Marlboro Mayor’s Moxy

By Matt Rooney, cross-posted at SaveJersey.com

Marlboro’s Mayor Jon Hornik is standing by the community’s decision to introduce an armed presence into its schools, Save Jerseyans.

I admire this guy’s moxy!

Our Governor and other like-minded pols are opposed to turning schools into ”armed camps,” but I wholeheartedly disagree with their premise. It’s an logical leap, particularly when so many of our high schools already have a regular police presence. The fact also remains that there seems to be little or no political will on either side of the aisle to address the real problem: an over-medicated, under-parented generation whose less stable members are shielded from meaningful psychiatric action by asinine post-deinstitutionalization laws and administrative regulations.

Read the rest of this entry>>

• Tweet

LaRocca defends police in Marlboro schools

Marlboro Township Council President Frank LaRocca issued the following statement on facebook regard his township’s decision to assign armed police officers at the community’s schools on Januaray 3:

“If you saw an armed man walking towards a school would you call 911?  Of course you would, and maybe you would do even more. We have had police in our schools since 1999. This move is simply to put full time police in each school until the assessment is complete on revamping our school security. This is not armed teachers or lunch ladies. These are trained police officers. There is a need for gun control. The assulat weapons have no place in our society at all. But until the school security is brought forward, the police will be in the schools.”

Marlboro High School, part of the Freehold Regional High School District, has had a School Resource Officer assigned to it since 1999, according to Mayor Jon Hornick.

• Tweet

Marlboro to post cops at schools

The Township of Marlboro is apparently the first community in the nation to assign armed police officers at their schools in reaction to the massacre in Newtown, CT.

According to reports in Marlboro-Colts Neck Patch, NJ.com and The New York Post, each of Marlboro’s 9 schools will have a cop on guard when they reopen on January 2.  Additionally, digital video cameras will be installed in all school facilities to be monitored by the police department.

“We’ve seen a new evil and we need to deal with it,” Mayor Jon Hornik said in a phone interview with MMM, “This is like 9-11.  We’ve seen airport security change. Now we have to change school security and do it quickly.”

Board of Education Vice President Victoria Dean said that the board authorized the funding of police officers in the schools for 90 days while they evaluate long term options.

“This is not the long term solution,” said Dean, “we want to prevent the possibility of a Sandy Hook copy cat and to ease the fears of our residents.”

Both Hornik and Dean said that Marlboro had made this decision prior to NRA President Wayne LaPierre’s call for cops in all schools nationally at his news conference on Friday.  Marlboro’s new school safety policy was posted on the board’s website on Thursday.   Hornik said he is not an NRA supporter and believes that assault weapons and ammunition should be banned, “but we have to protect our kids.”

• Tweet

Marlboro Republicans Want Ethics Complaint To Be Referred To Local Finance Board

Marlboro GOP Chairman Christopher Dean filed an ethics complaint against Mayor Jon Hornik, Councilman Frank LaRocca and Councilwoman Randi Marder last October. To date, no action has been taken by the Marlboro Ethics Board.

The complaint involves the Township doing business with a company owned by Marder and her husband on a “no-bid” basis.

Dean was a candidate for Township Council, running against LaRocca and Marder, when the complaint was filed.  He and one of his running mates, Craig Marshall who ran for Mayor against Hornik, are continuing their fight for ethical government in Marlboro, despite their loss at the polls.

Members of municipal ethics boards are appointed and approved by the Mayors and Councils of their respective communities.   Of the 566 municipalities in New Jersey, only 37 have their own Ethics Boards.  Of New Jersey’s 21 counties, 7 have Ethics Boards.

In a January 26 letter to the Marlboro Ethics Board, Dean asked that his complaint be referred to the State Local Fiance Board rather been heard by the local board which is comprised of personal friends of the Mayor and Council members who are subject of the inquiry.

Marshall questions the objectivity of the board’s new attorney.  In a Letter to the Editor published in the Marlboro Patch, the former mayoral candidate notes that the attorney, Ken Biedzynski, earned $221,146 last year as a Marlboro special council for affordable housing, an appointment he received with the approval of the subjects of the pending ethics complaint.

