Doherty thumbs his nose at the Court, lies to the press

Pringle: “What is Doherty hiding?”

Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty told The Asbury Park Press that he would disclose all donations to his campaign for Monmouth County Freeholder under the amount of $300, but only those donations received after July 13.  July 13 was the date that the Doherty administration filed the 12 year old pay to play ethics ordinance with the state.

“I’m going to follow the ordinance and the state statutes to the letter.” Doherty told app.  It’s disappointing that the reporter let him get away with that Clinton speak.

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Appellate Court Rules That “Matt’s Law” Referendum Will Take Place

Belmar Mayor “Lawless Matt” Doherty and Governor Chris Christie walk the Belmar boardwalk. Photo Credit: Tim Larson, Governor’s Office

Belmar Mayor “Lawless Matt” Doherty got spanked in Court again yesterday.

Stating that Belmar’s argument was “unavailing” and that Doherty, et al had not demonstrated a likelihood that their appeal would succeed, New Jersey’s Appellate Court denied an emergency motion to stay the referendum on the ethics/pay to play ordinance passed last February.  The referendum will take place on September 27 per Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Katie Gummer’s July 15th Order.

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“Lawless Matt” Doherty defies Court, Pay to Play Ordinance

Defy– openly resist or refuse to obey

Mayor “Lawless Matt” Doherty speaks during the Two Year Hurricane Sandy Anniversary while Governor Christie practices his Trump sidekick pose(Governor’s Office/Tim Larsen)

In his latest campaign finance disclosure with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, Belmar Mayor “Lawless Matt” Doherty did not disclose the names of donors who gave his campaign $300 or less, as required by Belmar’s Ethics and Pay to Play Law.

Before he stopped talking to MoreMonmouthMusings, shortly after he declared his candidacy for Monmouth County Freeholder in January, Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty told us that his borough’s pay to play ordinance was unenforceable.  Never-the-less, he pushed the Borough Council to pass a new ordinance that would allow him to take donations from people and entities who have business with or are regulated by the Borough and not to disclose donations less than $300.

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Judge: Belmar’s new pay to pay ordinance, “Matt’s Law” is not law

Doherty’s lawyer asks Court for a gag order

Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty

Freehold-Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Katie Gummer ruled Wednesday that the new pay to pay ordinance in Belmar, dubbed “Matt’s Law” in honor of Mayor Matt Doherty who the measure would  immediately benefit, is not law, has never been law and will not become law unless approved by Belmar voters in a referendum or unless the Court rules otherwise in coming weeks as a suit regarding a protest petition filed under the Falkner Act is further litigated.

For now, Doherty, who is running for Monmouth County Freeholder, and all candidates for office in Belmar are bound by the pay to play ordinances, passed in 2004 and amended in 2005 and 2011 (the current ordinance), that restrict campaign contributions from Belmar vendors, developers, liquor license holders and professionals to $300 and/or require that the office holders to recuse themselves from matters regarding the contributors that come before them.

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Christie Supreme Court pick scrutinized over political favor

TRENTON — In 2003, Gov. Chris Christie’s state Supreme Court nominee Walter Timpone was an attorney in private practice who occasionally did work for Essex County. His nephew had just graduated from college and, interested in politics, needed a job. So Timpone asked Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, Jr. for help, and the powerful Democratic leader… Read the rest of this entry »

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Petition filed to repeal “Matt’s Law”; Belmar’s loosened pay to play ordinance

Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty

The Committee of Petitioners to repeal Belmar’s recently passed Ethics Ordinance that would allow Borough elected officials seeking higher office to accept campaign contributions from town vendors, developers, professionals and liquor licensees and accept anonymous contributions under $300 submitted 326 signatures to Borough Clerk April Claudio today, according to Committee Member Katrina Clapsis.

Claudio confirmed the receipt of the petition.

