Politics & Government

District 25 Assembly Candidates Give Answers

Patch asked each to answer a questionnaire. Here is how they answered.

In the race for state Assembly in District 25, Republican incumbents Anthony Bucco (Boonton) and Michael Patrick Carroll (Morris Plains), and Democrats Gale Heiss-Colucci (Mine Hill) and George Stafford (Wharton) are running for two seats in the Nov. 8 election.

Patch asked each candidate to fill out the questionnaire below. Here are their responses.

Anthony M. Bucco (R–Boonton)

Age: 49

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Occupation: Attorney

Previous elected or appointed positions: Boonton School Board (1988-1992)

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Other community associations: Morris County Crime Stoppers, commissioner; Boonton Volunteer Fire Department, captain; Daytop NJ, founding member and former chairman of the board; Boonton-Mountain Lakes Rotary Club, past president and former member

What town do you live in, and how long have you lived there: Boonton Township, 18 years

What do you see as the most pressing issues in the coming term, and what would you do about them: Private sector job creation. As a sponsor of several economic growth bills, I will continue to work with the governor and his administration to enact new policies that will foster private sector job growth.

Spending restraint. As a member of the Budget committee, I will continue to advocate for fiscally responsible budgets that cut spending and not raise taxes.

Ease burden of property taxes. The recently passed property tax cap and arbitration reform bills are significant steps that will begin to help ease the burden of our highest-in-the-nation property taxes. In addition to these two reforms, the complete toolkit package of reforms must also be passed to stem rising property taxes.

What’s one fact about you most voters probably wouldn’t know: I am a cancer survivor.

Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris Plains)

Occupation: Lawyer

Previous elected or appointed positions: Eight-term legislator

Current elected or appointed positions: Republican county committee

How long have you lived in town? 51 years in Morris County

What do you see as the most pressing issues in a coming term, and what
 would you do about them? Taxes, spending, over regulation. Cut, cut, cut.

What's one fact about you that most voters probably don't know? I don't know; I'm fairly public.

Gale Heiss-Colucci (D-Mine Hill)

Age: 59

Occupation: Certified nurse midwife working at a drug and alcohol rehab facility

Previous elected or appointed positions: Appointed, Member/Chair Mine Hill Recreation Commission, 1985-1991

Current elected positions: Elected as member of the Morris County Democratic Committee to represent Mine Hill

Other community associations: Ferromonte Historical Society of Mine Hill, charter member/vice president, 1994-present; Rockaway Valley Soccer League, 1993-2001 (president for five years); The Mine Hill 75th Anniversary Organizing Committee; Annual Campfire Girls Halloween Fair Fundraiser, volunteer/actor for 15 years

Residence: Mine Hill, 26 years

What do you see as the most pressing issues in the coming term, and what would you do about them? Property tax relief without diminished service to N.J. residents, job creation, protection of clean air and drinking water, establishing a reasonable positive climate for business development, safe streets, quality education, revitalized infrastructure to provide needed repair of roads and bridges, quality health care and mental health services are the important issues that face our state and the people who call N.J. their home.  

onsolidation and shared services with minimal loss of autonomy of each town is a cost conserving approach to bring down property taxes. Unfortunately, the current system benefits many professionals who work as attorneys, engineers or supervisors in individual communities. They oppose consolidation because it would affect their own income. This makes it difficult to overcome the local resistance to change. Our current Assembly representatives are a prime example of this. Bucco and Carroll are attorneys for townships or boards in multiple municipalities. So you can see their reluctance to approach this issue. To best serve the tax payers of N.J., mandates to do this cost sharing should come from the state legislature which can supply the needed leadership to do so. It will be the first of many cost cutting measures that I will pursue. The result may surprise the skeptics who fear cuts in police and fire services may occur. In fact in Mine Hill, my home town, the sharing of services has provided exemplary coverage for both Wharton and Mine Hill alike.

