All voters have to feel we are listening! They must feel we are fighting for them rather than for a position or for self-gain. The negative ads, lying, and deception are out of control. Voters on both sides are equally as frustrated, and they understand the need of a two-party system with checks and balances. This was planned by our forefathers for a purpose. Today, Americans in general are incrementally concerned with our country’s two-party political systems, they are looking at alternatives, our political parties are risking a loss of public confidence, and a crisis we can no longer ignore.

As a new County Chair, I set a goal to listen prior to speaking, and to remember what it is like on the other side. I was asked to serve rather than dictate. The word transparency is used often but ignored routinely. Mercer has experienced a one-party rule for almost two decades. We seemed to have forgotten that it takes a two-party system to maintain the needs of the people. There are no longer any Republicans in partisan elected offices. This must change for the health and welfare of the people and the county. It is my goal to ensure this happens while I hold this office. Not for my sake or our party, but for the sake of our people.

Unfortunately, monies often produce the winners of elections, and those dollars are often given to the incumbents making it more and more difficult as time goes by. Large companies and big dollar contributors give to those holding the power within the communities or municipalities. As a minority party, you have to think out of the box, you have to prove your worth and work twice as hard to get a quarter of the funds needed just to tell the people about your platform.

My goal is to help each candidate bridge that gap so we can find the much-needed success not just for the candidate but for the party itself. Which in turn, will help the county as well.

Winning attracts candidates, which makes it difficult for those in search of good candidates. As County Chair, it is my job to help recruit good candidates. The Mercer County team is in search for candidates not to just fill a seat, but to make a difference. It is important that I assist in that process.

At the same time, I set a goal for our team to build business in our municipality to prove that it can and will be done. Through COVID we lost many small businesses in our municipalities that we need to regenerate. Those businesses that we can help, will prove our worth and will bring dollars to our party. These dollars will in turn be spent on our candidates.

The public trusts those in office, and the deception that took place over the past few years playing with budget numbers at the county level has eroded that trust and caused an increase in our taxes. To counter that, hard work, true dedication, and determination is what it takes during difficult times when a candidate is running to gain a seat. The three candidates I have running now [for County Commissioner] face an extreme amount of challenges, but they continue to fight the battle knowing how important it would be to have one of the three win, if not all of them. This would be the first county-level Republican win in approximately thirty years for Mercer County.

I am extremely appreciative to these three candidates, Pedro Reyes, Denise Turner and Andrew Curcio for stepping up to the plate. They were well aware of the difficulties and challenges they would face when they accepted their nominations for County Commissioner. I helped to find these candidates prior to winning the County Chair election.

Mercer Counting is helping Curtis Bashaw for U.S. Senate along with our Congressional Candidates in Darius Mayfield (CD-12) and Dr. Rajesh Mohan (CD-3). We are experiencing rampant inflation, rising crime, and distrust of government. We are working to fix these issues that affect all Mercer County residents. Our team has undertaken efforts to maximize Get Out The Vote (GOTV) and look forward to seeing the results this November. We need to bring accountability to our government. People feel that their future is slipping away. My candidates are fighting to bring their voices to light and help all residents of Mercer County succeed.

We look forward to finding other candidates as we move forward. Next year, we have important state and local races that will impact us directly. Perhaps next time the search will be a little less difficult and the challenges we will face will not be as great, as we, our team fight, fight, fight to equalize the playing field.