To the Editor:
This letter is written in response to the front-page article about local Assembly Candidate Washington Flores. As most people know already, I enjoy writing weekly letters, enjoy speaking my mind about life, politics and was very vocal during the last mayoral election. I spoke about change and how bad Bayonne needed a real management shakeup in City Hall and a People-tician, not a politician at the helm. We, as citizens needed to hold our new leadership to their word and also offer ideas, solutions and become more active.
I also spoke about how Bayonne became consumed by the hierarchy of the political machine in Hudson County. We have all witnessed head on, the boondoggle at Bayonne’s Gold Coast and the wasting of taxpayer money year after year since around 2004. This waste is what happens to cities like ours when a political machine gathers the troops and puts the machine into full effect. Who makes out in the situation? I don’t have to tell the citizens of Bayonne because we all already know and have gone down this road already. The handpicked candidates all have had one thing in common; they take orders from a higher power and will not stray. They stay in line no matter what, regardless of whether it is in the best interest of taxpayers or not.
Bayonne is a great community and it’s small enough that gossip good or bad spreads like wildfire within minutes. I, for one have heard numerous rumors spread about me personally over the course of the last months. I honestly laugh at the majority of them because they are simply laughable. The people who are spreading them and repeating them are also indeed laughable. Anyone who knows me personally would be smart enough to know what those rumors were and who is spreading the nonsense.
It’s a shame to hear that Bayonne Republican Party Leader Vinnie Consigulo would try to mask his invisible leadership throughout the years and mock Washington’s chances when Vinnie himself has backed Bayonne’s mayor, who ran as a Democrat and was also good friends with Washington. It’s also ironic that Juan Perez, Councilman at Large, also ran as a Democrat but then changed to Republican, when he lost HCDO backing and then changed back to Democrat. Was there questions then? If not, why not? Why now?
I think as voters and as citizens we should all be mindful and aware of who we truly feel will truly represent our best interests in Trenton. Who will fight day to day for the people of Bayonne? Yes, we need a fighter for Bayonne, because the citizens of Bayonne are sick and tired of empty promises. Enough is enough and the time has never been better for change.
JOHN MILAN SEBIK