The Imbriaco, Marra, Peck (IMP) campaign attacks Clinton Township a lot. IMP makes wild claims that the township is not run well. It attacks people who offer facts and the public record to legitimately critique the issues -- and the candidates. IMP wants you to ignore the public record and to think your fellow residents are behaving badly because they publish information you need to make a voting decision.

IMP's "friends" cry that sharing recordings of candidates' statements from public meetings is "mudslinging."

They complain that citing news articles and public meeting minutes is "negativity?"

The challenge that busy voters face is getting the facts. Letters to the editor that are purely emotional and that claim to support "my friend, the greatest guy in the world" are not facts. They are sales pitches and excuses for not knowing what the issues are. Campaign materials that fail to provide citations and specific plans of action are not useful -- they are sales pitches that count on your ignorance.

The IMP campaign for Clinton Township Council is using a classic "election attack" against its competition. It claims that criticizing Imbriaco, Marra and Peck by citing their public records is "mudslinging" and "negativity." The IMP campaign attacks anyone who dares to discuss the public records of the IMP candidates.
 

The IMP ticket has avoided explaining audio recordings of their statements, news articles about themselves, or meeting minutes in which they are cited. They simply cannot defend their words and actions. They and their friends respond by characterizing the facts and the record as "mudslinging."

Much of the evidence regarding Imbriaco's record, for example, is available in his own words in audio format: recordings of public meetings. Peck's record is in the press and in his own letters to the editor. Marra now has a brief record on the township council. Public discussion of the records of these men is necessary before voters can intelligently decide whom to vote for. If there is anything negative in the record, it's their own doing.

The IMP campaign is using another classic tactic to define its "platform." While proclaiming to run a positive campaign, the IMP team attacks every significant and successful initiative of the current Clinton Township administration, and claims those initiatives to be the IMP's own plans for the future. If this sounds kooky, take a look at the record. Take a look at what the IMP campaign says in its May 29, 2009 letter to the editor, which appears in the HC News and in the Hunterdon Democrat. Beneath each section quoted is some important commentary.

IMP: "We must work harder at controlling spending and taxes..."

FACT: The IMP campaign offers no specific plans for controlling taxes anywhere in its literature or on its web site. Contrast this to the specifics on the Krommenhoek, Mullay, Filak campaign site.

FACT: 47% of your tax bill is from the budget of the Clinton Township School District. (Only 10% comes from the municipal budget -- about $800 for the average home.)

FACT: None of the IMP candidates were present at the Board of Education (BOE) meetings when the BOE set its budget. Only Marra, who is on the council, was present at the council meeting when the BOE appeared to publicly discuss its budget with the council. Peck and Imbriaco were absent. 47% of your tax bill was on the line -- Peck and Imbriaco were no-shows. They contributed not one word to the single biggest part of your tax bill.

FACT: While Spencer Peck complained about theortical Constitutional issues in council meetings, the mayor and council filed complaints with the NJ Department of Education to stop a $160,000 golden-parachute payment to Superintendent Elizabeth Nastus. $50,000 of that payment was cut. None of the IMP candidates acknowledged or attempted to stop the BOE's wasteful spending.

FACT: Spencer Peck has lived in the township for decades. He complains loudly about taxes, yet he never appeared at a BOE or council meeting to question school spending, while the current administration eliminated over $4 million in wasteful school budgets.

FACT: The BOE recently hired a business administrator for a 37% salary increase -- from $91,000 per year to $125,000 per year. The IMP team has said nothing about this wasteful spending of tax dollars.
 

COMMENTARY: The IMP campaign has avoided making any statements or any promises about controlling the biggest part of your tax bill: the school budget. Why? Because like former mayor Tom Borkowski, they are backed by what is known locally as "the school board party." Check the Imbriaco Marra Peck Campaign Facebook page. Check the front yards of school board members past and present, where you will find IMP signs. That is where much of the IMP's support comes from. It seems clear that in exchange for the school board party's political support, the IMP ticket will do what Borkowski did: reinstate rejected school budgets and avoid controlling over-the-top school spending. That means higher property taxes.

IMP: "And we will work collegially with the Township Board of Education to help insure that our children receive a thorough and effective education that is respectful of the demands made on taxpayers."

FACT: The IMP campaign does not discuss school spending and makes no promises to continue rigorous review of rejected school budgets.

FACT: When Marra ran for council two years ago, he stated that his only agenda was to stop the council from interfering with school board financial decisions. This year Marra attempted to limit the range of the auditor's work.
 

COMMENTARY: Peter Marra may have been an effective school board member on the North Hunterdon Voorhees BOE. But with Imbriaco or Peck on the council, Marra will be able to go back to his original promise and reinstate the Borkowski policy: Let the BOE spend whatever it wants without oversight or control when voters reject school budgets. That means higher property taxes. The IMP party ignores 47% of your tax bill -- school taxes.

IMP: "...and seek more opportunities for shared services, not run from them as a consequence of our own failure to negotiate successful relationships with our neighboring communities."

