Washington Township GOP candidates oppose moving Ambulance service to County

Theresa Lappé, candidate for Mayor of Washington Township, and Council running mates Joseph Bowe and Giancarlo D’Orazio, today issued a statement of their strong support for the local Ambulance Squad. The Republican candidates oppose transferring the service to a regional EMS service.

“For over 50 years the Washington Township Ambulance and Rescue Association has been serving our residents” stated Lappé. “They provide excellent service at no cost to our taxpayers.”

Joe Bowe said “our local response times are excellent, and we see no reason to disband a service that is working so well.” Bowe has worked with the local squad since 1970 as a police officer, and feels our existing service could not be matched in the caring dedication they show our residents.

“To possibly put the lives and health of our residents at stake by moving to a regional service doesn’t make sense,” stated D’Orazio. “The professionals who work for our Washington Township Squad do an outstanding job.”

The candidates stated, “The Washington Township Ambulance and Rescue Association operates self sufficiently, and doesn’t cost our taxpayers a single penny. That can’t be said of the Gloucester County regional EMS service, which will spend millions of taxpayer’s dollars. We believe our residents are best served by keeping our existing service local.”

In addition to operating without cost to taxpayers, our local Ambulance Squad supports over twenty-five local organizations and projects such as the Boys and Girls Scouts, free CPR training to local residents, Washington Township youth sports programs, Earth Day, Super Saturday, Concerts and Fireworks in the park, National Night Out, drug awareness at our middle schools, and much more.

The candidates challenge their Democrat opponents to respond within two weeks with their position on this issue. Since the Democrat candidate for Mayor earns his paycheck from Gloucester County, the Republicans question if the Democrat slate can look at this critical issue objectively, or will Freeholder Director Sweeney order them to turn over our local service to Gloucester County. “Our residents deserve to know if our opponents will agree with our position of putting Washington Township residents first, or will they follow their political bosses in Woodbury,” stated Lappé.