Assuring increased employment opportunities is challenging in this negative economic climate especially in light of the fact that N.J. is the most densely populated state of the union. The approach to job creation needs to include private and state initiatives. Creating a positive climate for business to grow must be balanced with the safety of all residents. The acceptance of grant money available for women’s clinics would assure health care jobs. It is also necessary to solicit federal funding for repairing and revitalizing infrastructure. I would seek to provide tax incentives to companies who return outsourced jobs to N.J. residents.

I view myself as a problem solver. It makes sense to examine all aspects of issues from both the inside and the outside. I have found that if you ask the people doing the job how to improve the output or streamline the process you will find they have some pretty creative solutions.

Though merit pay for teachers on the surface sounds like a good idea, one need only to look at it a little closer to see the flaws. This plan of evaluation will surely pit teacher against teacher in a truly unfair manner. The idea is to use some form of standardized test to judge the teacher’s job performance. Again on the surface why not? Doesn’t everyone else’s job have similar performance measurements? Well frankly, no. Your job performance is based on what you do. What this union-busting scheme measures is the performance of the students in a given teacher’s classroom. Whether the student is in an honors class or remedial class, they are taking the same standardized test. Now let’s go one step further and say there are no standard students, no standard parental involvement, no standard communities. In fact any parent who thinks of the differences among their own children knows this all too well. Perhaps a better plan is to involve professional peers in teacher evaluation models instead of politicians who favor of dismantling the public school system. Instead they prefer the “business” run charter schools which are not unionized and even more importantly are not required to hire certified teachers. I for one am not in favor of tearing down qualified professionals on the basis of their pay scale. Their educational degrees and years of experience should be reflected in their compensation so that we will have qualified teachers to prepare our future doctors, nurses, business executives, parents and so on. I believe that good government is the engine that provides a positive climate for the development of thoughtful solutions for the difficult issues facing N.J. In that enhanced climate consensus can and should be sought for the benefit of all those who call N.J. home.

What is the one fact that the voters probably don't know about you? I’m Irish even though you can't tell from my last name. Seriously, the one fact voters probably don’t know about me is that through my whole life I have generously volunteered on many levels to make my community a better place to live or to help people in need or serious illness. And in this volunteer spirit, I now am asking for your vote to become not a politician, but a public servant.

George Stafford (D-Wharton)

Age: 62

Occupation: Communications consultant and video producer. 

Previous elected or appointed positions: I was a councilman in Wharton (where I've always lived) for 10 years. I ran for the state Assembly in 1987 and '89. I was on the Morris County Board of Taxation from 1990-93. I have been a local planning board member, a police commissioner, town council president and acting mayor. 

Other community associations: I coached recreation soccer, CYO and grammar school basketball.

What town do you live in, and how long have you lived there? I've lived in Wharton since 1950. Prior to 1967, I'm not sure what district we were in. After that time it was the 23rd, which was essentially the same as the 25th before the redistricting this year.

What do you see as the most pressing issues in the coming term, and what would you do about them? It is and has been property taxes. The solution clearly is shared services and consolidation on a large scale. Moving on these solutions will require major change. The major obstacle to this change is not public opinion nor so-called home rule but the millions upon millions of dollars that go to vested professionals who drain local, county and school board funds though no-bid contracts for legal, engineering, consultative, architectural, insurance, public relations and other services. These professionals not coincidentally are also the state’s leading political campaign contributors. Until this cycle of legal corruption is ended, property taxes in New Jersey will remain a national scandal. 

The actions I would take would be to propose and fight for legislation that would curb this massive abuse. I would also insist that those in the legislature who are such vested professionals or who are in business with such persons should not be allowed to vote on legislation meant to end such nefarious deals.

What is one fact that most voters wouldn’t know about you? Most people do not know that I am a graduate of Transylvania College in Lexington, Kentucky. Transylvania first brought higher education to the American frontier in 1780 and is one of the very oldest and most historic colleges in the nation.


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