Let's face it, Lakewood Township Committee's longstanding tradition of nominating rotating members of the Township Committee for one year stints as the Township's mayor is all but dead.

For as long as I can remember, we had a new mayor each year, a different duly elected member of our Township Committee, who took the helm and implemented his values and vision for the next 12 months. The mayor was always a member of the political party of the majority of Committee members, and it was a Committee member who had not held the post the previous year.

I remember just one exception to the tradition - when Committeeman Menashe Miller returned from active duty overseas, he was elected for a second consecutive year in honor of the time he missed while on deployment.

This was a beautiful system, and it ensured that no one Committeeman ever got too comfortable with the reins of power.

However, youngsters growing up in Lakewood today have no idea that such a tradition ever existed. In January 2017, Committee Members broke tradition when they elected Democrat Ray Coles as Mayor, despite 3 of the 5 Committee Members holding registration in the Republican Party. The following January, in the Township's reorganization meeting for 2018, the Committee broke tradition again by renominating Coles for a second consecutive term.

Coles is now finishing his SIXTH straight year of being Lakewood's mayor. Without giving any feasible explanation and while rebuffing public questions, certain members of the committee continue to nominate and vote for Coles year after year.

But although he serves as mayor year after year, the buck hardly stops at him. He is, after all, just a one-year mayor - incidentally doing his sixth term in a row. Why should he hold himself accountable for the ever increasing traffic in Lakewood and the steady stream of almost reckless land-use approvals? Why should he care about the will of the people, if he was never given the official, long-term mantle of leadership? Why should he be motivated to care about what voters want if he is all-but-guaranteed to get another one-year stint next year?

Therefore, I write this petition to nominate Ray Coles as Lifetime Supreme Leader of Lakewood Township. He's going to be our ruler again next year, and the next, and the next, and the next... so let's just make it official.

Then at least he could be held accountable for the mess he's gotten us into.