Did Someone Say Recall?

Just a thought, but after the last two posts about the critical editorial and column that appear in today's edition of the Asbury Park Press, maybe it isn't such a stretch to be thinking of recalling Scharfengerger from the Middletown Township Committee.

All we need is someone to lead the effort then I'm sure that the rest will fall into place. What do you think, who out there is ready to take this on?

APP's Bob Ingle: He didn’t mention that $95,000 Trenton job

Gerry Scharfenberger's appointment as Director of the Office for Planning Advocacy by Governor Christie, seems to have caused a big stir around the State, so much so that Senior Political Columnist for Gannett New Jersey Newspapers,Bob Ingle, has written about it on his Politics Patrol blog which appears online today over at the Asbury Park Press website. As an additional FYI for those that aren't familiar with Bob Ingles's work, he co-wrote The New York Times' Best Seller, "The Soprano State: New Jersey's Culture of Corruption."

In his blog post today (full text below), Ingle doesn't buy Gerry's reasoning as to why he did not disclose his appointment to his new job before the election and seems to be disappointed in Governor Christie for making the appoinment in the first place and suggests that Gerry should step down from his seat on the Middletown Township Committee or resign from his position as Director of Planning Advocacy. He states that if Gerry doesn't give up his seat then Middletown voters should remember this if he ever seek re-election again in the future.

Ingle's opinion in this matter just may spark a few more calls to action by those that are begining to talk about a possible recall petition against Scharfenberger if he decides to continue his service on the Township Committee come January.

Republican Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger of Middletown has been in a $95,000 a year state job since August but his Democratic opponents in last week’s election say that’s news to them. Kevin Penton of The Asbury Park Press reports during the campaign Scharfenberger was asked by a reporter about his employment, and he only replied that he was an archaeologist and an member of the Monmouth University adjunct faculty. After the election when asked why he did not mention the $95,000 state job at the time, Scharfenberger said: “I just assumed that everyone knew.” He noted that his name is on the state’s website in connection to the position. That doesn’t hold water. If a reporter asks what you do for work you don’t say you’re a an archaeologist and an member of the Monmouth University adjunct faculty but clean forget about that $95,000 a year post of executive director of the state Office of Planning Advocacy you drive all the
way to Trenton for.

Shawn Crisafulli, spokesman for the Department of State which oversees the office, said the Christie administration “hired him because of his public experience … ” (It certainly wasn’t for his passion for full disclosure.) Scharfenberger said he decided to run for re-election so he could help implement Gov. Christie’s fiscal proposals, such as civil service and binding arbitration reform. By acting as he did he damaged the image of the Christie administration. Friday we had calls to the radio show blaming the governor for this. I’ve gotten email about it as well.

Scharfenberger said he is not accepting his salary as a member of the township committee. Scharfenberger works at least 40 hours a week from Trenton in the position, said Crisafulli, who does not anticipate a conflict between his working as director of a state agency while serving as an elected official.

Scharfenberger should give up one position or the other. If he should he seek office again voters should remember how he handled this. This is the kind of thing Chris Christie was elected to stop. I can believe the Democrats didn’t do a thorough vetting of their opponent. I can believe many people in Middletown knew about this other job.

What I don’t buy is his excuse for not mentioning the $95,000 job in Trenton when a reporter asked him. His response is not believable.

Is A Scharfenberger Recall Effort Possibly Underway In Middletown?

Ever since the news broke about Gerry Scharfenberger being appointed by Governor Christie to a $95,000 a year job as the new Director of the Office for Planning Advocacy and then keeping it quite by lying to the press when asked by several local news organizations such as the Asbury Park Press,Two River Times, Greater Media's the Independent and RedBankGreen.com about his current employer during this past election season, I've been receiving a ton of emails and comments left on this blog from friends and other Middletown residents that are upset at being deceived once again by the master of deception himself, Gerry Scharfenberger.

These people, some of whom voted for Scharfenberger, are angry and want to know what can be done about overturning the outcome of Tuesday's election due to the fact that if they had known in advance about Gerry's new position in Trenton it may have changed their votes.