All government officials should recuse themselves when faced with a conflict or the very appearance of a conflict.  This is especially so for an Ethics Board and its attorney.  In this case, there is enough of an appearance of conflicts or potential conflicts to warrant recusals.

Even if the Marlboro Ethics Board were to hear the case, which they could have done in the last four months, and found that there was no ethical violation, Dean and Marshall are going to appeal to the Local Fiance Board anyway.

The fact that this issue is still dragging on after four months with multiple attorneys raises questions about the impartiality of the board. 

The Marlboro Ethics Board would be wise to refer the matter to the Local Finance Board when they meet on March 14.  Hornick, LaRocca and Marder would be wise to publicly call for such a referral.  

Let both sides make their cases to the Local Finance Board and put the matter in the rear view mirror.  That’s going to happen eventually anyway.  The delaying tactics only raise more questions.

• Tweet

Ethics Charges Dragging On In Marlboro

The ethics complaint filed last October by former Marlboro council candidate Christopher Dean will not get a hearing until next month at the earliest, according to a report in the NewsTranscript.

Dean, who is also the GOP municipal chairman in Marlboro, filed a complaint with the Township’s Ethic Board a week before the election because the Mayor and Council approved no-bid purchases of promotional items from Inkwell Global Marketing.  Inwell is owned by Councilwoman Randi Marder’s husband.  Marder, who works at the company, voted to approve the purchases, according to Dean’s complaint.

At the February 8 meeting of the Ethic Board, Dean said his complaint included Mayor Jon Hornick and Council Frank LaRocca.  Board Chairman Michael Cali said Dean should file new complaints against Hornick and LaRocca.

LaRocca is a candidate for Monmouth County Democratic Chairman.

The board has not yet held a hearing on the complaint because they are unsure if they should do so in public or in executive session, out of concern for Marder’s privacy.  Their new attorney, Kenneth Biedzynski, said he would advise the board on the proper venue for a hearing at the March meeting.

Dean requested that the board refer the complaint to the Local Finance Board.

• Tweet

Water Rates Poised To Double in Marlboro

Barbara Levine, Marlboro

I am writing because I am concerned about a proposed double digit increase in the Marlboro Water Utility Division’s rates. When the mayor and Township Council decided to assume the Marlboro Township Municipal Utilities Authority (MTMUA) as part of the township two years ago, we were promised it would reduce taxpayer and ratepayers’ expenses.

At the time is was reported that the savings to the taxpayers for eliminating this layer of government would be more than $800,000 in the first year and $200,000 per year thereafter and that the takeover would not affect the rates. Yet now, barely two years later, a rate increase is proposed.

We were told the MTMUA was tapping into capital reserves to pay current operating expenses and that absorption (of the authority by the township) would reduce costs so those reserve funds could be used for repairs and upgrades. There were many dissenters at the time and even those who were worried that this would be a “onetime gimmick” and that the Water Utility Division would initially raise rates and then be sold off.

In fact, the question was posed to the mayor and council with a request for a resolution to promise not to sell the water (utility) so that Marlboro does not go the way of other towns who have assumed a water authority with disastrous results, i.e., Howell, which has one of the highest water rates in the state.

Mayor and council, can you provide some assurance that this proposed water increase will not occur, and that you will not sell the water (utility) as long as you are mayor of this town?

• Tweet

Marlboro Is Having An Election Where People Seem To Care

By Art Gallagher

Its four weeks before election day, yet it hardly looks like campaign season throughout much of Monmouth County. Lawn signs are scarce in the parts of the county where I’ve traveled.  I’ve only received one mailer.

The Asbury Park Press is doing their usual interviews of legislative and county candidates, but you’d have to go looking to find the write ups.

Governor Chris Christie’s presidential consideration has commanded much of the political attention and dominated the news.  The legislative races are uncompetitive.  Campaign money is scarce due to stifling pay to play laws and the poor economy.

