Turnout will determine the LD 30 Assembly race

Bean, Flancbaum and Thomson

If a quorum of the the 30th district GOP County Committee members show up at the convention at the IBEW Local #400 union hall tonight, a new member of the State Assembly will be elected.   122 Committee members must show up for the convention to proceed.

The winner must get 50% +1 of the delegates present to vote for him.

Of the three candidates to replace Dave Rible in the Assembly and on the ballot in November, former Belmar Councilman Jim Bean, Lakewood MUA Executive Director Justin Flancbaum, and former Wall Mayor Ned Thomson, only Bean is confident of victory going into the convention.

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LD 30 Race Narrows As Rich and Addonizio Withdraw

Ralph Addonizio

Monmouth County Freeholder Gary Rich and Wall Township Board of Education member Ralph Addonizio will not be on the ballot on Monday night when the GOP County Committee select a candidate to fill Dave Rible’s seat in the General Assembly.

In an email to Wall Township County Committee members, Addionizo wrote, “I just wanted everyone to know that I had a meeting with Shaun Golden this afternoon at my request.   It was a very positive meeting. I informed him that I would be withdrawing my name for consideration for the Assembly seat. Read the rest of this entry »

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Ethics Complaint Filed Against Doherty Over Helicopter Landing

Belmar Mayor “Lawless Matt” Doherty commemorates the anniversary of Hurricane Sandy. photo by Tim Larsen/Governor’s Office

Former Belmar Councilman Jim Bean filed an Ethics Complaint with the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs’ Local Finance Board against Mayor “Lawless Matt” Doherty  on Friday, August 19, alleging that Doherty did not have the authorization of the Borough Council to grant a campaign donor permission to land a helicopter in the Borough or on Borough property.  Additionally, Bean alleges that Doherty did not provide public notice nor notify Monmouth County officials of the temporary landing permit, as is required by the Department of Transportation when applying for said permit.

On July 7, a $2500 donor to Doherty’s campaign for Monmouth County Freeholder landed a helicopter at Silver Lake, a park in the Borough.

A copy of the Ethics Complaint can be found here.

Bean said that Dirty Doherty used “public resources to allow a campaign donor special privilege to land a helicopter in Belmar’s small but very populated Green Acres Silver Lake Park.”

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BELMAR COUNCIL COVERS FOR MAYOR’S ACTIONS

Dirty Doherty

By JIM BEAN

With regard to the “a proposal, a helicopter and a conspiracy theory” story, the public needs to understand that Mayor Doherty used his official capacity to grant a favor to a friend “of many years.” This favor was paid for by us, the taxpayer. It involved using multiple employees’ time, police resources, a green acres park, and the risk of liability in which the town shouldered the insurance. This risk is why the NJDOT believes landing a helicopter somewhere other than at an approved heliport is considered a sufficiently dangerous operation that requires special approval.

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Dueling Mayors in Belmar

Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty and Former Mayor Ken Pringle

Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty said, “Ken Pringle is like a jaded ex-girlfriend who won’t go away.”

Ken Pringle, who was mayor of the oceanfront borough for 20 years before Doherty took over in 2011, isn’t sure how many times he’s sued Doherty and the borough since he left office. “Four or five, I’m not sure.”

Both Doherty and Pringle, who served together for four years, are Democrats.  Doherty was a councilman during Pringle’s last term as mayor.

At issue is the beachfront and money.

Pringle contends that Doherty and the Council are using the Beach Utility Fund to subsidize borough operations and to keep property taxes artificially low, in violation of the Public Trust Doctrine.  Doherty says that while Pringle was mayor Belmar’s property taxpayers subsidized the beach and that Pringle raised taxes 14 years in a row.   Doherty has not increased Belmar’s taxes since becoming mayor, keeping the borough’s spending flat at 2010 levels.

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Prosecutor: Belmar Did Not Account For Sandy Relief Gift Cards

$2,550 in gift cards remain unredeemed

Doherty: We were in the middle in the worst natural disaster in the history of New Jersey. Taking care of people trumps accounting principles

Mayor says he will ask ShopRite to replace lost cards

Belmar Borough Administrtor Colleen Connelly posing with cash donations. Photo provided by Councilman Jim Bean

The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office has found that the Borough of Belmar distributed ShopRite gift cards purchased with cash donations in the wake of Super Storm Sandy without following generally accepted accounting principles.

In a letter to Councilman Jim Bean dated July 11, Special Deputy Attorney General/Acting Assistant Prosecutor John Loughrey said,  “There is, however, every indication that the cards were not properly inventoried,  adequately managed or or appropriately secured at any point after they were taken into custody of the Borough of Belmar.”  Loughrey’s letter to Bean can be found here.

Loughrey said there is no evidence that any one person or groups misappropriated the Shoprite gift cards.

The Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation on January 31, 2014 after Bean discovered a $9,050 discrepancy in reports of how the cards were distributed. In answering OPRA (Open Public Record Act) requests from Bean,  Belmar Elementary School business administrator Loretta Hill reported that the school received $7,950 in gift cards while Borough Clerk April Claudio said that $17,000 in gift cards were given to the school.

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Belmar scraps redevelopment plans, intends to start over

Belmar scraps redevelopment plans, intends to start over (via NJ.com)

BELMAR – It’s back to the drawing board for the borough’s redevelopment plans. Following up on a campaign promise made by Mayor Matt Doherty, Belmar is scrapping its old redevelopment plan and is convening a committee to draft a new one. “The…

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Belmar Councilman Jim Bean Lodges Ethics Complaint Against Mayor Matt Doherty Over AshBritt Contracts

Bean cites Local Finance Board’s Decision Against Marlboro Councilwoman Randi Marder To Support His Complaint

Doherty Dismisses Complaint As Politics

Belmar Councilman Jim Bean. Photo credit: Belmar.com

Belmar Councilman Jim Bean, a Republican, has written to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs’ Local Finance Board requesting an investigation into a “potential violation” of New Jersey’s Local Government Ethics Law by Mayor Matt Doherty, a Democrat.

