Hornik Campaign Accuses Marlboro Republicans Of “Dirty Politics” For Proposing Recreation Department Reforms
There appears to be a race worth watching in Marlboro
The Democratic campaign of Marlboro Mayor Jonathan Hornik and Council Members Randi Marder and Michael Scalea has characterized their opponents’ plan to reform the Township’s Summer Camp as “cheap gutter politics.”
In statement promoted by Hornik on facebook and released on the JerseyShoreInsider blog (a site funded by Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal and Ocean County Democratic Chairman Wyatt Earp that has nothing to do with Snooki or The Situation), Hornik campaign manager Jon Evans accused Republican candidate for Mayor Ira Goldberg and Council candidates Sui Allex and John Dwyer of exploting the “unfortunate and serious incident” that occurred as a result of Matthew Kleinstein, while working as a Marlboro Camp Counselor, sending pictures of his penis to four 11-13 year old female campers in his care.
Councilman Scalea was a member of the Township’s Recreation Committee at the time the incident occurred.
Evans’s statement goes on to claim that the reforms the Republicans proposed are already in practice in the Township of Marlboro. Evan’s states that the Republicans have no platform for improving Marlboro’s government. Read the full statement (that Evans inexplicably did not send directly to MMM) here:
It is disturbing to see our opponents in November’s election resort to cheap gutter politics to try and bolster their campaign. In an effort to get their names in the papers, they have chosen to exploit an unfortunate and serious incident. To use this situation to advance their lackluster agenda is insulting to our residents. Had they done a small amount of research prior to releasing a statement, they would have discovered all of their suggestions are already in place.
To be clear, The Marlboro Township Rec program currently regularly hires school teachers (current and retired) to work as counselors and in supervisory positions in our Rec Summer Camp programs, each of whom is fully vetted and has an independent background check conducted by an outside agency before they are even hired. This has been Town practice for decades. Furthermore, the Township has an expansive hiring, orientation, and training program for all of its employees, and also has in place employment policies and protocols that address and govern important subjects such as safety, discrimination, drugs and alcohol, offensive conduct, sexual harassment, computer use, complaint procedures, and numerous other areas relevant to Township employment. These written policies and protocols have been in place for many years, but are reviewed and regularly updated, including most recently in 2014 under the guidance of the Township Attorney and Monmouth Joint Insurance Fund.
With just weeks left before Election Day, our opponents have once again reminded us that they will resort to dirty politics with absolutely no campaign platform or any relevant ideas to improve our town or government.
Mayor Hornik, Councilpersons Marder and Scalea have a proven track record of lowering municipal taxes, consolidating shared services, aggressive preservation of Open Space, and more. They continue to make Marlboro a great place to call home.
Goldberg, the Republican candidate for Mayor, said,”It is unfortunate that our young mayor continues to relate to the crimes committed by a Marlboro young adult against four Marlboro children as a political problem. Win or lose this election, my concern is for the children of Marlboro and their safety.”
“If the Hornik administration has all the the reforms we’ve proposed in place,which they do not, our problem is one of competence, not one of policy,” Goldberg continued. “The Township is being sued for its failure to comply with New Jersey Youth Camp Standards, a fact that Mr. Evans conveniently omitted from his statement.”
“Sadly, our opponents’ response is predictable,” said Council candidate Dwyer, “Now they are the victims. There is no responsibility and no accountability. After they learned of the sexting incident, rather than terminate the employee and refer the matter to law enforcement, they allowed him, the son of a political appointee, to continue working with even younger children.”
“This is a very serious issue that should have been handled more professionally and immediately”, Council candidate Allex said. “This incident was kept secret from Marlboro citizens for over a year and through two summer camp seasons. Why? As a mother, I don’t want politicians deciding whether or not potential criminals can supervise my children. I would insist that we take precaution first.”
The Republicans’ campaign manager, former Councilwoman Joann Denton, said that the candidates have released a six point platform for the reform of Marlboro’s government on their campaign’s website, PositivelyMarlboro.com.
More from my site
Marlboro GOP Candidates Congratulate Middletown for Taking Action on Property Taxes
In Marlboro: Why are the Hornikcrats lying about John Dwyer?
Is Marlboro in play?
