Year in review: February 2015

Fire fighter Pat Breen and Freeholder Lillian Burry inspect the devastation in Ocean Grove. Feb 7, 2015. Photo by Bob Burlew

Fort Monmouth was designated as an Ebola quarantine site.

Mater Dei Prep was slated to close.  The community raised $1 million to save the school.

While in New Hampshire, Governor Chris Christie criticized Governor Maggie Hassan for appearing to be more focused on running for her next job than on governing the state she was elected to lead.

Christine Giordano Hanlon was nominated to replace M.Claire French as Monmouth County Clerk.

Locals remembered Brian Williams’ early exaggerations.

A fire destroyed four businesses and seven apartments in Ocean Grove.

In reaction to 50 Shades of Grey, Tommy DeSeno wrote that sex is the same for everyone, like eating, and that we shouldn’t talk about it so much.

Belmar’s Home By Summer campaign raised $50K in two weeks to assist the last two borough residents who were displaced by Hurricane Sandy get back into their homes.

The year in review: 2015

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Hanlon: Vendor’s error caused incorrect reporting of Unofficial Election Results

Monmouth County Clerk Christine Giordano Hanlon

Monmouth County Clerk Christine Giordano Hanlon said that she discovered an error in the reporting of Tuesday’s election results website at early this morning.  The problem was corrected by 10:15 a.m. and the correct Unofficial Results have been uploaded to the site.

As a result of the correction, the bonding referendum in Belmar has unofficially passed by 17 votes, Red Bank Republican Council candidate Michael Whelan now leads incumbent Democrat Michael Dupont by 4 votes instead of the previously reported 31 and Republican Councilman Richard Pryor is now trailing Democrat Michael Skudera by one vote in the Neptune City Council race.

“Dominion Voting Systems, the County’s election software vendor, was on site to oversee the tally of the 2015 General Election results. Dominion appears to have deleted the Vote By Mail results from the tally at the end of the night for some unknown reason,” Hanlon said.

“We have spent several hours investigating the problem and have determined that the Dominion representative made an error in deleting the Vote By Mail numbers. We have corrected the problem and have posted the updated unofficial results to the MonmouthCountyVotes.com website.

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Asbury Park Press Endorses Hanlon For County Clerk

Monmouth County Clerk Christine Giordano Hanlon

The Asbury Park Press endorsed Monmouth County Clerk Christine Giordano Hanlon for her own five year term.

Hanlon became Acting Clerk on April 1st upon M.Claire French’s retirement and Clerk on May 18 when the New Jersey State Senate unanimously confirmed her nomination. Except for incorrectly referring to Hanlon as still Acting Clerk, APP nailed the endorsement.

Our endorsement goes to Hanlon, 47, of Ocean Township, who during her short tenure has made the office’s services more convenient to the community through satellite offices and a mobile facility. She also has improved the clerk’s website and more widely disseminated information about the clerk’s role. She deserves a full term.

APP correctly noted that Hanlon’s education and distinguished legal career makes her more suited for the position than the background of her opponent, Freehold Councilman Kevin Kane.  Kane is the operations manager of his father’s janitorial service.

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Hanlon Launches Election Education Website

Monmouth County Clerk Christine Giordano Hanlon

FREEHOLD, NJ – On Monday, Monmouth County Clerk Christine Giordano Hanlon launched a new voter education website to assist voters in Monmouth County with elections information.

The website, www.MonmouthCountyVotes.com, was designed in collaboration with the Monmouth County Board of Elections and the Monmouth County Superintendent of Elections to provide voters and residents of Monmouth County with an easy to use website dedicated to elections and voting assistance.

“We are very excited to provide this website to Monmouth County voters to assist them with all of their election needs and questions,” said Hanlon.  “All of the County’s election information is now available in a single location. This is really about helping voters, potential voters and candidates access the most up-to-date and important information with the click of a mouse.”

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Hanlon: Don’t pay scammers for deed copies

Monmouth County Clerk Christine Giordano Hanlon

Private companies are mail soliciting Monmouth County homeowners to pay between $79 and $89 for certified copies of the deeds to their homes, according to a statement by County Clerk Christine Giordano Hanlon. Those same copies can be had from Hanlon’s office for $10.00.

“It is unfortunate that companies would prey upon citizens who are sometimes already struggling financially, especially our senior citizens in Monmouth County who are living on fixed incomes,” Hanlon said, “for a very minimal fee, residential and commercial property owners can request and receive a copy of their deed, and other property documents, directly from the Monmouth County Clerk’s Office.”

Hanlon cautions property owners to be on the lookout for these solicitations because they appear as if they are coming from a government agency, but they are not.

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NJ Senate Confirms Hanlon As Monmouth County Clerk

Clerks: Christine Giordano Hanlon and her predecessor M. Claire French.  MMM file photo

Christine Giordano Hanlon was confirmed as Monmouth County Clerk today by a unanimous vote of the New Jersey State Senate.

Hanlon was nominated by Governor Chris Christie in February to fill the anticipated vacancy created by  former Clerk M. Claire French’s retirement announcement.  She has been serving as Acting Clerk since French left office at the end of business on March 31.

“I am honored to have been confirmed today, and can now be sworn in as the Clerk of Monmouth County,” said Hanlon.  “It is my privilege to serve the citizens of Monmouth County in this capacity and I look forward to continuing the great work of my predecessor, M. Claire French.”

