Editors note: These two young men had a lot of courage to run for the Berkeley School Board against the most disreputable collection of greedy character assassins in the county. GOP VP & Internet SmearChief Richard Ciullo and Republican Club President Anthony DePaola questioned their nominating petitions; tried (but failed) to get a bogus indictment from the attorney general, and Ciullo threatened them at least a half dozen times during the campaign.

Bowens And Fredella Were Smeared
And Threatened But They Stayed On Message

Republican Chairman Carmen Amato, President of the Central Regional School Board, recipient of a useless $85,000 patronage job from the freeholders, and a Ciullo smear campaign accomplice, tried to intimidate them and smear them in some of the most distasteful political literature ever published in Berkeley Township.

But Bowens and Fredella stuck to their message and, although they could afford to contact only a small fraction of Berkeley registered voters, they forthrightly questioned what all these Republican GreedClub officers are doing as members of the school boards, and the message resonated as they deplored the partisan flavor of school board policies that has politicized education in our community and raised our taxes.

If Amato and Ciullo want to know why their budgets were voted down by the biggest margins in New Jersey, all they need to do is go look  in the mirror.

48% Of The Vote In Their First Try

Bowens and Fredella got an astounding 48% of the vote in their first try for public office against the most greedy and mean spirited political patronage hogs in the business.

We want to thank the near-majority of Berkeley residents who voted for us in the school board election last week.

We spent very little money compared with our opponents, but our campaign to get partisan politics out of the schools clearly resonated with Berkeley taxpayers; we got hundreds more votes than anyone expected us to get in our first campaign for elected office.

Greed Margin Was Only 126 Votes

We came within 125 votes of Kevin Askew, treasurer of the local Republican club, and within 126 votes of Anthony DePaola, President of the Republican Club, who had the support of the teachers union and the school employees union in their campaign.

Deplore The Use Of The Elementary Schools
For The Distribution Of Republican Patronage

We congratulate them on their narrow victories, but we continue to deplore their use of the elementary schools for the distribution of Republican patronage, including an astounding $1.96 million for architect Massimo Yezzi, the Dover Township District committeeman who is a mainstay contributor to five political slush funds that provide money for Berkeley Republicans.

Yezzi's Got The Gravy; Amato Got The
Useless County Job; Taxpayers Got The Shaft

We will also keep drawing attention to Central Regional where board members Carmen Amato, the local Republican Chairman who just got a useless $85,000 job from the Republican freeholders, and Richard Ciullo, the Republican Vice President who operates the disgusting Republican WebSite, have used the school board to distribute Republican patronage, including an unnecessary $70,000 job at Central Regional for Yezzi’s wife April, the President of the Republican Women’s Federation.

Taxpayers Money Wasted On Political Appointments

Huge amounts of money are being wasted on political appointments and crony giveaways in both school systems; it is no accident the majority of the officers in the local Republican patronage club have been elected to Berkeley school boards.

It was a pleasant surprise that nearly 2000 Berkeley residents shared our concern that the quality of education is neglected so Republican Chairman Amato, Vice President Ciullo, President DePaola, Treasurer Askew and other Republican Club officers and members can reward political cronies with costly appointments that waste taxpayers money and short-change school children who should benefit from every tax dollar.

Thank You For Such Extraordinary Support!

Once again, our thanks to Berkeley residents who gave us such extraordinary support in the school election. We will continue to speak out in your behalf.