MoreMonmouthMusings's Art Gallagher Arrest; Awaiting Extradition To Delaware On Fraud Charges

According to an online article posted on The Asbury Park Press this evening, Art Gallagher, author of the moremonmouthmusings blog, has been arrest on fraud charges and is being held on $250,000 bail while waiting on extradition to Delaware, at the Monmouth County Jail.

From the APP:

HIGHLANDS — A prominent blogger who is running for a seat on the Highlands Borough Council next month is in Monmouth County Jail awaiting extradition to Delaware, police said.

Art Gallagher, who runs a Republican-leaning political blog and is campaigning as an independent for council, was arrested over the weekend by borough police on a fugitive from justice warrant out of Delaware, Chief Joseph Blewitt said.

Details of Gallagher’s alleged crime across state lines are unclear, but Blewitt said the warrant was theft-related. Detective Nicholas Terranova, the lead investigator in the case for Delaware State Police, could not be reached for comment Sunday.

“That’s what it’s stemming from. It’s regarding a fraud investigation Delaware State Police conducted,” Highlands police Sgt. Joe Rogers said.

Gallagher, 53, who is also a member of the borough’s planning board, is being held on $250,000 bail. Blewitt said on Sunday afternoon “they have informed us they will extradite.”

I don't want to kick a guy while he's down but sooner or later everyone needs to answer to a higher authority for what they may have reaped in life. I hope that he and his family will able to cope well during this trying time.

Something like this however was bound to happen sooner or later to Art. I heard rumors last year that Art was going to be the subject of a WPIX News segment of "Help Me Howard ".

For those unfamiliar with "Help Me Howard", it's a segment on channel 11 news that features longtime newsman Howard Thompson. Thompson helps those who feel they have suffered injustices or have been wronged in someway.

In a segment that was to feature Art Gallagher but never aired because the incident was allegedly settled before airing, Art was accused by someone who had rented a food vending truck from his business. I don't remember all the details but the person who rented the truck was upset that the truck didn't work properly and wanted a refund of some kind. Art of course wouldn't oblige so the individual contacted Howard Thompson.

Also, Art has fancied himself a "King Maker" of sorts ever since he started MoreMonmouthMusings, blogging first anonymously as William Seward, then as himself, after he and others managed to air all sorts of Republican dirty laundry and the "take down" of Monmouth County Chairman Adam Puharic back in 2008 when he resigned from the position and opened the door for current Chairman Joe Oxley.

Art has since often warned Republican wannabes that if they want to get elected to office in Monmouth County or locally that they need to indulge his blogging and submit comments or columns to it.

Art also got himself in a bit of hot water back in 2008 when he tried to rationalize the use of the "N" word after the Reverend Jesse Jackson was caught on an open mike threatening to cut of then presidential candidate Barack Obama's "N"nuts. Art wanted to know why it was okay for Jesse Jackson, a black man, to use the "N" word but it was unacceptable for a white man to use the term.

After posting this on his blog, then Middletown Mayor Gerry Scharfenberger, called a special emergency session of the Middletown Human Rights Commission to look into it thinking that his blog posting was actually printed in the Bayshore Courier where Art had at the time wrote a weekly column.

This lead to Art being censored by the local chapter of the NAACP and his column being dropped by the Courier. Afterwards Gallagher started a vendetta against the Middletown Democrats and the Courier's publisher, blaming them for somehow conspiring against him and having him labeled as a racist.

Since then, Gallagher's blog has become a the Middletown Republican's dumping ground for the dirty tricks, mudslinging and slander against Democratic candidates running for office in Middletown.

What will the Middletown Republicans do now? Will they come out and disavow Art Gallagher or will they make excuses for him and their actions.

As I said above, it is easy to kick a guy while he is down. Regardless of Art's alleged actions in this case or in the past, I do wish him and his family well. We have had a slight adversarial relationship over the past few years but I think we have always been respectful to one another.

I may not always agree with Art or his point of view but that doesn't mean I wish him any ill will. I wish him a speedy resolve to his problems and a return to his blogging.