Firefighter unions bash Yaede, endorse Democrats
HAMILTON » Firefighter union leaders inserted themselves into the rough-andtumble of Hamilton Township politics Thursday afternoon by scolding Republican Mayor Kelly Yaede over public safety and endorsing the Democratic Hamilton Council candidates five weeks before Election Day.
“Every day Mayor Yaede and her team have let go by without bringing consolidation to Hamilton Township is another day they’ve put us and those raising the alarm in even greater danger,” Shane Mull, president of Hamilton FMBA Local 84, said Thursday in a statement.
“We have heard little from the Republican candidates,” Mull said Thursday at a Rusling Hose Fire Co. rally. He said the five-member, all-GOP Hamilton Council “serve as the rubber-stamp of the mayor” and said it was his pleasure to endorse Democrats Anthony Carabelli Jr., Jeff Martin and Rick Tighe for Hamilton Council.
Hamilton’s firefighter unions began a petition collection process in October 2015 in hopes of consolidating the township’s disjointed fire service into a single entity. The township’s big government fire service currently comprises nine autonomous fire districts, but Mull says a unified fire service under consolidation would improve public safety for firefighters and civilians.
Nick Buroczi, president of FMBA Local 284, accused Yaede of “stalling” the fire district consolidation process and said the FMBA unions will put their fullfledged support behind the Democratic council candidates.
“It’s not just words,” Buroczi said as the three Democratic council hopefuls and other politicians stood behind him, including State Sen. Linda Greenstein (DMercer/Middlesex). “We plan on backing them with our actions.”
Eddie Donnelly, president of the statewide FMBA firefighters union, said consolidating Hamilton’s fire service sooner rather than later “makes complete sense” and suggested consolidation should have happened long ago in this 40-squaremile township of 90,000 residents.
Carabelli, Martin and Tighe each expressed their gratitude in receiving the political endorsements of Hamilton FMBA Locals 84 and 284.
“Just like we don’t need to have nine police departments, we don’t need nine fire districts,” Tighe said. “We are looking forward to continuing to work with all of our first responders to make sure they have what they need.”
Republican response
Mayor Yaede on Thursday blasted the firefighter union bosses for injecting politics into a collaborative process and for not appreciating Hamilton Council’s fiscal stewardship.
“The FMBA proposed plan entailed hiring more firefighters, which means higher taxes. That is why our Council (elected by the residents of Hamilton Township) has been attempting to gather more information from each Fire District — because our residents do not desire a plan that increases fire taxes,” Yaede said Thursday in a statement. “Based on calls that I have personally received since this press conference, this tactic of attacking the Yaede Team and subsequent political endorsement is not shared by all FMBA members.”
Councilman Dave Kenny, who chairs this year’s Republican council campaign of Dennis Pone, Dina Thornton and Gino Melone, on Thursday suggested that FMBA union leaders are seeking to raise property taxes to finance a largely staffed fire service in Hamilton Township.
“Regardless of what they say, the FMBA has proposed a significant increase in firefighters, which is a proposal for significantly higher fire taxes — which no taxpayer supporting consolidation desires,” Kenny said in a press statement. “While our team is doing the necessary work to save taxpayer dollars while maintaining public safety, the only thing our team will delay — permanently — is a fire tax increase. But clearly the FMBA and Hamilton Democrats want to increase fire taxes and we just want to know by how much.”
Kenny said Hamilton Council is conducting an ongoing fire facilities and equipment audit and said three fire districts have not yet provided an answer to a questionnaire seeking needed information.
“We want all the information so we can make the best decision possible,” Kenny said Thursday in an interview with The Trentonian. He reaffirmed that Hamilton Council’s goal is to consolidate the fire service “before the end of the year.”
Pone, Thornton and Melone in a joint statement said it was “unfortunate that the FMBA has chosen to make consolidation a political issue” and said if their Republican slate is successful in the Nov. 7 election that they “will work constructively with Mayor Yaede and even the FMBA to accomplish what is best for Hamilton taxpayers.”
Hamilton Councilwoman Ileana Schirmer, who is hoping to unseat Greenstein in the State Senate election this November, said Greenstein has not attended any Hamilton Council meetings regarding fire district consolidation and said the senator only attended Thursday’s FMBA rally “to hoist herself into the spotlight as some sort of real member of our community.”
Greenstein has been endorsed by the statewide FMBA firefighters union, and she previously attended the initial Hamilton FMBA rally in October 2015 that kicked off the unions’ consolidation push, where she said: “Every Hamiltonian deserves equal services at equal costs.”
When it concerns the process of consolidating Hamilton’s fire service, “We will be just fine working this out and coming to a solution that is best for the Hamilton taxpayers and firefighters without the empty input of our absentee senator,” Schirmer said Thursday in a statement.