Leonhauser votes against restoring chief of police

The Republicans may have begun to see their campaign promises unravel at Tuesday’s meeting of the Board of Supervisors. Only about 12 percent of all registered voters in Middletown Township cast their ballots for Gallagher, Mallon and Kreiling. The entire Township will probably be paying dearly after so many voters stayed home on Election Day.

During a budget discussion, they found that their ideas for hiring more police officers without increasing the budget were like smoke in the wind. The police department’s $9.2M budget represents 66% of the overall township budget, with the next closest department coming in at $1.9M, or 14% of the budget. With the township manager proposing flat revenue and flat expenses for 2010, we have a shortfall of $3M. That is without hiring more police officers.

So, with the budget already falling short (meaning a tax increase), how can the township afford hiring more officers with no tax increase (as the Republicans promised)? Additionally, their campaign promised to “dedicate all community policing revenue earned at the Oxford Valley Mall, Sesame Place, and special events to the police budget – not to the general Township operating funds.” The Township Manager confirmed last night that this revenue is ALREADY allocated to the police budget so there is no silver bullet there either. What really surprised us is that Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Kreiling seemed shocked that their campaign promises may have had no merit (Mr. Mallon did not attend the meeting). This shock would seem to indicate they might have actually believed their campaign bluster. That’s scary!

Earlier George Leonhauser made a mockery of their campaign promise to restore the position of chief in the Police Department. In an attempt to acquiesce to what was reported to be the wishes of those who voted on November 3, Supervisor Robert McMonagle introduced a motion to abolish the resolution creating the position of public safety director and restore the position of chief.

Mr. Leonhauser should have been delighted, right? Final vote, 4-1 with Mr. Leonhauser voting against the motion.

One final observation: during the meeting, Mr. Leonhauser referenced that the newly elected Republican supervisors would be “in power” soon. Those two words (“in power”) represent most of what is wrong with politics today. Politicians are not elected “to power.” They are elected “to serve.” If more politicians remembered this key difference, more might be accomplished in government. We hope that Mr. Gallagher, Mr. Kreiling, and Mr. Mallon do not share Mr. Leonhauser’s feeling that they were elected to be “in power.” We hope they will be there “to serve” all residents of Middletown Township.