CYAN YELLOW MAGENTA BLACK
Paul J. Peyton for The Westfield Leader and The Times
MEETING THE CANDIDATE...Essex County Executive and year 2000 Republican United States Senate candidate James Treffinger, right, chats with former Westfield Mayor Bud C. Boothe during Friday night’s Lincoln Day Reception at The Westwood in Garwood.
James Treffinger Urges Republicans to Focus On Smaller Government
By PAUL J. PEYTON
Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times
The premature death of the Republican Party has once again been exaggerated, according to Essex County Executive and 2000 Republican United States Senate candidate James W. Treffinger.
Speaking at the Union County Republican Committee’s annual Lincoln Day Reception fundraiser last Friday evening at The Westwood in Garwood, Mr. Treffinger told GOP supporters to concentrate on the party’s core message of “small government, lower taxes, and an end of over-regulation of our lives,” instead of what he termed “side issues,” a possible reference to the now completed impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton.
Mr. Treffinger said rumors of the party’s demise have echoed out of the nation’s capital since the defeat of Senator Barry Goldwater in the 1964
Presidential election, in which he ran against President Lyndon B. Johnson.
“Four years later our party won the White House,” he said, a reference to Richard M. Nixon’s victory in the 1968 Presidential election over thenVice President Hubert H. Humphrey.
“The premature death of the Republican Party has been predicted over and over again,” he said.
This, he noted, was followed by Watergate, which again brought about rumblings of the end of the GOP.
“Again, the Republican Party was counted as dead. Only six years after that, my hero, Ronald Reagan, assumed the Presidency and ushered in a long overdue period of reform,” Mr. Treffinger said.
Quoting former President Reagan, he said that “Abraham Lincoln stood for freedom. When we honor him, we honor freedom.”
“We stand for one thing above all else: Freedom. Freedom for all. Freedom from government’s heavy hand. Freedom to rise and (pool) our talents — Freedom without restraint,” he said, quoting the former President and California Governor.
Mr. Treffinger gave his rousing pep talk as Union County Republicans gear up for the 1999 and 2000 elections.
County Republicans have not won a seat on the at-large, nine-member Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders since 1994. Democrats currently hold a 9-0 majority on the body.
The party also sustained defeats in the former GOP strongholds of Westfield, Scotch Plains and Cranford last November.
Although the annual Lincoln Day reception lacked the pizzazz of the past several years, when Governor Christine Todd Whitman was the keynote speaker, the county Republican Party fundraiser nevertheless drew a crowd at The Westwood.
Mr. Treffinger, a former Mayor and Councilman in Verona, was first elected as Essex County Executive in 1994, after serving on the Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders for three years.
A Fulbright scholar and student of the Universities of Bonn and Marburg in Germany, he defeated former Newark Mayor Kenneth Gibson last November by over 8,000 votes, winning re-election to a new four-year term.
“Jim Treffinger, I believe, is a very great potential nominee for the United States Senate,” said Union County Republican Chairman Frank X. McDermott, in introducing the guest speaker.
Although they were gathered to celebrate the life of “the great emancipator,” Abraham Lincoln, Mr. Treffinger said Republicans have forgotten what he termed the “core message” of the GOP party.
“We are about emancipation of the individual; emancipation of the individual from big government; from over taxing, over spending, and over regulation. That is our message. It
HACKENSACK MEADOWLANDS REPLACES J&J RECYCLING, LINDEN LANDFILL
Freeholders OK Grant to Study Development Around Union Station on Raritan Valley Line
By PAUL J. PEYTON
Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times
Capitalizing on NJ Transit’s plans to construct a new railroad station on the Raritan Valley commuter line in Union, the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders last Thursday night approved a $50,000 planning grant for the township.
Freeholder Chairman Nicholas P. Scutari said the grant will assist the
township in developing the area near Green Lane that will soon be the Union stop, better known as Townley Station, on the Raritan Valley Commuter Line.
“This grant is a good example of why we created planning grants in the first place — to help municipalities make the best use of our transportation resources here in Union County,” Free
holder Scutari explained. “In this case, the township is looking at creation of office or retail space near the proposed station. The three rail lines that run through Union County provide us with great economic opportunities,” he added.
Freeholder Scutari said the goal of the plan is to “bring new business and opportunities to this county.”
According to the 1999 Union County Executive Budget, as prepared by County Manager Michael J. Lapolla, the station is part of the county’s Route 22-Morris Avenue Corridor Project.
“The plan addresses the need to satisfy clean air requirements and reduce congestion in the corridor by identifying potential transportation improvements,” according to his budget update on the project.
NJ Transit is currently completing the design and engineering phase for the station while Union Township is in the process of acquiring the necessary land to complete the project.
The station will be located just down the street from Kean University of New Jersey, and the Elizabethtown Gas Company and Schering Plough Corporation.
Other stops on the Raritan Line include Elizabeth Cranford, Garwood, Westfield, Fanwood and Plainfield.
Westfield received a planning grant last month to begin studying the best location for a parking deck in its downtown area.
In other business, the board adopted the county’s capital lease ordinance which will enable participating towns to purchase equipment through a program directed by the Union County Improvement Authority.
Westfield, for instance, will purchase two new fire pumper trucks at a total cost of $700,000, along with a $350,000 emergency communications system for the fire department and a number of trucks for use by the Public Works Department.
“This is one of the biggest programs the Improvement Authority has,” explained Freeholder Vice Chairman Daniel P. Sullivan, the board’s Liaison to the Authority, who noted that the program helps county municipalities “finance their capital needs at a very low rate guaranteed by the triple-A bonding of the county.”
Also adopted was an ordinance to appropriate $600,000 for the county’s road improvement program. Mr. Lapolla noted that the board’s action will enable the county to move ahead with engineering and design work on projects that were previously approved but not completed by the county.
A number of bridge and culvert improvements are included in the county plan. Over 18 miles of roadway will be repaved this year alone in the county.
The board also introduced an ordinance to include the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission’s Materials Recovery Facility and 1-E North Area Landfill, North Arlington, in the Union County District Solid Waste Management Plan.
The facilities will be used for the county’s non-recycled solid waste such as bulky waste, construction and demolition materials, non-hazardous industrial and vegetative waste.
Hackensack replaces J&J Recycling in Elizabeth, and the North Area Landfill takes the place of the Linden Landfill. The board will vote to adopt the ordinance following a public hearing on Thursday, March 25.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
Improvements at Penn Station Hailed by County Freeholders
PROMOTING RIDERSHIP...Union County Freeholders Linda d. Stender, Lewis Mingo Jr., left, and Donald Goncalves, took part in a NJ Transit initiative recently to promote greater ridership along the Raritan Valley Line (RVL). Pictured, left to right, are: Steven Clark, Director of the NJ Transit’s RVL 98 Initiative, Freeholders Mingo and Stender, NJ Transit Chairman and New Jersey Department of Transportation Commissioner James Weinstein, Freeholder Goncalves, Westfield Mayor Thomas C. Jardim and, far right, Congressman Bob Franks.
Union County Freeholders Linda d. Stender, Donald Goncalves and Lewis Mingo, Jr. recently took part in a NJ Transit initiative to promote greater ridership along the Raritan Valley Line.
As part of the promotion, NJ Transit offered a complimentary ride aboard one of their new Comet Cars into Penn Station, Newark, for a look at the improvements made along the line and in
the station in recent months. Among the improvements are the installation of a public address system, dynamic signage and closed circuit television for platforms one through six, installation of an handicapped accessible ticket window on the main concourse level at Penn Station and renovation of a passenger elevator to accommodate handicapped persons.
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