Vin Gopal: Obama has a good chance of winning Monmouth County

Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal thinks President Barack Obama will do better in Monmouth County than he did four years ago.

Speaking to a Star Ledger reporter in Charlotte during the Democratic National Convention, Gopal said:

“I think President Obama has a great shot to win Monmouth County this year,” said Gopal. “He came very close four years ago. The Republicans are hoping that people have amnesia and don’t remember the eight years under George W. Bush.”

Gopal knows where his votes are:

“We want to get our votes out for the President in Democratic constituencies like Long Branch, Neptune and Asbury Park to help make sure he gets four more years.”

In 2008, Obama lost Monmouth County to John McCain by only 12,000, due to an extraordinarily high Democratic turnout in Long Branch, Neptune and Asbury Park.  Obama’s coattails helped sweep Amy Mallet to victory over John Curley for freeholder, giving the Democratic Party control of the Freeholder Board for the first time in twenty years.

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Some Thanksgiving Football Questions For Mike Golub and Warren Lapp

By Tommy DeSeno

It is oft cited, as it was again today in this column by Asbury Park Press writer Steve Falk, that the oldest shore Thanksgiving Day football rivalry is Toms River South v Lakewood, at 92 straight games.
 
Knowing that Asbury Park played Neptune on Thanksgiving more than 92 years ago, I asked Mr. Falk if his info was correct.  He told me that there was a period of about 20 years somewhere around the 1920s to the 1940s where Asbury Park did not play Neptune on Thanksgiving, so TR v Lakewood is the oldest continuous Thanksgiving rivalry.
 
I was just wondering three things from you Neptune guys:
 
1.  Any idea why Asbury Park didn’t play Neptune for 20 years (I assume it was Neptune’s fault)?
 
2.  Any idea who Asbury beat (naturally) and Neptune lost to (naturally) during those years?
 
3.  Will either of you Neptune Turkeys be there tomorrow when Asbury Park (9-1) carves up Neptune (9-1) by a score of 21 to 6?

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NG4A Launches Initiative to Change Neptune’s Government

Neptune Government For All (NG4A) is a newly formed, non-partisan group of Neptune citizens interested in changing the Township’s current system of government. They have started a petition drive to place a referendum on this November’s ballot which would allow the voters of Neptune to directly elect their Mayor for a four year term. This format would also create a ward system of representation.

“It’s unfortunate that in a town the size of Neptune, voters do not have the right to directly vote on who the Mayor should be,” said Dru Reynolds, of Ocean Grove, one of the organizers of the group. “Quite frankly, it’s un-democratic that only a few people end up picking the Mayor, which is what happens now. It’s even worse that our Mayor serves for only one year when we have so many problems like taxes and crime to deal with in town.”

NG4A has been meeting over the last year, researching the idea of changing the Township Charter, with the assistance of New Jersey Appleseed Public Interest Law Center. The group decided that a Mayor – Council form of government would best serve Neptune.

That format allows the voters to elect the Mayor, who would serve for four years, and develop a continuity of programs and initiatives which is not possible under the current system. A mayor in this style of government would become more accountable to the voters and have a greater impact on providing a more stable economic base for the Township while being able to address such issues as crime and spending.

According to Charlie DeMaria of the Villas section of Neptune, “the idea of changing the style of Neptune’s government has actually been discussed by several small groups over the last 10 years or so, without any action being taken. Now is the time because of the need for bold, long-term visions & leadership for the township.”

Mr. Demaria continued, “Besides the fact that right now the voters don’t actually elect the mayor, halfway through the Mayor’s one-year term the honeymoon is over and the Mayor becomes a lame duck. We believe that a 4-year term provides more productivity and the opportunity for the voters to have more of a say in the direction the Township is heading.”

West Neptune resident Jennifer Eldridge brought up another issue. “In the last four years, we have not been able to get a definitive response from any of our elected officials about preserving – or even recognizing – the historic elements that are located in the western most sections of Neptune Township.” “Maybe,” Eldridge continued, “if voters have the power to elect a Mayor directly, as opposed to the position being filled by political strategy, the residents will finally see an end to this deliberate grid-lock and obstructionism.”  

In addition to changing the Township’s charter in order to provide for a directly elected Mayor, this change of government style would provide for more direct representation of the various neighborhoods across the township. Six council members would be directly elected by the voters of six newly created wards representing various neighborhoods in town. Three other council members would be elected at large by all of the voters in Neptune. This type of representation exemplifies democracy. Each local ward would have a member sitting on the council who would be able to focus on their neighborhood’s issues, instead of citizens only getting 5 minutes at the microphone to address any particular issue.

In order to get this referendum on the ballot this November, volunteers will be fanning out across Neptune over the next few weeks in order to gather the required signatures. Once on the ballot, the NG4A will continue publicizing the benefits of this change of government via the media, direct mail and local educational forums in order to fully inform the residents of Neptune.

“Right now, we are working on getting the question on this November’s ballot,” Reynolds said, “and we need your help to get the job done. This effort represents a great opportunity to move Neptune forward and provide better representation for all of our residents. Your help will make this happen.”

For further information, to sign the petition or to volunteer to help this important effort, please visit www.ng4a.net or call 732-456-2199. You may also send an email to the group via [email protected]

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Kudos To The Neptune Board Of Education

By Art Gallagher

We have been hard on the Neptune Board of Education over their choice to negotiate with the ACLU over the use of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association’s Great Auditorium as the venue for their high school graduation.  We would have preferred that Neptune, or anybody, stand up to the over reaching ACLU and their cowardly client.  We continue to believe that there are winnable legal arguments, right arguments, that the use of the Great Auditorium is not a violation of the first amendment required separation of church and state.

We don’t agree that covering the religious signs and symbols at the venue protects the rights of someone who does not agree with the message.  We don’t believe that if someone feels like an outsider that their rights have been violated.  We don’t believe that an ecumenical prayer to begin or end a ceremony or the singing of a hymn makes a civic ceremony a religious service.

We would love to see the ACLU crushed in court or to scamper away at the sight of a leader who would stand up to their bullying tactics.

However, in this case we believe the Neptune Board of Education and Superintendent David Mooij performed admirably for their community.   As we were reminded this week with the Abbott Ruling, we have an arrogant, activist and dysfunctional judiciary in this state and country.  As strong as their arguments would have been, there is a good chance that the Neptune board could have lost in court and the 70 year tradition of holding their graduation in the Great Auditorium could have been over.   Such a result would have been most unfortunate for the community of Neptune.  It appears that the Neptune board and Mooij were able to avoid that result.   For avoiding that result and preserving the tradition they are to be commended.

We continue to have one major issue with the conduct of the board and administration in Neptune; their policy of protecting the identity of the ACLU’s client.  The grumpy granny’s identity should be an easily searchable matter of public record.  Her name should have appeared in the minutes of the Neptune Board of Education meeting last July when she first publically raised the issue.  Instead, she was identified as “a member of the public.”

The woman who felt like an outsider at her grandchild’s graduation last year and concluded that her rights were violated should have gone to therapy rather than threaten to go to court.  She knows she’s an outsider.  By hiding her identity with the cooperation of the Neptune board and the ACLU she confirmed that she’s a sneaky outsider without the courage of her convictions to withstand public scorn and scrutiny.

By protecting the woman’s identity the board and administration put their 70 year tradition that means a great deal to the community at risk. Fortunately things worked out for the present and future Neptune graduates.  Unfortunately those students also learned a lesson in the power of cowardice and complicity.

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