ARTICLE: At The Pointe Forum: Marc and Clarissa Were Prepared; Garwood GOP Was Prepared To Spin

By Ann (Bevy) Tarantino |  Published in Clark-Garwood Patch,  October 21, 2022

I attended the annual Garwood candidate forum at The Pointe on Tuesday for the debate between Democrats, Councilman Marc Lazarow and Clarissa Nolde, and Republicans Steve Napolitano and Brenda Caffrey. I encourage others to take some time and watch it on Garwood Live on Facebook. It really was eye-opening!

For one, Marc Lazarow and Clarissa Nolde were clearly well prepared as they gave solid answers with specific reasons and data whenever possible. While they, too, brought notecards, the Republicans were clearly not as well prepared.

After the forum, the Republicans took to spinning what clearly took place into a conspiracy that the Democrats had the questions early. This is not true and it’s not only a bad accusation towards Marc and Clarissa, but even moreso, a bad accusation of The Pointe and the moderator who has run these forums for the past decade. So now they are attacking regular residents? I guess when things don’t go their way, they will just complain and point fingers. That isn’t leadership.

Something that was great to see all four candidates agree on was that the training offered to newly elected officials is important and they would all take it. Councilman Lazarow took it when he joined the Council in 2017. Who didn’t take the classes? Kim Salmon – who has been new to the Council since this January and wants to be Mayor. At a budget meeting, she flaunted that she would pay for the classes herself, yet didn’t take the classes for Councilpeople nor the one offered as liaison to the Planning Board.

Another key moment was when Marc Lazarow pointed out that the Republicans can’t have it both ways. Both claimed the town debt was too high, but also want to build a new DPW building, which will cost millions and add to the debt. Marc and Clarissa want to do their due diligence before making a decision if the DPW building should be replaced completely or renovated. They also believe in balancing a decision on debt with what is needed to be funded. Our debt is less than Cranford and Clark's and is at less than 1% of net equalized value when the State allows towns to go to 3.5%.

Please join me in supporting Marc Lazarow and Clarissa Nolde for Garwood Council as well as Jen Blumenstock for Mayor on Column B on November 8th.

Ann (Bevy) Tarantino
Garwood Democratic Chair