Middle Must Reject Clark’s Smear Campaign

County Democrat Chair Brendan Sciarra and Committeeman Michael Clark’s despicable and devious smear of Mayor Timothy Donohue as a racist, in the Oct. 9 edition of the Herald, is a new low in the Middle Democrats’ sordid history of dirty politics.
Community leaders, on both sides of the political fence, have rightfully called for Clark to publicly apologize, and retract the false attack on a widely-respected local leader.
Clark has worked side by side with Tim Donohue for six years. He knows better. He should be ashamed of these tactics.
Sadly, this is nothing new; just a deeper dive than ever into the mud. Do you remember the red flyer?
In October 2011, Tim Donohue was closing in on a Republican victory that would end nearly 80 years of one-party rule in Middle Township, and make Dan Lockwood the mayor. On the night of the annual Volunteer Appreciation Dinner, Middle Democrats plastered all the cars in the Stone Harbor Golf Club parking lot with a blazing-red, 8.5” x 11” flyer.
 The flyer was chock full of lies and distortions. It swore that Tim Donohue was going to refuse to pay the school tax. Tim Donohue was going to merge the Lower and Middle Township police departments.
An assortment of villainous henchman would take over the township, and burn it to the ground.
In October 2012, it was the billboard on North Wildwood Boulevard. A larger than life lie, deceiving voters about Dan Lockwood’s personal finances. In an act of poetic justice, the billboard was destroyed by Super Storm Sandy.
In fall 2013, as Melanie Collins sought to become the first African-American elected to township committee, the Democrats painted her as an “Uncle Tom,” and a puppet in a racist, under the radar, whisper campaign.
So it goes, year after year, smear after smear. Eight years later, Tim Donohue is our mayor, and the red flyer is framed on the wall of his office, lest he forgets how low his opponents are willing to go.
Old-time Democrat power-brokers, best known for decades of never-ending tax increases, special favors for special friends, nepotism and backroom deals, still can’t accept that Tim Donohue and the Middle Township Republicans broke up their party. Nearly a decade later, they still see Donohue as an “outsider.” Our mayor considers that a Badge of Honor, continuing (alongside Deputy Mayor Ike Gandy) to stand up to entrenched special interests that still seek to dominate the township.
Now in danger of losing their last vestige of power, the good-old-boy network is digging deeper into the slimy politics of personal destruction. Desperate times call for desperate measures. As sure as the leaves will fall in October, expect more mudslinging from a Clark campaign bereft of any vision or plan for a better Middle Township.
It’s time for Middle Township voters to close the door, once and for all, on the politics of the past. Voters must reject Sciarra and Clark’s amoral politics of personal destruction, taken directly from the leftist playbook of the progressive elites in Washington and Trenton.
Tim Donohue has always strived to bring good people together to do good work. Clark’s dirty politics seek only to divide us along the partisan lines that have so wounded our nation.
Our elections should be better than this.
It’s time to stop trying to tear us apart, in order to drag Middle back to the past. We need to move forward together to a brighter future. To get there, we need a united team on township committee. A team truly committed to pushing back against the governor’s radical agenda, fighting for a zero tax increase, standing with Sheriff Nolan and law enforcement, following the recommendation of the Citizens Advisory Board for a more open form of government, and tackling the issues of homelessness and drug addiction with innovative approaches and compassion.
We can only get there together. On Nov. 5, reject the Democrats’ desperate and divisive campaign of personal destruction. Cut the cord, once and for all, on the politics of the past. Elect Jim Norris to Middle Township Committee.
PUTTING MIDDLE TOWNSHIP FIRST
Ordered and paid for by Norris for Committee, 113 S. 10th St., Del Haven, NJ 08251.