River City: To The Editor:

I collected thousands of signatures to change the government in Dover Township.

After the petitions were filed, I campaigned to get the public to vote YES on the government change referendum.

I spent at least 400 hours on this project and I expected the local government would improve dramatically when the new mayor and council took office.

Recognized By The Mayor And Council

I was pleased that my efforts were recognized by the new council with a proclamation recognizing me and twelve other citizens for our hard work in reforming the government.

But now that the first year has been completed, I am appalled that the new government is worse than the one it replaced.

Betrayed Every Campaign Promise

I took the new mayor and council at their word when they were candidates, but each of them has betrayed every campaign promise they made:

They said they would cut spending by millions of dollars.

Instead, they raised spending by millions of dollars, including the use of our hard earned money to reward dozens of their cronies with government jobs and useless appointments.

They Made Government A Laughing Stock

They promised to make government more efficient. Instead they made the new government a laughing stock of  bumbling political cronies and useless patronage jobs approved jointly by the Democratic Mayor and Republican Council.

Two Party System Is A Joke

So much for the two party system and its checks and balances.

The new mayor and council promised to hold the line on taxes. Instead they gave us one of the biggest tax increases in Dover Township history.

As candidates, every member of the Republican Council promised to support the open space proposal which was the last chance to buy open space at reasonable prices.

Reneged On Open Space Commitment

But they reneged on this too – and never even criticized the bureaucrats in the school administration when they reneged on their half of the program.

An entire year has been wasted listening to their phony excuses, but the township has no open space program, and now it is too late.

They all promised to run an open government, but they repeatedly trashed the concept of full disclosure and accountability – then tried to put a spin on their ridiculous policies.

New Government A Disaster For Every Taxpayer

The new government is a disaster for every taxpayer, and a betrayal of everything we worked for on the Citizens Alert Committee.

We need to find a way to fix it - soon - before our good work is lost entirely.

         Ted Versacio - Dover Township

This article prepared for publication January 27, 2005.

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