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The Republican Primary IS the election for the Readington Township Committee. Please vote on June 4th.
Opponents Accepted Over $14,000 in Donations from Outside Readington to Influence Election
What promises and back-door deals have been made with these donors at the expense of Readington's future?
SOURCE: https://www.njelecefilesearch.com/searchcandidatereports
Opponents Plan Residential Zoning Changes for Readington
Our opponents have accepted large campaign donations from two large tract landowners, neither of whom reside in Readington. What has been promised in exchange?
Mueller and Huelsebusch have accepted large campaign donations from two large tract landowners, neither of whom reside in Readington. These are large, unpreserved parcels in our Township. Development of either would line the pockets of the landowners and developers while dramatically changing Readington.
The Planning Board had a lengthy discussion on May 13, 2024 about changing zoning in the three largest zones of Readington Township – the AR (Agricultural Residential), RR (Rural Residential) and SRR (Special Resource Residential) zones. Mueller remained uncharacteristically silent during the conversation while simultaneously accepting a $1,000 donation from an out-of-state donor who owns a large parcel in Readington Township. Panico, who led the argument FOR residential zoning changes that would bypass the Board of Adjustment process, also received a donation from the same landowner during his run for Township Committee in 2022. The property in question is 73 acres in the SRR zone that has access to Rt. 31. A separate donation of $5,200 is from an out-of-town donor who owns an even larger parcel of 375 acres in the AR zone that has access to Rt. 202. Panico refused to share who had made requests for zoning changes, but these campaign donations tell the story.
Accepting a donation from landowners who stand to gain considerable profit if these zoning changes are effected should prompt Mueller and Panico to recuse themselves from discussions about and votes on said zoning changes. Neither Mueller nor Panico chose to recuse themselves, creating a conflict of interest in this matter. Instead, Panico led the argument FOR residential zoning changes, and Mueller sat silently, apparently prepared to vote on the issue when it comes back to the Planning Board for a vote.
Residents should demand transparency. What was promised in exchange for these campaign contributions?
Source: Readington Township zoning map
Source: https://www.njelecefilesearch.com/searchcandidatereports
Cannabis VP Donates to Opponents' Campaign Before Requesting License Renewal
Political donation made to Mueller and Huelsebusch campaign days before license request by Verano cannabis facility.
Mueller and Huelsebusch accepted a donation from the Vice President of Verano Holding Group four days before the Verano cannabis facility came before the Township Committee to request an extension of their license to operate in Readington. ELEC (Election Law Enforcement Commission) filings show that Ryan Ewing, VP of Verano Holdings Group, made this donation just days before appearing before the Township Committee to request an extension of his company's license to operate.
Pay-to-Play in Readington Township
Political donor receives lucrative contract as new Township attorney, costing taxpayers more.
In 2024, Huelsebusch and Mueller joined Township Committee Member Vinny Panico in removing long-time Township attorney Sharon Dragan and awarding the Township attorney contract to Panico campaign donor Christopher Corsini. ELEC (Election Law Enforcement Commission) filings show that Corsini donated $1,250 to Panico’s 2021 State Assembly campaign. In exchange for his political support, Corsini won a lucrative contract that pays him 25% MORE than Dragan in previous years. What has Readington lost besides over $40,000 in wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars? The vast institutional knowledge and legal expertise that Dragan offers. Huelsebusch and Mueller are aware of Corsini’s knowledge gap, and now pay Dragan as special counsel for legal advice and expertise in various Township capacities in addition to Corsini’s more expensive fee. Huelsebusch and Mueller are more interested in political support than in doing what’s best for Readington – retaining superior counsel at a LOWER COST than their political supporter.
Readington News and Paid Facebook Page
We can have the Readington News municipal bulletin AND a municipal Facebook page for less money than the current social media contract our opponents favor and introduced.
