BPU unanimously rejects JCP&L’s Monster Lines project

RAGE leaders, in Trenton, celebrate the BPU’s decision to nix JCPL’s Monmouth Monster Power Line Project

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities unanimously denied  Jersey Central Power and Light’s ‘Monmouth Reliability Project,’ according to Hazlet Deputy Mayor Sue Kiley who is in Trenton for the BPU meeting.

“This is a great victory for all of the grassroots activists of RAGE (Residents Against Giant Electric), and all of the government officials who fought together through a complex and arduous legal process to produce the right result for Monmouth County residents who live along NJ Transit’s North Jersey Coast Line,” Kiley said. Read the rest of this entry »

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Judge Blocks JCP&L High-Voltage Line, Rebukes Utility on Project Plan

An administrative law judge yesterday rejected a $111 million, 10-mile, high-voltage line by Jersey Central Power & Light in Monmouth County, handing residents a rare victory in what is usually a losing battle: opposing transmission projects. In stinging language, the judge, Gail Cookson, rebuked the utility for failing to demonstrate the project is needed, for not… Read the rest of this entry »

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Jackson Councilmen Cleared Of Ethics Charges Over Appointment

The Local Finance Board, the entity within the Department of Community Affairs which oversees the ethics of local officials, has ruled that two Jackson Township councilmen did not violate State Ethics or Campaign Finance Laws when they voted to appoint their former campaign manger a job on the Jackson Municipal Utilities Authority, according to a report on Shore News Network.

Cara Glory was the 2012 campaign manager for Councilmen Barry Calogero and Robert Nixon.  On January 6, 2014 Calogero, Nixon join the rest of the Jackson governing body in unanimously voting to approve Glory’s appointment to the MUA.  Unidentified Jackson residents filed ethics charges with the Local Fiance Board.

The charges were deemed frivolous by Board Chairmen Thomas Neff, according to the Shore News Network report.

“Following preliminary investigation and evaluation of the facts and circumstances relevant to the complaints and upon consideration of the foregoing provisions of Local Government Ethics Law, the Local Finance Board voted to dismiss the complaints as having no reasonable factual basis.”

The state reiterated their stance, adding, “The relationship between an elected officeholder and a campaign deputy treasurer or campaign manager is simply not one, in and of itself, which poses a conflict.”

The charges against the councilmen were dismissed and Glory’s appointment remained as-is.

The issue is of significance in Monmouth County as Democratic freeholder candidates Larry Luttrell and Joe Grillo attempt to portray themselves and paragons of virtue in the campaign against Freeholder Director Lillian Burry and Deputy Director Gary Rich.

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Judge Lawson: Freeholder Lillian Burry had no conflict of interest regarding Lucas farm vote

Judge Lawrence M. Lawson

Monmouth County Assignment Judge Lawrence M. Lawson has ruled that “no rational fact-finder could find a conflict of interest” in Freeholder Lillian Burry’s March 2013 vote to fund the purchase of the development rights to former Manalapan Mayor Andrew Lucas’s Burke Farm.

In an opinion dated January 8, Lawson said that Burry did not have a conflict of interest, “real or apparent,” “potential” or “actual” in the controversial farmland preservation purchase that has been a political football in Monmouth County and Manalapan since 2010.

In a Summary Judgment, Lawson dismissed the suit with prejudice, brought by Holmdel attorney Lawrence Luttrell, a Democratic freeholder candidate at the time that he, his wife and mother-in-law formed R.A.G.E (Residents Against Government Exploitation), a non-profit corporation, for the sole purpose of bringing suit against Monmouth County over Burry’s vote on the Lucas farm deal.

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