In Your Opinion: Township GOP Is Alive And Well

By Michele C. Petersen, Somerset.

This letter is written in response to April 6th’s article titled Longtime Township GOP Chair Resigns Amid Efforts to Oust Him, New Leadership Team Elected.

The April 6th article should have been published in the FR&A’s In Your Opinion section due to its lack of evidence and abundance of an “anonymous” person’s viewpoint. 

The Republican party in Franklin is not “divisive” nor is it run by “dissidents” who tried to “oust” our former chairman as the April 6th article shamefully leads readers to believe. In fact, there is a new excitement and interest in the party by Republicans, Independents, and even Democrats as we see public safety and warehouse issues becoming more of a controversy between concerned residents and the current all-Democrat town council.

I would like to address each relevant paragraph of the article to show that facts were completely left out. 

Paragraph 3

“. . . the group was not able to get enough valid signatures.”

The petition had a valid minimum number of signatures. Proof can be found by 1) Checking the amount needed in our bylaws which are available online, 2) Seeing the official list of committee members publicly maintained online by the County Clerk, and 3) Checking the signature tally on the petition.

Paragraph 4

“It turned into a Bob’s a piece of s**t kind of meeting”

Almost every person speaking at that meeting addressed Chairman LaCorte as a friend, or mentioned that they respect him. There are meeting minutes and a video of the meeting proving this fact.

Paragraph 8

According to the anonymous person, Chairman LaCorte “was planning to step down at the end of his term”

Paragraph 9 states that Chairman LaCorte had no comments for this report. I believe they refer to the anonymous person’s assessment of Chairman LaCorte’s plans. Many would recognize this by its legal term “heresay”.

Paragraph 13

“The whole point was, he was putting up lawn signs . . . “

The editor should have asked for a copy of the petition or the anonymous person should have offered it. If that had happened, the editor would have seen that no reference was made to lawn signs or the Board of Education in the petition requesting Chairman LaCorte to step down.

Paragraph 14

“ . . . a group in disarray and split into two camps”

It should become clear by the above that this is patently untrue.

Paragraph 18

“ . . . attendance at committee meetings has diminished since LaCorte’s resignation”

This is impossible because there have been no regular club meetings since Chairman LaCorte’s resignation. This statement is untrue and therefore proves Paragraph 19 to be a blatant lie. 

Again, this entire article should have been published by the anonymous author in the In Your Opinion section, rather than reported as truth.

The Franklin Township Republican Municipal Committee is alive and well. Change is healthy and good!

Speaking of change: We look forward to listening to and working with all residents of Franklin this election season – no matter their party affiliation. We believe that residents would like to see positive changes in our wonderfully historic town. 

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Michele C. Petersen is Chair of the Franklin Township Republican Municipal Committee.

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