Voter turnout is historically very low in years when the legislature is the top race.  2007 was the last such year.  In Monmouth County 128,169 people voted in 2007.  The following year, when Obama was elected, 292,037 people voted.  200,199 voted in the gubernatorial election of 2009 and 179,133 voted in the congressional elections last year.  There are 379,431 registered voters in Monmouth County, according to Labels and Lists.

Marlboro is the exception.   The Democratic incumbents, Mayor Jon Hornick running with Council members Frank LaRocca and Randi Marder are running hard to retain their offices.  On paper, the municipal race in Marlboro should be a sleeper like the rest of the races in the county.  Democrats have a 2619 voter registration edge in the township. The Republican organization is fractured and much of its best talent is supporting the Democrats.   The underfunded Republican upstart candidates are relative newbies to the political process.

Yet legacy Mayor Jon Hornick and his team are running as if their lives, or livelihoods, depend upon it.  They been advertising on NJ.com, they have billboards, lawn signs and mailers.  They raised a lot of money and they are spending it.

With little organizational support, the scrappy underfunded team of Craig Marshall for Mayor running with Christopher Dean and Marianne Duffy-Longobardi for Council appear to be making a race of it.

The legislative races are snoozers.  The county races are comatose, as are most municipal races.  Marlboro is the only game around so MMM will focus on it over the next few weeks.

• Tweet

Marlboro Republicans Respond to Contest set forth by Democrat Incumbents

With just over a month to go until the election, Democrat incumbents Jon Hornik, Frank LaRocca, and Randi Marder have shown that they will do anything it takes to get elected; even if it means to buy a vote.
In the recent article published on Patch.com, Jon Hornik and the rest of his team are now trying to earn votes by offering a $250 reward for this so called “game” they have initiated. “I find it distasteful and certainly not what an election decision should be about.” Craig Marshall, candidate for Mayor, said “it is interesting that instead of talking about the issues that matter most to the citizens of Marlboro like taxes, jobs, spending, Mayor Hornik along with his running mates are trying to divert attention from their out of control spending and actions.”
Craig Marshall is referring to the sky rocket legal and engineering fees the town has endured over the last four years, as well as, Randi Marder’s husband doing business with the town while she is serving as a member of the council.
“The use of the car as a campaign gimmick only illustrates their failure to grasp the concerns of the taxpayers” said Marianne Longobardi, candidate for Town Council, “Instead of a one time $250 contest, the taxpayers of Marlboro would be better suited by leadership that will reduce their property taxes.”
Marshall, Dean, & Longobardi have pledged that if elected they will put to an end to the reckless spending and always put taxpayers first!

• Tweet

Dean Addresses The False Rumors

By Christopher Dean, Marboro Town Council Candidate

I would like to address a question recently presented to me by supporters of my opposition concerning my campaign for town council and the fact that my wife is a member of the Board of Education.  I was advised that I shouldn’t have let my wife run for the Board of Education and just run my own campaign.

How ridiculous.  This is not 1920 and no one tells her what to do.  Both my wife and I are committed to public service.  We are both veterans of the Navy, having honorably served our country.  At that time, no one said that only one family member should serve, the Navy was happy to have us both serve, and they knew we were dedicated service persons.

My wife serves on the School Board with no salary or benefits and I pledge, if elected, to serve the town of Marlboro and not take one dime in salary or benefits. Which is more than I can say for all the incumbents up for election this year.

The only possible time that there could be a concern is if the school budget fails and the council is asked to vote on a budget.  At that time, I will have no choice but to recuse myself from that vote.  But since that circumstance has only happened once in the last ten years at the k-8 level, I don’t see the concern.  In fact, under those odds, I still would have a better voting record than a current councilman who has only voted on the township budget twice in the last 6 years.

It is sad that instead of joining like minded families in commitment of service to others, the opposition would rather tear us down and find fault with our service.  Of course, these alleged concerns don’t apply to them, after all there is no cause for concern with the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Council Member are all named partners in a local law firm or the Council President’s husband is receiving no-bid contracts from the town. 

• Tweet

Longobardi running in Marlboro to control spending, stop cronyism, preserve open space

By Marianne Longobardi, Candidate For Marlboro Council

• Tweet