May11
HillsideWins!The Shelley Bates Team for Hillside
Apr02
PolitickerNJ: Judge says “Let the Bates Team “B”
By Max Pizarro, PolitickerNJ.com Reporter
In separate cases in Elizabeth this afternoon, Superior Court Judge Kathryn Brock ruled in favor of Hillside mayoral candidates Shelly Bates and Joe Menza, who won the right to be bracketed with their respective running mates on the May 12th ballot.
“We are vindicated,” said Bates, a councilwoman. “Voters know it had to be done, but it’s a crying shame we had to use taxpayer dollars for one of our many township attorneys to defend the indefensible.”
“We won,” affirmed John O’Shea, spokesman for real estate developer Menza. “The judge ruled that the township clerk arbitrarily decided not to bracket (at Monday’s ballot drawing) after not including bracketing applications in the materials received by the candidates.”
Menza and Bates are two in a four-person mayoral field that includes Councilman Jerome Jewell and School Board member Andre Daniels.
Apr02
Ledger: Hillside candidates win decision on ballot listings
by Erin O’Neill/For The Star-Ledger
Thursday April 02, 2009, 5:15 PM
Two of the tickets running in Hillside’s municipal elections this May will now see their candidates grouped together on the ballot after taking the township clerk to court.
The tickets, led by mayoral candidates Joseph Menza and Shelley-Ann Bates, argued before Superior Court Judge Kathryn A. Brock Thursday afternoon that the clerk’s decision to list their running mates in separate rows on the ballot violated state statute.
The clerk, Janet Vlaisavljevic, had told the candidates their teams were not grouped on the ballot, because they failed to submit a letter directly requesting her to do so.
Both Bates and Menza filed petitions for candidacy that listed their running mates vying for council seats under each team’s campaign slogan. Without a specific form asking whether or not they wished to be grouped on the ballot included in the election materials, the candidates argued that the designation of the slogan should suffice.
Menza and Bates did not learn of the separate listing of their running mates until Monday, when, Menza said, a crowd filled the township’s courtroom for a drawing designating the candidates’ place on the ballot. Bates drew row B. Menza took row C. Their running mates were listed individually starting in row E. The other two tickets, led by Jerome Jewell and Andre Daniels, were grouped with their running mates. Those teams submitted letters to the clerk asking to be grouped on the ballot.
When reached by phone Thursday morning, Vlaisavljevic said the materials she prepares and distributes to the candidates clearly state that each team must request they be grouped on the ballot. “All that is on their application,” she said.
Menza called the issue technical nitpicking in a press release on Wednesday. In court, the judge sided with Menza and Bates and ordered the running mates be listed in the same row on the ballot when it is printed. She also suggested the township include a specific form for grouping teams in future applications.
“To be fair, I think [the clerk] has to ask,” said Judge Brock during the hearing. “It appears the two groups were doing what they ought to be doing.”
Outside the courtroom, Bates said she felt vindicated. Menza agreed.
“This is democracy at its best. It goes to show common sense does prevail,” he said.
Mar24
Bates Team Wins Round 1
In the first test of Election’09 Bates, Dupree, Lynn and Whitaker thump their nearest opponents by more than 3-to-1
In order for a candidate’s name to appear on the ballot on Election Day, New Jersey law requires that the candidate collect the signatures of registered voters on a petition to demonstrate their support. I am happy to report that last Thursday afternoon the Bates Team for Hillside submitted our petitions for the May 12th municipal ballot and thanks to you and your neighbors’ support we not only finished in first place but bested all of the other slates combined. We sought and received the support of registered voters in every ward and every district because our message of change and fiscal responsibility resonates with every Hillsider we meet.
Here are the totals as provided by the Office of the Township Clerk:
Totals By Slate
Jewell 875
Daniels 701
Menza 669
Total By Candidate
FOR MAYOR:
Jewell 268
Daniels 179
Menza 155
FOR COUNCIL:
Beverly Lynn 854 Sip Whitaker 823 Leonard Dupree 798Carlisle 216
Garretson 215
Cureton 191
Cook 185
Deo 180
Dykes 176
Puglese 171
Miller 158
Escobar 155
(128 valid signatures of registered voters residing within Hillside Township were due to the Office of the Township Clerk no later than 4 o’clock Thursday, March 19th)
Nearly 3,400 signatures. That’s almost eight times the amount required by law and that may very well be a municipal record. But while our petition count is a significant number we recognize that the number isn’t about me or my running mates.
