Candidate Lester Taylor - 2013
James
Gerrish
I have previously expressed
several of my opinions about Lester Taylor in talking about his
blocking me from asking questions on his Facebook page after I tried to
get him to clarify the vague goals he had posted in March of
2013. The
question I asked was also deleted.
Those goals were:
Campaign Slogan: It's Time for
a Change
Lester's goals in his own
words: "There’s a lot of work ahead to spread our
message of reducing crime, saving our taxpayers’ money,
attracting businesses to our city to create jobs and investing in
education so that our children have a brighter future."
Very vague; no
specifics given.
Spur job creation by bringing
in new businesses and revitalizing parts of downtown.
Hold the line on taxes by being smarter about how the city spends
our tax dollars.
Create new revenue streams to balance the budget without raising
taxes.
Reduce crime by developing new community partnerships.
Less vague, but
still no solid solutions mentioned.
If you click on
"Examine the Issues" on Lester's site, and then click
on "Education" you get the typical Democrat's
solutions to our failing schools - throw more money at it. Whose
money? Why taxpayer money, of course. "Lester will
fight to make sure East Orange students get their fair share of
state funding so that we can close the achievement and
opportunity gaps." We already
spend more than $20,000 dollars per student in East Orange,
increasing the amount every year since I've lived here, and yet
the test scores continue to decline each time the school funding
increases.
If you "read between the
lines" of each of Lester's goals, you find that same
solution in different words- "Lester’s plan (for
increasing jobs) includes using city, state and federal
opportunities to provide incentives to new businesses."
Remove the politico-speak and that translates to "spend more
of the taxpayer's money from local sources (property taxes),
state sources (sales taxes) and federal sources (income
taxes)."
When discussing the issue of
taxes, Lester never once suggests lowering our taxes. His only
solutions, as expressed on his Web Site, are to "get our
money's worth" out of the taxes we currently pay. He will do
this by "saving taxpayers' money and making our city more
affordable for everyone" (which sounds a lot like the
Democrat/Socialist plan to redistribute our wealth). He promises
to "hold the line" on taxes, but not to actually reduce
them. His last paragraph negates everything he said about holding
the line because he wants to "invest in our schools, build
parks and green spaces, and provide our children with better
recreational opportunities." The word "invest" is
Democrat-code for "spend more taxpayer money." Yes, I
know one of his slogans is "create new revenue streams to
balance the budget without raising taxes" but that's a
slogan, not a plan. He does not explain how he will create these
"revenue streams."
Lester's background as a lawyer
is touted as good experience for his becoming mayor, but I see it
as one of his major flaws as a candidate for the position- he
sees the problems of the city only from his own viewpoint and
only "filtered" through his lawyer's background. You
can hear that background expressed in his recorded speeches from
the recent debate held at Cicely Tyson School on 5/15/13. On Question
3, for example, he asks the audience
how many of them feel safe about walking home from Cicely Tyson
School at 8:00 PM, and without waiting for a response or a show
of hands, he assumes automatically that everyone feels unsafe,
which draws a murmur ... more of a growl... of disapproval from
the audience as he continues talking down to them while they
continue to murmur their disapproval. He obviously hears them,
but he does not listen to them. That's the flaw. You can find
other examples for yourself.
If his being a lawyer is such a
problem for me in seeing that as a good background for him
becoming mayor, imagine my dismay when I heard him admit to
everyone (Question
9) that he plans to continue
working at his law firm while holding down the position of mayor
if he is elected. The salary of $140,000 that the mayor receives
is NOT a part time salary. He says he can do both jobs as full
time jobs, but I, for one, am not interested in hiring him under
those conditions.
5/31/13 In
Thursday's East Orange Record (5/30/13), the editor chose to
endorse Lester Taylor for mayor. Since the "news" paper
is the mouthpiece of the Essex County Democrats, that's like
asking Lester Taylor himself who he should vote for. In the
opinion, editor wrote: "(Lester) Taylor has the connection
to make change not only possible but probable. He has already
been endorsed by the East Orange Democratic Committee, Essex
County Democratic Committee, U.S. Rep. Donald Payne Jr., Assembly
Speaker Sheila Oliver, Sen. Nia Gill, Assemblyman Tom Giblin and
several labor unions, including the Essex County Building Trades
Council, New Jersey State Laborer’s International and
Essex/West Hudson Labor Council. These ties will help Taylor
promote construction of the affordable housing and neighborhood
improvements he has promised."
I can add only
one snort: "At whose expense?" There can be only one
answer to that: "At your expense." You, the taxpayers,
will be funding these expensive projects Lester has promised.
Your money will go to the labor unions mentioned in the
editorial, with kickbacks for everyone who lines up with the
Democratic machine in Essex County and East Orange. That includes
construction companies who will be chosen carefully for their
politics rather than their competence.