After announcing my write-in candidacy for Township Committee of Wyckoff, NJ, I went online to design and order lawn signs. With silver lettering for my name against a two-tone blue background, I opted for a simple message: WRITE IN KENNETH SILBER FOR TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE. On one side, I added: WYCKOFF NEEDS A CHOICE!
The latter is what the town’s been missing, with multiple races of recent years featuring unopposed Republicans. My goal’s to pave the way for competitive races in the future. The better I do in getting votes, and attention, the more chance that Democrats and others will make more-formidable challenges going forward. My winning this year as a write-in candidate would be a “black swan” event, something no one predicted, including me.
I was a Republican for over 30 years, before becoming an independent and then a Democrat. I’ve got numerous Republican friends, relatives and acquaintances. Steven J. Giardini, a hard-right friend on X who’s often criticized my articles, but regularly reads and even promotes them, wrote that “we agree on nearly nothing political but i'd vote for you if i could, my friend.” I appreciate that sentiment, which I hope some locals share.
As a longtime science journalist, I’ve reported and communicated on issues involving energy, the environment, and technology. As a three-time and current member of my church’s vestry, as well as a diocesan delegate, I’ve experience in dealing with local and institutional issues.
I met with local Democratic leaders, and they asked what my policy platform is. A great question, and here’s the answer:
Promote clean energy, environmental protection and resilient infrastructure. Electric-vehicle charging stations and solar panels are hard to find in Wyckoff, and nowhere to be seen at Town Hall and other municipal properties. The town government should be actively promoting renewable energy, particularly at a time when extraordinary folly by the national Republicans has produced gas prices close to $5/gallon. Similarly, the town needs to work closely with other levels of government and utilities to ensure the electrical grid and other services maintain reliability. Bad weather all too often causes outages in our area.
Prepare for tech changes that will alter and challenge local government. Smart, judicious use of digital tools is essential for proper governance. With municipal services now widely provided through online portals, the coming years will bring numerous issues involving AI, both as a proposed customer interface and as a threat to data security. Local governments will need to be nimble in managing the complex choices available in what digital systems to adopt or not adopt. One-party governments tend not to have that astuteness.
Ensure open communication between local government and residents. Exacerbated by the one-party political culture, many residents of Wyckoff have little idea about the local government’s actions or even the names of the people making the decisions. Though some positive steps have been taken, such as videoing Township Committee meetings and placing them on YouTube, one gets little sense that the members welcome ideas from outside. Even the government committees that have been set up, on environmental or other issues, don’t seem to have a lot of input into decisions by the town government.
Open government becomes even more important when one’s seen its opposite up close. On a recent visit to Southeast Asia, I traveled to Singapore and Malaysia, both labeled by Freedom House as “partly free”; and Thailand and Cambodia, both designated “not free.” Cambodia, with a dismal score of 23 out of 100 on Freedom House’s scale, is dominated by the Cambodian People’s Party. Other parties are allowed to exist but hold only a few low-level posts around the country.
Fortunately, in the US, political domination can be undone, even when entrenched. In the current year, when Republicans nationwide seem to be vulnerable amid negative consequences of the federal Republican trifecta of White House, Senate and House, it’s important to push back against one-party rule at all levels of government. Whatever party you’re in (if any), remember: Good government requires the ability to vote officeholders out.
—Follow Kenneth Silber on Substack & Bluesky. He’s written for Splice Today since 2018.