Check out this story in the Asbury Park Press. It looks like there is going to be a real dog fight among Republicans in Ocean County for the vacant County Clerk's position. All the "underbosses" in George Gilmore's political machine are circling around like a pack of hungry dogs ready to pounce on one another over a large piece of red meat that fell off a meat wagon.
And what will the Democrats be doing while all this infighting is going on? According to the article, apparently, nothing. I have seen some items posted on other websites that the Traditional Republicans of Ocean County (TROOC) who managed 40% of the vote in this years primary, may put up an independent candidate which should make things interesting.
There is an irony to all this, however. Carl Block vacated the County Clerk's job to become the County Administrator at substantially higher pay and pension benefits. Block, who was double-dipping on state benefits as Mayor of Stafford, was thrown out of office last year by a coalition of Democrats and reform Republicans led by TROOC. If they get together again this year like they did last year, Gilmore & Co. will have to do some rather heavy lifting to GOTV if they want to keep absolute control of County government.
One month from today, we'll be in the 2nd day of a big, buzzy campaign training, in a place most people won't expect it to be. DFA's bringing its national Campaign Training to Ocean County, where Chris Christie decimated Jon Corzine. 21-County Strategy, baby.
DFA's founder is Howard Dean, whose 50-State Strategy helped vault President Barack Obama to the White House, by changing the dominant paradigm of whose vote - in what part of the country - was worth fighting for. It feels right, in 2010, to plunk this down in Ocean County.
More info/RSVP to join us at the DFA Campaign Academy, June 26-27, in beautiful Brick, NJ. A rollicking weekend of intense and fun study with some of the country's best political experts & mentors awaits, in a room of allies and local opinion leaders like everyone reading this post. Plus, a big party. Candidates, their teams, people there just to learn how to organize more effectively. Running for office? We've got special sessions just for you. But there will also be plenty of people there just to sharpen organizing skills and effectiveness. And the models we'll use will be the campaigns, issues, and organizations that walk through the door.
Ocean's the farthest south - in the reddest county - we've ever brought DFA Campaign Training to, in NJ. We're pretty stoked. Some of the organizing already going on in South Jersey is extraordinary. There are remarkable advocates & candidates.
What you can expect to be covered: writing a field plan, developing message, making the "ask" in fundraising, voter contact, event planning, running canvass and phone bank teams, media outreach, working with volunteers, and using social media. Low-cost (special rate for low income/student).
Full disclosure, Jeff Gardner & I help run DFA-NJ and we'll host the trainers flying in from all over the country, along with Will Rosenthal (Essex), Deb Magin (Monmouth) and Sabastian Belfon (Bergen).Intrigued?
Former Assemblyman Van Pelt's defense is that he was merely starting a consulting business and that the $10,000 cash he took was nothing more than a retainer. But when he sought advice on whether his actions would cross ethical lines, he didn't tell the full story to the Legislative Counsel:
Marci Hochman said Daniel Van Pelt did not mention the payment when he phoned her two days after accepting a cash-stuffed envelope from an FBI informant who was posing as a crooked developer.
Hochman said Van Pelt told her he was thinking of starting a consulting business, not that he had already been retained for cash. She said he also failed to mention his relationship with the informant two weeks later during an annual ethics consultation required of all legislators.
She said that her advice "absolutely" would have been different had Van Pelt just told her the whole story. She also said he specifically denied having any clients. Van Pelt is trying to say he followed the advice as he got it.:
Van Pelt, however, also acknowledged accepting payment from Dwek before fulfilling two self-imposed conditions for his fledgling consulting business -- leaving the Waretown council and consulting with a lawyer. He also said he didn't have a consulting contract drawn up or spend any of the money on his business.
I still wonder how Van Pelt became the only Republican that got caught up in such a large bust. It doesn't seem like we'll get that answer in this trial, but we will find out whether you can actually start a business without doing anything more for it than taking an envelope full of cash as an elected official. If Van Pelt ever "starts another business", he may want to hire a consultant to advise him on what he needs to do so he avoids these corruption problems.