FACT: The IMP campaign has no record of working with neighbor towns or for shared services. It has offered no plans to do so.

FACT: While chairman of the planning board, IMP candidate Jim Imbriaco advocated a Windy Acres settlement that would have forced the township to sue Readington for sewer capacity for Windy Acres.

FACT: While chairman of the planning board, Jim Imbriaco was appointed to the State Plan Cross Acceptance Committee -- a team of 7 towns organized by the county to work on the statewide State Plan. This plan defines whether we are a "high growth" area or "limited growth." Imbriaco attended only one meeting -- he ran away from this enormous responsibility. The project lasted over a year and created a powerful bond among the towns. The Cross Acceptance process is the top-most level of land-use planning a town can do. Several other citizens (including me) attended the meetings throughout. Clinton Township took a leadership role -- without its planning board chairman.
 

COMMENTARY: The IMP campaign is totally misrepresenting the township's record on shared services and "successful relationships with our neighboring communities" since 2006. It claims it will do a better job, but its record on regional cooperation is appalling.

IMP: "We must support our recreation Commission and work with them to find cost effective ways of enhancing our parks and recreation program."

FACT: The Mayor and Council expand recreation programs in the township every year. Just ask any parent whose kids enjoy our programs -- or any adult who enjoys our faciities and adult programs.
 

COMMENTARY: The IMP campaign implies the township is not supporting its recreation programs. This is nonsense, and just another political attack intended to disparage the current administration.

IMP: "We need to continue this team’s well established record of protecting our environment."

FACT: When the Commissioner of the NJ Department of Environmental Protection notified Jim Imbriaco's planning board in 2005 that the Windy Acres settlement Imbriaco advocated was a threat to NJ environmental policy, Imbriaco called the Commissioner "uninformed" and rejected his input. The Commmissioner responded with an even more strongly-worded legal and policy analysis of the settlement, and the DEP notified the township that the environmental threats posed by the settlement that Imbriaco advocated were not acceptable.

FACT: The DEP pulled the plug on Windy Acres after Imbriaco voted to sign the settlement.

FACT: (See above.) Imbriaco rejected his role in the Cross Acceptance process and called it a waste of time. He attended only one meeting.

FACT: The Cross Acceptance process led to a designation of "environmentally sensitive" for Hunterdon County. It has stopped sprawl.
 

COMMENTARY: While Jim Imbriaco was approving The Mews, Water's Edge and trying to force development on Windy Acres on top of a Category-1 stream (most highly protected designation), citizens were working on the top-most environmental protections for our town.

IMP: "There are a number of our neighbors with serious concerns about the constant barrage of gunfire from, and worse, the level of lead in the groundwater beneath, the firing range at the Mountainview Youth Correctional Facility. We can no longer turn a deaf ear to their fears."

FACT: Council President Steve Krommenhoek and Council member Charlie Howard addressed this important issue in 2006 and 2007, meeting with affected residents and with state representatives. They continue to monitor it.
 

IMP: "Nor can we ignore any longer the adverse tax impacts of township’s current affordable housing plan."

FACT: As planning board chair, Imbriaco voted to permit the construction of Water's Edge -- an affordable housing project that includes no affordable housing.

FACT: Imbriaco presided over the approval of The Mews, a project that has added so many children to our schools that we had to invest $40 million in new school facilities.

FACT: Citing affordable housing as the reason, Imbriaco presided over a period of the heaviest residential development the township has seen. During this time our property tax bills soared.

FACT: Imbriaco advocated 90 more affordable housing units in Annandale, at the Old Beaverbrook Homestead.

FACT: During a decade of running the planning board, Imbriaco failed to produce a sound affordable housing plan to protect the township from higher taxes.
 

COMMENTARY: IMP has proposed no comprehensive affordable housing plan for Clinton Township.

IMP: "We must meet our COAH obligations, but in a fiscally responsible way."

FACT: The township has invested time and money in a comprehensive affordable housing plan. This new plan stopped the 90 units that Imbriaco planned for downtown Annandale. Part of the necessary housing is now designated for Route 31, away from downtown Annandale. The site is the only available site that provides the necessary water and sewer to meet COAH requirements.

FACT: The township has designated the buildable part of Windy Acres for the balance of our affordable housing obligation.

FACT: IMP has provided no financial analysis that shows the current COAH plan is not viable.
 

COMMENTARY: The IMP's objection to the current COAH plan is an irresponsible and indefensible political gambit. IMP claims there will be costs -- but has provided no proof. IMP claims all the COAH units can be put on Windy Acres -- yet we all know that the hundreds of units IMP wants to put there were rejected by the court and by the DEP already.

Crying wolf gets votes -- but like The Mews and Water's Edge, thoughtless planning also creates staggering new costs for taxpayers.

IMP: "That means building these units on land we purchased last December at Windy Acres for 7 Million dollars, and not on land we would have to buy for several million dollars more. If we are elected, we will insure that we do not spend our tax dollars in such an irresponsible manner."

