>It seems as though I am not the only resident in Middletown to receive a “Robo” call from mayor Scharfenberger last night (mine came just before 9pm) many others received them also, some as late as 10:30 pm. I have been the recipient a number of emails this morning complaining about this Robo call.
The thinly veiled campaign phone call to residents was disguised as a public service message from the mayor, informing residents about the the importance of recycling and the Township’s Recycle to Save program.
One emailer said that they went to Town Hall, ran into Heidi Blunt, the Twp Clerk, and complained about the phone call that they received from Gerry Scharfenberger at 10:30pm last night. She was told by Heidi Blunt that she had received many complaints today from people being called late at night about this. Blunt stated however, that an outside company was outsourced for this process and that they(township) were looking into the problem today to prevent this from happening again.
Another wanted to know if “…those robo-calls have a cost associated with them?” and that they had “..already sent a message to GS via his election website (since I couldn’t find an email address/fax for the Mayors office) expressing my extreme displeasure… last night was such a thinly-veiled campaign message that it sent me over the edge…”
A few emailers are wondering what was so important about the recycling message that it necessitated a Robo call in the first place, after all the Townships newsletter Middletown Matters already devoted a full page to the Recycle to Save program in its latest issue that has been showing up in residents mail boxes along with a half page commentary by Scharfenberger himself talking about the budget as well as the recycling issue.
The one emailer raises a good point, what was the cost of these phone calls? The timing and necessity of the Robo call raises the specter of Gerry using taxpayer dollars to fund a portion of his re-election campaign which is of course unethical and illegal.
I would like to know the cost to the township was for last night’s phone call and if Gerry Scharfenberger has any intention of reimbursing the taxpayers for them.