Good afternoon and thank you.
Reverend clergy, honored guests, friends and fellow members of the Maplewood Township Committee, Happy New Year. Thank you for coming out today to celebrate this Maplewood tradition with me as I am sworn in to begin another term on the Township Committee.
It is a great honor to be chosen by you, my neighbors, to represent you in our local government. I know I’ve said that before, but I mean it, and it never gets old.
Congratulations to my running mate, Deputy Mayor Kathy Leventhal, on being re-elected as well, and all of my good wishes to you as you also begin another term here.
I’m also very grateful to Ian Grodman, the chair of the Maplewood Democratic Party, as well as all the county committee members, for supporting my candidacy and for helping me be re-elected.
Kathy is too polite to say it, or perhaps just more diplomatic than I am so she’d say this differently, but this was certainly the strangest political campaign that I have ever been involved in. All of our best laid plans were sabotaged by a combination of being busy and a giant super storm. It’s hard to keep up the tradition of campaigning for office at the Maplewood Train Station when access to that station is blocked by giant fallen trees, and it’s silly to waste time trying to campaign there when the train’s shut down for most of the week anyway. I had visions of knocking on the door of someone who’d been without power or heat for a week to ask for a vote and coming away with something much less pleasant than a conversation on the issues of the day. Fortunately people were able to make it to the polls, and we were able to be successful. Our re-election might not have been as important as the re-election of the President, but it was important to us, and we were happy to have everyone’s support.
This past year has been a particularly difficult and challenging one for me. Professionally and personally I have been through a lot of changes in the last year. I’ve been able to get through them through the kindness and the support and the love of my friends, many of whom are here in this room today. As the song says, it’s been a long December, but there’s reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last.
As I was preparing my remarks I looked through remarks that I’d made in past years. As the longest-serving Democrat in the history of this committee I have a lot of old inaugural remarks to refer back to. One friend suggested that I could probably get away with just reusing old speeches, but I didn’t want to do that. Even if all of you didn’t notice, I’d know.
There is a dirty little secret, though, and now it can be told. One place that people often reuse remarks -- one place that I often reuse remarks -- is in talking to the press when running for office. Maybe it’s because the press always seems to ask you the same questions: What are the biggest challenges facing our community? What are the things that you are most proud of? What do you hope to accomplish? Everyone running for office knows the answer to those questions, and can give them to anyone that will listen, especially the press.
And, of course, there is the question that begins every election-time interview: Why do you want to run for office?
It will likely be no surprise to you to learn that your friends and your neighbors and your family ask you that, as well. Often they are asking to check to see if you will finally admit once and for all that you are not completely sane, and your desire to be in local government is the clear manifestation of your madness.
This year I gave a different answer to the press when they asked me that question. I told them that I know that the right answer is a high minded statement about the nobility of service to your community. I know that I am supposed to say that there is important work to be done and I am ready to do it.
Those things are true. But the answer I gave them... somewhat apologetically, but completely seriously... is that I want to continue to serve because it is, simply put, simultaneously incredibly rewarding and an enormous amount of fun.
As a member of the Township Committee, I meet interesting and intelligent and passionate people. I meet them every day. And what they are passionate about is the community of Maplewood and making Maplewood a better place.
Listing them all would take too long, and I do not want to do that anyway, but there are just a few things that I want to tell you about.
Did you know that a couple of guys from Maplewood decided that the food pantries run by the churches in our communities needed our help, so they organized a regular series of fundraisers to engage the community and provide that assistance? Those guys would be annoyed at me if I mentioned their names, because they didn’t do it for the recognition.They did it to help, they did it because it’s the kind of community they want to be a part of, and because they want to build that community.
I know that you all know that this past summer, the child of a township employee suffered a horrific accident. A group of people from across the community of Maplewood -- and beyond -- decided to organize a fundraiser to raise money to help this family. When I went to the Ryan’s Hope event I saw people from all over our community, from any and every background and every size bank account, doing whatever they could to help. The people that organized the event -- and the people that participated in that event -- didn’t do it for the recognition. They did it to help, they did it because it’s the kind of community they want to be a part of, and because they want to build that community.
And then, Super Storm Sandy. People lost power. People lost heat. People lost access to their homes. People lost the ability to get around town safely for a little while. But do you know what the most common thing that I heard was? Even more common than complaints about PSE&G? I heard people asking who needed help, how they could help, what they could do for other people. People didn’t decide that they were going to sit and complain, they went to Town Hall or Morrow Church or DeHart or the Library, and they gave to others. They did it to help, they did it because it’s the kind of community they want to be a part of, and because they want to build that community.
I’m not crazy to want to serve in the local government of this town. No. I’d be crazy not to.
What person in their right mind wouldn’t run full speed to be a part of a place like Maplewood?
In my older speeches, I often closed with a quote, usually from some political figure, but I think we’ve heard enough from political figures, don’t you? I still can’t get Barack Obama and Joe Biden to stop sending me emails, for goodness sake.
Instead, I’d like to bring you a wish that I came across the other day. It’s from the writer Neil Gaiman, and it sounds better than most of the New Year’s resolutions that I’ve failed to keep over the decades. Maybe it will work for you.
“May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.”
I like that. Let’s do it. Let’s get to work, and let’s have a good year in this great town.
Thanks, and Happy New Year.
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