In 2023, Huelsebusch and Mueller joined Committee Member Panico in a vote to eliminate the Municipal Page in the Readington News and replace it with a municipal Facebook page run by a friend of Committee Member Panico. This friend was awarded a $16,800 annual contract to create and run the page. (Another bid with a media specialist was $6,400 but was rejected by the same members of the Township Committee. The limit for a public bid is $17,000 - the contract was awarded for $200 below the required public bid threshold.) Additionally, the Township has to pay $4,200 for a company to keep the municipal Facebook page’s content available for OPRA (Open Public Records Act) compliance. The municipal page in the Readington News cost the Township $10,450 per year. Had the Facebook page been managed in-house, even with the required OPRA software, the cost for both the Readington News and an in-house managed municipal Facebook page would have been $14,650 - still $2,150 LESS than the current media specialist contract. The municipal Facebook page was touted as being the source of “immediate” information for residents (a service already available via Nixle) but has often been used to highlight specific Township Committee members instead, including highlights for campaigning purposes of sitting Township Committee members. While social media can be one avenue for communicating with residents, many residents are not Facebook users. The Readington News, supported via advertising, was delivered to nearly every household in the Township and was available to all residents at no additional cost in our libraries, the Municipal Building, and various local retail locations. The Township can have BOTH at a lower cost than what is currently being paid.
Staff Vacancies & Hostile Work Environment
Our opponents created a hostile work environment that caused CFO's resignation, difficulty in filling position. We would never act in a hostile or abusive manner toward Township employees or volunteers.
The Township has lost 3 CFOs in the last 2 years. Most recently, the Township’s CFO resigned from his position after then-Deputy Mayor Adam Mueller berated him in the 7/17/2023 public Township Committee meeting for being unable to attend in-person due to a lightning strike at his home. (The CFO was available via text with the Township Administrator during the meeting.) The hostile work environment created by the Huelsebusch-Mueller administration has made it difficult to fill this vacancy. To date, the Township has not been able to fill the CFO position with another full-time CFO. Instead, the position is being managed by our Township Administrator and recently by 2 part-time, short-term CFOs, one of whom was hand-selected by Mueller and quit with no notice just a few weeks into her role. Hostile work environments make it difficult or impossible to fill vacancies with good, qualified staff and difficult to retain the excellent people we have on staff today.
Route 22 Corridor Business Zoning
Our opponents do not support zoning for small businesses that would benefit our community, instead seek to build large hotels and intensive strip commercial development. We support small businesses that provide needed goods and services and appeal to our residents.
Our opponents like to take photos of themselves at successful local businesses and claim to be supporters of them. But supporting businesses isn't as simple as visiting places for photo ops and ribbon cuttings. It's attending the Planning Board meetings, reading through the documents, asking questions, and being prepared to vote when it comes to adding 19 new business uses along the Route 22 corridor. Supporters of small businesses roll up their sleeves and do the hard work. Jacqueline participated as a member of the 2023 Planning Board's Zoning sub-committee, which Adam Mueller declined to join. The sub-committee worked to determine 19 new business uses in the Rt. 22 corridor and came back to the full board with a master plan re-examination report that the Planning Board overwhelmingly supported. When presented for ordinance introduction to the Township Committee (11/20/2023 minutes 32:25-35:17 & 36:58-47:48, and again on 12/4/2023 minutes 24:40-29:11 & 35:12-39:56), both Huelsebusch and Mueller voted not to introduce the ordinance, rejecting additional business uses in the corridor and denying current landowners the ability to develop their properties for new businesses. To be clear, Huelsebusch and Mueller's repeated no votes denied existing landowners the right to build and to develop their land and denied new landowners or tenants the possibility of bringing good businesses to Readington that would have benefited our residents and contributed to our tax base while maintaining the rural character of our Township.
When you're looking for that local brew pub, a bed & breakfast, an outpatient surgery center or urgent care, a theater, or a local recreation or sports facility and have to leave Readington to find it, remember who voted no to those types of businesses (and others!)
Gender Pay Discrimination Lawsuit
Our opponents declined to settle a gender pay discrimination lawsuit, instead opting to expose Readington to potentially millions of dollars in preventable damages. We will work toward creating a work environment that doesn't create lawsuits, and we would have settled this lawsuit.