Opening arguments began this morning in the trial of former Assemblyman Daniel M. Van Pelt, with the prosecution beginning its case by revealing that the former Ocean Township (Waretown) mayor met real estate mogul turned government cooperating witness Solomon Dwek at the 'offices of the head of the Ocean County Republican Party.'
Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachael Honig confirmed the statement during a recess after opening arguments, but did not elaborate. It was not clear whether she was referring to Ocean County Republican Headquarters on Route 37 in Toms River or the law offices of George R. Gilmore, also in Toms River.
Could political boss Gilmore or other Republican leaders be dragged into the case? Certainly Gilmore has not been charged with any wrongdoing but it does make me wonder what's going on.
I'm not sure if this is the most effective defense employed ever, but it seems that former Assemblyman Van Pelt is willing to go down saying everyone was doing it. His attorney is saying that he was acting as a consultant and that the $10,000 cash payment he received is a regular occurrence apparently:
"It happens all the time in Ocean County," Fuggi said
If I'm the prosecution and this is the defense they're going with, I'm asking Van Pelt to name names. He is equating a $10,000 "consulting" fee made as a cash payment and no documentation, with a $50 wedding fee essentially. I don't think that goes on all the time and if it does, Van Pelt needs to start singing because that would be even more of a sad commentary. Jury selection for his trial begins today.
Ocean County GOP Chair George Gilmore must be getting madder with each passing moment. I wrote about the pending civil war that is ready to break out over who will challenge John Adler the other day. Burlington County GOP Chair Bill Layton just can't help himself and when it's not Jon Runyan talking directly, Layton is making sure no story goes without a quote:
Layton, for his part, acknowledged that he supports Jon Runyan, but said there remains plenty of time to avoid a primary.
"To me it remains the same. Jon Runyan is the best candidate. So at some point we need to convince others of that, and that process is still taking place," he said. "If Jon Runyan was an Ocean County guy, I'd be with Jon Runyan. Jon Runyan is the best candidate for the race. It's about winning back the seat, not whether the guy is from Burlington, Ocean or Camden."
Gilmore said that he did not read any of Runyan's interviews and would wait until he has to comment.
Oh to be a fly on the wall when Gilmore finally reads the interviews. This has the real potential to be a fun one to watch. It sounds like Layton is telling Gilmore that there is plenty of time to avoid a primary as long as he agrees Runyan is the man. I don't think George Gilmore is used to that type of ultimatum.
Should Runyan and Adler face off in the general election, it would be a match of clear physical contrasts. Runyan is listed at 6-foot-7 and 330 pounds. Adler, D-3, stands 5-foot-9 and weighs less than half that, coming in at less than 160 pounds, according to Greco.
Not as if that will factor into the race as much as who has the bigger warchest. But not all the people who played with him expected this turn in Runyan's career:
"He never struck me as a politician," Eagles linebacker Jeremiah Trotter said, "but if the 'Terminator' can become governor of California, then Jon Runyan can run for Congress."
I don't know if that's exactly a ringing endorsement of Runyan. More important than what Runyan says or the people who played with him say, is what the Ocean County chair George Gilmore believes. He doesn't seem sold on Runyan running yet:
"If he has a good season with the Chargers, they might offer him a (new) contract," Gilmore said. "Just because he says he's running for Congress, it doesn't mean he will."
"I'll wait for Mr. Runyan to make contact and we'll take it from there, but obviously there are a lot of viable candidates out there," said Gilmore. "Some are from Ocean County, some from Burlington, and we'll have to wait and see how they all withstand the scrutiny that will be put on their strengths and weaknesses."
When Runyan does call, Gilmore already has some questions:
Gilmore also noted that Runyan - a free agent who is not active in the NFL right now but has not retired - has expressed interest in past interviews about returning to play football.
"These are the questions we want to ask, but I have yet to have the opportunity to discuss this with Mr. Runyan," he said.
