Council members overstep on BOE election.
Last night I received 2 mailers supporting DiMaulo, Austin, Fritz & Desien for School Board. The first one was an expensive glossy mailer telling me how great these 4 are at being leaders. It also mentions that we need to “Continue The Winning Tradition.” I guess that’s the same “Winning Tradition” that lead them to name their campaign “Restoring Values in Gloucester Township.”
I’m really confused by this messaging. If we have a winning tradition, what is it we are trying to restore?
If you ask me their first shot that the campaign using the word Restore in their name was just to confuse you and make you think they were the good guys. If you’ve taken any notice of their online ads the comment section would tell you that campaign strategy failed. I guess their money isn’t buying them the great campaigns the used to run back in the day.
The second mailer is a doozy. That mailer is written by two council members, Andrea Stubbs and Carolyn Grace. They claim that they focus on racial justice and economic equality and that has made them the target of attacks by people like candidates Keith Gibbons and Dena Hendry. The claim specifically says that Mr. Gibbons and Mrs. Hendry come to their council meetings and question why low-income areas need things like community centers and playgrounds.
Here is where Austin, Fritz and Desien get their money.
These are blatant lies.
I’ve been attending council meetings for the last 3 to 4 years. I’ve attended more council meetings than councilwoman Stubbs. I pay attention to what’s going on and often write about it or talk about it on our podcast. I can assure you that the claims made by Stubbs and Grace are completely false. I won’t just tell you that, I’ll lay it all out for you.
Mr. Gibbons has attended most council meetings in the last 3 years and I don’t recall him EVER stepping up to speak and that certainly includes the community center and playgrounds they are talking about. At most Mr. Gibbons has talked about the Brittany Woods Project on the Restore GT Podcast. Feel free to watch the episode HERE. The comments made were regarding the lack of transparency in all of GT’s projects and we used Brittany Woods as an example.
Mrs. Hendry has also never criticized any of the mentioned projects. The only mention she made about the Brittany Woods project was to ask if voting on the project was a conflict of interest for Carolyn Grace since Ms. Grace lives in Brittany Woods. That moment of questioning can be found HERE.
What really upsets me is that these two were made to sound like they are against racial justice and economic equality. Identity politics are a disgusting way to try to win votes. Stubbs and Grace should be ashamed to be involved in such disgusting claims. They have also clearly overstepped their roles as council members. This is an abuse of power and they should be reprimanded for it. I encourage you to speak up against this abuse of power at the next council meeting on Monday, October 24th at 7:30 PM.
Who are Gibbons and Hendry?
For starters, they aren’t a team. Both of them are individual candidates spending their own money to run their own campaigns. I honestly don’t know where they stand on most political and educational issues. I just know that they are 2 of the 4 genuine candidates who are also parents that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. Those 4 include Gibbons, Hendry, O’Donnell and Melis. Gibbons and Hendry have been out meeting people and are becoming popular with parents in this district. I’m guessing that’s why they are getting attention right now. I’m sure a full-page glossy is on the way trying to discredit Jennifer O’Donnell due to her record of standing up for parents against the political machine. Melis attends BOE meetings, but I don’t think they view her as a threat so you probably won’t see a mailer on her.
Hendry and Gibbons unselfishly have spent more time than just about anyone in GT volunteering throughout the community. They also attend more BOE meetings than anyone else I know. They are passionate parents looking to better the community and make sure their children are educated properly. Hendry is the daughter of an immigrant who works in housing and rentals. Her work with low-income and affordable housing makes the false claims against her ironic. Gibbons is one of the busiest guys I know. In between managing several businesses, he is a member of the Rotary, which is a service based organization. He attends just about every BOE meeting and council meeting. On top of that, he’s also at Planning Board meetings, Zoning Board meetings and Municipal Authority meetings. The best part about all of those meetings is that he brings his middle school-aged daughter with him because she actually likes learning about government. What lesson do you think Stubbs and Grace have taught her?
Stubbs, Grace & The Machine.
We don’t need to go into much detail on Andrea Stubbs. You all know her by now as the council member who never comes to meetings. A few months ago we called her out on her 40% attendance level. Since then she’s continued to represent us on part-time basis while sitting in a full-time seat. I’m surprised that Carolyn Grace even chimed in on the BOE. She used to be a BOE member, but after moving to council has only focused on her own neighborhood. I’m guessing The Machine put them both up to this.
Ethically many people think they crossed the line by sending a letter representing themselves as council members who oppose regular citizens getting involved in their community.
The letter was paid for by Citizens For Govt Reform. Their name is great because they created the PAC to make voters think they were going to reform the government, but what they actually did is quite the opposite. These are the same people who ran the Sweet The Creep ads last year. The PAC is run by Cindy Carlamere who is the wife of David Carlamere our township attorney. If that also seems like an ethical conflict, that’s just how they roll.
Interested in doing the right thing?
You should reach out to these 4 candidates and see how you can help them. I’m sure none of them will be sending out expensive mailers so getting name recognition is going to be an uphill battle for them. We have less than 3 weeks until Election Day. Maybe you could hand out literature at polling locations for them? Their opposition certainly will be there doing that.
Also, please share out this article and their profiles.
Keith Gibbons
Pathetic beat up council. out of touch and old. useless puppets. nobody likes them. get their asses out