After coming to an agreement with the plaintiffs in a gender pay discrimination lawsuit, the majority (in other words, not all) of the Township Committee opted to back out of the settlement agreement, against the advice of counsel, and take the case to court. The settlement agreement would have been paid by the Township's insurance policy, costing the Township only the amount of the insurance deductible. This lawsuit will cost taxpayers significantly more. The court filing to enforce the settlement paints a very sad picture of gender discrimination, indicating that “…after having agreed to the settlement in writing, the Defendant Township Committee met in Executive Session on October 16, 2023, and… did not vote to approve the Settlement Agreement.” Within the court documents is a chart listing the salary ranges of the various department heads in the Township, and a statement reading “…there is a significant discrepancy among department heads, as the average gap in salaries between males and females is over $40,000 annually.” See here and here for further details. Related article: https://www.nj.com/politics/2023/12/nj-town-backs-out-of-800k-settlement-with-three-underpaid-female-employees.html
Dismissal of Volunteers
Our opponents dismissed long-time, dedicated volunteers and replaced them with friends and family members with little experience or prior involvement. We will appoint volunteers who have shown interest and involvement without giving priority to family or friends.
Our opponents, Committee members Huelsebusch and Mueller, along with Committee member Panico, dismissed long-time volunteers from various boards and committees at the January 2, 2024 Township Committee meeting. Despite requests from Committee members Albanese and Heller to retain experienced, qualified, and long-time volunteers, Huelsebusch and Mueller joined in the vote to replace them with new appointments who offered little experience and no prior volunteerism with the Recreation Committee. Additionally, Committee member Albanese was removed as the Recreation Committee liaison against his wishes after many years serving successfully as the liaison. In fact, in February 2024, Committeeman Albanese was recognized by the New Jersey Recreation and Park Association with the prestigious Public Service award for 2023. For all municipalities in the entire State, there is only 1 recipient of this award. That recipient was unceremoniously dismissed from his liaison role at this reorganization meeting of the Township Committee by the same Committee members who dismissed many volunteers. See the 1/2/2024 Township Committee meeting video to see the disappointment and outrage from the community, and the 2/28/2024 Readington Recreation Committee meeting video and Readington Recreation’s Facebook post to see the three awards Readington received from the New Jersey Recreation and Park Association.
Solberg Airport
We support the Township's Master Plan, which calls for maintaining the Airport's runway at its current length.
Many residents are concerned about a possible expansion at Solberg Airport. We support the Master Plan of Readington Township (this is the Township's master plan, not the Airport's master plan) and its stance on the airport. The latest Adopted Master Plan Amendment, from 9/14/2020, is available here (see Section 5, pages 5-7), notably: "Solberg-Hunterdon Airport has had a presence in Readington Township since its beginnings in the early 1940’s. Its identity reaches beyond the Township to the wider region, as it has served as the perennial host to the New Jersey Festival of Ballooning. The lands surrounding the airport facilities also contain environmentally-sensitive features that serve as critical wildlife habitat. These include freshwater wetlands, streams, vernal pools, woodlands and grasslands. Furthermore, the narrow public roads surrounding, and leading to, the airport reflect relatively low traffic volumes typical of a rural context. It is recognized that changes to the airport, or the characteristics of air traffic at the airport, could result in negative impacts to environmental resources and necessitate significant improvements to thoroughfares that could negatively impact the rural-residential context of the airport. Therefore, Solberg-Hunterdon Airport should be preserved as a public aviation facility in a manner that avoids negative impacts to the environmentally sensitive areas and prime farmlands, and the character of residential neighborhoods and rural thoroughfares in the immediate vicinity and throughout the Township. [The Township should] encourage the channelization of traffic onto appropriate facilities in a manner which produces a minimum detriment to residential or non-residential areas. [The Township should] continue to accommodate traffic from approved new land development projects while maintaining existing levels-of-service and without negatively affecting rural character."
Paid for by Smith and Hindle for Readington, PO Box 82, Readington, NJ 08870
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