Kaplan, Kirk Seek Donut Tally From Democrats
How Much Taxpayer Money Will Ganz, McPherson
Spend on Election Day Treats For Poll Workers

Ganz and McPherson have raised taxes by $41 million over the past three years, but they never seem to run out of ways to spend more taxpayer money.’NEWS RELEASE

BERGEN COUNTY REPUBLICANS
Bergen County Republicans putting TAXPAYERS FIRST! October 26, 2005
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‘Ganz and McPherson have raised taxes by $41 million over the past three years, but they never seem to run out of ways to spend more taxpayer money.’

Kaplan, Kirk Seek Donut Tally From Democrats
How Much Taxpayer Money Will Ganz, McPherson
Spend on Election Day Treats For Poll Workers

Bergen County – With less than two weeks to go before Election Day, Republican Bergen County Freeholder candidate Michael Kaplan is demanding that the incumbent Democrat freeholders tell voters how much taxpayer money they plan on wasting on donuts and coffee for poll workers.

Over the summer, Democrat Freeholders David Ganz and Bernadette McPherson unveiled a plan to spend $9,000 of taxpayer money on coffee and donuts to bolster their re-election chances. Ganz and McPherson used county personnel and equipment to send out a letter to all 70 municipal clerks asking them to take a count of how many donuts and gallons of coffee they will need for Election Day.

The Ganz-McPherson donut plan was rejected by the municipal clerks association as an added burden and an expense the towns do not need to incur. But Freeholders Ganz and McPherson persisted in trying to implement their plan and said they were working on a way to implement donut delivery.

“I want to know how much taxpayer money is being wasted on coffee and donuts by Ganz and McPherson,� said Kaplan. “Ganz and McPherson have raised taxes by $41 million over the past three years, but they never seem to run out of ways to spend more taxpayer money.�

Kaplan’s running mate, Kelly Kirk, a Ramsey attorney, said the Ganz-McPherson donut scheme is just a small example of the arrogance of the Democrat freeholders who think they can spend taxpayer money any way they want.

“The arrogance of power is so ingrained in the Bergen County Democrats that they see nothing wrong with spending thousands of taxpayer dollars on a vote-influencing scam,� said Kirk.

Kaplan and Kirk said buying refreshments for poll workers is totally unnecessary since most municipal political organizations pay for poll worker refreshments out of their own pockets, not taxpayers’.

“I guess for Freeholders Ganz and McPherson it’s a matter of why should a private organization pay for refreshments when they can get the taxpayers to do it,� said Kirk. “It’s a philosophy that is prevalent in county government.�

Shortly after Ganz and McPherson announced their donut plan, Gregory Hart, president of the Bergen County Municipal Clerks Association objected.

Hart wrote to Ganz and McPherson on July 8 saying that he was “disappointed� with their offer. Municipal clerks, he said, have numerous duties on Election Day and don’t need to be saddled with ordering coffee and donuts for poll workers, who usually have them supplied by local political organizations. Adding the coffee and donut burden to public works employees or police is unacceptable, said Hart.

“For municipal clerks to provide this service while somehow deferring their other responsibilities is inappropriate, not to mention prohibitively expensive,� wrote Hart.

Ganz replied in late July saying he was working on a plan to ease the burden on the clerks. He never revealed the details of that plan.

“Why is Freeholder Ganz being so secretive about his plans to be generous with taxpayer money?� asked Kaplan. “Is he afraid there won’t be enough jelly donuts to go around on Election Day?