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Brett
Schundler |
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Christie Whitman |
Dover Township Taxpayers Face $40 Million Overdevelopment Tax
Increase From Dover GOP Leaders Who Botched Affordable Housing Problem
Brett Schundler, Who Wanted To Repeal
Mt. Laurel And Cure Affordable Housing Disaster, Looks Better And
Better In Dover Township
• • • While Whitman, Haines, Clement,
Aldrich And DiFrancesco, Who Did The Hatchet Job On Schundler Last
Year, Look Worse And Worse
Two Articles Reprinted From OceanCountyPolitics•Com HardCopy
Edition #4 - November 2002
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Character Assassination Of Schundler Hurt His Campaign But Hurt
The Community As Well
Vindictive Smear
Campaign Against Brett Schundler By Whitman, Haines And DiFrancesco
Had Implications For Dover Township Far Beyond Their Private Ambition
And Personal Greed
When Christie Whitman resigned and left town to take a federal job,
she willed the governorship to Donald DiFrancesco who was supposed to
help hide the Whitman legacy of deficits, patronage and scandals.
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Donald
DiFrancesco |
But plans changed when a little problem surfaced: it turned out
“Acting” Gov. DiFrancesco had obtained a $325,000 “loan” from
Hovnanian development interests, a “loan” that he never paid back.
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Brett Schundler |
The sleazy “loan” was criticized by conservative GOP gubernatorial
candidate Brett Schundler; then the unelectable DiFrancesco dropped
out of the primary election; and Schundler ended up beating Robert
Franks who was Whitman's hand picked replacement for DiFrancesco. Her
vindictiveness was palpable.
Whitman hated Schundler, because Schundler had the temerity to
criticize her for the EZ Pass scandals, the scandals at the DMV, the
illegal $2.5 billion state budget deficit, $22 billion in pension
system stock market losses, and a wasteful political patronage
operation.
Virginia Haines Was Part Of Schundler Smear
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Virginia Haines |
One of the overpaid Whitman patronage flunkies, $107,000 “director” of
the lottery department Virginia Haines, joined with Whitman and
DiFrancesco after Schundler won the primary, to ridicule him and shut
down important revenue sources for his campaign.
De facto, the Whitman group backed McGreevey. The Whitman-Haines
campaign of character assassination hurt Schundler everywhere, but in
Dover Township, the smear campaign hurt the community as well.
The story is told for the first time by OCPolitics•Com.
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When A Joint Appearance At A Township Committee Meeting Was
Proposed, It Was Shot Down
Schundler Campaign Could Have
Addressed Dover Township Overdevelopment Problem, But Haines, Clement,
Wouldn't Let Him Debate McGreevey Here
Because Of Coziness With Developers
And Their Lawyers, Dover GOP May Be Responsible For Mt. Laurel Tax
Increase That Could Reach $40 Million Annually
Dover Township faces a tax increase that could reach $40 Million
annually because of coziness of the local GOP with developers favored
by the Planning Board.
The smear campaign against Brett Schundler last year had huge
implications for Dover Township because Schundler’s policies would
have allowed a decent defense against the rampant overdevelopment
caused by bad local Republican development policies.
The situation was complicated by local GOP support for the huge
“affordable housing” developments mandated by Whitman's policies which
cultivated North Jersey urban constituencies to the detriment of
suburban communities.
Brett Schundler wanted to repeal Mt. Laurel, and allow suburban
communities control over their own zoning laws, a policy that, except
for the GOP leadership, had near unanimous support locally.
Township Committee Meeting Appearance Shot Down
Schundler offered a joint appearance at a township committee meeting
with Democrat Jim McGreevey, a meeting that the Democrat was sure to
avoid because his Mr. Laurel policies are identical with Whitman's.
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Boss R.C. Clement |
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Clarence Aldrich |
The appearance could have put the public spotlight on the Mt. Laurel
problem in Dover Township, but local GOP leaders like GOP Boss R. C.
Clement and Whitman clone Virginia Haines shot the idea down because
of their connections with the developers.
Deputy “Mayor” Clarence Aldrich put thumbs down on a township
committee debate, effectively denying Schundler a platform in Dover
Township.
Aldrich, a paving company owner who did business with every developer
in sight, qualifies as a development interest in his own right.
The Schundler smear was followed earlier this year by another musical
chairs political payoff.
Haines replaced Aldrich as an appointed member of the Township
committee, following Aldrich’s resignation from the governing body to
take a “superintendent's” job set up for him by Haines, who resigned
as DMUA chairman.
Schundler threatened their patronage empire, so they beat up on him.
Schundler Warned About Mt. Laurel Tax Increase
Implications were ominous for local taxpayers who face a tax increase
of up to $40 million annually because of a projected increase of 5000
more school students at a local cost of more than $5000 each.
Do the arithmetic yourself and add a big increase in cost for
additional municipal and county services.
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