Dubbed “Matt’s Law” by locals because the timing of the Ordinance’s introduction and passage coincided with Mayor Matt Doherty’s announcement that he is running for Monmouth County Freeholder, the measure is now subject to repeal by the Borough Council or a referendum within 40-90 days of the signatures being certified by Claudio. 61 more signatures than need to force a repeal or referendum were submitted, according to Clapsis.

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Belmar Residents Seek To Repeal Loosened Ethics Laws

Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty laughs with approval during Governor Chris Christie’s speech during the Two Year Anniversary Community Event in Belmar, N.J. on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014. (Governor’s Office/Tim Larsen)

Belmar- A committee of Independent and Democrat Belmar voters is gathering signatures to repeal the recently passed Pay-to-Play/Ethics Ordinance that allows Belmar elected officials running for higher office outside of Belmar to accept campaign contributions from Borough vendors, professionals, liquor licensees and developers.  New the Ethics Ordinance also allows those who contribute less than $300 to an elected official’s campaign to remain anonymous.  The previous Ethics Ordinance required that all campaign contributions be disclosed.

In an announcement released on Common Sense for Belmar, Thomas Fahy, Linda Chelsen, Linda Sharkus, Katrina Clapsis, and former Mayor Kenneth Pringle said:

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Doherty: Belmar’s new pay to pay law has nothing to do with his Freeholder campaign

Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty, left, is preparing to face off with Freeholder Director Tom Arnone, right, in the November election.  Doherty said the relaxed pay to play law he is set to pass in Belmar has nothing to do with his Freeholder campaign.

The Mayor and Council of Belmar has introduced an ordinance that would remove the current restrictions on the Borough’s liquor license holders, real estate developers, professionals and vendors from contributing to the campaigns of Borough elected officials seeking higher office.

Mayor Matt Doherty told MoreMonmouthMusings that the ordinance has nothing to do with his candidacy for Monmouth County Freeholder.

Doherty announced that he is seeking the Democrat nomination for Freeholder on January 15.  The ordinance was introduced on January 19 and is on the agenda for a public hearing and final vote at the Borough Council meeting tonight.  Doherty said it will be tabled and another version will be introduced at tonight’s meeting.

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Has Trenton turned Christie upside down?

Jim McGreevey is Governor Christie’s Ethical Compass?

Govenor Chris Christie at his Belmar Town Hall on July 31. Photo by Art Gallagher

In the summer of 2004, U.S. Attorney Chris Christie had Governor Jim McGreevey on the ropes.  McGreevey was “State Official #1,” an unindicted co-conspirator in a pay for play scheme that nabbed Democratic fund-raiser David D’Amiano.  A few weeks later McGreevey was resigning, purportedly because he was a “Gay American” who gave his boyfriend an important homeland security job that he wasn’t qualified to perform.

Yesterday, a decade later, Governor Christie is hanging his hat, and his orange sweater, on a McGreevey Executive Order that exempts the Governor from New Jersey’s ethics laws against accepting gifts.

Chris Christie marched into Trenton promising to turn the place upside down. Five years later McGreevey is Christie’s ethical compass.   Not the man McGreevey has become over the last 10 years.  Christie’s ethical compass is the man he investigated and probably could have indicted and convicted.  To paraphrase Christie on the stump for Mitt Romney two years ago, something got turned upside down in Trenton, but it wasn’t the culture of government that Christie promised he would impact and overturn.

About the best thing we can say about Christie accepting gifts of travel on private jets and seats in owner’s boxes at NFL games is at least it was family friendly entertainment with the cameras running, unlike the alleged entertainment U.S. Senator Bob Menendez flew off to on a friend’s private jet.

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Tricky Ethical Questions Jeb Bush Must Answer

The collapse of InnoVida Holdings LLC in 2011 didn’t get much traction in the media. Except in South Florida, where a small group of investors lost more than $40 million on a scheme to market hurricane- and earthquake-resistant homes assembled from prefabricated plastic panels. The company CEO had promised a highly publicized roll-out in Haiti followed… Read the rest of this entry »

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