Marlboro Republicans Propose Reforms To Protect Children
Marlboro Republicans Accuse Hornik Democrats of “Fairy Tales” and “Gimmickry”
Hornik Confident At Campaign Kickoff
Gopal: Marlboro is in play
Marlboro Camp Counselor Gets PTI For Sexting Charges
Victoria Dean apologizes for facebook post
Marlboro Camp Counselor Pleads Guilty To Sexting With 4 Teen Campers
What the republicans fail to comprehend, is that they think they can take a tragedy like this and use it to fool people into blaming the democrats for child abuse. No matter what systems you have in place, no matter who you hire, check out and research….you can never guarantee that this will never happen again. There are bad people in this world and no matter how hard you try, those people are the best at covering it up. To make that political is asinine and shameful and the Republicans underestimate the intelligence of their voters by even suggesting that reform will prevent this.
What I find troubling is that the current administration has not mentioned apologies or concern for the young girls involved or for the families of the younger children who this man was foisted on after there were allegations of inappropriate behavior
but he’s wrong here. all he had to do was remove this creep from camp and ask the dad to step down during the investigation
instead they kept them both on and created what appears to be a cover up
this is not about politics you made a wrong decision and got called out for it
own up and go back to being a decent mayor
when you keep up this defensive cry it makes me wonder what else is going on that we don’t know ….
The people who covered this up and let the predator continue to work with young children are the “bad people” the Republicans are holding accountable.
There was no cover up. The police have been investagating for two years!
I don’t know any specific details but I’m pretty sure that if there was overwhelming evidence, the investigation would not have taken that long.
Does anyone know the girls involved? As a mother of a middle school girl I know for a fact there are girls who routinely send naked pictures of themselves out via twitter and snapchat.
Some of you make disagree with me, but u don’t think these girls were completely innocent.
our society has become selfish, addicted to social media, and obsessed with the blatant sex- culture of celebrity, sports and Hollywood included: I,for one, rue the day it became not only available, but socially acceptable, to put one’s proclivities and weird habits out there, to the general public. The fact that this awful incident has become a political football between the camps is another example of the exploitation and personal attacks that are customarily at the forefront of many campaigns- law enforcement needs to properly do their job, and we need to let it play out.. How about all these candidates focusing more on the dollars and cents of the outrageous taxes and spending,we taxpayers are forced to pay? How about their pledging to go item by item to cut the spending and full town budget, cut the number of pals they put on the payrolls, and finally make a helpful difference in the peoples’ lives? While very concerning, because it involves kids, this is surely not a good thing for anyone to try and squeeze votes out of!
Same “Grand Old Party”, same tactic.
Here are some FACTS for you. The Police were involved from the beginning and according to their standard operating procedure, turned their investigation over to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s office as prescribed by law. The Prosecutor’s office has held this for almost 3 years and does not release any information involving juveniles, Ask yourself why now, with an election just around the corner?
Mr. Goldberg, do you really believe a background check, which has been done since the camp started, is an assurance that an individual will not do something like this? Teachers must undergo a criminal check before getting a job. Have you been hiding under a rock and don’t see that almost every day some teacher is accused of inappropriate activity involving students? BTW, playing the “age card” by referring to the “Young Mayor”? That is really funny. It won’t get you a single vote.
Mr. Dwyer, I find it interesting that you, above all others, are calling for accountability but fail to take take the same position regarding your time on the school board.
The editor of MMM touts the fact that the Insider is a Democrat supporting blog but yet does not acknowledge that MMM leans toward the Republican Party. Sorry Art, but that is common knowledge and both have their place.
Can we be serious now? Mayor Hornik has basically appointed all the members of the board. He has brought some over from republican to democrat. Now we have a democratic mayor and a full democratic board. If you think that is good for Marlboro then you don’t know anything about our country. And that Hornik has instituted stopping public access video. It’s all very hush-hush in this administration. Let’s vote for a change! And an open government again!
The current Trio, Goldberg, Allex, Dwer, are all true CONSERVATIVE republicans. This is a refreshing republican ticket for Marlboro.
@ Vote republican this time
Everyone likes a good laugh . Your slate has offered nothing. No plan beside a few meaningless talking points. Nothing specific. Nothing of value.
The township taxes are down. The municipal spending is down when compared to eight years ago. The infrastructure that was terribly effected by weather is being repaired. The quality of life in Marlboro is second to none.
Move forward, not backward. The Republican slate is like stepping into the ” Wayback machine”.