But what really has them upset is his lame excuses for not making the appointment public knowledge back in August when he accepted the job. Scharfenberger has been quoted as saying ""I just assumed that everyone knew." by the Asbury Park Press and "I wasn't go to promote it to help my election, which I thought would be unfair." by the Atlantic Highlands Herald.

Many of these people think that keeping this information from the public, while not illegal, was unethical and the equivalent to fraud. They are thinking of taking action against Scharfenberger by starting a Recall campaign against him.

When I heard this for the first time, I thought it was an intriguing idea so I looked up the Recall Provision in the NJ State Constitution to see what it would entail.

Article 1, section 2b explains what needs to be done in order to recall a local public official as follows:

The people reserve unto themselves the power to recall, after at least one year of service, any elected official in this State or representing this State in the United States Congress. The Legislature shall enact laws to provide for such recall elections. Any such laws shall include a provision that a recall election shall be held upon petition of at least 25% of the registered voters in the electoral district of the official sought to be recalled. If legislation to implement this constitutional amendment is not enacted within one year of the adoption of the amendment, the Secretary of State shall, by regulation, implement the constitutional amendment, except that regulations adopted by the Secretary of State shall be superseded by any subsequent legislation consistent with this constitutional amendment governing recall elections. The sufficiency of any statement of reasons or grounds procedurally required shall be a political rather than a judicial question.

After reading the provisions it seems that all which is needed is to collect Scharfenberger is the signatures from 25% of all the registered voters in Middletown on a petition, which would be about 12 thousand or so, within 160 days. It seems doable but I doubt that it is plausible, recall efforts very seldom work, many signatures are challenged and thrown out by the powers that be and it is extremely time consuming to gather all those signatures

So we are probably stuck with him until he either resigns on his own from the Township Committee or is eventually thrown out of office by the voters after the next election. With that being said though, if anyone truly wants to start the recall effort, I'd sign my name to it.

The Smoking Gun Behind the Walsh Recall Petition

If there was ever a smoking gun more obvious then this please let me know.

In their efforts to discredit and slander Middletown Democratic Candidate for Township Committee Patricia Walsh, James Cody, the so-called Chairman of the Committee to recall B. O. E. Member Pat Walsh, and his cronies, Anthony Testa, and Kathleen Bjelka (Cody’s sister) did not do a very good job of covering their fannies.

If the Republicans lose control of the township, they will lose whatever influence they have in town. Hence, a phony recall effort against Patricia Walsh in the middle of her campaign for Middletown Township Committee to embarrass and discredit her in front of the voters.

What is this smoking gun that I have found that proves that the Middletown GOP is behind this meritless and absurd recall petition and shows that James Cody and his friends are but pitiful tools being used by the Republicans in Middletown.

It is this chart (click here  for original) :


The original chart is posted on another's blog site and is being sighted as one of the main reasons for the recall petition against Walsh,  but that individual does not inform us as to where it came from or who created it, but I will.

This chart came directly from the Middletown GOP. How do I know this? 

It is quite easy to figure out actually, if you call up the properties of the original chart you will find that it was authored by non other than Brian Nelson. 

Who is Brian Nelson you ask? 

Brian Nelson is a long time friend and co-worker of Middletown Republican Party Chairman Peter Carton. Both men work for the same Newark law firm, Gibbons, Del Doe, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione. Before moving to Tinton Falls, Nelson was a republican committeeman in town and had a seat on the Middletown Sewage Authority along side of Carton, collecting salary, health and retirement benefits from Middletown. 

For years it had been alleged, that Carton is nothing more than a figurehead to the Middletown GOP and its true leader was Brian Nelson. It had been Nelson’s responsibility to run the daily activities and campaigns of the Middletown GOP over the past few years and with the stunning loses that the Republicans have experienced in the last two elections and control of the township committee in jeopardy, their long time friendship was thought to have come to an end, but apparently not.

So what's next to be pulled out the "dirty tricks" bag of the Middletown GOP, they don't have many left and their desparation is becoming evident. It has become obvious the the republicans have no new ideas and do not have the will enough to lead by example.

