The Republican presidential nomination has been decided. On the Democrat side, Bernie Sanders and the FBI are still nipping at Hillary Clinton’s heels. A a national level, like most presidential years, the New Jersey primary will make little difference. However, this year Democrat voters have an important choice to make locally.
In addition to their presidential choice, voters in the Democrat primary next Tuesday, June 7, will choose two nominees for Monmouth County Freeholder.
Running on Hillary Clinton’s ticket with the support of Monmouth County Chairman Vin Gopal are Belmar Mayor “Lawless Matt” Doherty and Brenda Sue Fulton of Asbury Park.
Running on Bernie Sanders’ ticket are Laury Wills of Little Silver and Angelica Ashford of Manalapan.
We’ve been reporting for years on how Monmouth County Democrat Chairman Vin Gopal has been raising special interest money in Trenton as well as from Hudson and Essex Counties so that he can take over our beautiful county, pave it over and award contracts and patronage jobs to his benefactors. Fortunately, he’s had limited success.
Now, thanks to Hudson County View, we have the chairman on tape sharing the next step of his plan. The money is not enough, he needs to bring voters into the county courtesy of the Hudson County boss, Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto.
Republicans Sheriff Shaun Golden, Surrogate Rosemarie Peters, Freeholder Director Tom Arnone and Deputy Freeholder Director Serena DiMaso
The Monmouth County Republican Organization said that Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Freeholder in the June 7 primary, is bought and paid for by Trenton lobbyists, Wall Street executives and North Jersey political bosses “seeking to turn Monmouth County Government into their own Hudson County style patronage machine.”
In a press release distributed Monday afternoon, the Monmouth GOP organization said that Doherty’s latest campaign finance report indicates that over 60% of the $98,000 he disclosed the source of came from donors who reside outside of Monmouth County.
Freehold-Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Katie Gummer ruled Wednesday that the new pay to pay ordinance in Belmar, dubbed “Matt’s Law” in honor of Mayor Matt Doherty who the measure would immediately benefit, is not law, has never been law and will not become law unless approved by Belmar voters in a referendum or unless the Court rules otherwise in coming weeks as a suit regarding a protest petition filed under the Falkner Act is further litigated.
For now, Doherty, who is running for Monmouth County Freeholder, and all candidates for office in Belmar are bound by the pay to play ordinances, passed in 2004 and amended in 2005 and 2011 (the current ordinance), that restrict campaign contributions from Belmar vendors, developers, liquor license holders and professionals to $300 and/or require that the office holders to recuse themselves from matters regarding the contributors that come before them.
Democrat Chairman Vin Gopal blames MMM publisher Art Gallagher for his primary fight
By Art Gallagher
Monmouth Dem Freeholder candidates Brenda Sue Fulton and Matt Doherty face a primary challenge from Bernie Sanders supporters Angelica Ashford and Laury Wills
The two Democrat nominees for Monmouth County Freeholder will be decided by voters in the Democrat Primary on June 4 as two candidates affiliated with the Bernie Sanders for President campaign filed to run for the nominations on Monday in Freehold.
Angelica Ashford of Manalapan and Laury Wills of Little Silver will be running against Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty and Brenda Sue Fulton in the Democrat primary. Doherty and Fulton are the choice of Monmouth Democrat Chairman Vin Gopal and will be bracketed on the primary ballot with the Hillary Clinton for President campaign.
Freeholder Director Tom Arnone and Deputy Director Serena DiMaso at the Asbury Park St. Pat’s Parade
The all Republican Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders approved a budget which included a $18.2 million spending cut and a $4.5 million property tax cut last Thursday.
“This budget reduces the tax impact on residents and businesses and returns the amount to be raised by taxation to the 2010 level,” said Freeholder Director Thomas A. Arnone. “In January, I called for a roll back of last year’s 1.4 percent tax increase and we have achieved that.”
“Cost cutting and belt tightening over the past six years and the sale of the two County care centers have made it possible for this Freeholder Board to present a budget that resets our spending to below the 2007 amount,” Freeholder Deputy Director Serena DiMaso said.
Monmouth County’s government now spends $5.5 million less on salaries than it did in 2008 and has 1000 fewer employees than it did seven years ago when the Republican Party won control of the Freeholder Board back from the Democrats.
Neptune City Councilman Richard Pryor, center, celebrates his reelection with Neptune City and Monmouth GOP leaders. Click photo for larger view
The streets of Neptune City were reminiscent of Newark, Jersey City or Chicago on election day Tuesday as out of town canvassers worked the town to get Democrats to come out and vote in a Special Election for a Council seat that was vacated as a result of a tie vote last November.
The State Democratic Party emailed Democrat activists statewide, imploring them to knock on doors and make phone calls in Neptune City, “because it is the home of Monmouth County Freeholder Director and Republican Leader Tom Arnone, who previously served as mayor.” U.S. Senator Cory Booker made a robocall for the Democrat candidate. An estimated 30 out of towners were bused in on Tuesday to to find Democratic votes to drag to the polls.
Freehold Borough Councilman Kevin Kane has landed a $65,000 per year job as the assistant director of Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop’s Office of Tax Abatement and Compliance.
The five term Democrat councilman who ran for Monmouth County Clerk last year against Christine Giordano Hanlon is responsible for the day to day operations of the office when the director is not at work, according to his Linkedin profile. The office is charged with ensuring “adherence with all municipal ordinances, administrative codes and state statutes relating to tax abated development projects in Jersey City. The Compliance Office, reporting directly to the Business Administrator, is responsible for documenting all non-compliance issues and violations of the Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) and Project Employment and Contracting Agreements (PECAs).” Kane recommends to the director any and all actions to be taken as a result of non-compliance in a specified project.
Prior to joining the Fulop administration, Kane was the Vice President of Operations for a Freehold based janitorial company owned by his parents.
Hazlet-Vincent Solomeno, 30, announced his candidacy for Monmouth County Surrogate this morning, promising to transform the constitutional position that is judicial in nature, to one of advocacy for “the most vulnerable among us.”
Currently a Platoon Training at the National Guard Officer Training School in Sea Girt, Solomeno returned from a one year deployment in as a military planner and manager in Operation Freedom last October.
Solomeno was the Command Historian of the New Jersey National Guard from November of 2010 through until his deployment. Read the rest of this entry »
Long hailed as one of the most talented up and comers in New Jersey politics, the Monmouth County Democratic Chairman from Long Branch appears poised to run against state Senator Jen Beck (D-11) in 2017. Beck will be a very tough out, but Gopal is a unique politician now emboldened by the loses last night of Beck’s running mates Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini and Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande.
