Avi Solomon's Take On The Township Candidates 2011

hi some of you may know me my name is Obby Solomon I'm not professing myself to be a political scientist I'm just uh a concerned citizen as well as someone who is involved in local politics um and has studied rers so I would like to address a few issues regarding this upcoming election this uh this Tuesday and hopefully I'll make it quick because I know otherwise people will shut off their the the the link so real quick the first thing is is I talked to a number of people and I asked them who they're voting for and a lot of people told me they're voting you know for candidates X and Y and I asked and what about mosha razik and they told me you know I like mosha razik he's a great guy but he's a Democrat so I want to clarify one thing I 100% agree in in voting voting block Republican in many instances but it's certain times not and especially on the local level regarding local politics party affiliation means zero absolutely nothing and I want to even tell you the truth is mosha razik wanted to run as a republican the problem was is he was welcome to run in the Republican primary but he wasn't welcome to run on Steve Langer's ticket and that was not a fault of Steve langard that's was a logistical thing decided by the Republican party they wanted Hal howson and because uh of De demograph demographics that could be drawn in from that so therefore people should know that mosha razik was a registered Republican and then he switched to become a Democrat he had the the scum gave him permission to do it and so he did it so on the local level Party politics means very little I understand that that's not going to change everyone's mind certain people have to say Republicans are all good Democrats are all evil or vice versa um so I I want that to be point a that people should know on the local level you shouldn't say I have to vote all Republican or I have to vote all Democrats because a lot of times these people they don't have Party politics it's just a matter of fact that they run on this ticket because this is where they were welcome to run in a favorable position point B is Steve langard called me and he asked me he was very hurt that I didn't give him an endorsement and he he asked me why I didn't endorse him you know I'm very I'm I'm not very close with Steve but I am you know friendly with Steve and basically I told him as follows I said Steve I 100% agree that as far as a politician is concerned you are the most qualified to be on that committee you have leadership skills you know how to deal with the the the unions and other people you know how to deal with the township employees I agree that you are fully capable of being on the township Committee in that perspective I said but Steve let's be honest I know you you know me a little bit the real truth is Steve your Ambitions are a little bit higher than Township committee and there is nothing wrong with that and I want the people who are listening to this to know there is nothing wrong with the fact that Steve langard wants to be a general assembly man I I actually encourage it I think that if Steve langard would run for General Assembly he you know I would say everyone should go out and vote for him I think it would be good for the L Community I think that he would represent their interest well I want to tell you a story Steve langard was actually promised to be on the ticket for the general assembly this election it was supposed to happen but because of a few logistic technicalities so the Party politics got in the way and he was told you have to take a back seat we'll get to you later so I agree Steve is a very capable politician but in that same respect I believe and you do not have to accept this that when it comes to to Township when it comes to the local level politics Lakewoods needs people who have no other interest than helping Lakewood and I I believe Steve does want to help Lakewood but they need someone who doesn't have in the back of their mind that someday they want to be a general assemblyman or something else that is my personal belief you do not have to accept it but I want people to know why I did not feel Steve was the best candidate now I want to also address another person who is Ray Kohl's Ray Kohl's when I started writing for the Lakewood Shopper was one of the first politicians I came across and I learned one thing about Ray kohs he is what you call a mench he has the time of day for a person he is mish you know he I don't have to say any more than he's a real mench and I really believe that so why didn't I tell people to vote for Ray H's there's another issue that I think is also important I For Better or For Worse know a lot what goes on in the local politics level and that being said I think the best thing for Lakewood is to more or less recycle and and constantly put in new people and I can understand if not everyone agrees with that I I have no problem with the fact that someone might be in the House of Representatives or the senate for 20 years that's a different story on the local level I I'm not going to say what I know and what I don't know but I really believe it's the best thing for us to constantly recycle and put in new people one or two terms if we could put term limits on those seats that would be the best thing of all I don't see it happening and therefore I just encourage for people to constantly vote in new people who have not been uh you know just fresh fresh perspectives and you know hopefully these people could look to people who served once before as a guidance along with asanam and other people um that basically covers the three major points that I wanted to address the Lakewood Scoop I hope everyone goes out in November to vote I know unfortunately probably will be statistically a low voter turnout I think thank you for listening and go out and vote nove November 8th this Tuesday thank you very much