Newcomers think they have all the answers

While I live with my daughter now, I watch closely the goings-on in Aberdeen and Matawan. I have lived in this area for over 25 years and have seen the likes of Mr. Adam Puharic before. He, as others before him, starts with one topic and because he cannot get that topic completed, he seeks out other reasons to keep his name in the press. I have seen this before with similarly failed results.

Mr. Puharic has chosen a topic near and dear to my heart because I have been told numerous times over the years by politicos, as I call them, how much they will do for me when they get elected. The only politico I know who kept his word was one of the Devino boys a few years back, but he got dragged down by the likes of some other Republicans whom I am convinced ruined the Republican Party with their arrogance and abuse of the voters and residents.

The Republican Party was very strong for years and then it started insulting the neighborhood watch groups and others who were outspoken, several who made a lot of sense. Many of those same people write the Independent newspaper and make a whole lot of sense on many subjects facing Aberdeen. They are the ones who should run for council because they have put in the time. But as for Mr. Puharic, his article was a swirling and confusing mess I had to read several times and still was confused.

He talks about roads and road costs, but will not recognize that several years ago a road program by these same arrogant politicos from his party put a burden on Aberdeen at a cost of $720,000 annually for 20 years on a program which was $2.5 million, coupled with existing debt they paid for twice. Roads don’t last that long. Being my age, I can tell Mr. Puharic that for certain. His co-politicos were self-serving and it cost them three elections in a row since. Mr. Puharic should seek counsel before he accuses the present leadership of fiscal mismanagement for seeking an impact statement on costs. Mr. Puharic claims that our roads all of a sudden got to be so bad under this leadership, in five years. Be serious, Mr. Puharic, as you seem to continually clamor for attention for an election years away.

The one statement I give credit to Mr. Puharic for is when he says in his letter that Aberdeen voters have not been afraid to remove from office those who have not kept their promises. All he has to do is look to his fellow Republicans, former Mayor Brian Murphy, former deputy Mayor Richard Goldberg, and finally former Councilman John Gartley. These are prime examples of the type of politician Mr. Puharic does not want to be. I was a long-time Republican, but in my old age I am very independent.

Freneau section of Aberdeen