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20 comments:
Last night's Forum was very revealing. Robby Robinson presented himself very well and made the point early that he is the only candidate from the Northeast section of town. Mohamed Hameeduddin (whose name the moderator could not get straight--like some of us when we type) continued to show the star power of his intelligent charismatic presence amidst a panel. Elnatan Rudolph announced that Bill Clinton had met with him yesterday afternoon and advised him not to talk about himself but about what he would do for the citizens and Rudy did remind everyone of his considerable accomplishments in bringing home the bacon over the past two years.
Unfortunately, most of the other candidates engaged in rather lame puffing of themselves. In at least one case, that of the unfortunate candidate who seems to have escaped from the opening scene of Macbeth, the cackling and giggling of her self-promotion, was too much to take.
I am referring of course to BL Toffler. Surprisingly, she (who in some productions of the Scottish play might successfully double her role as a witch with that of Lady Macbeth) did not explain why Teaneck residents ought to cast a ballot for a person whose unethical conduct over four years at Arthur Andersen (the only one of the many positions she has held and been removed from that she did not mention in her self-promotional preening) might well have cost some of our neighbors their pensions.
One young person exposed to Toffler's style yesterday remarked, "She reminds me of my mean fourth grade teacher."
Joe Ax's excellent expose in yesterday's Record of Toffler's financial corruption certainly ought to have been commented upon but was not mentioned at the forum. What a pity.
As for Toffler's running mates on the Teaneck United slate, Ms. Jackson as usual, hardly lapsed into making any kind of sense. And the best that can be said of Mayor-in-Waiting Honis's remarks, in which she carelessly spoke as if the truth hardly mattered, is that she may well have the best diction on the panel (the meaning of her words be damned).
Funny how you can sit at the same forum and have some radically different opinions -- which probably reveal some preconceptions audience members brought into the room last night. I can't believe you said Robinson presented himself well; he had a couple of sound bites but otherwise had a thin debatable resume and offered little to the debate. Rudolph, in his lame attempt to impress people with his ability to meet Clinton (thanks to his buddy, Ferriero, probably), made it clear he has done little actual work with other aspects of the community and his main claim to fame is squeezing some grant money for a couple of projects and deferring payment of some bills to next year to tout a zero increase in the budget in an election year. Monica was totally unimpressive as well, articulately saying as little as possible to each question. Her thin response to the question about community involvement clearly spoke to this point. I agree with some of the points about Toffler; her main attribute is her personality and she did have some excellent township credentials and good perspective on development. I was disturbed about her "edgy" comments, her giggling and her pointed innuendos which makes me think she will just be picking fights if elected. Jackson was well spoken and had some interesting things to say -- much better than her cousin, Monica.
The candidates with content, good specifics and substantial Teaneck background are clearly in my opinion) were Goldman, Rose and Hameeduddin.
Ned Goldman's closing comments however showed the divisive nature he was so well known for on his tenure on the Board of Ed. He stated that there were two groups using negativity and the politics of fear in the campaign and than did just that by saying Teaneck should fear electing those groups. After seeking the endorsement of every group and ex-elected official and getting none, he proudly declares he's an independent candidate.
Mr. Hameeduddin did well but while his new found mantra requesting that people should participate and come to council meetings ignores his own lack of attendance. Not knowing that township employees are unionized, reflects how little education and experience he has.
It is interesting that none of Team Teaneck have college degrees. Their election would leave us with 4 or 5 out of seven council members without a formal education.
Please come to the ground-breaking ceromony for the all-inclusive playground at Votee Park at 6:15p.m.
What an interesting point about Team Teaneck -- and a very sad state of affairs if that happens. We should be supporting candidates that reflect support for higher education for our youth. It's an embarrassment to Teaneck if we have council members who have not sought out opportunities to better themselves with further education!
I wasn't impressed with the forum. The moderator was rude to Hameeduddin and kept the debate as dull as possible. None of the candidates have ever done anything they regret and none of them answered a question about bringing in extra revenue with an answer about extra revenue.
Both Team Teaneck and Teaneck United came off very weak and didn't show why anyone should take either three as a group.
Toffler spent all night with a chip on her shoulder, but she did have some interesting ideas on zoning. Honis asked for four more years, but never explained what she's done in the past four to get anyone to vote for her a second time. Jackson came off as the best of these three, with some clear ideas of her plans on the council.
