On Tuesday, May 13, the residents of WARD 4 are urged to re-elect their councilman Gerald "Pateesh" Freedman.

Over the last four years, Mr. Freedman has done an exceptional job of representing not just the 4th ward, but all of Hillside.

Without fail, Freedman has urged the Council and Mayor to take action on projects that would help Hillside and has opposed any spending that would result in property tax increases.

In fact, Freedman has been the only councilman in the last two years who has constantly stood up to the politicians and their reckless spending at Town Hall.

Freedman was first elected to the Council four years ago. At the time, he and former Councilwoman-at-large Mattie Holloway constituted the two-vote minority on the municipal governing body.

After the Political Machine managed to take away Holloway's seat in the 2001 election, Freedman remained as the sole ally of the taxpayers.

During his tenure, he has:

Demanded that the Council ease up on legal spending;

Insist that the town clean up North Broad Street;

Called for the nominal $1 senior citizen fee for the pool during the 2002 heat wave;

Consistently voted against tax increases;

Exposed the hiring of a county political operative to handle the Township's insurance

The list is endless.

Freedman tells the dispatch that if he had decided not to run, "there would be nobody at Town Hall to watch over the cookie jar."

For this reason, the DISPATCH urges voters to vote for Freedman.

It is unfortunate, however, that voters in the other three wards have will not have the opportunity to elect an honest candidate. It would have been better for Hillside to have four citizen voices on the Council instead of just one.

But if one is all we can get, one will have to do. Gerald "Pateesh" Freedman is worth every vote the 4th ward can give him.

He has been there for us. Let's make sure that we keep him there.