Open Letter to Westfield Mayor Skibitsky

Dear Mayor Skibitsky,

Your first day in office as Westfield’s Mayor was the day you were elected by your council peers to fill a vacuum due to a void left by the resignation of Mayor Greg McDermott on June 21, 2005. 

I did not vote you in as Mayor, my neighbors didn’t vote you in as Mayor, you couldn’t even press that button next to your name at the polls, because there was no vote “of the people” or “by the people.”  The vote was “for the people.”  I say that because the members of the town council that were elected by the people in an election, each cast a vote, representing the people, the residents they represent from each ward. 

They selected someone who they thought, that some of us thought, would best serve the town of Westfield.  I say some of us because not every councilman received 100% of the vote when they won their respective ward. 

After all, you had won your seat on the town council by getting elected in the third ward so you deserved to be there to represent your ward.  Did you deserve to be elected Mayor by the town council?  The third ward residents didn’t vote you in, nor did the first, second, or fourth ward residents. 

The town’s partisan politics play a role in every election.  Did partisan politics get you elected this first go round?  There was no general election. 

You would get the chance to prove the pundits wrong.  That would come at the polls at the next election for Mayor, where you were victorious on November 8, 2005.  You even beat out a former Mayor, Thomas Jardim the first Democrat to serve as Westfield Mayor in over 60 years. You beat him by over 1000 votes.  You were elected by a majority “of the people;” you were elected “by the people,” to serve Westfield’s resident’s; to serve “for the people.”  Since that time you have done your best to serve the residents of Westfield. 

You have done a commendable job.  No doubt there are those that will disagree in this assessment.   Some of those that disagree with this assessment are right and some of them are wrong.  Thank God we live in a democracy. 

I can’t say that I have agreed with you on everything you have done as a Mayor, but I will admit that I agree with you on a majority of things.  A “majority” is what got you elected.  Then as time went by you got comfortable.  The stock market was soaring, real estate values were rising, and the downtown businesses were flourishing.  Everything was good.  Life was good in Westfield for a number of reasons. 

But there appeared to be a change.  You went from Andy Skibitsky the mayor, to Andy Skibitsky, the politician.  You began to play a political game.  Yes, a mayor is in fact a politician but you had seemed to side step the “politics” in politics.  You were just a regular guy, with an ambition to serve Westfield. 

Some might say you then began to serve as mayor to serve yourself.  Perhaps you were looking for a career in politics, something that paid more than $1 a year.  Perhaps you were looking for an elected position that paid a substantial salary with benefits, a higher office at the county or even state level.

As Mayor of Westfield you’ve gotten to rub elbows with some influential politicians.  Other mayors, the N.J. Governor (he did swear you in if I recall correctly), state representatives and senators, even the President of the United States.  You also began to rub elbows with the Westfield Chief of Police. 

You both reached the pinnacle of politics practically at the same time, in the fall of 2005.  You might say well wait a minute, the chief of police is not a political position it’s a law enforcement position.  Don’t be fooled.  In Westfield, the office of the Chief of Police had become just as political as any other office sought by a politician. 

Sure there were tests, interviews and evaluations done to help select the next Chief of Police after Bernard Tracy suddenly retired. 

The candidates had to “schmooze” the voters, or shall I say voter…….Jim Gildea, Westfield’s Town Administrator.  Should they have to?  No, it’s a process where tests should be scored and candidates ranked.  He would ultimately make a recommendation to you Mayor Skibitsky, and your fellow council members fully expecting you to affirm his choice.

I use the term “schmooze” because after all the testing was done, the candidate chosen as Police Chief was John Parizeau.  After all, the two of you had grown close through the selection process, even weeks before the process. 

Cocktails after council meetings at local watering holes, trips to the League of Municipalities Convention in Atlantic City, perhaps even a lunch with “Acting Chief” John Parizeau, a council sidekick, along with Town Admin. James Gildea and Lt. Dave Wayman, at a restaurant in A.C. prior to the end of the selection process. 

Walking the halls of the Westfield Police Department, Mayor Skibitsky, do you ever recall mentioning to a police officer your affirmation of Lt. Wayman to Captain prior to the testing process being completed?  Did you, could you?  

Lt. Wayman, who just couldn’t quite “cut the mustard” in the selection process to make Chief, eventually was appointed Captain.  Were there no other candidates in the pool from which a Captain could be appointed?  Sure there were.  In fact, two of them, Frank Brunelle and James Schneider had a combined total of nearly 60 years served as police officers with the knowledge of every rank between patrolman and Captain.

But you approved the appointment of Lt. David Wayman…..18 years served.  I won’t go into the topic of knowledge, speaks for itself.  I have to admit though Dave plays the game. 

After all, sell a house in Garwood, buy a house in Westfield, well one might say Mountainside, Pass Go and collect $200.  He has played those “Get Out of Jail Free Cards” several times.  The real game of Monopoly has only two, one Chance and one Community Chest.  Captain Wayman must have printed a stockpile.  Dave was becoming a “Wally”, had to become  a “Wally”.  For the longest time he would call residents of Westfield “Wallys”, a slang term he used for those residents he had appeared to be making fun of.  Never could pinpoint why. 

But now he saw the need to become one, a “Wally”, he was one step closer to Chief.  What better candidate for Westfield Police Chief, a “Wally”.  He was “buttering your bread” to become Captain…schmoozing.  Schmoozing you and Gildea. 

He has gotten good at that.  On a recent night out, a couple weeks ago, he and two other alleged “schmoozers” rubbed elbows at Rosie’s Wine Bar with none other than Town Admin James Gildea and your town council sidekick.  Unethical, no.  Questionable, maybe.  Schmoozing, absolutely.  Maybe he was looking for some “extra credit” to apply to the next Chief of Police selection process.  Who knows, I don’t know, do you know Mayor?

Mayor Skibitsky, please try and go back to the person you were when you were first elected to the town council.  Please see to it that you make decisions that are good for the residents of Westfield.  The decisions you make now will have a lasting effect on the residents of Westfield, the “Wally’s,” as Captain Dave Wayman calls them, for a long time to come, long after you are gone from political office in this town.  Please don’t play politics with the town’s future.  Monopoly is a board game, not a political office.  And if you are going to continue to play the game of Monopoly, give Capt. Wayman the boot; you know, the playing piece, give him the boot, I mean let him be the boot.                         

Sincerely,

The Westfield Taxpayer