Curley Accused of Official Misconduct, Corruption

By Art Gallagher

Freeholder John P. Curley

The FBI and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office have conducted at least five interviews into the conduct of Freeholder John P. Curley and former Monmouth County Counsel Timothy B. Middleton, Esq., according to former Assemblyman Michael Panter, in his capacity as in-house legal counsel of Realty Data Systems, LLC (RDS), a company that performs property inspections for many municipalities participating in the New Jersey Assessment Demonstration Program (ADP).

Panter disclosed the law enforcement investigation into Curley and Middleton in a detailed nine page letter to Monmouth County Freeholder Director Tom Arnone, Monmouth County Counsel Michael Fitzgerald, and County Administrator Teri O’Connell, with copies to the Prosecutor’s Office and the FBI, wherein the former legislator alleges that Middleton was the author of the anonymous letter which alleged corruption in the ADP, that Curley referred, with great fanfare and press coverage, to the Prosecutor in September of 2015, during the height of his last reelection campaign. Read the rest of this entry »

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Former Dem Assemblyman takes Gopal to task for false and misleading campaign mail

By Michael J. Panter

Like Kevin Asadi and other residents, I recently received the letter from Senate candidate Vin Gopal which denounces the Assessment Demonstration Program (the “ADP”), implemented in 2013, as the source of high property taxes.

Since I have run in four state elections in Monmouth County, I have been in Mr. Gopal’s shoes.  Political operatives refer to the weeks before an election as the “silly season”, since candidates will say almost anything about their opponents to generate a headline.

However, there is a line which should never be crossed – candidates should not issue false or misleading information, since it not only subjects them to legal liability, but most importantly, it does a disservice to taxpayers. Read the rest of this entry »

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