Howard

Howard Schoenberger

On the Issues

Q: What is your top issue?
A: If you are like me, you work hard for your money and probably don’t like it when government officials waste it. The Republican incumbents have wasted hundreds of thousands of your tax dollars and foregone millions of dollars that could have reduced your taxes. I aim to stop this waste. I would like to require voter consent on any discretionary expenditure over $500,000, the current council members want to be able to spend multi-million dollar sums without letting you have a say. This is wrong and needs to stop now. Here is one example – four years ago I installed a solar array on my roof and suggested to the town they do the same. They thought, did nothing, and then used your tax dollars to hire a consultant to do a study. Turn the clock ahead four years – I have a fully paid for solar array (based on electric savings, rebates and SRECs) that will generate over $7,000 a year for my family for the next 20 years – as a tax payer you now have a fully paid for consultants study – who do you think is better off? I urge you to vote for me so I can help make Randolph more fiscally sound and responsible to you the tax payer.

Q: What is your second issue?
A: You and all residents have a right to open and honest government, especially at the local level. Your current town council has fought against these rights. They passed a highly restrictive ordinance limiting your right to tape and view their council meetings. Why? What do they have to hide? They have trampled the idea of live streaming of council meetings on the internet and of a library of past meetings. Why? What do they have to hide? Other towns around us do this, and it makes for better government. I’ve urged them to do this but they refuse, ignorantly claiming it is too costly. It is not costly; several local towns do it and making government more open makes things operate in a less costly manner. They claim they want your input, but make it hard for you to know what goes on in local government. Why should you have to give up your nights with your family to view their wasteful actions? Wouldn’t it be great to be able to see these meetings when you are away on business, or don’t want to spend money for a sitter to watch your kids? I urge you to vote for me so that I can open the window on local government and get more input from all of our residents to make Randolph a better place to live.

Q: What is your third issue?
A: Why did you move to Randolph? If you are at all like me you probably thought it was a nice semi-rural area with natural beauty and good schools without the congestion of Bergen County or other places. I have lived here for over 22 years and have seen that beauty decline while simultaneously seeing congestion increase due to over building and almost non-existent planning. The current council thinks that more commercial ratable makes the town better – they are dead wrong. All these little tiny shopping areas and big box stores on RT10 just create more traffic and put a strain on our infrastructure and over tax our already strained police force. The "build it and they will come" mentality has not reduced your taxes but has reduced your quality of life as you sit in traffic. They want more of this, we don’t need it. They favor developer’s rights over citizen’s rights. Its time to say no. Vote for me and I will put your wishes ahead of their developer friends.

Background
Howard Schoenberger has been a resident of Randolph since 1986 along with his wife Susan and children Danielle and Michael. He attended Lehigh University where he earned a degree in Chemical Engineering, and the University of Delaware where he received an MBA. He worked in the chemical industry for Diamond Shamrock in chemical plant operations for six years. Subsequent to that he worked for 15 years for two boutique management consulting firms specializing in the Chemicals and Plastics industries. For the past seven years he has owned and operated a retail business in a nearby town.

Over the past twenty plus years he has had two children go through the K through 12 education process in Randolph and seen the town grow and change significantly. The events in Randolph over the last year have convinced him that our local government is broken and no longer listens to nor respects its residents. As a council member he will strive to garner more input and support from residents no matter which side of an issue they might be on. He strongly believes that elected officials serve at the pleasure of the residents and must do what the residents want - NOT what they personally want. He approaches this position with an open mind, not having pet projects to push for nor favors that need to be paid back. He believes it is time to elect new representatives that will be able to tackle the needs of the community with much more input from the community.