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A WATCHUNG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. PUBLICATION The Westfield Leader and The Scotch Plains – Fanwood TIMES Thursday, March 26, 2015 Page 5 BOE Should Be More Concerned With Books Than Lighting Kehler Letters to the Editor A school district should be con- battle of Waterloo was won!” True cerning itself with supplying the stu- perhaps. But without the education Exxon Deal Not So Bad After All Political Corruption: dents with books and not with lights of science and history and technol- for a playing field! ogy the famous battle that brought With Exxon Cleanup Obligation Why New Jersey? The Westfield School Board has final defeat to Napoleon would not A lot has been said lately both in lengthy and, above, all, uncertain. By Sal Caruana before it a proposal to light Kehler have been won! the media and in Trenton about the Settlement, in contrast, buys certainty Former Westfield Councilman Field. The debate rages. There is another Waterloo! The Christie administration’s recent deal and ends delay. But what should rage is how many Waterloo of defeat. The Waterloo that with Exxon to settle environmental To this very point, back in 2008, New Jersey is a late-night punch line 2005 when he wanted Democratic Act- books by Plato, Aristotle, and Dickens comes about when a country is not pollution claims at the Bayway Re- according to press reports, then Gov- for jokes involving political corruption. ing Governor Richard Codey’s seat in should be bought? How much poetry prepared either intellectually or oth- With Democratic U.S. Senator Robert finery in Linden and the former Exxon ernor Jon Corzine demanded that Trenton. In a matter of a few days of Wordsworth and Longfellow? How erwise to meet the challenges that Terminal in Bayonne (Democrats Rip Exxon pay over $500 million to settle Menendez reportedly about to face fed- Corzine wrote out five checks for the eral charges, the memory of two other many compositions by Mozart and befall it! Settlement With Exxon Mobil, the case. Exxon refused to pay even legal limit of $37,000 to five county Haydn and Chopin? How many art Lighting Kehler Field? How about disgraced Democratic senators has re- Democratic organizations, including Westfield Leader, March 12, 2015). It that much (much less the billions surfaced: Robert Torricelli and Harrison Union and Bergen counties. In fact, he books of Rembrandt and Monet? lightning the classroom with more is easy to criticize this deal when sought in the lawsuit), and the state Williams the (first U.S. Senator to go to gave a total of $342,000 to 16 county There is controversy about the Shakespeare, Milton, Jefferson, focusing, as the Governor’s critics ended up with no money at the time prison in 80 years). Malfeasance at organizations in 17 days leading up to lights as there should be, but what Tchaikovsky, Michelangelo, Pasteur, invariably do, on the gap between the and seven more years of litigation. other levels of New Jersey government the conventions. Corzine also convinced controversy would there be about and Einstein? $225 million Exxon has agreed to It is also important to keep in mind is not uncommon either, and led to over an 89 year old retired school teacher in such Plato, Wordsworth, Mozart, How about less disputation about pay the State of New Jersey and the that the $225 million is in addition to 130 convictions of public officials from Oak Park Illinois to give the maximum Rembrandt? Who would turn out lighted playing fields and more dis- $8.9 billion the state originally sought Exxon’s uncapped obligation to clean both parties in the seven year time frame $37,000 to the Bergen county machine for a public meeting on their be- putation about education? in its lawsuit against Exxon. The gap up the sites. By resolving this law- that Chris Christie was U.S. Attorney also, which led the fight for his nomina- half? What headlines would be How about vast public gatherings between $225 million and $8.9 bil- suit, therefore, the State of New Jer- (2002-2008). Given our state’s long his- tion. Her name? Mom. Too bad Corzine broadcast? What money equal to about improving math, science, En- lion is huge indeed, but that does not sey traded in years of uncertainty and tory of political corruption, you have to wasn’t this attentive to money in 2011, the expenditure for these lights glish, history, and art appreciation tell the whole story. delay for the certainty of a $225 mil- wonder: Why New Jersey? The answer when 1.6 billion dollars of customer would be spent? education? The $8.9 billion is merely what the lion payment in addition to Exxon’s can be found in a handful of contribut- funds went missing while he was CEO ing factors (to be continued next week), Yes, of course, sports are impor- For the world will not end - the sun State of New Jersey was seeking in a unlimited clean up obligation – an of now bankrupt MF Global and he tant - an integral part of a complete will not grow dark, the moon not stop but the biggest one is clear. barely escaped criminal indictment. lawsuit. That is a far cry from actu- obligation the State of New Jersey When you are living in New Jersey, In some nomination races if you have education. But let’s put first things in its orbit, the Rockies not collapse ally recovering that amount. In fact, must aggressively and relentlessly you are also living in a time machine. private wealth like Corzine or former first. Reading, writing, and arith- into a heap of sand and dust if the this lawsuit has been dragging on for enforce. When put in the proper con- You are living in one of the few states Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg, metic! Knowledge of science! And students who wish to play sports do years and years and could have text, therefore, while far from per- left in America where the political boss- and are politically generous with it, that economics! And history and interna- not have lighted playing fields! dragged on for many more with hear- fect, it doesn’t look like such a bad ism of the 1850s is as alive and well now helps. If you do not, but can bring other tional relations! And civics as in how But disaster awaits a country that is ings, appeals and other proceedings. deal after all. as it was then. The center of all political people’s money to the county machine, to be a good and decent citizen! more focused on how well and how And, at the end of it all, any recovery Andrew Wasserman power in New Jersey is at the county that can help too. Sometimes all you Yes, of course, sports but students much its students play sports while would likely have been far less than Westfield level and it gets exercised this way: in need to bring is star power, like former practicing into the late hours of the focusing relatively less attention on the $8.9 billion the state was seeking You Good For every election cycle the party organiza- Democratic Senator Bill Bradley (no night when they should be home formal education! and may very well have been, after tion in each of New Jersey’s 21 counties prior record) or current Democratic studying? Aristotle more than 2,000 years many more years of delay, less even, stages a convention or a “screening” to Senator Cory Booker (an undistin- For when the last game is played, ago advised and warned, “All who than the $225 million the Christie determine which candidate in each con- guished one), for the bosses are also test will get the coveted party line on the the last practice held, the students have meditated on the art of govern- administration has now settled for. very adept at leveraging your public must still compete in an increasingly ing mankind have been convinced ballot. All too often the bosses have That is the very essence of litigation Reading Is popularity into cash for their machines competitive world and our beloved that the fate of empires depends on heavily influenced the outcome in ad- using local fundraisers (if you don’t and settlement: litigation is costly, vance (which was charged as recently as mind rubber chicken for dinner three country must still compete in an in- the education of youth.” three weeks ago in Union County when nights a week). creasingly competitive world where Let’s hope that the school board Home Financing By Democratic Fanwood Mayor Colleen Many county organizations do pur- success is more and more measured and as well the public have not lost Mahr was passed over for a run at As- sue high standards of integrity in their by academic achievement! sight of Aristotle! semblywoman Linda Stender’s seat). In candidate process. Since backroom deals The Duke of Wellington and Stephen Schoeman return for the county endorsement, the are meant to stay in the backroom, it is George Orwell both said that it was Westfield OWEN BRAND winning candidates at every elected level almost impossible to know how many on the playing fields of Eton that “the NMLS# 222999 take office beholden to their patrons, the do not; however, the public corruption party bosses, and also beholden to pre- statistics are telling us all that we really The Law Offices Of serving the county governments the need to know: for decades in New bosses feed off. In Westfield 23% of our Jersey an alarming number of bad char- real estate taxes go to Union County acters have found find their way into Lisa M.

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