It’s been a while since we wrote an article on Restore GT. The Podcast covers everything on our minds so there isn’t a great need to sit down and write much these days. The 2023 election is kind of an exception. We wouldn’t be doing our part if we didn’t cover the election, but this year we find ourselves in a tough spot. I am on the ballot.
I’m not worried about having some kind of advantage or disadvantage based on the number of people we can reach with this. The folks I will be running against have big pockets and will launch dirty hateful campaigns to protect their stronghold on the purse of this township. We try to make things a little easier to understand and give you some of our opinions about each topic. Our goal is to raise awareness and start conversations. The goal of the podcast is not to be a political tool so I will do my best to stay neutral.
So how did I wind up here again?
After the loss of the Restore GT Team in November 2021 I was done with politics. Battling against Team Mayer and Team Damico was draining and I never wanted to do that again. My plan was to get married in 2022, focus on my career, and possibly even move somewhere that my money was better spent. (Which is tough in NJ) I only made it about a month into that plan before I heard from Ray Henry and Joe Damico. Their request was to meet up, bury the hatchet, and focus on fixing GT. The plan was to bring everyone together, take what we’ve learned, and become the entity that helps residents become more involved in shaping their community. That meant helping new candidates emerge, creating a less political and more social environment to bring people together and making sure 2021 didn’t happen again.
I was in.
There’s a long list of people that advocate for Gloucester Township residents and I couldn’t leave them behind just yet. Throughout the 2022 year and into 2023 our group put together meetups, helped with campaigns and it even inspired the Restore GT Podcast. We saw 2 great individuals win elections with our Board Of Education and I think that inspired more people to get involved. Our group is growing and I truly feel things are changing.
One complaint though..
When it came to finding and helping new candidates for 2023 we struggled. We put out posts on all social media platforms, paid for a few ads and even put on a few events to bring in prospective candidates. We hoped to find a large group of people to interview and we fell a bit short of our goal. It’s hard to point the blame in GT however. Volunteering for Public service in GT has been demonized by the Democrat Political Action Committees. They attacked Sam Sweet and Joe Damico in 2021 and then Dena Hendry and Keith Gibbons in 2022. All they wanted to do was represent their community and they were labeled horrible things for stepping up.
It took some convincing, but..
Joe Damico, Ray Henry and myself agreed to step up once again and bring along a new voice in Tim Pfeffer to start a campaign in 2023. The 4 of us are honored to stand up to represent the residents of Gloucester Township in the 2023 election and hope to be able to continue that in 2024 as members of the Council.
Thank you for sticking around Joe. I know it would have been much easier and probably a lot smarter to just move. You are a brave man to stay and to try to keep the residents of GT informed of the township’s issues through your podcasts. I am thrilled you decided to run for Council. We need people like you who are courageous enough to battle the dragon and fight for the rights of the people who call GT home. I appreciate you. You have my vote.