Hanlon’s nomination was supported by Monmouth Senators Joe Kyrillos, Jennifer Beck and Robert Singer, as well as Republican County Chairman Shaun Golden and outgoing Clerk M. Claire French.  “Christine has our full support and we are confident she will do an exemplary job as Clerk,” said Senator Kyrillos.  “Her background as an attorney for over 20 years and as a Commissioner on the Monmouth Board of Elections makes her exceedingly qualified for this position and we know she will do a great job.”

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Hanlon Sworn In As Acting Monmouth County Clerk

Monmouth County Clerk M.Claire French, Robert Hanlon, Acting Monmouth County Clerk Christine Giordano Hanlon and Judge Joseph W. Oxley

Monmouth County Clerk M. Claire French started her last day in office by holding the bible as her successor, Christine Giordano Hanlon, was sworn-in this morning by Superior Court Judge Joseph W. Oxley.

Hanlon is Governor Chris Christie’s nominee to replace French who announced her retirement effective today in early January.  Hanlon will serve as Acting Clerk until she is confirmed by the NJ State Senate, or until she is elected to her own 5 year term. She is the Republican nominee for the position in this November’s election.

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Christie nominates Hanlon as Monmouth County Clerk

Christine Giordano Hanlon and Monmouth County Clerk M. Claire French at the Assembly Republicans event in Atlantic City, February 2, 2015. photo by Art Gallagher

Governor Chris Christie has nominated Christine Giordano Hanlon, Esq., to replace M. Claire French as Monmouth County Clerk.

French, who has served as Clerk since 1997 and been elected four times, announced her retirement effective in March last month. Her term was scheduled to expire at the end of 2017.

Hanlon, of Ocean Township, is an attorney at Archer & Greiner’s Middletown, NJ office.  She serves as Deputy Borough Attorney in Tinton Falls, Prosecutor in Atlantic Highlands and as a Commissioner of the Monmouth County Board of Elections.  A member of Christie’s transition team in 2009, Hanlon is also Vice Chair of the Monmouth County Republican Organization.

Hanlon’s nomination is subject to confirmation by the State Senate.  It is expected that Hanlon will be nominated to run for a full five year term by the Monmouth GOP and stand for election in November.

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French Steps In To Prevent Voter Fraud In Asbury Park Elections

After noticing a unusual spike in the request for messenger ballots in the upcoming municipal election in Asbury Park, Monmouth County Clerk M. Claire French instituted a requirement that all messengers sign an affidavit certifying that they have met with voters they are assisting;  they are related to the voters or are themselves registered voters in Monmouth County; they will not act as messenger for more than 10 voters; they will deliver the ballots directly to the voters and not to any other individuals; and they are not candidates in the election.

Messengers also certify that they are aware that violating the Voting by Mail statute, which governs messenger ballots, is a crime in the third degree, according to a story first reported by Asbury Park Sun.

Since French started requiring the affidavits on April 17, only 5 of 42 messengers have submitted the paperwork and “almost no new messengers” have requested ballots.

The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office will investigate messengers who do not return the required affidavits.

Asbury Park elects their entire governing body every four years in non-partisan elections. There are 22 candidates competing for 5 seats on the council in the election scheduled to take place on May 14.

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APP endorses Claire French for Clerk

Could they possibly endorse Curley and DiMaso for Freeholders too?

The Asbury Park Press has recognised the fine job Republican County Clerk M. Claire French has done over the last ten years and endorsed her for a third five year term.

The Neptune Nudniks got this one right.  They dismissed Democratic candidate Michael Steinhorn as someone who “has little to recommend him for the job,” despite the fact that he exposed the statistical anomaly of the Monmouth GOP winning the first general election ballot position in 30 of 33 years and that they like his proposal to that the clerk’s office provide mobile services to seniors and veterans.

Given their logic in endorsing French, it will be fascinating to see how they endorse at least one of the Democratic Freeholder candidates, as I expect they will.

The Democratic Freeholder campaign has been so anemic that I suspect many readers don’t even know who is running.  Despite the Monmouth Dems outraising the Monmouth GOP through September, there is little evidence that Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal and his team are trying to get their nominal slate elected.   Publicly Democratic leaders say the right things about supporting their candidates. Privately they seem resigned to a Republican blow out.

The Democratic candidates are William Shea and Kevin Lavan.  Shea, as Amy Mallet’s running mate, lost to Freeholders Lillian Burry and Gary Rich last year. He is challenging Freeholder Director John Curley for a full three year term.  Lavan, who lost his run for Assembly to Declan O’Scanlon and Amy Handlin in the 13th district last year, is running against Freeholder Serena DiMaso for the remaining one year of Rob Clifton’s term.  Clifton resigned upon being sworn into the State Assembly.

Shea and Lavan were not even on the same page when the Nudniks interviewed all four candidates in September.  Shea recklessly proposed a 20% across the board spending cut from the county budget without backing up how he would do it.   Lavan said “maybe” depending upon the results of an audit.

Yet, the Nudniks loath single party control of any governing body (except the federal government when it is in Democratic hands) and has a historical bias against “Club Monmouth” as they frequently call the Monmouth GOP.  They seem to forget that all of the Monmouth Republican county office holders and all of Monmouth GOP leadership has been replaced since Operation Bid Rig, except Claire French who they just endorsed.  The GOP holds all five seats on the Freeholder Board.

Will the APP editorial board affirm the nudnikness and endorse Shea or Lavan?  We’ll find out soon.  Either way, it won’t matter on election day.   It might matter to their own crediblity if the actually endorse the best people for the job and get over their own biases.

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