South Asian community should be more politically active

I can shed some light on the way the Indian community in Edison may feel; it can be summed up in one word: used.

Over the years, the local Democratic Party has taken for granted their vote. While Councilman Parag Patel held office for four years during the [George] Spadoro administration, little was done for their community at large. He was used as a token by local officials and party bosses. The Indian community was duped by the Spadoro administration and others in fighting the ward form of government when, in fact, this form of government would have empowered the Indian community, ensuring that community-minded American-born Indian Americans and Asians alike could have chosen people from their neighborhoods to represent their interests, not those of the party bosses and local officials.

While I agree with the opinion that we should be voting for the most qualified candidates whether American-born or American Indian, we can only do that when all people are given the opportunity to run for office. Voting for someone for any other reason than being qualified is counter-productive to Edison residents.

I believe that the Asian community may, in fact, be on the right track. What they need to do is bring forward good candidates that we can all get behind. They can no longer depend on the local party bosses to select candidates more concerned with their self-interest than Edison Township residents. They must search for these new candidates from among our entire community and begin melding within our community.

Residents must begin to look seriously at the actions of all candidates - not what they say during election time, but how they have performed in the past. Talk is cheap. Little weight should be given to people who have said one thing and do another over and over again. Ethnicity should not be a consideration, honesty and sincerity should. The sooner we begin exercising this logic the sooner our town will begin moving forward together.

We must all recognize that it all starts with registering voters. The time to do that is now.

Anthony Russomanno

Edison