Former Mayor Lucas Found Guilty in Land Deal; Democrats Call To Reinstate Ethics Board

Former Manalapan Mayor Andrew Lucas was found guilty on all 11 federal charges against him earlier today in his scheme that bilked Manalapan, Monmouth County and state residents of nearly $1.2 million of farmland preservation funds.  Lucas is now facing a long jail sentence in a federal penitentiary.

"A jury in federal court here has found former Manalapan mayor Andrew Lucas guilty of all charges in an indictment surrounding a questionable land deal that netted him nearly $1.2 million in taxpayer money.

The jury reached the verdict Thursday following a two-week trial before U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson.

Lucas, 37, remains free on a $500,000 bond, pending sentencing on Jan. 20, 2015, when he could face decades in federal prison..." - Asbury Park Press, 9/18/14

It should be noted that incumbent Freeholder candidates Lillian Burry and Gary Rich voted in favor of giving Lucas nearly $278K of Monmouth County open space funds. It's because of this and other alleged improprieties by the currently all Republican Monmouth County Freeholders Board that  Democrats are calling for the reinstatement of the short-lived Monmouth County Ethics Board.

"... Democratic candidates Joe Grillo and Larry Luttrell say the ethics board is needed to prevent recent scandals like the farmland preservation land deal involving former Manalapan Mayor Andrew Lucas and financial improprieties by former Brookdale Community College President Peter Burnham.

“The ethics board would be looking at any concerns or ethical issues in county government. It would be a place of redress,” Grillo said. “I think the freeholders owe it to the people we serve.”

Monmouth Democrats have been relentless in trying to pin those scandals and others to their opponents, Republican freeholder incumbents Lillian Burry and Gary Rich...."            - Asbury Park Press,  9/18/14

Middletown’s Disappearing Boards

By Linda Baum

What do the Finance Committee, Board of Ethics, and Human Rights Commission all have in common? They are all important, and they are disappearing.

The Middletown Human Rights Commission (MHRC) is the oldest human rights commission in the state of New Jersey. Its primary mission, under state law, is to foster good will and cooperation among our diverse community groups. An 11-member board which currently has only 4 members, the MHRC is dying by attrition as terms expire and no appointments are made by the Township Committee.

Provisions for a Board of Ethics and a Finance Committee (once called “Finance and Accounting”) were originally included in the administrative code that set forth the day-to-day operations for the 1971 Middletown Special Charter, which established our form of government. However, these provisions no longer exist, eliminated in one of several updates to the code, or modernizations as they are sometimes called.

Fortunately, the administrative code can be easily amended. Appointments can be made and all of these boards can be formed or re-constituted. Our Township Committee simply needs to choose to do so. As a member of that Committee, I would insist on it.