Elect me, and here’s why…

November is closing in and the race for three seats on Council is heating up.

In the township’s first-ever partisan election, six candidates are competing for three, four-year spots opening on Evesham Township Council.

Incumbent Mayor Randy Brown is on the Republican ticket with running mates Steve Zeuli and incumbent Councilwoman Deb Hackman, both vying for a place on Council. Former Councilman Mike Schmidt is running for mayor as a Democrat with running mates Kathleen Santomero and Mark Ornstein, both hoping to fill Council seats.

This week, The Telegram asked all the candidates one question:

1.) Make your final pitch. Why should you be elected to Evesham Township Council?

Their responses are below.

Brown, Zeuli and Hackman

The Evesham Township mayor and Council have been fortunate in our ability to provide great services to our residents and still lower taxes. While other townships are laying off police officers and township employees, raising taxes and cutting valuable services, Evesham Township has been at the forefront of “out of the box,” innovative ideas to maintain services, while lowering taxes. Because we have been able to lower taxes and maintain services does not mean we will rest on our laurels. We will continue to work with our township manager to look for places to cut costs and ensure that taxes continue to decrease.

The Brown Zeuli and Hackman Team should be elected on Tuesday, Nov. 2 for the following reasons:

1.) Evesham Township needs strong leadership. Under the tenure of Mayor Brown and Councilwoman Hackman, Evesham taxes have decreased over the last two years. As a successful small businessman, Steve Zeuli will bring with him the years of experience he has gained from running his business. Steve has to run his business on a tight budget and will use his management skills to reduce township spending. We will continue to look for innovative ways to cut

spending and lower taxes. We will look at municipal budgets with a multi-year emphasis — instead of a year-to-year emphasis. We will continue to attract quality ratables which keep our taxes from rising.

2.) Evesham Township has been recognized as a leader is shared services in Burlington County. We have done a great job already with shared services, but we would like to see more shared service agreements that save money and increase efficiency.

3.) The township will be looking for opportunities to be more “green.” We are currently paperless for Council meetings. We have embarked on $3 million solar energy project — being funded by state and federal grants. The project will generate $50,000 in revenue for the township. We will explore ways reduce our energy use, which not only saves money, but also helps us to be good stewards of the environment.

We, Randy Brown, Steve Zeuli and Debbie Hackman, are asking for vote and support on Tuesday, Nov. 2. We are the only team running with a record of accomplishment, a record of lower taxes and a record of providing quality service while not increasing taxes.

Mark Ornstein

In 1912, S.O.S., the universal signal for distress was adopted into maritime law. Prior to this, ships on the sea, out of visual range, were isolated from the shore and other ships. A ship could vanish on the high seas, and no one would ever know there was a problem until it failed to make port. Here in Evesham Township, there are residents which are in distress, who are struggling financially, isolated and in many ways “lost at sea.” Our current mayor and Council have neglected these residents. It is time Evesham calls out an S.O.S, more specifically Team S.O.S: Schmidt, Ornstein, Santomero.

I have the pleasure of running on a ticket with two of the finest individuals I have ever known. Both Mike Schmidt and Kathleen Santomero are residents with passion, integrity and intelligence. They, like me, believe Evesham can be the best town in New Jersey.

We are faced with one of the worst economic climates in our country’s young history, a climate which is affecting our young families, our seniors and our children. We see neighbors losing jobs, losing homes and losing hope. We must, as a township, take care of our residents, and see to it we provide stability to our community and assistance to each other.

I believe the leadership of this community has failed our residents. Taxes have been raised, spending has increased and government has quietly made decisions without informing residents. Mike, Kathleen and I have the business and legal background to reverse the course of this leeward ship. Through our three point plan, we will limit the number of professionals working with the township, bring all taxing entities together in order to work in a more harmonious manner and put out to referendum any major capital spending initiative. Most importantly, we will involve the residents of Evesham through broadcasting Council meetings, making budget review by residents more accessible and having your elected officials more available to hear your concerns and opinions.

As Election Day nears, it is imperative you choose candidates whom will represent your best interests, candidates whom will listen to your concerns, respond to your needs and most importantly respect you!

