Pulling the curtain on Lawless Matt Doherty’s Trickery

First in a series

By Art Gallagher

Belmar Mayor “Lawless Matt” Doherty’s first order of business after winning the Democrat primary for Monmouth County freeholder was to promote his record of not raising taxes in the borough.  He’s attempting to put his fiscal credentials up against Republican Freeholder Director Tom Arnone and Deputy Freeholder Director Serena DiMaso who, along with their colleagues on the Board, cut county taxes $4.5 million this year and have kept spending flat since 2008.

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The Arnone Report: Asbury Park-Brookdale Promise…and more good things happening!

By Freeholder Director Tom Arnone

Monmouth County Freeholder Director Tom Arnone

Summer is finally upon on – the weather is cooperating and the first official day of summer is just around the corner.

So proud to have been  at Asbury Park High School last week for the announcement of the partnership between the Asbury Park School District and Brookdale Community College for the Asbury Park-Brookdale Promise. This program targets all Asbury Park High School students and is designed to give them access to college readiness programs and scholarship opportunities in an effort to increase the number of students attending college. This will be achieved by granting scholarships to attend Brookdale to any of our students who have been enrolled at Asbury Park High School for all four years. This is a great accomplishment for the Asbury Park school district as this will enable more students to come closer to realizing their dreams of attending college.

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Monmouth Republicans Boast Bi-Partisan Support At Summer/Campaign Kickoff

Lake Como, NJ-Over 400 Monmouth County residents, Republicans, Democrats and Independents, packed into Bar Anticipation after the storm on Wednesday evening to kick off summer and to support the Republican slate of Monmouth County office holders who are seeking reelection in November.

The Republican team of Sheriff Shaun Golden, Surrogate Rosemarie Peters, Freeholder Director Tom Arnone and Deputy Freeholder Director Serena DiMaso held their 7^th Annual Summer/Campaign Kickoff in the popular outdoor venue that features its own sand and cabanas a mile from the beach.  Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno was on hand to support her home county officials. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Arnone Report: Memorial Day Weekend Was a Great Summer Kickoff

By Freeholder Director Tom Arnone

Freeholders Tom Arnone and Serena DiMaso with County Clerk Christine Giordano Hanlon and Sheriff Shaun Golden at the Farmingdale Memorial Day Parade

What an incredible Memorial Day weekend! It was the perfect setting to remember and honor those that have served our country, and those that continue to protect us today.  We recognize those individuals who sacrificed to provide us with the freedoms we enjoy every day – we are the land of the free, because of the brave.

I would have loved to have attended all of the parades throughout the county, but unfortunately I could not do so as several of them are at the same time, so I attended as many as I could.  I had the honor of walking in the Bradley Beach and Union Beach parades on Saturday, as well as the Matawan parade on Sunday. Monday was a very busy day, as I attended the memorial ceremonies for the Freehold, Oceanport, and Ocean Township; and then walked in the jammed packed Farmingdale parade. The attendance and welcome received this weekend at all the events was overwhelming.

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Opinion: Democrat primary voters should nominate Ashford and Fulton for Freeholder

By Art Gallagher

The Republican presidential nomination has been decided.  On the Democrat side, Bernie Sanders and the FBI are still nipping at Hillary Clinton’s heels.  A a national level, like most presidential years, the New Jersey primary will make little difference. However, this year Democrat voters have an important choice to make locally.

In addition to their presidential choice, voters in the Democrat primary next Tuesday, June 7, will choose two nominees for Monmouth County Freeholder.

Running on Hillary Clinton’s ticket with the support of Monmouth County Chairman Vin Gopal are Belmar Mayor “Lawless Matt” Doherty and Brenda Sue Fulton of Asbury Park.

Running on Bernie Sanders’ ticket are Laury Wills of Little Silver and Angelica Ashford of Manalapan.

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May 17 is the voter registration deadline to vote in the June 7 primary

New voters can still register to vote in the June 7 primary. The deadline is Tuesday, May 17.

