It’s A New Year And Vineland Is Getting A New Council President. The Question Is Why!

Paul Spinelli

Under Mayor Anthony Fanucci’s leadership Vineland has been improving. City voters know it, that’s why Fanucci cruised to re-election and his council slate received opposition from only one candidate.

Fanucci has had a great working relationship with city council. No doubt the council ship has been steered by Council President Paul Spinelli. No one can argue that Spinelli hasn’t done a fantastic job as Council President.

Regular listeners of the Bob & Steve Show heard the bombshell dropped by Bob on last Saturday’s show that Paul Spinelli will not be Council President come the new year.

The obvious question is why.

You don’t hire a new coach for a winning team. Vineland has been winning. So that can’t be it.

There was an argument that tradition calls for the top vote getter to be installed as Council President.

That argument is untrue! Some of us are old enough to remember when Cumberland County Freeholder/Commissioner Doug Albrecht was on Vineland City Council. He was top vote getter and was NOT Council President. Nope! No tradition!

Sources close to the situation tell us there was a meeting between a few stakeholders.

What we were able to get out of our sources is that a Democratic party leader, Todd Edwards, from Bridgeton was at the meeting.

Sources confirmed to us that Edwards was there to lobby for Dr. Elizabeth Arthur becoming Council President. We were informed some stakeholders at the meeting pushed back and they were told it could become problematic if Dr. Arthur is not made Council President. It’s also when the top vote getter lie was floated.

Of course, this leads us to wonder exactly why there could be issues if Dr. Arthur is not installed as Council President. Under current leadership Vineland has been running better than it has in years. Besides, who holds the position of Council President is something the typical city resident pays little, if any, attention to. It’s an inside baseball kind of thing.

We’re also wondering why a resident of Bridgeton had any role in selecting who might become Vineland Council President. Why was Edwards even part of this discussion? Did Dr. Arthur invite him? If not, then who invited him and why? Why not invite a Republican leader to the meeting to balance things out? Why not invite another out-of-towner to make a decision about Vineland’s government?

Why not invite one person each from the unincorporated communities of Vineland, Alabama, Vineland, Colorado and Vineland, Florida? It makes as much sense as having someone living in Bridgeton play a role in who serves as Council President in Vineland.

Vineland has been running better under current leadership than it has in years. Suddenly, someone wants to change course. It makes no sense.

What makes even less sense is that someone who doesn’t live in Vineland is playing a role in the decision to change course in Vineland.

We’re going to keep our eyes on this situation. No doubt there is more to come.

ICYMI: Mayor Fanucci Running For Re-Election

Vineland Mayor Anthony Fanucci

If you missed it Vineland Mayor Anthony Fanucci announced on Saturday morning that he is running for re-election along with all five members of council.

We don’t know if anyone is going to file to challenge Fanucci, but if they do they will face an uphill battle. Fanucci has done a good job in his first term as mayor. The roads are better, Vineland opened a new police headquarters and there have been improvements to water and sewer.

In short, Fanucci promised improvements and he delivered.

“When I first ran for mayor, I promised we were not going to wait for the phone to ring, and we haven’t,” Fanucci said in his press release. “Together, we have vigorously engaged with the community to find solutions to issues which have been ignored in the past, while breaking-down barriers that made it difficult for Vineland to aggressively move forward.  We have developed regional partnerships and focused on ways to make ideas possible, rather than to find reasons to say they are not.”

Fanucci also said in his release, “I am proud to again run with my current Team Fanucci Council members: David Acosta, Dr. Elizabeth Arthur, Ron Franceschini, Paul Spinelli, and Albert Vargas. It is a pleasure to work with a council that is committed to a shared vision of how municipal operations can work better for everyone.  Under the strong leadership of City Council President Paul Spinelli, they have helped to make city government more responsive, efficient, open, and fair, while providing solid stewardship of taxpayer dollars.

In the coming weeks and months, the team and myself will be outlining our positions and vision for a second term in an open and constructive manner.  We look forward to presenting these plans in more detail.”

We’re looking forward to more good things from Team Fanucci over the next four years.

More CD2 Action; Fitzherbert Comes With An Endorsement

Brian Fitzherbert

With about 43 weeks to go before 2020 primary election day things are already starting to heat up a little for Republicans in CD2. Just yesterday I wrote that Seth Grossman is starting to sound like a candidate. Today, in a campaign email, announced Republican candidate in CD2, Brian Fitzherbert comes with an endorsement ahead of the 2020 primary from Vineland Mayor Anthony Fanucci.

Fitzherbert’s campaign email opens with:

Did you see this news? Brian is so proud to call this tremendous Republican leader a friend of the campaign.

Vineland Mayor Anthony Fanucci has officially endorsed Brian T. Fitzherbert to become the Republican nominee in the race for New Jersey’s 2nd Congressional District!

Mayor Fanucci, according to the campaign email, had some very kind words for the candidate:

“Through his work in the community and our party, I have had the pleasure of getting to know Brian. He is a true conservative with a passion for public service. Brian believes in a common-sense approach and has a natural leadership ability, both of which are key traits needed to represent our party. That is why I enthusiastically endorse Brian Fitzherbert for the Republican nomination in New Jersey’s 2nd District primary.”

With possibly as many as five candidates in a Republican primary in CD2 it’s starting to look like this could shape up to be an exciting race.

Stay tuned!

Note: While Bob has endorsed Brian Fitzherbert for next year’s CD2 primary, Steve is completely neutral and making no endorsement.