Bellew’s Campaign Manager Arraigned, Released Without Bail

Dwayne Horner. photo via facebook

Dwayne Horner of Little Elm Texas was arraigned in Monmouth County Superior Court on Identity Theft Charges stemming from a 4am robo call purported to be made on behalf of State Senator Joe Kyrillos, Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon and Assemblywoman Amy Handlin in the early morning of the primary election in the 13th legislative district on June 4, 2013.

Horner was the campaign manager for Leigh-Anne Bellew, Kyrillos’s challenger in the Republican primary.

Horner, 45, was indicted on the fourth degree charge on August 11.  He plead Not Guilty before Superior Court Judge Ronald Lee Reisner.  Horner was released on his own recognizance.

A recording of the call can be heard here.  Horner’s voice can be heard on the voice mail greeting of the Bellew campaign here.

The indictment charges that Horner impersonated another person or organization for the purpose of obtaining a benefit for himself or another or for the purpose of injuring or defrauding another.

If convicted, Horner faces 18 months in prison and a $10,000 fine.  He is represented by Robert Bonney of Lomurro-Davidson.

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Bayshore Tea Party Group Boasts of 1000 Members, Staunch Backers of Anna Little

Bayshore Tea Party Group member Frank Gonzalez, husband of the group’s co-founder, Barbara, installs homemade lawn signs on Rt 35 in Middletown during the 2013 Monmouth County Republican primary campaign

Bayshore Tea Party Group co-founder Barbara Gonzalez told HuffPost that her group has nearly 1000 members and that they are staunch supporters of former Highlands Mayor Anna Little’s quest to unseat Congressman Frank Pallone, in an article posted last evening.

“If you don’t get someone in who is totally willing to fight the establishment, it will never change,” Gonzalez told HuffPost.

Little lost to Pallone in 2010 and 2012 with BTPG’s support, but Gonzalez thinks it will be different this year.

Gonzalez said her membership roll has grown by “a couple of dozen new members” since earlier this month when the Bridgegate controversy broke.

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Prosecutor: Subpoenas to be issued over fraudulent 4am robocall

It’s been two months since 13th district Republicans were awakened by a fraudulent 4am robocall urging them to get out to vote for Senator Joe Kyrillos, Assemblywoman Amy Handlin and Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon in the Republican primary, but the perpetrators are not off the hook.

Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni told MMM that the incident remains under active investigation and that subpoenas will be issued. “Stay tuned,” Gramiccioni said.

Kyrillos, who was awakened by the call, which he publicly blamed on the campaign of his opponent in the June 4th primary, Leigh-Ann Bellew, said he has been interviewed by investigators from the Prosecutor’s Office.

The voice on the 4 am call, which can be heard here, sounds very much like the voice on the recorded message on the Bellew campaign’s voice mail. Listen to the Bellew for Senate voice mail greeting here.

The New Jersey Democratic Party was fined $42,000 for making fraudulent robocalls in the 2009 gubernatorial election.  Among Republicans, Kevin Collins plead guilty, paid a $1000 fine and received a year on probation for violating the Fair Campaign Practices Act with a fraudulent robo call in a 2009 legislative primary. More serious charges against Collins were dropped in plea negotiations.

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O’Scanlon Bill Increases Penalties For Phoney Robocalls

Wake voters up with a 4am robocall purporting to be your political opponents and you could go to jail for 3-5 years if legislation proposed by Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon becomes law.

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon

O’Scanlon and his colleague, Assemblyman Scott Rumana of Wayne, have proposed amending the “Fair Campaign Practices Act,” to provide that no person can direct, order or assist another person to produce, transmit or disseminate any communication that purports to originate from the campaign of a candidate for public office but is actually for the purpose of impeding the campaign of that candidate.  Such activity would become a third degree crime which calls for a 3 to 5 year prison term and a fine of up to $15,000.

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Bayshore Tea Party Group Denies Involvement in 4am Robocall. Considers Call A “Reprehensable Act”

Steven Lonegan and Bayshore Tea Party Group Founders Barbara Gonzalez and Bob Gordan, 2010. facebook photo.

Bob Gordon, co-founder of the Bayshore Tea Party Group said that the organization had nothing to do with the 4am robocall that woke up LD 13 voters on June 4th and that the group considers the action “reprehensible.”

Gordon said that MMM should know better than to suggest that BTPG was involved in the robocall.  He said we should have reached to the group.  MMM contacted fellow co-founder of the group, Barbara Gonzalez on June 4th and got no response. Gordan said Gonzalez does not respond to our inquiries because the group does not consider this website credible.

Gordon said that he asked both Leigh-Ann Bellew and her campaign manager Dwayne Horner if they had anything to do with the call. Both Bellew and Horner denied involvement. He said he would ask them again today, following MMM’s report that the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the call.

