To my Friends in Morristown, from Marlboro, Sincerely, your Friend, Eduardo Castillo

Hello, and happy new year to you all. 

To introduce myself, my name is Eduardo Castillo, I'm a 22 year old retail worker, from Marlboro New Jersey, and I'm running for county commissioner in Monmouth county. So now the question, why am I writing to you all from all the way over here? Well it's because we have a lot in common. We're in a politically polarizing, and competitive county, with Morris going back in fourth between Republicans, and Democrats, and Monmouth mostly going to Republicans, but sometimes Republicans narrowly win it, as showcased in 2020, when the state only went to Trump by a 50-47 margin. On the Federal, and state level it's competitive as well, not as competitive as Morris, but we're getting there.

We also have a majority white, but increasingly growing non-white population as well. But the differences don't end there, both counties have a median age of 42 years, similar levels of poverty, 90%+ of the population live in Urban areas, as well as a similar median household, and family income.

All in all, we have more than unites us together, than sets us apart, but in these difficult times of political violence, lawlessness, nihilism, and increasingly growing affordability crisis, as well as a more centralized, and stronger corrupt authoritarian, draconian, federal government, we need to stick together, and put all hands on deck, and that starts on the local level. 

This is not a battle of old, versus young, Republican, versus Democrat, but this is a battle between fresh, new ideas, and old, and fragile policies, that simply aren't working, and Republican voters aren't the enemy, but Republican office holders are part of the problem. We have an affordability crisis, that wasn't simply just caused by Republicans, but exacerbated by an unfair, parasitic, greedy system, that only benefits the top 1 percent, and it's subsidiaries. We have an affordability crisis that is increasing growing rampant, while Federal, state, and local Republicans are more focused on cutting benefits for the working people, and giving more welfare to the very rich, while at the same time increasing taxes on the rest of us. For example, in Monmouth county, the Republican controlled county commission has increased taxes on all of us, by taking 23.7 million more from us, this year alone. They also drained 36 million from our surplus savings to plug the holes, and they still chose to raise the tax levy. This isn't fiscal conservative, it's a spending spree.

That needs to change now. And when it comes to a very important position of power, that's often overlooked when it comes to dealing with these issues, the county commission is at the forefront of this. We can do more for New Jerseyans, from Morristown, to Marlboro, and elsewhere, and that starts by supporting local candidates like me for the county board of commissioners. Together we can do this, it's all up to you.