Editor’s note: Because of space constraints, The Observer has not been able to run its Opinion Page for the last few weeks. In light of this, however, we invite candidates and their supporters to submit letters or op-eds in support of candidacies that will be placed on www.theobserver.com. Send letters to editorial@theobserver.com.
To the Editor:
I will start out this letter with full disclosure, Carol Jean Doyle is my mother and I no longer live in Kearny. In fact but for the limited times I come to see family and friends, I do not visit often. So if you think anything I have to say matters later as you view me as bias or disconnected, I respect that position and you can stop reading.
For 25 years I was public servant and as such not able to be involved in Politics. I enjoyed watching from the sidelines with my father whom also was precluded from being involved. Upon retiring from the Prosecutor’s Office, I have still chosen not to be involved. Not because I do not care about politics, not because I have not had the opportunity, but because I do not have the stomach for it. I have never been able to understand how at one point you could break bread with a person and then in a flash attack them personally or make things up to simply get an agenda passed. I am not even sure how some of the friends my mother has had for years can say they have always questioned her decision making or choices. They did not question them when they were taking advantage of her empathy or generosity, but that is a character flaw with them, not her.
I have watched on the sidelines, and I will not lie, the sidelines in these types of debates is where I am most comfortable as I deal in fact not personal attacks. That being said there are a group of people who insist on dragging my name into this election, I am quietly stepping out. I am actually not a politician, not simply because I have run for political office and lost, but because I am true to my word, speak my truth and cannot be fake to get something I have not earned.
I will address first the “hiding evidence” and ethical claims that people are bring up from some cases I tried while I was still a prosecutor. When a lawyer goes to Court, that lawyer is responsible for the case. That means every misstep that happens by anyone involved falls on the person in charge, whether they knew about it or not. The buck stopped with me. When given the opportunity to throw people under the bus, cost people their careers, I chose not to do that. I was the face of those cases, and I took responsibility for the missteps of those investigations. None of those cases were dismissed and the pleas offers were my decision. Each defendant plead guilty The sentence recommendations given were made in the interest of Justice by me and with those mistakes in mind. I will not defend myself beyond that as I am not running and the allegations of me just be unethical are untrue.
For 27 years my mother has been involved in Kearny simply because she loves Kearny. She has not needed anything from the elected positions she has held at all. In fact, as far as I know she has asked for two things. The first to have the municipal court named after my Dad and the second to finish out the Honorable Al Santos, JSC’s, mayoral term. Both things she did not get. That did not change her dedication or determination to make things better for this Town. She stood up for herself and ran for Mayor. She took the bullying, the attacks, and walked door to door, stood on her own accomplishments and came out ahead.
When it came time for her to run again, I will be honest, I asked her not to. She has earned the right to retire and enjoy the life her and my father had planned. Her exact response to that suggestion was “Plans change Mouse, and there is a lot more I know I can accomplish and for me to do”. I admire her for that and I immediately stood behind her decision to run. As I get text messages and emails of people sending me things that are said about her, it is hard not to be angry. My mother and I are very different people and I agree she can be short and can have a “fresh tone” as my dad would say. He would then remind us that there is no other person fighting in your corner as hard. That is how she has fought for Kearny. That is how she continues to fight for Kearny. I assure you this is a fight she never needed to take on. She chose to because she loves this Town and has watched it change and grow and attempted to do the same with it.
I have read she has not accomplished anything in the last two years. I watch the council meetings, and I have watched the council members vote no on things simply because she voted yes. I have listened to people come up and attack her but offer no solutions at all. I could list all she has accomplished but most of you know that you have lived it or experienced it. Some of you have also benefited from it, even though now no one would believe you were once friends.
This campaign seems to be one of the worst I have watched unfold. I have seen key board worries filed with hate start wars on Facebook. I appreciate that in politics it is sometimes better to remain anonymous as you fear retribution but at least fight on the issues. You are not in a movie where you are the star, you are attempting to get people to vote for you or the side you support. It is not a show but real life. I have, let’s use the word, “debated” with her about taking the gloves off. She refuses. I have asked her to fight back, she will not. She believes her track record speaks for itself and refuses to get involved in an election that is in the mud.
When you vote, I am asking that you vote for who has proven themselves, remained loyal to her party and Kearny. It is like most elections, you do not need to vote for the person you like but the person who is that will make the tough choices, fight for what is right, and not hide behind a computer screen. You do not have to like her, she may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but she is who she has never hidden that nor should she apologize for it. She has been a female politician before that was really a thing and never has been bullied to sit in a corner. This election has gone low and she continues to stay above it, which I admire her for. On the sidelines I cannot say my father and I would have been as gracious or focused on the issues.
In her personal life, she thinks sometimes more with her heart and desire to want to help people and when she does she jumps in. She has left the house at crazy hours to hug a friend who suddenly lost a child, given our home up because someone could not afford a vacation, has had my kids purchase their favorite toys to only assure they put them under the tree for a needy family. This is the type of person she is.
In closing, I submitted this as a letter to the editor, not a Facebook post but a simply letter to the editor. I am not getting sucked into a war on Facebook. I did not ask her permission to submit this or share some of the stories that are within our family. I did this because I am tired of seeing her attacked for things that are not true. Anyone who knows me and knows my mother knows politically we disagree on almost everything, the only thing we do agree on when it comes to politics is Kearny was the best place in the world to have grown up and she has the brains, work ethic, experience to continue to fight to assure, even with growth and change, it strives to continue to be an amazing place to live and raise a family.
Meghan Doyle