Gordon said he would cooperate with the Prosecutor’s investigation and that he placed a call to them this morning, prior to calling MMM.

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Monmouth County Prosecutor Actively Investigating 4am Robocall

Despite waking up thousands of Monmouth County voters at 4am on primary day, the Bayshore Tea Party Group and the Bellew Brigade have apparently not lost any sleep over their crushing defeat last week.  The architects of the 20%-80% defeat in the Monmouth County and LD 13 GOP primaries have endorsed Dr. Alieta Eck in the Special U.S. Senate Primay and are angling to run that campaign.

Congratulations Steve Lonegan!

Neither BTPG nor Leigh-Ann Bellew’s campaign have admitted to commissioning the 4am robocall on June 4 that announced it was being made on behalf of Senator Joe Kyrillos , Assembly Members Amy Handlin and Declan O’Scanlon and faked the caller ID to a number belonging to the Monmouth County Republican Organization.  They are exercising their right to remain silent to the extent that they have yet to congratulate their opponents.

MMM first reported the call (click here to listen) and that it appears to have been recorded by the same person who recorded Bellew’s voice mail greeting. (Click here to listen to Bellew’s voice mail greeting.)

Kyrillos and O’Scanlon publicly accused the Bellew campaign of making the call. Monmouth County GOP Chairman John Bennett lodged a complaint with the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office. Bennett said yesterday that he will not let up on pursuing prosecution of the dirty trick.

Bayshore Tea Party Group co-founder Barbara Gonzalez complained about this website on facebook, saying she was going to report its owner to the FBI because he finds out, and acts on, what she is writing about on the social media site without the help of the NSA or the Obama Administration.

Charles Webster, spokesperson for the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, confirmed that there is an active investigation into the 4am robocall.

Webster was not at liberty to discuss the investigation, so MMM’s investigative team got to work to find more evidence of the call’s origin.

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Kyrillos was awakened by dirty trick robo call. Blames call on Bellew campaign

Sen. Joe Kyrillos and Mayor Fred Rast greeting voters in Atlantic Highlands. photo by Art Gallagher

In a get out the vote email to his supporters this afternoon, State Senator Joe Kyrillos said that he and his wife were awakened at 4am this morning by the dirty trick robo call, and that his primary opponents are responsible for the call.

I also want to address the 4 a.m. robo-call many are talking about. Susan and I were awoken by it as well, and I can assure you it’s not how we wanted to start our day either. The fact is it was a dirty trick by our opponents who wanted to make it look like it came from our campaign. The matter is being covered by several news outlets and the incident is being investigated by the prosecutor’s office. It is a shame politics has come to this.

No one from the Bellew for State Senate campaign or the Bayshore Tea Party Group have responded to multiple requests for comment on the robo call.

They have the right to remain silent.

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The Dirty Trick Call

MMM has obtained a copy the 4am robo call that fraudulently announced it was made on behalf on Joe Kyrillos, Amy Handlin and Declan O’Scanlon and reminding the listener that they had “another four hours to vote.

The call had no paid for disclosure, as calls from the Monmouth GOP, whose number was used on the caller ID, would have.

Listen to the call yourself by clicking here.

We called the Bellew for Senate campaign for comment.  No one answered.  This is a copy of the recorded message that answers the Bellew for State Senate phone.  Click here to listen to the Bellew for Senate recorded phone greeting.

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Wake up call

Dirty Trick Alleged in LD 13

A robo call went out to Republican primary voters in the 13th Legislative District at 4am this morning urging people to vote for Senator Joe Kyrillos and Assembly Members Amy Handlin and Declan O’Scanlon.

“You have four hours to get out and vote…” the call said.  The obvious impression was that the call was supposed to go out at 4PM.

The Monmouth GOP did not order the call.  Kyrillos, Handlin and O’Scanlon did not order the call. Both campaigns say they had no calls scheduled for 4PM.

The caller ID was a secondary number of Monmouth GOP’s, yet the call did not mention the county candidates, Sheriff Shaun Golden or Freeholders Tom Arnone and Serena DiMaso.

O’Scanlon said the call looks to be a dirty trick.

Monmouth GOP Chairman John Bennett is furious. He said the call was a crime. He’s gathering data and plans to file a complaint with the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office this afternoon.

“We’ve never had this from the Democrats and they have not had it from us,” Bennett said, “I’m not accusing anyone, but we will get to the bottom of it and file a criminal complaint. This was a dirty trick and attempted voter suppression, pure and simple.”

Both Bennett and O’Scanlon said they became aware of the call before 4:30 this morning when they received phone calls from friends who had been woken up by the call.

MMM left a voice mail and a text with Bayshore Tea Party Group cofounder Barbara Gonzalez asking if she knows anything about the 4am robocall.  Gonzalez has yet to respond. The Bayshore Tea Party Group is supporting the slate of challengers running against the LD13 and Monmouth County Republican incumbents.

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