MORRIS COUNTY — Plan by Democrat candidates for Freeholders to strip money away from County Sheriff Jim Gannon and his public safety efforts are wildly out-of-touch with Democrat, Republican and Independent taxpayers in Morris County, and proof the Democrat team is on a mission to turn Morris County into Hudson and Essex, charged the GOP Team of Freeholder Deborah Smith, John Krickus and Stephen Shaw.
The Republicans cited a news article in the Denville Citizen where Freeholder candidate Richard Corcoran openly lamented that “there’s more of a priority on law and order and less on…issues like the arts.”
“This is another example of our opponents not understanding the role of county government and what residents expect their tax dollars to pay for,” said Freeholder Smith. “Public safety is the primary goal of local and county government and to shift funding from the Sheriff in order to fund their spending plans is incredibly irresponsible.”
“To praise Sheriff Gannon for his success in keeping us safe on one hand, and then threaten to slash his funding with the other is intellectually dishonest and reveals what the true priorities of the Democratic ticket would be,” said Krickus. “They want to fundamentally change Morris County and threaten our quality of life in the process.”
“What do they plan to cut from the Sheriff’s budget – Hope One, which is addressing the opioid crisis by providing treatment options including those at the county jail?” asked Shaw. “The RSVP-3, reducing school violence program ensuring we connect the dots by exchanging information between school officials, local and county law enforcement? The K-9 unit? The reality is that any cuts to the Sheriff’s budget will result in local law enforcement picking up the tab, which will result in higher property taxes in every town in Morris County.”
