By Craig Marshall
I am the Republican candidate for Mayor in Marlboro. Formerly an independent, I have no choice but to step in and try to help save Marlboro. The entrenched Democratic administration, minus the one lone Republican, seems to be serving their own purposes without thought for the taxpayers of Marlboro.
Coming from a background of tragedy and triumph and having experienced the helping hand of my neighbors, I am committed to eradicating cronyism and divisive partisan politics. My running mates and I have even had to combat the usual allegations in Marlboro of anti-Semitism despite the fact that I am Jewish.
Symptomatic of cronyism are the multiple payments in the tens of thousands of dollars by the township to Council President, Randi Marder’s husband. Mr. Marder is the president and owner of Inkwell Global who provides promotional items for the ShopMarlboro!
There was no bid for the services provided. No notification to the public. Instead, Marder’s husband got the job. Randi Marder herself is listed as the Account Manager for Inkwell Global. Not only does the Marlboro ethics code prohibit this conduct, but ironically, the Marder’s company is not even located in Marlboro.
At a recent meeting of the Town Council, Marder and Hornik were asked about these payments and Marder acknowledged her husband owned the company. When asked if she thought it was ethical for her husband’s company to do business with the town, her response was “Ethically yes, I have no issue with it. I can go to bed, no problem.” To further compound this travesty, Hornik, from the dais encouraged the more than 75 members of Greenbriar to use Marder’s services.
This arrogance is further evidenced in the way the township is governed with the Mayor, Councilman LaRocca, and Deputy Mayor Rosen all members of the same law firm which was formed after they were elected. They assured the public that there are no ethical issues because they are lawyers and KNOW better. However, with millions of dollars spent on legal fees; and tens of millions of dollars in “other” expenses on the budgets; and millions of dollars in deferred obligated payments, I am not convinced that they do know better. My running mates and I, despite the personal attacks, scare tactics, and threats, believe that this is the last best chance to liberate Marlboro from the elected officials who have a sense of entitlement and who put their own financial interests ahead of the taxpayers!
