The Democratic candidates for Monmouth County Freeholder are not waiting to get into campaign mode.
Brian Froelich and Lawrence Luttrell were endorsed by the Monmouth County Democratic Party last Saturday. Today they issued a statement blasting the “all-Republican monopoly on the Freeholder Board” over the 3-2 split decision to pay Manalapan Township Committeeman Andrew Lucas $1.152 million for the development rights to his farm.
Froelich and Luttrell also promoted Lucas to a “GOP boss.”
MANALAPAN – Democratic Candidates for Monmouth County Freeholder, Brian Froelich and Larry Luttrell, slammed the Republican Freeholder Board’s decision to give almost 1.2 million taxpayer dollars away to a local GOP party boss.
“Once again, the all-Republican monopoly on the Freeholder Board has exercised its power against the interests of Monmouth County residents,” said Froelich. “This time, the Freeholders granted a $1.15 million-dollar payday to one of their own in the guise of ‘farmland preservation.’ Whether it is preservation bonuses, pension privileges, or old-fashioned patronage, this Board continues to remind us that absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
“Clearly, there is an apparent conflict of interest with this land deal,” added Luttrell, a former prosecutor. “This November, Monmouth County residents will have a chance to elect fair-minded watchdogs that will restrain this biased and unbalanced Freeholder Board. Shame on Freeholder Serena DiMaso for voting to give taxpayer money away to one of her political cronies. This needs to change in November.”
General election for Monmouth County Freeholder takes place Tuesday, November 5th.
Froelich and Luttrell are attempting to unseat Freeholder Director Tom Arnone and Deputy Director Serena DiMaso. Arnone voted against funding the Lucas farm purchase. DiMaso voted for it.
After almost three years since the Manalapan Township Committee Member purchased a 97 acre farm in Iron Ore Road, the Manalapan Township Committe and the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders approved the funding of their respective portion of the purchase of the development rights to the property. Manalapan is paying $186,969.10 of the purchase price. Monmouth County is paying $277,920. The balance is coming from State coffers for the purpose of Open Space preservation.
Manalapan’s all Republican Committee approved their funds, 2-1, on Wednesday evening, according to ManalapanPatch. Committeeman Ryan Green voted no. Deputy Mayor Jordan Maskowitz abstained. Mayor Susan Cohen, the Monmouth GOP Vice Chair, and Committeeman Donald Holland voted to approve the purchase. Lucas recused himself from the proceedings. Maskowitz and Lucas are both up for reelection this November.
The isssue was heated at the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders meeting last night, with John Curley accusing his fellow freeholder, Lillian Burry, of colluding with Lucas. Lucas hosted a fundraiser for Burry at the farm in 2011, according to the Asbuy Park Press. The APP said the exchanges between Curley and Burry were so intense that Freeholder Director Tom Arnone called multiple recesses. Arnone voted with Curely against the purchased. Gary Rich and Serena DiMaso joined Burry in voting for the purchase.
Democratic Freeholder candidate Lawrence Luttrell asked Burry to recuse herself. County Counsel Andrea Bazer advised Burry that she had no conflict that would prevent her from voting.
Former Middletown Democratic Township Commitee candidate Linda Baum also spoke against the purchase on ethical grounds.
The issue has been controversial for years because, while he recused himself from voting as a committee member on the purchase, Lucas participated in deliberations about the transaction. The State Local Finance Board approved the ethics of Lucas’ participation due to the fact that he sought the advice of the Township’s attorney. In their opinion, the Finance Board indicated that they would be issuing new rules to cover future similar circumstances.
The man suspected of robbing the Colts Neck branch of the JPMorgan Chase Bank has been apprehended in a Birmingham, Alabama hotel, according to a statement released by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
Waleed A. Saleh, 32, of Staten Island, was found Monday at the Sheraton Hotel in Birmingham, Ala. where he was arrested by investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Birmingham Police Department, as part of the joint investigation led by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and Colts Neck Township Police Department Detective Richard Zarrillo.
