To the Editor:
With the Winter Olympics behind us and the Summer Games on the horizon, the citizens of Bayonne, gear up for the Spring Games. I’m not talking baseball; I’m speaking about the political games.
The incumbents will play the “blame game,” blaming the past administration for all our troubles. They are hoping you will forget that they were their biggest supporters and part of the political machine that has been misleading and feeding off the taxpayers for the past decade. Nepotism, corruption, double dipping and rubber stamping are more prevalent now than they have ever been in Bayonne’s history.
Can you imagine four more years of that? I cannot! That’s why I decided to run for First Ward Council with Team Davis. I will not play political games or BS you, the voters. I will instead ask for your vote based on my history as a citizen of Bayonne.
I was born in the First Ward; I purchased my first home in 1985, at the age of 21, after the birth of my daughter. I still live in that neighborhood. I’ve always been a neighborhood guy, the person on your block that you could go to for help or just shoot the breeze. For the past eight years I served as a volunteer for the Henry Harris PTA, where I helped to raise private funding for the education of our youth. Through my leadership and the help of the former principal and community, we were able to make numerous upgrades to the classrooms; most notably was providing additional Smart Boards to the children of Henry E. Harris.
I also serve as a volunteer for the Bayonne Little League where I hold the office of President of the Minor Leagues. In 2010 I saw the need of renovating the Pony League Field. The City did not have the funding. Rather than accepting that answer, I worked with local industries and contractors to seek that funding. They invested more than $100,000 toward the renovation of the city-owned field. Today that field is considered to be one of the best in Bayonne.
As a private citizen, I took the initiative to improve my community. It has always been my belief that one should strive to improve the community rather than use the community to improve oneself. When elected I will continue to work hard, always keeping the best interests of the community as my number-one priority.
THOMAS J. COTTER
First Ward Candidate