To the Editor:
Retiring Gloucester County Freeholder Warren Wallace’s Aug. 26 letter bashing me (for comments I made in an article about Wallace’s decision not to run for freeholder re-election) was just further evidence that the Democrat political machine that has ruled our county for decades is woefully out of touch and needs to be replaced this November.
In his letter, Wallace went to great lengths to defend his time as a obscenely overpaid political appointee at the scandal-ridden University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Frankly, I have no idea whether Wallace’s firing from UMDNJ over ethics violation allegations was proper or not.
I do know, however, that the mere fact that Wallace was in a $166,000-per-year taxpayer-funded UMDNJ job while he was paid to be an elected Gloucester County freeholder was absolutely wrong. Double-dipping on the taxpayer dime like that is one of the reasons our state is in the sad fiscal shape it’s in.
The UMDNJ debacle aside, Wallace’s fiscal record reveals that property taxes skyrocketed on his watch, as did county spending and debt. Furthermore, the county became infamous for being the first-ever New Jersey freeholder board to have a Superior Court judge rule that it needed to be watched by an independent monitor to ensure it didn’t continue to violate the state’s Open Public Meetings Act, or “Sunshine Law.”
These are issues people care about and Wallace, like any other elected official, should be held accountable for this voting record.
Finally, for Wallace to deny he knew what I meant by referring to his “party bosses” — only to mention all of their names in the very next line of his letter! — shows what little respect Wallace and the county Democrats have for the intelligence of county voters. Everyone knows that nothing happens in the county Democratic Party unless (state Senate President) Stephen Sweeney wants it to happen. He’s the boss and Wallace knows it.
My guess is that Wallace’s significant baggage heading into an election where majority control of the freeholder board is at stake for the first time in decades was a non-starter for Sweeney. He couldn’t risk bringing down the whole party and that meant Warren Wallace had to go.
As I stated in my original press release on this topic, I wish Freeholder Wallace all the best in the future. That said, I still reserve my right to outline the facts and call it like I see it.
William G. Fey
Chairman
Gloucester County Republican Party