Saleh is charged with first degree Armed Robbery, and the second degree offenses of Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose and Unlawful Possession of a Weapon. Saleh has waived extradition. Bail has been set at $750,000 with no 10 percent option as set by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Richard W. English.
The bank robbery occurred around 5 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 24, 2013 when Saleh allegedly walked into the JP Morgan Chase Bank, located at 290 Route 34 in Colts Neck, pointed a firearm at a teller and demanded money. The teller handed over an undisclosed amount of cash before fleeing the area.
Former Massachusetts U.S. Senator Scott Brown is hosting a fundraiser on Friday night in Boston for Governor Chris Chrisite’s reelection campaign, according to the Associated Press.
Brown was a model while in law school. During his reelection campaign, which he lost to Elizabeth Warren, Warren noted that she kept her clothes on while financing her college education. Scott retorted, “Thank God.”
We’re similarly grateful that Christie kept his clothes on while working his way through school.
Documentary Photographer/Artist Mike McLaughlin was profoundly impacted by Superstorm Sandy. He’s a Jersey Shore Guy who grew up in the Bayshore.
Mike has spent the last few months, at night and in the wee hours, creating art out of the destruction of Sandy. Through a process called “light painting,” long exposures lit with ambient light, moonlight and a flashlight, McLaughlin created 41 images that fellow photographer Joe Sharp calls, “some of the most moving imagery I have ever seen.”
Will Senate Democrats continue to give Menendez cover if he lied to them?
The reporter who first broke the Menendez sex scandal storyposted an eyewitness account of Senator Robert Menendez dining with Dr. Salomon Melgen one mile from Teterboro Airport on Easter morning of 2012, while Melgen’s private plane was being refueled for a direct flight to the Dominican Republic.
Menendez has admitted to taking three flights to the DR on Melgen’s jet. One was paid for by the Democratic Senatorial Committee. The other two were reported and paid for personally by Menendez…almost three years after the fact…as a result of NJ State Senator Sam Thompson’s ethics complaint filed in November of 2012. Menendez paid $58,500 for the two flights last month.
The Dominican prostitutes who first fingered Menendez said they met him during Easter of 2012. Menendez’s and Melgen’s friend, Dominican politician Vinicio Castillo Seman admitted that the senator was the Dominican Republic on Easter of last year, according to Breitbart.
In addition, Menendez’s and Melgen’s friend–powerful Dominican politician Vinicio Castillo Seman–recently slipped up and admitted the senator was in the Dominican Republic on Easter Sunday in 2012, at the scene of where the original alleged wrongdoing took place. “I’ve known Menendez as a friend and of my cousin Salomon Melgen,” Castillo said while attempting to defend Menendez amid the scandalous allegations that currently plague him. “No one has come forward on the allegations and evil accusations, we spend every Easter together in Casa de Campo.”
Though it is now known Menendez spent Easter in Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic with Melgen and Castillo, it is unclear how he got there. He and his staff have continually refused to answer that question.
But it has appeared for a long time that Menendez got there via Melgen’s plane. Flight path data obtained by Breitbart News and published in early February shows Melgen’s plane flew from Melgen’s home city West Palm Beach, Florida, to Teterboro, New Jersey, on Easter Sunday morning. It stayed there at Teterboro from its landing at 11:30 a.m. until taking off to head straight to the Dominican Republic at 12:50 p.m.
It is during this timeframe Melgen’s plane was on the ground in New Jersey, refueling and preparing for the flight to the Dominican Republic, that Breitbart News’ eyewitness in the area said he saw Menendez and Melgen brunching together at Arena Diner a mile or so away from the airport.
If Menendez was on the Melgen’s flight to the Dominican Republic last Easter, he’s been lying to the American people, and the Senate Ethics Committee, since early January when he paid $58,500 for the flights he’s admitted to belatedly.
Menendez and his office continue to refuse to answer whether the senator was on that flight, or if he got to the Dominican Republic that Sunday another way.
The man suspected of robbing the Colts Neck branch of the JPMorgan Chase Bank has been apprehended in a Birmingham, Alabama hotel, according to a statement released by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
