Chan K. Leung

I have been a resident of Raritan Township, Hunterdon County, since moving up to the state from Maryland in 1995. A first-generation immigrant, I received my education in Canada. I am co-owner of Data Power (DP), Inc., a private, professional firm specializing in medical writing, clinical trial analyses and associated services. I am married and have a daughter who is now in college.

I have always been active in community and volunteer works. Since coming to New Jersey, I have been involved with the 4-H Association for well over a decade. Since 2006, I have been Vice President of the New Jersey State 4-H Association which serves over 50,000 youth members statewide, and is responsible for liaison with federal, state legislators and advocating for this leading organization of youth development. In the same year, I was appointed by the Board of Trustees of Rutgers University to be a member of the Board of Managers of New Jersey Agricultural Experimentation Station. I have also been serving on the Advisory Board of Rutgers Cooperative Extension for Somerset County, as well as its Scholarship, BIG (Build, Invest and Grow) and County Fair Entertainment Committees since 2004.

Outside 4-H, I have also been a Resource Investment Panelist of the Somerset County United Way since 2003. In 2004 & 2006, I also served as Peer Reviewer and chaired two grant review panels for NJAfter3, a public/private cooperative first initiated by the Governor’s Office to provide affordable after-school care in the State of New Jersey.

In politics, I have been a long-time member of the Raritan Township Democratic Club and Hunterdon DFA (Democracy for America). I have campaigned actively for Democratic candidates at all federal, state and local elections, especially when serving as Adult Advisor to the Hunterdon County Young Democrats in 2004-6. I am also a long-time volunteer at Congressman Rush Holt’s (12th Distr.-Dem) district and campaign offices. In 2006, I was a member of the Agriculture Committee, Governor Corzine’s Transition Team, and this year, I just finished managing Senator Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign office in Frenchtown, NJ.

I am grateful to have been recognized with numerous awards for my community involvement, including the Somerset County Board of Chosen Freeholders’ Volunteer Recognition (2003), the Somerset County United Way/Courier News STAR Award for Volunteers (2003 & 2004), Fellow, LeadershipSomerset (2004), CACA (Chinese American Cultural Association) volunteer Service Award (2004), Somerset Hill YMCA Volunteer of the Year Award (2005), New Jersey Association of 4-H Agents’ Volunteer of the Year Award (2006), Somerset County 4-H Association Outstanding Service Award (2006), Hunterdon County Democratic Committee’s Carey McWilliams Award (2007) and distinguished Alumni Award, LeadershipSomerset (2007).

My Goals:

. My primary goal is to make the municipal government responsible to the community it serves, and not just to the vested interests of developers and business elite as the Republican dominated Township Committee now tends to do.

. The township is getting increasingly diverse, and as a first generation immigrant, I am sensitive to and will try to better reflect the needs of the growing minorities in the community.

.Responsible government means making the decision-making process more transparent to encourage public scrutiny and participation. As most municipal business is conducted on weekday evenings and hence is inconvenient to most working people, an important step to make information more accessible to the public is putting the agenda and minutes of municipal meetings on the Internet.

.Responsible government is above all fiscally responsible. This means implementing zero-based budgeting, increasing shared services with our neighbors to cut costs and take advantage of new state incentives, and exploring new technologies such as installing solar panels on municipal properties to reduce the burden on tax payers.

. Responsible government also means doing a better job of anticipating and planning for the future. In the name of “small government,” the Republican dominated Township Committee has often allowed problems to pile up and cost the community dearly to fix.
These includes tolerating excessive development, creating sprawl and congestion which destroys our quality of life. Route 202 is increasingly turning into a clone of Rte 22, and at Route 31. We just spent tens of million dollars and years to fix them yet traffic jams are creeping up again. This is bound to get worse as the former fairgrounds get turned into commercial, “big box” developments.

. Likewise, the Township Committee overlooked its responsibility to conduct periodic reassessments of property values for over two decades, and caused many tax payers a jolt in increased property taxes after it was forced to comply with the law recently.

. Under the proposed, 3rd round COAH (Council on Affordable Housing) rules, the township is saddled with unfulfilled affordable housing quotas which according to James Humphries, the Township Planner, might cause taxpayers $30-40 million in subsidies in the next ten years. A “big box” store of over 145,000 sq. ft, like the Wal-Mart or Lowes at the former fairgrounds for example, will generate 15.5 affordable housing units. These units will cost township tax payers over $2 million, or almost 25% of the total construction cost.

. We must therefore more proactively promote open space and non-aged restricted rental housing, both of which will reduce our COAH requirements We must focus on revitalizing existing vacant properties such as the abandoned Lipton Plant instead of unchecked development.

. We should also look at long-term overcrowding at our region’s only high school. At over 3,000 students and counting, it will soon outgrow its latest round of expansion. Overcrowding will diminish the average student’s opportunity to enroll in highly desired honor and advanced placement courses, to participate in competitive sports and valuable extra-curricular activities, as well as lower the general quality of education and property values in our region.