My opponents' latest attempt to undermine my candidacy: It didn't, and won't, work

On Monday, May 12, I received a letter from my township regarding my lawn. It stated, in no uncertain terms, that during a routine inspection of the neighborhood it had been noted that I was in violation of municipal code in that my lawn had overgrown 8” in height. 8 inches. Seriously?

I wrote, what I consider to be a *great* first letter; it was a little long due to the detail included in it but it was also forthright. After consideration, however, I thought that a less detailed letter to the township would better serve the purpose; so I wrote a nice, more formal letter in response disputing the allegation and requesting a meeting to inspect the height of my lawn. It was brief and additionally requested a conversation for input on the issues and concerns of Monmouth County from the perspective of a municipal employee.

As both the allegation and my response are a matter of public record, I thought it would be wise not to mention in the initial communication to the township that, as a Sanders Democrat, there have already been attempts by the local HRC supporting Democrats to get me to drop my campaign and that the allegation of being in violation of municipal code was, quite likely, an attempt by said HRC democrats to discredit me in the eyes of the electorate.

I kind of wish that I had sent this letter first but recognize that it is more prudent to wait to go into this much depth in an initial response to the township. I doubt that this will be the last time that my opponents should be unwise enough to try to undermine my campaign by filing false reports to the township.

However, that does not mean that I will not openly post my original letter here, in my blog. :) Enjoy; and please feel free to comment on my Facebook page HERE.

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Suzanne M. Krohn

Asst. Zoning/Code Enforcement Officer

Township of Manalapan

120 Route 522 & Taylor’s Mill Road

Manalapan, NJ 07726

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Dear Ms. Krohn,

I received your letter regarding my lawn this past Monday. I am writing to let you know that whomever submitted the report that my lawn was in violation of the stated code was in error and I take exception to the allegation that I was ever in violation of municipal code.

First, my lawn had not grown in excess of eight inches in height as the leaves of the dwarf variety daffodils and narcissus that I grow interspersed at random in my lawn do not generally grow above eight inches or so and, while there was one small patch of grass growing beneath a shrub that may have been over eight inches, at least 95% of my lawn did not reach even a quarter of the height of the daffodil leaves. The vast majority of my lawn, 90%+, is generally low growing as it is Purslane, Plaintain, Clover, Carpetweed and Crabgrass and, as such, was not much higher than any of at least a half a dozen of my nearby neighbor’s lawns; yet, of those neighbors that I asked, none had received a similar letter and all were shocked that I had.

For obvious reasons, those of us who grow flowering lawns generally will not mow the lawn until after the flowers interspersed within it have grown past peak and the flowers have fallen off. In the case of my particular location, this is usually during the first two weeks of May. I have been growing a flowering lawn for at least the last five years. Since I first planted flowers in my lawn, I have not mowed it until the first weeks in May, yet, in the last five years of waiting until the first weeks in May to mow my lawn, this is the first year that I have received such a letter.

Second, given all the years that I have waited until early May to mow my lawn, I asked myself the question, “Why is this year different from any of the last five years?” The only difference is that this year I am running for the elected office of Freeholder of Monmouth County under Bernie Sanders and I publicly display both a “Bernie Sanders” yard sign on my lawn and an “Elect Ashford for Freeholder” placard on my front door.

As a Sanders candidate, I have been the subject of attempts by individuals affiliated with the Monmouth County Democrats and the previously unopposed candidates running under Hillary Clinton, to “persuade” me not to run against them. It was their intention to get me to drop my campaign. That being the case, and as I have not dropped my campaign, it is logical to conclude that whomever submitted that false report, which is now a matter of public record, quite likely did so in an effort to discredit me in the eyes of the electorate. An allegation of being in violation of any municipal code, even one such as an overgrown lawn, would certainly make any candidate running for a county seat look quite bad, don’t you agree?

Finally, in my humble opinion, it was an unnecessary waste of your time, municipal resources and taxpayer money, not only because the report itself was in error, but also because I already had mown the lawn prior to receiving the letter.

It is my hope that, with the new knowledge contained herein, you are now aware of the practices associated with growing a flowering lawn and, should such an allegation ever cross your desk again, you may be inspired to question the circumstances of the allegation.

Thank you for your time and consideration. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Respectfully,

Angelica Ashford