Originally posted at OldBridgeRepublicans.com

Or, “Democrats”, if you prefer:

The Old Bridge Township Council will not meet this month, and Republican members are wondering why.

Council President G. Kevin Calogera said the month’s only meeting, scheduled for July 18, was canceled because some members are on vacation and others cannot make it for personal reasons such as work and other commitments. The cancellation was announced July 13.

The council’s last meeting was held on June 20; its next one is scheduled for Aug. 15.

With five of the council’s nine members needed for a quorum vote, and with all four Republican members planning to attend the July 18 meeting, Councilwoman Mary Sohor said there is something “strange” about the situation.

“We had this scheduled back in January,” said Sohor, a Republican. “I just cannot understand how all this came about. … To think that five people have five different things going on, that no one could come?”

Republican Councilman Brian Cahill said he believes that since it is an election year for mayor and three council seats, the Democrats, who hold a 5-4 majority, do not want to be on a public stage to answer the questions being posed by the public and the four Republicans.

“The Democrats have become ostriches, sticking their heads in the sand, hoping the town’s troubles will go away,” Cahill said.

Cahill said the Democrats proposed hosting a telephone conference call to vote on urgent matters this month. But he said he would not take part in that.

“I refuse to participate in any phone vote,” Cahill said. “The residents deserve better and they deserve an opportunity for their voices to be heard.”

Republican Councilwoman Lucille Panos also refused to participate in the phone vote, noting that there were several important items on the agenda for the July 18 meeting, Panos said.

Panos said the council was set to revisit the controversial early retirement ordinance that was adopted in May; consider a proposed change in a security ordinance that requires businesses open from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. to have two employees working; and vote on an engineering contract worth $24,831 for inspection services.

“The canceling of the July 18 Old Bridge Township Council meeting is politics at its worst,” Panos said. “It has nothing to do with quorum and all to do about the Democrat majority controlling the council votes.”

Politics at its worst. That about sums up the Old Bridge Democrats.

Don’t worry though, People of Old Bridge, your rulers will take questions after their vacations.