Two local officials were recently arrested on charges of bribery and many others are under investigation. "To date, there have been five guilty pleas and I can assure the people of New Brunswick that we are not finished with our investigation and prosecutions."

New Brunswick is run by a small group, or coalition, of: corporations, rich lawyers, and construction firms. They force local small businesses to donate money to their campaigns, and they force city employees to vote for them. Out of a city of over 50,000 people the current council wrangles between 3,500 and 6,000 votes this way. Their organization is usually just called “The Machine.”

The Machine came forth in the early 1970’s, run by the convicted criminal John Lynch, who the Star Ledger used to call the “boss of bosses.” Although Lynch finally went to jail, the Machine remains. They began their reign by transforming the way that city councilpersons are elected from a “ward system” to an “at-large system.” The at-large system is the basis of their power. It is how a machine can stay in power that does not work for, or represent most people in the city. With an at-large system as we have now the city council people only have to serve their own wealthy neighborhood and the corporations that fund them. The schools in their neighborhood are great, but in the rest of the city they are failing, their neighborhoods are safe and secure but the rest of the city is torn apart so that their contractor friends can continue to profit.

A ward based city council system means that city council people will be elected from each neighborhood and they will live in the neighborhood that they represent. The current city council members with one or two exceptions all live in the same neighborhood. Although we all face many of the same problems in the city each neighborhood also has its own unique challenges, and only a fellow resident will be aware of those issues and struggle to find a solution. The time has come to end the rule of the few and the rule of the machine. We need real democracy in New Brunswick and a ward based council is the first step.