Three Vie for Seat on Middle Committee

COURT HOUSE –– Susan Atkinson Delanzo is facing some stiff competition from two sides for her seat on Middle Township Committee. The Independent Eileen Fausey and GOP candidate Richard Cheatle will join her on the Nov. 6 ballot.
Democratic Incumbent
Delanzo, of Court House, has served on the township’s governing body for six years and has lived here since 1972.
She has an education degree and used to own a local preschool business.
Currently, Delanzo can be found six days a week working in her family’s business, Atkinson’s Tavern on Route 9.
She is a former township Chamber of Commerce officer and a volunteer for organizations such as Little League and the Boy Scouts.
When asked why she got into local politics she said she wanted to show township residents that “regular people could get involved and make a difference.”
Some of the things Delanzo is most proud of over her tenure in township government are those improvements she’s helped implement that had no cost for taxpayers.
She said she helped broker a deal with Cape Regional Medical Center administrators to supply police vehicles and township buildings with portable defibralators.
“Because Middle Township Police provide regular services to the hospital, I was able to persuade them to donate the devices,” she explained.
She also said that through her ties to the township Chamber she was able to secure donations from local businesses to rehabilitate and furnish the DeVico Senior Center.
“When I started on committee the center was just a bare building with tables and chairs,” she said. “Now our seniors have a great place to meet and enjoy the center’s programs.”
She calls these initiatives that bring businesses and government together “building bridges,” and prefers that to “building fences” between different interests in the community.
She is also proud of her work helping to obtain federal and state grants to expand township facilities such as the Martin Luther King Recreation Center and the Whitesboro Elementary School.
Delanzo’s responsibilities include the senior center, recreation and the department of public safety.
Under the umbrella of public safety and emergency management, Delanzo started a locator training program in which police and fire officials compiled a list of township residents who would be unable to evacuate themselves during an emergency.
The program, which she said is being copied by the State Police, will help those in the most need get to safety.
She said the biggest challenge facing the township is maintaining the level of services residents enjoy while at the same time keeping their taxes low.
“I don’t have an agenda,” she told the Herald. “It’s not about Democrats or Republicans, it’s about the people of Middle Township.”
Independent Challenger
Eileen Fausey wants to make Nov. 6 “independence day in Middle Township.”
A former state Democratic committeeperson, Fausey said she left the party after witnessing too many “back room deals” that favored “party bosses and big contributors.”
Fausey, who lives in Swainton, grew up in the county and has been a township resident for over 30 years.
She is the treasurer of the township taxpayer’s organization and a member of the Chamber of Commerce. She is also a former officer on the following boards: Coalition Against Rape and Abuse (CARA), Cape Counseling, as well as the county and state Commissions on the Status of Women.
Fausey has also been active locally in the Boy Scouts and 4-H as well as the local Little League, which she says she helped bring to the township in 1976.
“One of my greatest memories is being recognized by the Women’s Commission with its 2005 Alice Paul Award for work as a local businesswoman, volunteer and activist,” she told the Herald. “I like the term activist.”
She said her persistence has been able to get things done over the years.
While working with CARA and the Women’s Commission, Fausey was able to help get the five-year statute of limitations on rape lifted in New Jersey.
After supporting the incumbents in the last two elections, Fausey decided to run because she thinks she can do a better job.
“I’ve listened to residents concerns and feel I know what they want,” she said. “Leaders need to listen.”
Fausey believes in having informal town meetings to get different points of view.
“There are many different neighborhoods in Middle Township that need different things,” she said.
She also believes there should be term limits for elected officials.
“This would bring fresh faces and new ideas into township government,” she said and added that it would also keep officials from “double dipping” into the pension system.
“I will take a paycut,” she said believing officials should tighten their belts especially when they ask residents to keep paying higher taxes.
Fausey said after 30 years of helping people through her activism, she thinks she can really help people if elected to township committee.
“I’ll give 110 percent to the residents of Middle Township,” she promised.
Republican Challenger
Richard Cheatle, of Rio Grande, will be representing the GOP in November and offers a different voice for the township.
Cheatle was born in Glenridge and moved to the county with his family in 1962.
He attended Lower Cape May Regional High School and served on the Town Bank Fire Company for eight years.
Cheatle has been employed by Acme Markets for over 30 years and is currently the manager of the liquor department in the Court House store.
He thinks committee needs another voice to ask questions regarding spending of taxpayers’ money.
“We don’t have any checks and balances here,” Cheatle said of committee, which is comprised of three Democrats. “No opposing viewpoints, so they just do what they want.”
He said the current committee lost an opportunity to save money after the recent revaluation.
“The township got a windfall of money, but instead of saving it, they increased the budget by 36 percent,” he told the Herald.
Cheatle, like Fausey, thinks the current committee caters too much to the Democratic party leaders.
“They give jobs to the former mayors and nobody is there to question them,” he said.
Cheatle may be more well known in the township for something other than his political views.
After an accident years ago in which he was seriously injured by a drunk driver, Cheatle has gone – as often as possible – without shoes or socks.
“Doctors told me I’d never be able to exercise or do karate again,” said Cheatle, who has two black belts and is an avid walker. “But I found that walking without shoes eased the pain I was experiencing.”
He was featured in this newspaper in 2004 when he was preparing to participate in a March of Dimes walk to raise money for the charity.
“In my life, I’ve struggled through my share of adversity,” he said. “I found that if you think you can do it, you probably can.”
Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com