THE DEMOCRATS, THE CLUB (Monmouth, that is!), AND REFORM

As expected, the Monmouth County Democrats are falling all over themselves trying to package themselves as reformers in Monmouth County. They are hoping that voters, weary of the excesses of Bid Rig, will punish the current freeholders and candidates for the sins of their predecessors (One of whom, Harry Larrison, Jr., has been dead for nearly three years!). Our County Republican Party has countered that Democratic candidate and former Freeholder John D'Amico is not only not a reformer, he's a founding member of Club Monmouth!

The County G. O. P. correctly points out that D'Amico frequently took advantage of a perk extended by the Monmouth County Park System granting current and former freeholders advance tee times at the county golf courses, a policy since abolished. I have reported that D'Amico not only provided a needed vote back in the 80s for the appointment of curmudgeonly County Counsel Malcolm Carton, he was the prime sponsor of the resolution! It was also during D'Amico's tenure that John E. Westlake, now a convicted felon, was appointed as Clerk of the Board.

What else have the Dems done?

Well, we all remember County Dem Boss Victor Scudiery's assertion that those arrested in Bid Rig were "entrapped". The Democrats do have a way of circling the wagons, don't they. And when G. O. P. County Chairman Adam Puharic introduced An Ethical Roadmap for Monmouth County Republicans, Democratic leaders poo-pooed it before finally caving in a month later and passing their own watered-down copy. And most recently we had Scudiery again, this time writing a letter to the court begging for leniency in the sentencing of convicted felon and former Western Monmouth Utilities Authority Executive Director Frank G. Abate, in which Scudiery describes Abate as "honorable and dedicated"!

You can't make this stuff up, campers.

Vote Democratic for integrity? Are you kidding?! These guys just don't get it. Look at how they run things in Trenton. Or look at the Monmouth Dems' mentors and benefactors and how they run Union County and ask yourself:

Do we want this in Freehold? Well, do we?