>ok, here’s the postmortem of the election (in my view)….
1. Ridgewood voters will not fall for McGreevey election techniques. They are too smart. Pressuring everyone you know to put signs on their lawn does not guarantee they’ll vote for you.
As I said in an earlier post, from my personal discussions with a lot of residents, C/D support was a mile wide and an inch deep. Walsh/Riche, who spent a fraction of what C/D spent, had a much better turnout. But if you drove around the west side, it would have appeared that C/D would have won handily, and they didn’t.
The loudest voice does not win in a town such as ours.
Understated advertising and intelligent arguments are the way to win.
2. The town is sick of tax and spend liberals in office.
The last two elections have confirmed it. Ridgewood needs to get its fiscal house in order. That includes the school system. Suggest otherwise at your own peril.
We’re not so dumb as not to realize that the school spending has become an arms race you can’t win. Get back to basics.
Similarly, voters realized that if Cronk was elected, his wife (co-chair of the RPP) would suddenly reappear and it would have been much easier to push thru an expensive redo of Graydon.
Prediction: Graydon’s attendance is much better this summer since the water quality has improved and the RPP is not as big as a force as it was two years ago when it was scaring everybody away with negative advertising.
3. Valley Hospital growth needs to be contained
While we all appreciate the benefits of the hospital, its requests need to be balanced with the community’s at large.
Similar to the school system and corporations in general, the hospital has a tendency to “empire build” and if left unchecked will overexpand beyond what is truly necessary.
Good job Ridgewood!
-Thed.
