In spite of the internet, most voters still read newspapers.? ?The “Letters to the Editor” section is read by almost as many people as the front page.? ?The easiest way to influence the opinions of those not already in our group is write letters to the editor.? ?Most papers will publish one of your letters each month–if it is good, and short.? ?The Press of Atlantic City limits letters to 250 words.? ?The Philadelphia Inquirer has a 150 word limit.? The shorter the letter, the more likely it will be printed, and less likely it will be edited to change its meaning.? ?Below is a letter I submitted with 230 words.? ?Notice that there is only enough space to make a point, back it up with one or two arguments, and make a conclusion or call to action.
Vote “No” on both Ballot Questions!
A ?yes? vote on the first question would let state government borrow another $125 million.?? A big chunk of that money would pay big ?transaction fees? to Wall Street banks and lawyer.? The rest would fix up libraries in certain counties and towns.
I love libraries.? However, Amazon, digital books, and the internet make brick and mortar libraries less important than ever.
Meanwhile, ?project labor agreements? and pay-to-play politics make government construction unaffordable, and unsustainable.? We should be cutting costs, not borrowing money.
A ?yes? vote on the second question would change our state constitution again.? It would put all money from environmental lawsuits into a special fund ?to preserve the State?s natural resources?.? The proposal is cleverly worded so that money can be spent on almost anything.? Nothing requires money received from lawsuits to clean up the properties involved in them.
In the past, ?Green Acres? and ?Open Space? money was spent to bulldoze trees, pave parking lots, and pay top dollar for worthless real estate.
Both ballot questions propose bad ideas.
New Jersey taxes are unsustainable because both Republicans and Democrats refuse to set priorities and cut costs.? They borrow money and pay it back with years of tax hikes.?? Special interests change the constitution to earmark money that would be better spent elsewhere.
The first step to change this is to vote ?No? on both ballot questions.