FACT: Imbriaco proposed putting hundreds of housing units on Windy Acres in 2005.

FACT: The NJ DEP rejected the plan because the site would not support hundreds of units of any kind.

FACT: The NJ courts rejected plans to build hundreds of units on Windy Acres because adequate sewer and water were not available.

FACT: No additional water or sewer capacity is available at Windy Acres today.

FACT: The IMP ticket insists on putting hundreds of housing units on Windy Acres today.

FACT: Funding for Windy Acres came from the existing township Open Space Trust Fund. Construction of housing is not permitted on lands acquired with open space funds.

FACT: Additional funding will be obtained from the State Green Acres program, which does not permit construction of housing on Green Acres lands.
 

COMMENTARY: Imbriaco attempted to force hundreds of housing units on Windy Acres -- in defiance of environmental regulations. Today, he's back trying to prove he was right: He wants to put hundreds of units in the same place -- but today there are even more stringent state regulations, including the Highlands Act, that prohibit such development on Windy Acres. The Wind Acres controversy has been resolved. Imbriaco will not let it go -- his campaign seems to be a revenge run, to prove he was right and everyone else was wrong. Imbriaco is determined to build the Windy Acres project that the DEP and COAH rejected years ago. Isn't it time to let it go?

The township has a COAH plan that includes housing units on Windy Acres. But the entire obligation does not fit on Windy Acres. Should the township play Russian roulette with COAH once again, because Jim Imbriaco needs to recover his damaged credibility?

IMP: "We will adopt and vigorously enforce a robust code of ethics that will insure that contracts paid for with public funds are awarded on a competitive basis and not to friends of a chosen few."

FACT: While she was Imbriaco's vice chair on the planning board, Pat Papa submitted a letter to the editor advocating for the proposed Windy Acres settlement. She signed the letter in her formal capacity as "Vice Chairperson of the planning board." Neither the planning board nor the council had voted on the settlement yet. Public comment had not concluded yet. By advocating publicly on a matter she was to vote on, I complained to planning board chairman Jim Imbriaco that it certainly seemed Papa created an ethical conflict for herself and compromised both her appointed position and the planning board itself. Imbriaco ignored it and took no action. Perhaps realizing that an ethics complaint could be filed against her, Papa resigned her planning board position just before I became mayor.

FACT: While chairman of the planning board, Jim Imbriaco routinely hired professionals without a competitive process for over 10 years. Those professionals were paid from both public funds (to support planning) and applicant escrows.

FACT: The "competitive bidding" method advocated by IMP permits professionals and contractors to bid on and win township contracts even if they are involved politically in the township.
 

COMMENTARY: Spencer Peck's claims about inappropriate contracts cannot withstand the light of day. He has never taken action  because there is no violation -- except in his mind. Crying "FIRE!" to win an election didn't work when Peck bungled his petition to stop the township's capital plan in 2007.

IMP: "We must also insure that our voice is heard in Trenton, because our state government has forgotten towns like Clinton Township except when they need our taxes."

FACT: The IMP team has no record of "managing up" into Trenton for Clinton Township's benefit.

FACT: In his most significant opportunity to "make our voice heard in Trenton" Imbriaco failed to participate in the Cross Acceptance Committee he was assigned to. He demonstrated disdain for any state-related policy-making process.

FACT: When assigned as liasion to the County Solid Waste Committee, Spencer Peck stopped attending meetings without notifying anyone. He was fired when the County complained about his attendance record. He failed to give the township a voice at the county level and the state level.

FACT: When Clinton Township citizens went to the county and to Trenton to get help to stop Windy Acres and succeeded, Jim Imbriaco attacked those county and state officials and rejected their efforts to help us.
 

COMMENTARY: The IMP ticket is totally misrepresenting the township's relationship with the state. The fact is that Clinton Township has better relations and a bigger voice in Trenton than we have ever had.

IMP: "Our senior citizens have serious issues about the intrusive role of township government in the senior citizens club and we need to listen to and address their concerns."

FACT: The senior citizens' club has existed for years under illegal status with the Township. The law does not permit a muncipality to fund a "club."

FACT: Under the Borkowski administration, the senior club was funded improperly with municipal tax dollars.

FACT: The township gave the club the option to remain connected to our recreation department or to spin off on its own.

FACT: The club opted to stay with the recreation department and to follow state requirements.
 

COMMENTARY: The IMP team ought to be ashamed of itself for using our seniors to claim "intrusive...government." It should be ashamed to play on the sensibilities of our seniors to try to win an election.

Virtually every "plan" put forth by the IMP campaign is actually an initiative that has already been accomplished by the current administration. The Krommenhoek, Mullay, Filak campaign acknowledges the township's successes and has committed to continue them.

Don't mistake the IMP's "plans" for the Township's accomplishments.

Compare the IMP's empty "plans" to the detailed accomplishments and plans of the Krommenhoek, Mullay, Filak campaign.