The dots are connected

After several months of little hints and indications that Council member Elnatan Rudolph was deeply enmeshed in the local Democratic party machine, outright confirmation has arrived by way of a Record story reporting Rudolph's appointment as deputy director of the party-controlled Bergen County Improvement Authority. In a town with a tradition of non-partisanship, this unabashed affiliation with a powerful and controversial political organization will cause many to look askance at the councilman and scrutinize his every move closely for its political significance.

In the best of all worlds, Teaneck would not have elected officials with close political ties to groups whose interests are not aligned (and in fact are sometimes opposed) to those of Teaneck residents. The last thing Teaneck wants is to have its municipal government gripped by political infighting and patronage arrangements that aggrandize individuals and political parties at the expense of the community. However, as other posters on this site have pointed out, in the event such ties do exist, the voters of Teaneck are better off knowing about them.

The information is now out there on the table. Residents can now incorporate it into their decision making process as they evaluate whether Council member Rudolph and the rest of their elected officials are serving them well. A bit of prejudice in this case may be natural, but we must also allow Rudolph the opportunity to demonstrate that he is faithful to Teaneck above other masters. While the bar may be now set a little bit higher, there is no automatic disqualification for anything Rudolph does on account of his other associations. As always, we need to evaluate each matter on an issue by issue basis.