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are still battling for the Democratic Presidential nomination and locally, the Democrats have an election to choose who their County Freeholder candidates will be on the November general election ballot.  Running for Freeholder under Clinton’s line are Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty and Brenda Sue Fulton of Middletown.  Running with Bernie Sander are Angelica Ashford of Manalapan and Laury Wills of Little Silver.

The Republican presidential primary has been settled, with Donald Trump the presumptive nominee.  Ted Cruz and John Kasich remain on the New Jersey ballot.   The Republican Freeholder candidates, Freeholder Director Tom Arnone and Deputy Freeholder Serena DiMaso are running unopposed for their nominations.

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The Arnone Report: Tree Planting, Pledge of Allegiance and Summer is Coming!

By Freeholder Director Tom Arnone

Monmouth County Freeholder Director Tom Arnone

This week we are finally experiencing some warmer temperatures and the sun has returned to us! Let’s hope the weather continues to improve as we head towards our “unofficial” start to summer, Memorial Day Weekend.

We’ve been pretty busy at the County the past several weeks. I am extremely pleased to say that despite all the rain we have had, the paving portion of the Ocean Avenue project is finished, with striping and some handicap accessible ramps yet to be completed. We are well paced to finish this project before the start of the Memorial Day weekend. Great job by our Public Works and Engineering staff in overseeing the logistics of the project, as well as the contractor, Stavola Contracting Company based in Tinton Falls.

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The Arnone Report: Made in Monmouth Success! Ocean Ave Resurfacing

By Freeholder Director Tom Arnone

You would not believe some of the items that are made right here in Monmouth County.  From coffee to wine, from dry aged beef snacks to handcrafted wooden pens, from homemade natural soaps to cosmetics…and much more! A record number of vendors and visitors participated in Monmouth County’s fifth ‘Made in Monmouth’ (MIM) expo on Saturday, April 9 in the MAC at Monmouth University. Approximately 240 county-based companies displayed their goods or services with more than 5,000 people sampling and purchasing.

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Monmouth Freeholders Cut Taxes and Spending

DEMOCRATS TRY TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT

Freeholder Director Tom Arnone and Deputy Director Serena DiMaso at the Asbury Park St. Pat’s Parade

The all Republican Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders approved a budget which included a $18.2 million spending cut and a $4.5 million property tax cut last Thursday.

“This budget reduces the tax impact on residents and businesses and returns the amount to be raised by taxation to the 2010 level,” said Freeholder Director Thomas A. Arnone. “In January, I called for a roll back of last year’s 1.4 percent tax increase and we have achieved that.”

“Cost cutting and belt tightening over the past six years and the sale of the two County care centers have made it possible for this Freeholder Board to present a budget that resets our spending to below the 2007 amount,” Freeholder Deputy Director Serena DiMaso said.

Monmouth County’s government now spends $5.5 million less on salaries than it did in 2008 and has 1000 fewer employees than it did seven years ago when the Republican Party won control of the Freeholder Board back from the Democrats.

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Pryor Wins Neptune City Special Election, Monmouth GOP prevails over bus loads of Democratic canvassers

Neptune City Councilman Richard Pryor, center, celebrates his reelection with Neptune City and Monmouth GOP leaders. Click photo for larger view

The streets of Neptune City were reminiscent of Newark, Jersey City or Chicago on election day Tuesday as out of town canvassers worked the town to get Democrats to come out and vote in a Special Election for a Council seat that was vacated as a result of a tie vote last November.

The State Democratic Party emailed Democrat activists statewide, imploring them to knock on doors and make phone calls in Neptune City, “because it is the home of Monmouth County Freeholder Director and Republican Leader Tom Arnone, who previously served as mayor.” U.S. Senator Cory Booker made a robocall for the Democrat candidate. An estimated 30 out of towners were bused in on Tuesday to to find Democratic votes to drag to the polls.

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