In these difficult times, it can be hazardous to navigate through the choppy waters of life. I urge you to select a team which you believe can ride the waves, make the difficult decisions and avoid disaster. I urge you to select the S.O.S team: Schmidt, Ornstein, and Santomero in column 1!

Kathleen Santomero

Today, we are living in a world of uncertainty. The economy and finances for us all are changing day to day and families are feeling the pain from their local and state governments changing positions and lack of financial support.

So, let’s talk about our local elections in Evesham. I am running for Council in Evesham, along with Mike Schmidt for mayor and Mark Ornstein for Council. These two men are not only very knowledgeable and well educated but are men who will bring outstanding values to our Council. Integrity of elected officials builds trust and respect. These are things that have been sorely lacking in Evesham for some time now.

There is a growing number of Evesham residents who have grave concerns about their ability to remain here in Evesham and/or in the state as a result of the financial impact our high taxes and today’s economic conditions have brought forth. We need to help these residents and to help all of our Evesham residents that are feeling like they are just one paycheck away from disaster. We need to be their voice and act with a sense of urgency, because for some, time is not an option as they may be losing their homes. We need to listen to their concerns and not dispel them. Instead we must find solutions and give our struggling residents a listening ear and a “hand up” not a “hand out” when there is a need. That is what great leaders do.

I have and will continue to be a leader and an advocate for those who have no voice and those who need support during hard times. I am, like you, a citizen who has decided that sitting at home and ignoring our situation will not make it better. I have never run for public office in my life. I felt compelled to run for office with Mike Schmidt and Mark Ornstein because their message was my message, and together we believe we can make a difference for the residents of Evesham. We have refused to run a negative campaign about those running against us. We have stuck to the issues to educate our residents on real facts only. The Evesham SOS Team of Schmidt, Ornstein, Santomero has a plan to start healing Evesham and for getting Evesham back up on its feet so that we can truly celebrate together its success!

We will be working to give our residents some real tax relief, which we will bring to them by using our Three Point Plan for Evesham. No more closed doors, just open, honest communication with our residents about what we are doing and what we plan to do with input from the residents of Evesham. The residents of Evesham called out an SOS and we heard you loud and clear. We listened, we heard you and you can be sure that we are inspired by your stories and encouraged by your resolve, and we will not let any of you down if elected to these offices.

This is an historic election year in Evesham. Every single vote will count. This election could come down to a difference of just a handful of votes. If you want to make change happen, you need to stand up now, go to the polls, pull the lever in Column 1 for Schmidt, Ornstein, Santomero. We thank you for your support and for the trust you have had in us throughout this campaign!

Mike Schmidt

In politics, we want our leaders to have integrity and to be trustworthy, in order for them to be examples to our children and to the community. Unfortunately we have grown cynical about public figures, and most of this cynicism is deserved through the actions of some.

I am running for mayor in Evesham so that our residents will have a real voice in government. My only agenda is to deliver the very best to the residents of Evesham. I have no hidden agenda, other than to be hard working, honest and a person our residents can trust with the integrity of being mayor.

From a practical standpoint, my running mates, Mark Ornstein and Kathleen Santomero, and I are focused on protecting the taxpayers through a common sense plan. The plan centers around three points: containing spending, containing taxes and making government more accessible.

On the spending front, we must do more with less, consolidate where it makes sense and ask our voters to have a say in major spending questions. Regarding taxes, enough is enough. We are being taxed out of our homes, and if something doesn’t change, some of us will be faced with a decision to move out of Evesham. Making government more accessible means one thing. Information should be shared with our residents, in an open and transparent manner, and it should be easy to find and review.

The ongoing theme that prevails through our plan is to listen to our residents. Elected officials work for the taxpayers, not the other way around. You are our bosses. We have an obligation to carry the will of the voters in every decision we make.

As mayor, I can help set the tone for good government, being fiscally responsible in how we spend your tax dollars (because we cannot spend what we do not have), and leading Council through challenging times. All residents and voters of Evesham will finally have a seat at the table in local government.