John Leggio Wants To Be the People’s Mayor
Photo courtesy of John Leggio.
In the Howell staple breakfast spot, Big City Bagel, John Leggio sat before me, right at home, and stated matter-of-factly, “I want to be the people’s mayor.” Despite being a long time Republican, John Leggio’s platform strays from party politics and homes in on what is most important: the quality of Howell Township. Leggio is not only firm on this orally, but has showed so in the past, crossing party-lines previously with Theresa Berger, and barreling victoriously through the Republican primaries in where he was not endorsed by the Howell Republican committee.
Though not being favored to win by his own party, Leggio pulled through above Ian Nadel, the choice Republican candidate, by 54 votes. When asked if he felt the “political rollercoaster” that outlets like the Jersey Online cited the race to being like, Leggio responded, “I didn’t really feel it. I felt it through some articles I read, cause you know the papers make everything so dramatic. I get it…All I did was stuck to my guns. I paid for my own campaign, and I grassroots door-to-door as much as I could with my volunteers. Through the Facebook page, we got the message out, and here I am: the Republican nominee.”
As the Republican nominee, Leggio vows to three things — Accountability, Community, and Transparency. Leggio, similar to his opponent Democrat John Hughes, is disappointed in the way the Republican party has led this town, inspiring his ‘No Strings Attached’ campaign, in which he refuses to take any party money, running purely on voter donations alone. This slogan runs at the forefront of his campaign, embodying all that he believes is beneficial for Howell: community over party. Leggio made it very clear that he doesn’t even want to be lumped together with Howell’s current Republican leaders, even further molding his ‘No Strings Attached’ approach, stating very bluntly multiple times, “Do not try to tie me to the establishment Republicans in town. I am not one of them.”
The biggest issues that Leggio is placing his campaign on top of revolve around matters that have to do with quality of life, an issue that Leggio says a lot of residents talk to him about. What he says is most important is the issue regarding Howell’s occupancy laws. Leggio says about “eighty percent of [rented homes], maybe a little higher, are being rented by responsible tenants.” Despite this sentiment, though, Leggio feels that there are multiple homes that do not have responsible landlords and are being rented out to more people than they legally allow. Leggio qualifies this as a quality of life issue, exemplifying a matter in which “you come home, and your parents come home, and there’s fifteen cars in the street, and garbage on the side of the house because there’s fifteen people living there.” He further states that these occupancy laws, such as Ordinance 23-4, which rules it unlawful for any person including the owner or agent to allow a greater number of persons than the posted maximum number to occupy the residence, are being broken and need code enforcement.
Like Hughes, Leggio has a plan to help assist our local farmers. “The farmers are very important to this town,” Leggio says, then noting each of their importance and their history in the town, bringing us to the present of what many farms want to do now for extra cash: educational sessions, animal therapy, and children’s parties. These are all opportunities for money that Leggio happily supports. In order for these events and this cash flow to occur, though, there are provisions that need to be updated in Howell’s ‘Right to Farm Act’. Under Leggio, these changes will be made, and farmers will be able to open up their farms for Howell citizens to enjoy at a deeper level than before. “I think it’s crucial that the farmers that want to stay here, stay here. And I encourage if a farmer or a piece of land that’s a farm, if those owners financially can preserve that land through the state and the county, that would be great.”
Other than these two strongholds, the most important part of Leggio’s campaign is being responsive to the people, expressing, “The mayor should be sitting here and answering questions. Even if I don’t answer it the way a resident wants, I'm going to at least try to get you the answer that suits what you’re asking.” When it comes to policies in general, he relies on the fact that he doesn’t want to give “broken promises”, and instead wants a more open dialogue with citizens about what they want and how he can provide a possible solution.
Leggio is a Howell man, who knows our town and the people in it well, and that is his approach to this race. His desire for mayor comes from understanding that the majority of people in Howell just want to feel like they can trust their mayor. You can trust John Leggio.
You can read more about Leggio’s campaign on his Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/johnleggioformayor/.