Hameeduddin shined only compared to the very weak performance of his teammates and gets sympathy points for being embarrassed by the moderator joking about his name. Poor Robinson had nothing to offer last night and just doesn't belong running. Rudolph bumped into Bill Clinton and milked it for all it was worth, but he had nothing to say about most of the questions, even when the moderator begged him to continue. Hameeduddin gave a few slick political answers but showed how little he knew about how Teaneck works. No big whoop that Team Teaneck doesn't have college degrees and Toffler's didn't help her too much. What bothered me is that Rudolph's partners make it obvious that they were never at a council meeting before.
Goldman came across as someone who knew about the issues and has the experience to work as part of a council. He sounded like he was trying way too hard to sound serious or maybe he took one tranquilizer too many. I like that he's independent, but his closing remarks were questionable. Still a solid performance in a weak bunch.
Rose had the best answers on budgeting and experience and his ideas for bringing seniors to Cedar Lane and not sending them to the far corners of town to be bussed around showed a real understanding of Teaneck.
Based on how they did last night, Rose and Goldman led the pack. Jackson was the best of the rest. Hameeduddin was an also ran, with Honis, Rudolph and Toffler trailing behind. Robinson did so poorly that he dragged down Rudolph and Hameeduddin.
Because every parent points to members of the town council and tells their kids to be like them when they grow up ...
MSKJ give me a break.
From the USA Today in 2002
Metropolitan areas with the greatest percentage of people 25 and older with a bachelor's degree or higher.
Boulder-Longmont, Colo. 52.4%
Stamford-Norwalk, Conn. 49.4%
Iowa City, Iowa{+1} 47.6%
Corvallis, Ore. 47.4%
San Francisco 43.6%
Lawrence, Kansas{+1} 42.7%
Washington, D.C.{+1} 41.8%
Columbia, Mo. 41.7%
Madison, Wis.{+1} 40.6%
San Jose, Calif. 40.5%
Even if true about Team Teaneck, 4/7 with a college degree would put us at the top and 3/7 would put us way up there.
This town has a really funny (polite way of saying selective, often intolerant and somtimes elitist) way of defining diversity. Maybe we could introduce mandatory IQ testing next.
What would be a sad state of affairs is if we limited eligibility for public service to the less than half the population that has a college degree. An adult who is reasonably successful, supports a family and wants to give back to the community is the best role model I can find for my kids - whether or not a B.A. hangs on their wall.
Here's Scott Fallon's Record article on yesterday's high-priced lunch in Teaneck:
Former President Bill Clinton swooped quietly into town Monday afternoon and collected a much-needed $150,000 for his wife's campaign war chest.
About 70 people paid $2,300 — the maximum individual contribution to a federal candidate — to have a photograph taken with Clinton and hear his 20-minute speech at a restaurant on Teaneck Road.
New Jersey has been generous to Sen. Hillary Clinton even though she has trailed Sen. Barack Obama in the money race for months.
Clinton has raised $6.7 million in New Jersey to Obama's $4.4 million, according to the latest data from the Federal Election Commission. Clinton defeated Obama by 10 points in the New Jersey primary on Feb. 5.
The Republican candidate, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, has raised $1.7 million in New Jersey.
"It's events like this that prove New Jersey is instrumental in helping shape the entire country," Bergen Sheriff Leo McGuire, a Democrat, said after Monday's event. "If we need to help Hillary win by donating money elsewhere in the country, then that's what we're going to do."
The event was set up by Bergen Democratic Organization Chairman Joseph Ferriero, who is also on Clinton's finance committee.
Ferriero said he believes the New York senator will still emerge victorious from the protracted primary campaign, but he concedes that the Illinois senator will raise more money than she.
"No one ever expected this race would be as close as it is," Ferriero said.
Bill Clinton arrived at Regina's Steakhouse & Grill around 2 p.m. after campaigning earlier in Indiana, which holds its primary next Tuesday.
He was escorted into Teaneck by local and state police as well as his own Secret Service contingent.
The former president stayed at Regina's for just over an hour. When he left, he was whisked into a sport utility vehicle before a small group of children walking home from school could spot him.
Several Democratic officeholders attended the fund-raiser, including County Executive Dennis McNerney, Freeholder Director Tomas Padilla and state Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-Wood-Ridge. Also attending was real estate developer Fred Daibes.
Teaneck Councilman Elnatan Rudolph said he asked Clinton for advice about a local candidates' debate scheduled for Monday night.