Instead of addressing the issues that effect Middletown like lowering taxes, which Pam Brightbill voted to raise by 16% over the past 3 years, and cutting the budget because to many of their friends are making a living at the taxpayers expense in Middletown, GOP wishes to distract the voters with a phony recall petition against their main rival and threat to their dominance Patricia Walsh.  

The Man Behind the Walsh Recall Petition

I wonder how many people out there realize that James Cody, the man behind the Walsh recall petition, is the same guy that installed the artifical turf at High School South and lost money on the project because he under bid the project, and who then felt that he shouldn't have had to bid to install the field at High School North.

When he got around to making his initial opening bid to install the field at High School North, it was one of the highest bids recieved, so the B.O.E was obligated to accept the lower bid from Mondo/USA.

When Mondo/USA defalted on it's contract, Cody again bid to high for the job but was reward the contract because the winning bidder had a problem with the paper work that was submitted.

Also, this is the same James Cody that ran for a seat on the Middletown Board of Ed. and LOST to Patricia Walsh.

It seems like a case of rotten eggs to me. I think some one should be looking at Mr. Cody a little closer. 

Walsh Fights Back Against Petition Recall

PRESS RELEASE
Recall petition: partisanship wrapped around mistruths
MIDDLETOWN TOWNSHIP (MONMOUTH COUNTY, NJ): According to Middletown Democrat for Township Committee Patricia Walsh, she left Middletown Republican Chairman Peter Carton's Republican party because of  "personal attacks, the likes of which he is launching against me right now."

A petition drive, sponsored by Republicans James Cody, Kathleen Bjelka and Anthony Testa,
was begun Oct. 8. The petition erroneously claims that Walsh "accepted a $30,000 gift." In addition, the petition singled out Walsh as having raised  "taxes more than any official in Middletown history." In fact, the petition distored Walsh's record, the candidate said, and is a typical "dirty trick" to distract the good people of Middletown from the real issues, such as taxes and affordability.

"I have in my possession sworn statements in depositions that show the personal loan
made to me by Cathy Sullivan has been repaid in full," Walsh said.

The personal loan referred to by the petition was made when Republican Committeeman Tom
Stokes sued Walsh unsuccessfully for eight years in an attempt to "own what Pat Walsh owns." Stokes used a Republican law firm, which represented him on a contingency basis, to conduct the failed lawsuit. Subsequently, Stokes was awarded a job on the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, a well-known breeding ground for cronyism, and a seat on the Middletown Sewerage Authority, which is given by the all-Republican Middletown Committee.

Where it involves her voting record on the school board, Walsh said she has "dutifully participated as a member of that body for 11 years and is proud that she has worked for consensus to improve the education of township children ” as a volunteer. Consequently,
Walsh said she is proud of the quality of education for Middletown's children. "As a group, Middletown's children are some of the best-educated in the country, as testified to by where these kids go to college afterward," Walsh said.

"The real reason for this petition is not because I participated on the school board, or because I won a lawsuit against Tom Stokes," Walsh said. "The reason this petition is going on is because it is likely that, come Election Day, myself and my running mate, Jim Grenafege, are going to join committeemen Patrick Short and Sean Byrnes on the governing body."


Walsh said the Republican-controlled Middletown Committee has "raped the township's
coffers with partisan appointments and cronyism for more than a quarter-century."

Walsh said that Middletown is witnessing the "death rattle" of 27 years of corruption, sponsored principally by Middletown Republican Chairman Peter Carton.

"To put it simply, the way of life for a handful of corrupt local Republican officials is about ready to come to a screeching halt in January, and Mr. Carton and his cronies are fighting it in every way they can—this petition included," Walsh said.

However, despite the scurrilous Republican attacks, Walsh said she will not be deterred in reforming Middletown's government, changing her hometown's approach to spending, or cleaning up the evident corruption that has taken hold of Monmouth's largest municipality.

"It has always been a case where Middletown will get "fixed some other day," " Walsh said. "Well, I have news for Mr. Carton and his flunkies: It's some other day"