Doherty’s wife, Maggie Moran, a former Deputy Chief of Staff for Governor Jon Corzine, worked as a consultant for AshBritt, the Florida company that performed debris removal throughout much of New Jersey after the Superstorm Sandy.  Belmar paid $2.67 million to AshBrit and its affiliates, according to Bean’s complaint which can be found here.

Doherty said that Bean is “Belmar’s Bayshore Tea Party….a cancer on the Republican Party.”

“This is the second, politically motivated, baseless complaint Bean has filed against me in the past 8 months, ” Doherty said, “If he didn’t waste his time on this nonsense maybe he could actually do something useful for the people of Belmar.”

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Belmar Councilman Takes Issue With Doherty’s Veracity On AshBrit Contract

Doherty says he maintained the highest ethical standards.  Charges Councilman Jim Bean with his own conflict

UPDATED

Belmar Councilman Jim Bean, a Republican, says that Mayor Matt Doherty, a Democrat, “kind of lied” when he told MMM that he recused himself from voting on the borough’s contract with AshBrit, the Florida company that was hired by the Christie administration for Superstorm Sandy cleanup.

We asked Doherty if he had recused himself from voting on the borough’s business with AshBrit because we had documentation that his wife, Maggie Moran, was acting as a sales agent for the company in its efforts to secure lucrative business in cleaning up municipalities impacted by Sandy.  He said he did.  But that was not the whole story, according to Bean, who said that the borough council’s vote to authorize payments to AshBrit occurred two weeks after Doherty signed the contract.

Bean sent along an email exchange between him and Doherty to back up his complaint:

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WRIGHT, BEAN & DEMPSEY FIND GROSS OVERSPENDING IN BELMAR’S BUDGET

Detailed study shows Belmar spending $2.1 MILLION MORE for same services

September 14, 2010, BELMAR, NJ – Richard Wright, Jim Bean and Greg Dempsey, candidates for Mayor and Council here, have released a detailed study of Belmar’s municipal budget and resulting property taxes entitled, The Tax Escalation on Belmar Residents.  The six-page report contains an in-depth comparison of the 2010 Belmar and Manasquan municipal budgets, and shows compelling data on Belmar’s municipal overspending and lack of fiscal management which has resulted in tax increases for the last seven years.

“By far, the biggest concern of Belmar residents is high property taxes,” says mayoral candidate Richard Wright.  “We literally hear people say, ‘I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to continue to live here because the taxes are so high,” he says.

 “They always follow with, ‘I love Belmar, but I just can’t afford it when the taxes go up every year’,” he adds.

 The study, available online at the team’s campaign website www.BetterBelmar.com, compares the municipal budgets of Belmar and Manasquan, two municipalities similar in demographics and geographics.  Yet, the study reveals that by the end of fiscal 2010, Belmar will outspend neighboring Manasquan by $2.1 MILLION, even though Belmar is smaller, has fewer residents and brings in more revenue from non-tax sources.

 “The lack of fiscal planning in Belmar is stunning,” says Jim Bean, a candidate for Belmar Borough Council. “With a young family like mine, I need to keep as much of my hard earned money as possible—NOT give it to the government.”

 Running mate Greg Dempsey agrees.  “People just can’t take any more. We have neighbors who have lost their jobs or are working two jobs just to keep up. They are spreading less income further to pay their bills, and rising taxes aren’t helping.”

 Wright adds that the Republican teammates are the only candidates who possess the private-sector, real-world experience managing budgets, meeting payroll, and reducing operating expenses.

“When the rubber hits the road, we’re qualified. We have the practical experience to fix the financial problems facing Belmar,” he adds.

Wright is a retired financial executive who spent his career building growing companies and managing companies through contractions; Bean is an information technology director and efficiency expert who coordinates the needs of several companies at multiple locations; and Dempsey is a veteran account manager who negotiates international contracts and has supervised hundreds of employees. The team is highly qualified and sincerely passionate in their desire to make their hometown more affordable and taxpayer friendly.

Other results of the study include: 

• Over the past decade, Belmar’s population has declined yet taxes have gone up.
• Belmar collects more non-tax revenues, yet Belmar’s taxes are OVER THREE QUARTERS OF A MILLION DOLLARS HIGHER than Manasquan’s.
• Belmar spends $2.1 MILLION MORE on its municipal services than this town of comparable size and population.
• Belmar’s insurance costs are $1 MILLION higher than Manasquan’s.
• Belmar’s worker compensation insurance is TRIPLE what Manasquan pays.
• Belmar’s general liability insurance is TWO AND A HALF TIMES Manasquan’s.
• Belmar’s medical insurance is approximately $168,000 higher. 
• Belmar pays over $600,000 in supplemental retiree medical benefits that other towns, like Manasquan, do not cover.
• Belmar’s utility costs exceed Manasquan’s by nearly A QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS.
• Belmar’s pension expense and Social Security Taxes are nearly A QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS higher.

 Wright says that Belmar’s problems are the results of many years of what he calls “small bad financial decisions,” which add up to “a very big fiscal problem.”

 “Belmar’s are the types of problems faced by many businesses I have worked with over my career.  Correcting the overspending and lax management involves sitting down with all the interested parties, understanding what is really happening and deciding the best way to achieve efficiency without diminishing critical services,” he says. “We can fix this if the voters give us the opportunity.”

 For a complete copy of the study The Tax Escalation on Belmar Residents, log on to www.BetterBelmar.com.

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