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Monmouth Dem Chairman Apologizes For The Handling Of Congressional Candidate’s #MeToo Complaint

Tiffany Kaszuba, left and Bill Robinson, right at an event in Asbury Park in September. Photo via Kaszuba’s twitter page

Monmouth County Democrat Chairman Dave Brown issued an apology this morning for the way he handled the concerns of Tiffany Kaszuba, a lobbyist who ended her candidacy for Congress in CD4 on Tuesday with explosive allegations against Bill Robinson, the former Chairman of the Eatontown Democrats and former member of the Monmouth Democrats Executive Committee.

Kazuba issued the following statement announcing her withdrawal:

 

Kaszuba withdrawl

 

Brown’s statement was published on facebook this morning:

As Chairman of the Monmouth County Democratic Party, I take great pride in our organization’s record of supporting and listening to women from all backgrounds across Monmouth County, both in the construction of our organization and in the forging of our proud progressive platform.

But our most important responsibility is to make sure that everyone has a voice. Over the last few days those voices have been heard loudly and clearly.This week, some in our party have voiced their concerns that we have let them down in our response to the concerns over a volunteer and former Executive Board Member, Bill Robinson. I would like to take this moment to apologize. I apologize to each of you that we let down and especially to Tiffany Kasbuza that we let you down.

While our initial thought was that precluding Mr. Robinson from any further contact from concerned parties and referring these concerns to an outside, independent, counsel for further guidance was sufficient at the moment, we have come to realize that this course of action was simply not enough.

While we will still be implementing the recommendations we receive from our independent outside counsel, Hill Wallack, I have informed Mr. Robinson that he is not welcome at any and all volunteer activities or events associated with the Monmouth County Democratic Organization and have asked him to resign from his position as a member of the Democratic State Committee, effective immediately. It is our intention to move forward with Hill Wallack’s recommendations, once complete, as quickly as possible, and to continue to listen to the people that comprise our great county party in order to incorporate suggestions for further change. I encourage all members of our party to reach out to me personally to let me know where our party may be deficient, how we can improve, and what actions we must take to do so.

As the first African-American to ever be elected as Chair of the Monmouth County Democratic Party, I believe that our organization has great potential to advocate for disadvantaged communities, to elevate underheard voices, and to push for inclusivity and understanding in all our efforts. That is why I have every intention to take this experience and use it to continue to improve and strengthen our party for those it serves.Please continue to feel free to reach out to me at any time.

When we stand together in shared pursuit of our progressive ideals, I believe that there is nothing that we cannot achieve, and I am humbled and honored to serve all those who continue to make our Democratic party the best it can be.

David G. Brown II
Chairman, Monmouth County Democrats

In a phone interview with MMM on Wednesday, Senator Gopal said that Robinson had been a volunteer with the Monmouth Democrats for many years, dating back to the Chairmanship of Vic Scudiery, and the first formal complaint in which the party was asked to ask Robinson to stay away was from Kazsuba on October 14th of 2019. Gopal and Brown acted immediately upon Kaszuba’s complaint, the senator said.  Gopal said Eatontown expressed concern that Robinson was overbearing at the end of 2018 but the party spoke to Robinson and it was done to Eatontown’s satisfaction where they worked together for many months after without bringing it up to the party again.
 
 “ At no time did any of the candidates state, suggest or imply that Mr. Robinson was sexually harassing them verbally or physically.  We believed the matter was resolved because the candidates assured us that his interactions with them had improved and that one of these candidates continued to work with Mr. Robinson closely, both during the campaign and after her election. Because confidentiality had been requested and because there did not appear to be any further incidents, we did not feel it was appropriate to share these allegations with any outside parties. No one again raised any formal concerns about Mr. Robinson until more than a year later, when Tiffany Kasbuza brought similar concerns to us. Because this now appeared to be a pattern of unacceptable behavior, the Monmouth County Democratic Organization has hired an outside firm to conduct an independent investigation and to bar Mr. Robinson from all our events in the meantime. In the spirit of transparency, we will release the findings of the investigation and implant any recommendations that arise from it immediately.”

This morning Gopal said that over the last 72 hours he has gotten a great deal of phone calls regarding Kaszuba’s statement and that he regrets not acting sooner with regard to Robinson’s participation in Party activities.

Robinson pleaded guilty to stalking on 1996 and was permitted to attend rehab rather than be incarcerated, according to an Asbury Park Press article regarding his sentencing. He was also on probation for five years. There have been no criminal complaints against his since, according to a public record search performed by MMM.

 

Senator Gopal updated his statement to provide clarity on December 12, 2019 in response to a statement posted by Eatontown Councilwoman Jasmine Story posted on her facebook page:

Robinson article app

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Posted: December 5th, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Monmouth County News, Monmouth Democrats | Tags: , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

4 Comments on “Monmouth Dem Chairman Apologizes For The Handling Of Congressional Candidate’s #MeToo Complaint”

  1. Albert said at 4:20 pm on December 5th, 2019:

    This seems a little soft don’t ya think for the subject? Surprised to see this site take such a #liberal #turn

  2. I Always Knew said at 10:03 pm on December 5th, 2019:

    Robinson was a dirt bag. And actually, that word seems too kind, considering his past stalking problems. The question now is “what did Vin Gopal know and when did he know it.”

    BTW, chances are that if you’ve had your Republican signs bracketed in Monmouth County, this is the guy that did it. Caught on many occasions. So, hopefully those shenanigans will end too.

  3. Whatever.. said at 10:17 pm on December 5th, 2019:

    My concern is, if we’re not careful, Vin’ll be in-charge of the whole blasted county, in a few years..

  4. BTW said at 7:18 am on December 6th, 2019:

    Brown’s quote “in shared pursuit of our progressive ideals” should scare the hell out of folks because that’s the direction you see the national Democrat Party is going in and that ain’t good folks. Not good at all.

    It has become the party of The Squad, the Party of AOC and her ilk. Shear insanity