Photo by T. Duffy Corner of Sandalwood and Sweetbriar after Yaede political sign is removed

It’s over…..the animals and residents have spoken in Mercer County and the election is complete. Incumbents were removed from office and a new team will take their place in January 2020. The new teams have a lot to do, clean up, course correct and prove their dedication to the residents they have signed up to serve.

A very wise man just said………..John Edward Barrett, CFO of Hamilton township.

“This has been a crazy week. I hope your candidate won. We hear the story of the worker who was entrusted with the boss’s affairs. As the story goes, he was not responsible for the master’s well-being. When confronted by the boss, he starts to scramble around to cover up for his misdeeds. One can only imagine what was going through his head, realizing that he was caught. As the story goes, he starts to cover up his crimes to hide the financial impact of his actions. Many of us remember the story of Martha Stewart and the sale of her Inclone stock.  Martha went to jail, not for the sale of the stock, but the coverup of the stock. She probably would have never spent a day in jail, if she would have admitted to what she did. When a man is confronted, instead of coming clean with his loss, he makes it worse by trying to hide the magnitude of his misdeeds. We have seen this too many times. Is doing the right thing a choice? I do not believe it is not a choice. Each of us may at some time be faced with an issue and we know the right thing to do. It’s clear, it’s a no brainer. When we are in a position, when no one else is looking are we willing to compromise our integrity or do the right thing? Doing the right thing is not a choice. Rather, doing the opposite is a choice.  Our reputation and integrity must come first. “

The residents cannot wait for him to come back to fix the mess that has been made since his removal by the mayor. However, this past week during the election was not without shenanigans.  In one township in Mercer County, there was a record number of provisional ballots, almost 500. In one polling place, a couple came in to vote. In the book it demonstrated they had done a mail in ballot; their claim was they had not. During the process of finalizing their provisional ballots the husband said to the wife, “How did ______ (they stated the name of a mayor in a town in mercer county) know who we wanted to vote for?”  The wife responded with…  “Shhhhh.”  They handed in their provisional ballots and off they went.  The incident was reported to the master board workers and the board of elections. The board of elections does a honorable job trying to weed out the cheaters. But the cheaters will always cheat.

Another candidate in Mercer County;  felt compelled to put their signs up in a neighborhood illegally. They attached them to stop signs, arrow signs, dog waste signs (which we found rather poetic) and numerous other illegal places. There were 37 illegal signs put up in a neighborhood where a 24-year-old youth was recently killed on his bike.  Traffic signage and lights in this neighborhood are very poor. It was a great tragedy that this young man died. The residents in that sector of the township have been asking for optimization to street signage, to date, no signage has been installed to correct the unsafe area.  They had a supporter, Thorazine, who's "words of wisdom"  for "her honor" have been flushed down the toilet along with the landslide loss. 

So, one must wonder, who in their right mind would purposely install double the amount of signage illegally in a neighborhood where a youth just died? Did the candidate feel they were above the law to do this?  Did this candidate lack a moral compass that drives them to want to deliberately hurt the residents they are supposed to be serving? When residents brought attention to the administration about this issue with the illegal signs, the candidate’s response was to more than double the signage that was put up. How would you view this, especially knowing the person who did it, is the public safety director for the town? Is this the act of a leader? The residents are saying no. Their comments have been…….” This is this the act of an immature, spiteful, childish, self-indulgent, lack of concern for public safety being” . Additional comments included, “ All the signs in the world were not going to get this candidate elected, they are as corrupt as Al Capone”. More comments, “ The toxic culture they created in the town will be removed in January and the residents are singing, “Hallelujah, rejoice the king!” 

Another resident sent a text message. ONE OF THE WIVES of Hamilton (we believe there is a HULU series in the works on this story)of Hamilton

During the election, in Hamilton, there was a letter that came from the Republican Chairman to the Mercer County Chairperson. The letter was a cry for help as it pertained to financial support for the chair’s choice of candidate. The response by the county chair was spot on. There was a statement made that focused on the candidate ability to help Lisa Wu with the distribution of signs.  There appeared to be a nope….we are not helping her attitude. Well, that did not end after the election. A resident who was outside mowing their lawn personally witnessed the removal of a Yaede campaign sign. This sign was placed on the corner of Sandalwood and Sweetbriar Ave. The gentleman who came to remove it had dickens of a time getting it out of the ground. It took him a good 8 minutes to get the sign out of the ground.  Adjacent to the Team Yaede sign were two other female candidate signs. The Yaede sign remover did not take the Lisa Wu signs down. The resident mowing their lawn said, “OMG, can you be pettier? It took that muscular guy 8 minutes to remove the Yaede sign (they know that for they had mowed half of their lawn) and he could not lift the other two out of the ground. Which he could have done with one finger because they are just wired signs. What asshole would direct their people to do that, well we know who did that? We also guess the next time the township chair goes crying to the county chair for support, she will remember this as well as all the other shenanigans by the candidate who lost the election by a landslide. Let’s talk about the animal shelter……that was just criminal.”

It’s time for Hamilton to heal. For the residents to embrace the new leadership, whether they are Dems or Reps. We owe it to the residents to make it work to make the new leadership accountable and work for the residents, not just their own family and close inner circle. 

IF.....and only IF....... she would have just spoke to the residents and admitted her team failed, she probably would have won the election even with everything going on. It’s the lying that the residents could not tolerate anymore.