It’s about Hillside taypayers being fed up with elected officials with no real plans for our community’s future. They are fed up with a lack of performance by those elected to represent them and are ready to send a message to Town Hall.
We are humbled by our success and want to thank all of you who took the time to walk with us throughout Hillside neighborhoods large and small, to talk with us about the future of our community and to pray for the success of the Township as we we go through these tough economic times. We recognize that there is plenty of work to accomplish between now and Election Day and hope to speak to each and every one of you to ask for your support.
This year’s municipal election on May 12th will be about important decisions on significant issues and we will bring the same level of determination and professionalism that we have brought to this electoral process to Town Hall. We will represent not just one side of town but all of Hillside and we will owe our allegiance to Hillside taypayers and nothing to political power brokers.
Over the next few weeks, if you would like more information on our positions and plans for the future of our community, if you would like to volunteer or contribute to our campaign or would like a lawn sign for your home, please visit our online headquarters at www.HillsideWINS.com, or call me at 973-923-1463
Mar09
A New Day Is Coming!
first got involved in politics because my neighbors and I wanted to get some sleep. Basic quality of life was denied to us by a nuisance bar and it appeared that we didn’t rate the attention and justice we deserved from Township leaders.So we became community activists, we knocked on doors, got petitions signed and spoke out on behalf of our neighbors regarding a bar we considered to be dangerous. As we continued our effort to get Town Hall to pay attention to our concerns, my neighbors encouraged me to run for a seat on the Township Council. I did and we won. State laws governing drinking establishments in Hillside are now enforced and the bar in question is now closed.
Over the last three years I have met many citizen-activists all across Hillside. They are frustrated by a local government that appears to be asleep at the wheel. Whether it’s the small businessperson on Maple Avenue faced with the stark realities of a recession, or the unemployed homeowners on Conant Street who worry every night about keeping their homes out of foreclosure, Hillsiders are airing the same demands. They insist that their elected officials cease with the endless bickering and return to governing Hillside and establishing policies that are fiscally responsible and sustainable as well as those that promote growth, opportunity and community.
During the last year or so, with an eye on May’s municipal elections, many Hillsiders asked that I consider participating in the race for Mayor. But 2008 was an exhausting year. Aside from my day job and my service on the Township Council, I spent 2008 working tirelessly to get then-Senator Barack Obama elected President of the United States. I went door to door talking to Hillsiders before the primaries, convincing them that Barack Obama was up to the job. Later Senator Obama asked that I serve as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. I was honored and humbled.
Also in 2008, I went door to door with petitions seeking to get our Council meetings
broadcast on cable television, to update the Township website and to improve openness and transparency in our municipal government. In addition, I circulated another petition to strengthen our pay-to-play ordinance in order to decrease the influence vendors have on our Township government. My neighbors thought our petitioning days were behind us once I got on the Council. We thought new ideas and fresh thinking would be discussed and debated openly. Instead, we had to petition more Hillside citizens when we realized that such ideas were not welcomed by the Council Majority. Business as usual seems to rule the day here in Hillside .But a new day is coming and today I am making it official: I will be a candidate for Mayor of the Township of Hillside.Over the course of the next few days I look forward to introducing you to my slate of candidates for the three at-Large Council seats and discussing how we plan to make Hillside a BETTER place to live and work. If the last year has proven anything, it’s proven that change is within reach. It will be hard work and I will need as many of you as possible standing by my side starting today. I ask for your support and I promise to not let you down.
Thank you
Shelley
Feb09
Upcomming Meetings
Municipal Council Meetings:
Caucus Meeting: Monday, April 6 at 6:30pm
Regular Meeting: Tuesday, April 7 at 7:00pm
Caucus Meeting: Monday, April 27 at 6:30pm
Regular Meeting: Tuesday, April 28 at 7:00pm
Caucus Meeting: Monday, May 18 at 6:30pm
Regular Meeting: Tuesday, May 19 at 7:00pm
Caucus Meeting: Monday, June 22 at 6:30pm
Regular Meeting: Tuesday, June 23 at 7:00pm