It's not like Gilmore is just someone in GOP politics, as evidenced to his appointment on the Christie transition team. Wally had more on Gilmore's influence:
Gilmore, a superstar since he delivered a 70,000-vote margin for Gov.-elect Christopher Christie last week, has reacted poorly to demonstrations of disrespect like this in the past. In 2005, Gilmore gave GOP gubernatorial candidate Douglas Forrester a list of calls he needed to make to secure support in Ocean County. To Gilmore's annoyance, Forrester never made most of the calls; Gilmore instead gave the Ocean County GOP line to Robert Schroeder, who diligently courted local Republicans. Forrester won the primary, but never got Gilmore fully engaged; he won Ocean County by about a third of what Christie did.
Gilmore and the Republicans would probably like to avoid a repeat of last year, where a costly primary fight between the counties left them fighting an uphill battle against Adler. While Gilmore may not have gotten a call, Burlington County Republican Chair Bill Layton is already a member of the Jon Runyan for Congress facebook group. That's sure to make Gilmore happy.
The first thing that has to happen is for Runyan to decide if he's just seriously considering or ready to jump in the political fray.
While they didn't pass a full dual office holding ban in the Legislature allowing people to be "grandfathered" in, the voters still have the ultimate say at the ballot box and this past Tuesday night they made the decision for Carl Block:
The major upset of the 2009 non-partisan municipal elections was the defeat of Carl Block, who has served as Mayor of Stafford (pop. 25,819) since 1983. Block lost by fifteen percentage points, 57%-42%, to John McMenamin, a former police lieutenant. Four incumbent Councilmembers allied with Block also lost their bids for re-election.
This is a stunning defeat for Republicans in a town where John McCain beat Barack Obama with 59% of the vote last year. Block is also the Ocean County Clerk, and an insider within the Ocean County GOP organization. McMenamin had the backing of Democrats, who backed GOP gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie's proposal to ban dual officeholding. Christie attended a fundraiser for Block in Stafford just days after announcing his plan, which would have forced Block to choose between his two jobs.
At least Christie won't have to explain his support for a dual office holder while he rips dual office holding at the same time anymore. The loss for Block also will cost Party boss George Gilmore some business apparently. McMenamin ran an aggressive campaign and also received help from Congressman John Adler. The campaign credited the victory to personal relationships putting them over the top:
"Because we had candidates who had been in town for 30 years, they knew everybody," said Seim, who holds a PhD in medicinal chemistry. "They sat down at the beginning of this campaign eight weeks ago and identified 1,500 voters they knew in town. When we say that 1,000 of those voters had not participated in the last election, we knew we would be competitive. Based on the last mayoral election, we knew we needed 1,000 extra votes to win."
Incumbents went down in Ocean County, Burlington County, Camden County. Incumbents retained their seats in Hackensack, Asbury Park, Tinton Falls, Monmouth Beach, Bordentown City and Passaic, among other places. I don't know if Healy is a good gauge in Jersey City because of the overwhelming fundraising advantage and it appears there were many factors in play in Hoboken. Here's what the APP editorial had to say about Block's loss today:
Whether motivated by a need for change, by the recognition of conflicts caused by multiple public jobs or by the campaigning of successful mayoral candidate and former police lieutenant John McMenamin, Stafford voters moved the state one step closer to ending dual officeholding.
Campaigns will be looking for the larger lessons from these races. Looking forward to the November elections, incumbents on the ballot may be trying to figure out if this is going to be a wave that can only be overcome in some areas by large fundraising. In a diary posted on the side, Dennis M pointed to the big news of this race and questioned what it might mean for November.Do you think there is a larger problem for incumbents on the ballot or were these races just a product of the local factors on the ground?
I am an on-again, off-again resident and extremely frequent (like, every weekend) visitor to Stafford Township, and I have been well aware of the campaign pitting Carl Block against a reform team - especially since you couldn't stand outside the house in the nice weather last weekend without meeting candidates from one or the other side. I believe there are two reasons Block, long-time Mayor and Ocean County Clerk, finally lost - one, his reign, though once in step with the resident's dreams of managed growth, has recently veered into some pretty grandiose big-box developments which came with BIG tax deferrals, and two, the departure of long-time Block nemesis Wes Bell from this vale of tears allowed for the fielding of a slate of opposition candidates that wasn't led by a certifiable nut-job.
