Opinion: Voorhees’ beacon of transparency deserves a second term

Three years ago Michael Friedman arrived on the Voorhees political scene as a bright-eyed reformer.

His platform was simple, yet powerful — to serve as a check and balance to a one-sided local government and to shine a light on government activities that Voorhees residents deserve to know about.

Mike’s vision, coupled with a passion to serve his community, were enough to coax this independent voter from the sidelines and vote for the Republican candidate.

And during the past three years, Mike’s done nothing but deliver on his campaign promises. Case in point — Mike promised us transparency. Consider the following an example of transparency delivered. In January 2012, Mike penned an article in the Voorhees Sun highlighting some disturbing aspects of the Township’s professional appointment process (http://sj.sunne.ws/2012/01/24/voorhees-committeeman-speaks-out-about-municipal-appointments/ ).

To summarize, Mike brought to light a series of professional appointments that, in his opinion, didn’t pass the “smell test”. That is, significant township contracts were ostensibly awarded on the basis of political patronage rather than on the merits of the bid. I thank Mike Friedman for having the courage to bring these activities out into the open and more importantly, for refusing to serve as a rubber stamp for business as usual in Voorhees Township.

Now that Voorhees residents have been armed with the ultimate insider’s perspective on their township’s political machinery, there should be no going back.

Mike Friedman deserves a second term.

Geoff Hammel