I am writing in support of Stefanie Gara and Greg Lobell for Raritan Borough Council. To this point, I have remained neutral in this race; however, being a Councilman, I feel that I have the civic duty to comment on those who may join me as the executives and legislators of our town. Raritan deserves an honest debate each and every time the Council spends taxpayer money or makes or rescinds rules that affect all Raritan residents. With the current make-up of the Council, however, the 5-1 Democratic majority does not produce much debate. I often feel as if decisions are made long before any official meeting. When this happens, we all lose. Electing Gara and Lobell would produce a 3-3 Council split, thus eliminating the influence of political parties, and forcing all six Councilpersons to enter into an honest discussion about each and every decision. That is the "government by the people and for the people" for which our forefathers gave their lives in order to protect. I also believe that Raritan should institute a public meeting system in which the first monthly meeting of any given month is an agenda meeting, and the second meeting is the business meeting. Under such a system, the Council would not only have the time to properly discuss each decision with however much debate the decision properly deserves, but the public would be able to observe why each decision was made, and who stands on which side of a particular debate. Please be skeptical of any elected official who is unwilling to publicly stand behind his or her position. When government is secret, we all lose. Despite that, our current Council voted this idea down this year when introduced by Mayor Liptak, not surprisingly by a 5-1 majority. I truly believe that Stefanie Gara and Greg Lobell will bring new ideas and a sense of openness and debate to the Raritan Borough Council. Gara and Lobell support the new meeting plan, as well as the enforcement of many other regulations which have historically, and mistakenly, not received close enough oversight. All Raritan residents deserve to have their government conducted as openly and honestly as possible. Please vote Gara and Lobell, Row 2, on November 4th. Pasquale Marago Raritan Councilman