Councilmembers Deny Having Campaigned Against Budget

Many parents and local education activists are furious with the Township Council for secretly campaigning against the school budget in last month's referendum.

At the council meeting just before the school board election, a resident publicly alleged that some council members had been "urging residents to vote no on the school budget." When councilman-at-large Peter Corvelli pressed the speaker to name the officials, the resident pointed to councilman-at-large Jorge Batista.

And even though Corvelli gave the impression that the Council was not campaigning against the school budget, the DISPATCH talked to one Hillside voter who alleged that he had been instructed by Corvelli to vote "no" on the budget question.

In a recent issue of the Gazette-Leader, Council President John Kulish claimed that the budget should not have been voted down and expressed uncertainty on how his council-mates stood on the issue. Even so, Kulish - along with Corvelli and Batista -- actively campaigned for the slate of James Pelletierre and Richard Samiec - the machine-backed school board candidates who supported the defeat of the school budget.

Ironically, the budget was being opposed by the very politicians and party organization that had been responisble for creating and proposing it!

The Council's ambiguous stance on the budget has left some people understandably confused.

"If they [the councilmen] are against the school budget, then why didn't they just come out and say it?" one local activist said to the DISPATCH on condition of anonymity. "Residents deserve that respect of knowing how their officials feel about the issues affecting the schools and property taxes."