Keep in mind that this is deep, deep Republican territory - and that a slate of independents, Democrats and Republicans just defeated a slate led by a deeply entrenched Republican mayor of 26 years' or so duration. That's big - and I think it may (may!) say something positive about the chances of other Democrats in Southern Ocean county this November.
The Atlantic City Press is reporting a local GOP activist in Barnegat, Ocean County, is changing parties to become a Democrat. Since 1969, Fred Rubenstein says, he has been a Republican. After 16 years of living in Barnegat Township, though, he said he is convinced that red is blue here. "I believe Republicans in Barnegat are Republicans in name only," Rubenstein said. "I do not believe they are true to the philosophy and integrity. They are certainly not in the mold of Ronald Reagan." With that statement, Rubenstein filed to run as a Democrat in the upcoming primary election, seeking to unseat incumbent Republicans Mayor Jeffrey Melchiondo and Deputy Mayor Al Cirulli in November.
Fred and another running mate will challenge Democratic organization candidates Marianne P. Clemente and Howard G. Effron in the June primary.
The four House members and two senators, all Democrats, are part of a bipartisan group of 30 coastal state lawmakers who've written to Obama about the matter.
They want him to reject a possible move by the White House's Office of Management and Budget to strike down $85 million for beach nourishment projects the US Army Corps of Engineers wants to fund through the stimulus package.
Beach nourishment projects are shovel-ready and have a proven track record of creating jobs. My district relies on federal funds to protect homes and businesses, keep the beaches safe for our families, and repair shore lines that suffered through a long winter. A few of the ongoing issues we face on Long Beach Island include:
Beaches and dunes eroding at an alarming and seemingly increasing rate. Normal high tides now routinely reach and erode the base of the dunes in many places on the Island
Beach space is limited or, in some cases, non-existent.
Without adequate beach sand and dune protection, the Island is vulnerable to flooding from severe storms or hurricanes.
On behalf of my constituents in Ocean County, I urge you to maintain funding for beach nourishment projects. The money included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is necessary to conduct beach erosion studies, build groins and jetties to protect beaches from surf, storm surge and tidal currents, and long term nourishment efforts like pumping tons of dredged sand back onto eroded beaches.
The lessons of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Ike and others have been quickly forgotten by OMB, or never learned. While professing to insist on Corps projects that reduce risk and have high benefit-to-cost ratios, they have denied funding to the very coastal restoration projects that will reduce the risk to lives and property - and reduce the American taxpayers' cost of storm recovery.
Beaches are coastal levees. OMB supports inland levees, but not those on the coast. Beaches provide nesting ground for endangered species. OMB supports environmental restoration projects, but not if they are on the coast. European countries have learned that sand is one of the tools to be used in adapting to rising sea levels. Apparently OMB is opposed to adaptation.
There certainly does seem to be inconsistencies in the policy. It seems pretty short sighted to not fund these projects in the short term, given the potential cost of disasters in the long term. But that's really never stopped the government before.
It is possible...just possible, mind you, that our elected officials in the Republican controlled County government just don't get it; that they actually believe the old adage "If you say it often enough, people will believe you forever."
It is more probable, however, that the other old saying "Absolute power corrupts absolutely" is more appropriate.
Take for example, the campaign last year for Ocean County Clerk: Jason Verano, the Democratic candidate alleged, that the incumbent Republican had misappropriated funds from a Dedicated Trust Fund under his control; that he had used the money for expensive trips; promotional items, and a 42? plasma TV, among other things.
"No, no, no," the incumbent said during the campaign, "I wouldn't do anything like that! Using the taxpayer money from the Dedicated Trust Fund for these expenses was completely legal! Please, believe me."
And, so, the voters of Ocean County did and reelected him, although by a margin almost 2/3 less than the one he had in his first election.
Then, after his swearing in, when he told us that Jason Varano was right; that he had misused the Dedicated Trust Fund money, Ocean County voters learned that he had abused our trust; that he had used our natural desire to believe our leaders for his own self-serving purposes. "I've changed the way the Dedicated Trust will be used. Trust me." he said.
Huh? What about the hundreds of thousands of dollars this official now admits he misappropriated? How do we, the taxpayers, recoup our money?
