I am very happy that Fernando Gonzalez won. I  know that Wilda Diaz and Kevin McCabe were all about getting rid of Leslie. It was all about revenge, not the vote, not the alleged voter fraud. Wilda Diaz has been trying to get rid of Leslie since she won the 2nd election. At one of the first meetings, she, Lisa Nanton, Sharon Nagy and Wilma Matey viciously went after Leslie to resign because she supported Billy Delgado. The committee had originally decided to only endorse someone in that ridiculous election if we felt ,that after a forum, one candidate deserved our endorsement. There never was a forum though, so we never did endorse anyone. Leslie, who is a passionate union supporter, did so on a personal level because Billy Delgado was a union supporter and Wilda wasn’t. Remember she had Christie at her first swearing in and attended a banquet honoring him and went to Trenton supporting his union pension busting. I never supported any mayoral candidate in that election, yet I was removed from the Perth Amboy Library Board of Trustees for which I had served for 14 years having only missed 2 meetings. How many has the mayor missed?

When Spicuzzo was indicted, Peter Barnes was asked to run for county chair because of his spotless reputation. He asked Leslie Dominguez Rodriguez. Leslie asked Wilda D. if she should and WD said yes. Perth Amboy has been left out of the loop for years with everything going to Woodbridge so Leslie said yes. Peter and Leslie won. I don’t remember the details about the next reorganization. I do remember what happened when there was an election for the seat vacated by Joe Vas. Craig Coughlin won and Judge Rodriguez lost. Wilda said right then that she would not vote for Democrats again and went to Hall Avenue the next morning proclaiming the same thing. So who are the REAL DEMOCRATS?

Leslie and Judge Rodriguez tried to unify the Democrats at a party in January to no avail.

There is still the primary where the Perth Amboy Democratic Organization is running against the Middlesex County Democratic Organization. This is strange, since the Perth Amboy Democratic Organization is a subsidiary of the Middlesex County Democratic Organization. Crabiel would be shocked that this could happen. So please vote for the B LINE FOR THE BEST AND AUTHENTIC DEMOCRATS. I have been working for the election of Democrats for more years than I can remember. John Wisniewski was the first candidate I ever donated to. I like Craig Coughlin and the freeholders and I like the work that Joe Vitale is doing in Trenton, although I don’t like that he is so involved with controlling Perth Amboy. I don’t yet understand why.

So congratulations to Fernando Gonzalez who won with so little money against so much. I know he will vote his conscience do what is right for the people of Perth Amboy.

Barbara Sottilaro

Secretary Perth Amboy

Democratic Organization