"He told me not to speak about myself but to reassure the people about what I can do for them," Rudolph said.
"I wish I could have him up there speaking in my spot," he said, laughing.
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What I'd like to know is who paid the $2,300 so that Rudolph could attend? Did he pay that?
Apparently there are those who would put an education test forward in order for candidates to run for office. Why not for the voters too? What about PHD's who have no common sense and (since Macbeth was made a basis for examination by Truth Teller earlier) "would cast the milk of concord into hell?"
The old saying is that "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach; and those who can't teach, teach teachers."
Let's not disrespect doers. I for one was most impressed by Team Teaneck and the past and future accomplishments of its "can do" team.
Monica Honis is well known to have lost many jobs in the schools; her cousin revealed nothing other than that she is employed in the NYC school system; BL Toffler merely promised to bring chaos to the Council, as she has already done to the fabric of the community by FALSELY and DANGEROUSLY asserting that the revaluation company chosen by Honis in the previous Kates-led Council (not the Council of the past two years) was BIASED in its treatment of the Northeast neighborhood.
I agree that the educational attainment of political candidates in this election is of little importance, if any; candidates should be judged on their track record of achievement and what they have done and will do for our Township, with highest degree attained ranking very low on the criteria list.
I researched the data from the United States Census Bureau, out of curiosity. Of those 25 and above, some 24.8% had received a Bachelor's degree as their highest level of education, 14.3% had received a Master's degree, 5.9% had earned a Professional degree and 2.8% had been awarded a Doctorate.
Overall, 47.9% of Teaneck residents over age 25 have earned a bachelor's degree or higher. That would rank Teaneck third on the USA Today nationwide rankings, if we had qualified. Not bad.
Monica has a degree so that doesn't say much.
I heard Alan sold out to Loretta.
Rudolph and Robinson both sold out to Boss Joe for up to $100,000 a year plus all the campaign cash you can squeeze from businesses that do pay-to-play work for the county.
How much is Loretta paying per year?
Try a different survey. Elected officials without degrees or $95,000/year county employees without a degree.
Rudoplh continues to underwhelm - at best. Last night's forum only reinforced his lack of understanding, knowledge and vision.
When Rudolph loses his council seat, where does his county job go? $95K is quite a loss. If I were Rudoplh I'd have a well thought out plan B. Maybe President Clinton is hiring?
and now it turns out that Mr. Rudolph, who complains about Toffler's ethics has been caught on video tape lying about his educational credentials.
Okay I stand corrected about my comment desiring my local elected officials to have college degrees. The point made about Honis was a good one, and I should judge my candidates and elected reps more broadly. My point was only that, as Teaneck schools are often judged by how many we send on to further education (still 88-93%, depending on which year's statistics you are looking at), we should try to model that support for further education in our selection of township leaders.
Of course, the most important thing is what candidates have done in the past and what they propose to do in the future. Given that criteria, my mind isn't changed about who I want to vote for on May 13th -- it's only reinforced. Those who answered questions on Monday night with specifics and an open mind, have a solid background in community service and bring skills to the table that we need on Council -- that's the bottom line for me.
The only one claiming a PHD seems to understand little about solving problems collegially and threatens to turn the Council into a war zone.
Attended the forum which was very unprofessionally run by the League of Women Voters..they need to get their act together before they run another forum.
Regarding the Candidates, Team Teaneck was very nicely impressive. I thought that Elnatan did not babble, but spoke briefly and to the point, unlike Toffler and Jackson...babble? They definitely were over the top and annoying to put it mildly.
Mohammed was very impressive. Hadn't heard him speak before, but I liked what I heard, no anger just sincerity and he stayed within the guidlines...Teaneck needs him.
Robert...not offensive, but ok..I think he will work together with the rest in a positive format, unlike Honis...enough already. She definitely must have been told to keep her attitude down which I see all the time at the meetings. Her cousin definitely overpowered her and spoke well beyond the red flag as if she was speaking in a mirror flaunting her own ego.
Rose and Goldman...ok but I saw anger and attitude, and that makes me nervous.
So, Team Teaneck definitely for me and my friends.
According to today's Suburbanite ad, Mayor Monica, Cousin Jackson and Witch # 3 Toffler have formed a slate of Amigo-ettes: The Three Gals from Teaneck.
That would leave Rose and Goldman as The Odd Fellows lodge.
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