Hey, Watcher has an idea: How about he donates his salary back to the county until the debt to the rest of us is paid back? That would work for Watcher. How about all of you? We could even have a public ceremony showing him handing over his $10,000 monthly salary check. By my calculation, it would only take 2-1/2 years for him to pay back all the money that he used improperly.
Well, we know that won't happen, unfortunately, and that is why Watcher will be watching everything that happens in our government; tracking every expense; examining every contract and cross-checking them with every contribution to the party and telling you what our elected officials won't tell you.
Ocean County residents have the right to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about our government and those who hold the power to spend out money. We have the right to transparency about every action our elected officials take, every penny of taxpayer money they spend; and every benefit they receive.
To paraphrase the famous line from the movie "Network", "We're getting mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore"
Even when men and women had the same job title in the same department, some women had lower base and overtime pay.
The 82 male Sheriff's Officers in the Sheriff's Department were paid an average of $83,772 in 2008. The 18 women with the same title were paid $78,513 and made about 50 percent less in overtime than the men.
But the women Sheriff's Officers had 14 percent more seniority than their male counterparts. Women had an average of 3,300 days working for the county; men had 14 percent less time at 2,800 days.
The Ocean County Freeholders have some explaining to do. I can't wait to see how they dance around and try to offer a justification for this. Not surprisingly, the decision makers are all men. The only woman is county prosecutor Marlene Lynch Ford, who is appointed by the governor. So not only don't women hold the county offices, but when they do get hired by the county, they make almost a
quarter less than their male counterparts. Contrasting the lack of representation, is the fact that Ocean County is in fact 52.52% female, the highest percentage of women in the state.
It's a good thing our Republican Congressmen LoBiondo, Garrett and Frelinghuysen were overruled in their opposition to Ledbetter, you know that legislation which gives women equal pay, because it's sorely needed in Ocean County government. I look forward to the full story in the APP tomorrow.
Township code enforcement fines levied against a local businessman have been reduced from $5.6 million to $6,000 by Ocean County's Construction Board of Appeals.
And how do you get $5.6 million in fines?
Some of the fines levied against Sessa's building were for illegal change of use, worked performed without a permit, occupying an altered structure without a certificate of occupancy and failure to obtain the required inspections.
However, Sessa was unable to obtain a certificate of occupancy until his fines were cleared. He didn't realize the amount of the fines until he read about it in the Asbury Park Press in November.
Can you imagine opening the paper to find out you owe a cool $5 million? Paying the remaining fine looks like a drop in the bucket at this point.
"In the past, in a month, we used to get four, five or six foreclosures a day. Now we're getting about 30 a day and 700 a month," Nitche said. "People are just really extending themselves."
Just amazing. And those are the people who actually go through foreclosure, not the ones who just walk away from their property altogether.
The office of Ocean County Clerk Carl Block has a dedicated trust fund and his opponent, Democrat Jason Varano came to the Asbury Park Press Editorial meeting saying that someone needs to take another look at the books:
That account is supported by service fees collected when mortgages, deeds and passport applications are filed with the office. The money is apart from and in addition to the clerk's annual budget, which is funded by county taxpayers through the Board of Freeholders. Unlike budgeted items, the money in the dedicated trust fund is carried from one fiscal year to the next.
"This is an account I think that needs to be audited. I think it needs to be addressed. This is an account that is hard to find within the freeholders' budget," Varano said. "To me, it was very hidden. It's a fee-based account that is for an additional filing fee for when mortgages are filed, deeds are recorded . . . which goes into a dedicated trust account."
Block defended some of the charges from Varano, who himself was already focusing on what he saw as another problem in the Clerk's office:
"There were also over 3,000 hours of overtime last year in this office," Varano said at the meeting.
One employee alone had 800 hours of overtime, and another had 700 hours of overtime, he said.
Block did not deny that the cost of doing business has increased since he was first elected county clerk in 2003. Nevertheless, he said, he was taking steps to rein in overtime costs, which he said were the result of a busy election calendar this year, including the first stand alone February presidential primary.
From the tenor of the article, it looks like Block wasn't really prepared for the charges to come his way and was caught flatfooted. Block did respond following the meeting, but was left playing catch up defending the actions of his office.
