The Essex County Freeholders support the expansion at the Turtle Back Zoo, which plans for the clearcutting of many acres of conserved land and animals parading around a stage like a circus, using Gov. Murphy’s state funds which were supposed to be directed towards conservation. Not surprisingly, Joe DiVincenzo’s team also supports people being illegally and unethically detained in cages at the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) jails.

The conclusion we must draw is that they support both animals and people in cages. A supposedly progressive Board of Freeholders repeatedly follows the agenda of local politicians who are not accountable to the people who voted for them. Many residents and students have recently protested the zoo expansion, while calls to end the local ICE contracts have been ongoing for many years.

The will of the people is clearly not being accounted for in these two important issues. One definition of a dictatorship is: “A dictatorship is a government or a social situation where one person makes all the rules and decisions without input from anyone else.” While some would argue we are already there on a national level, I wonder if Essex County is heading in the same direction.