Dear Editor:
During the 2009 Primary election, when he was up for re-election to his 7th term in Trenton, Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll sent out a mailer to his constituents where he listed 18 bills he supports or sponsored and said he could save them “15% or more on your taxes.”
Ten years later, eight of which were under a Republican Governor, Assemblyman Carroll failed to deliver on any of these promises. Taxes are as high as ever; residents are fleeing the state, and Assemblyman Carroll wants a taxpayer funded job with better pay. His failure to deliver any tangible results by the metric he set for himself, speaks volumes to the type of Assemblyman he is.
Carroll will respond, by stating that he was in the minority, but when he sent out this mailer, he was in his 6th term in the Assembly. This was not the product of an overambitious first-time candidate for office, but rather a calculated political decision by an entrenched incumbent to lie to his constituents in hopes they would be more likely to vote for him.
Assemblyman Carroll also holds disgusting views about slavery, views that will guarantee him defeat in November, and bring shame on Morris County Republicans, if he is our nominee. He once stated, and to this day refuses to back down from the following quote: “If slavery was the price that a modern American ancestors had to pay in order to make one an American, one should get down on one’s knees every single day and thank the Lord that such price was paid.” No one holding these views should be in public service and it’s a shame more Republicans have not taken a stronger stand against them.
Furthermore, despite claiming to be a taxpayer champion, Assemblyman Carroll cannot take care of his own finances. He filed for bankruptcy and had a tax lien against him for failing to pay his own taxes. Now he wants to control a $26 million children’s fund that the Surrogate oversees. His finances came back to haunt him in 2011 when he his judicial nomination was withdrawn amid feelings that among his own colleagues for over a decade in Trenton and in the Bar Association may be unfit to be a judge, and now he wants to be an elected judge to the Surrogate’s Court.
Morris County residents deserve better than Michael Patrick Carroll for their next surrogate. That is why I am supporting Freeholder Heather Darling. Freeholder Darling is an independent voice, who will be a champion for the elderly and special needs residents of Morris County. Darling’s platform also recognizes a group that Carroll seems to have forgotten as a “no vote” in the most recent decision in this regard, the unborn. Heather Darling has repeatedly indicated that she will champion adoption, a function facilitated by the Surrogate’s Office as a very viable alternative to abortion. Most importantly she takes her position as Freeholder seriously and will do the same as Surrogate. Please join me in voting Heather Darling for Morris County Surrogate in June 4 Republican primary.
Gary Ridner
Oak Ridge, NJ
