“. . . . I see county government not primarily as an independent social services entity with unlimited tax revenue potential, while municipal governments and school boards continually suffocate from budgetary pressures and hardships. Rather, I see county government as: 1) a intra-related extension of local government; 2) an effective means by which to lessen the burdens at the local level; and 3) a more active and vocal participant in the debate on fairness and fiscal sanity that needs to take place at the state and federal level. In these regards, I also see Somerset County as a potential role model for the state of New Jersey.”