governing body.

In a July 13 News Transcript story about Manalapan’s financial health, Republican Committeeman Andrew Lucas said, “When Ms. (Michelle) Roth was asked at a Township Committee meeting what she would have done to prevent [municipal financial problems], she had no answer. With so little real surplus remaining, the township would have reached the point this year where it could no longer pay its bills as they came due. That is the definition of insolvency.”

Roth was appointed to a seat on the committee in early 2004 and served for the year. She was defeated in a bid to win a three-year term in the November 2004 election. Roth is running for a three-year term in this year’s election.

This week, she responded to Lucas’ comments.

“As both the mayor (Democrat William Scherer) and last year’s auditor confirmed in the July 13 article, Manalapan is a well run town with strong financial controls,” Roth said. “The town was never in any financial danger last year. While the rest of us deal with reality and work to improve our town, Mr. Lucas and his associates prefer his ‘Chicken Little’ fantasy world where the sky is falling. Why is he on a path to destroy Manalapan’s reputation? His stock answer is that it’s just politics. He just doesn’t get it.”

Roth said, “Manalapan’s general fund balance at the end of 2004 was over $13 million, which was $200,000 higher than it was at the end of 2003. That happened because we were very careful with the taxpayers’ money. Instead of thanking the previous administration for their hard work and building up the town’s savings account, Mr. Lucas talks in circles to cover his insolvency lies. Maybe Mr. Lucas needs a dictionary. Insolvency is defined as not being able to pay your bills, something which has never been a problem in Manalapan.

“Let’s look at how Mr. Lucas handled the budget this year. He claims to have spent 100 hours and consulted with outside sources. The result was only a reduction in the ‘wish list’ submitted by department heads, which he and (Republican Committeeman Joseph) Locricchio masqueraded as budget cuts. Then, they returned $11 to each taxpayer and immediately turned around and borrowed that same money with interest to buy a new ambulance. This is not sound financial planning.”

Also in the July 13 article, Lucas made a comment about Democratic municipal chairman Gerard Ward and said, “Mr. Ward’s comparison of five-year municipal budget projections to sports statistics is typical of the Democrats’ lack of understanding of basic municipal government principles and their insistence on politicizing everything with irrelevant metaphors.”

In response, Ward said, “It would be funny if it weren’t so sad that every time someone has a criticism about Mr. Lucas he attributes it to me. You only need to check the June 8 News Transcript to see that it was another resident who made the baseball analogy.”

A letter in the June 8 News Transcript from a Manalapan resident — not Ward — compared a baseball player adjusting his hitting strategy if he was not successful at the beginning of the season to the Township Committee adjusting its financial strategy if a problem occurred.

Ward said Manalapan residents are still wondering why Lucas refuses to be held accountable and take responsibility for claims about Manalapan being insolvent.

Claims relating to municipal insolvency were made by the Republicans during the 2004 campaign.

“Not even their own auditor would back his ridiculous claims and say that the town was in a ‘dire situation,’ ” Ward said. “Why is he and his Republican friends so intent on destroying this town’s image just for political gain?”