ARTICLE: It’s Election Season in Garwood Again, So You Know What That Means...
By Ann Tarantino | Published in Clark-Garwood Patch, September 22, 2022
We’ve reached the part of local election season where the Garwood Republicans lean in on their usual divisive rhetoric: The sky is falling because of whatever issue they make up. Past examples of things that didn’t happen include poisoned water, the senior housing on 2nd Avenue being bad for us, debt bankrupting the Borough, the development of Vermella ending the town; the list is literally endless. The story continues, as it does every year, with anything a Democratic member of the Council has done being either wrong or not enough.
There are also regular lies about Democratic candidates every year. This year, there have been repeated false attacks on Councilman Marc Lazarow surrounding his work on the Finance Committee, the short-term rental discussion, and most recently incredible claims by both a vocal opposition supporter and a Council candidate that he lied about being at “Back to School” night (he is a teacher) just so he could be excused from a Council meeting! The attacks on Council President Jen Blumenstock are even more wild. From attacking her volunteerism to the recent outlandish claims about intimidating voters, the GOP candidates have stretched the limits of their campaigning and truly gone down the path of negativity and toxicity.
Finally, we have the usual games by a small group of supporters (and candidate spouses) to create a commotion on Facebook groups (all run by Republican supporters) and in the public comment sections of public meetings. This gives the appearance of constant controversy when in fact, there is very little any local government does which is contentious. It’s much easier to cloud the issues and just yell “Democrats are bad” when the Garwood Republicans are, again, running an inexperienced person for Mayor who has potential conflicts of interest as a local real estate agent (just like they did in 2018) who also has no plan for Garwood beyond a list of buzzwords.
One of my favorite things about living in Garwood, and previously serving on both the Council and the Board of Education, is how engaged and attentive our community is. These gutter tactics, so similar to what happens in national politics, have not worked in Garwood precisely because of the engagement of our residents. I hope that continues to be the case this November.