What Is A Freeholder And Why Is This Election Important?

What is a Freeholder?

As a candidate for Freeholder the questions that I get most are; what is a County Freeholder and why should I vote for you? I hope this column answers those questions.

Brian Froelich

The Monmouth County government is a large enterprise that employs over 3,000 people and is responsible for over $1 billion of your taxpayer money. And, while most people agree that monopolies are not good in either business or politics, the Republican Party machine has controlled and monopolized the Freeholder Board for 24 of the last 25 years. And despite talking about ‘small government’ they keep building a larger one. For example a) they increased taxes by over 100% (from $149 million to over $300 million). b) They built one of the largest jails in the United States. (It is 50% too big and one third empty.) c) They spent over $100 million in deficits to maintain, not one but, two county nursing homes. (Most counties have none since NJ has over 300 private homes.) d) They admit that the County Library system budget of $19 million for 13 branches is ‘out of control’. And e) they recently built 2 new office buildings when the county office vacancy rate is over 30%. (They spent $40 million when similar space is selling for less than half that amount.)
As just a simple example of the issue, Hudson County (not known as a paragon of fiscal virtue!) has a higher population but raises lower total taxes than Monmouth County.

The result of this Republican Party monopoly is that in Monmouth County homes values and tax ratables are declining; unemployment is, and has been, one of the highest of surrounding counties; poverty is increasing (especially for the very young and old); population growth is one of the lowest of surrounding counties, and a rising crime rate and heroin epidemic is an acknowledged fact.

In addition there has been a constant stream of scandals. Chris Christie, when he was a United States Prosecutor said that Monmouth County corruption runs “wide and deep”. Nothing has changed. We have had scandals in every area of county government from the Freeholders, to the Sherriff’s office, to the Clerk’s office, to Brookdale College, etc. The ethical scandals ranged from Birdsall illegal donations (which the Freeholders refused to disclose), to the million dollar award to Republican Mayor Lucas (which Freeholder DiMaso subsequently admitted shouldn’t have passed), to having a Republican Party executive and campaign coordinator managing $100 million in annual county purchases (which Republican Freeholders don’t see as a conflict). It is time to say enough is enough.

Few residents attend Freeholder meetings so Monmouth County residents need a watchdog on the Freeholder Board. If elected, Larry Luttrell and I will insure that all reasonable alternatives are considered, that business logic is applied, and the ethical rules are implemented and enforced.

In any case, please vote on Tuesday, November 5

Brian Froelich

Candidate For Freeholder

PS You can find out more about my background and positions at www.froelich4freeholder.com

THIS IS WHY THEY WOULDN’T TELL US!!!

Brian Froelich

This is why the Monmouth County Republican Freeholders wouldn’t tell us if they received any money from Birdsall- because they did!

It was reported today that all of the current Ocean and Monmouth (Republican) county Freeholders received money from the indicted Birdsall organization. The records show that Monmouth politicians got over $66 thousand dollars and Birdsall received over $4 million in contracts.

In Birdsall’s home of Monmouth County the Freeholders (Arnone, DiMaso, Burry, Curley, and Rich) received $18,200 from 2008 to early 2012. In addition Sheriff Shaun Golden, Clerk Claire French, and various Monmouth Republican organizations received Birdsall funds. Arnone and DiMaso also received donations when serving as municipal officials.

Sources said that donors understood the message to be ‘if you want to work, you better pay up’. And a Birdsall executive admitted that these illegal donations were given to "curry favor" with officials and "gain a competitive advantage" and that they "regularly won contracts" for the company. One article on the subject said that “(s)ecret donations flowed every year like free wine from Birdsall.”

For example “(i)n November 2011, at a fundraiser hosted by Birdsall, the company wrote Monmouth County Freeholders Gary Rich Sr. and Lillian Burry corporate checks for $300 each, then gave Burry another $1,200 and Rich $900 in secret checks.”

And while critics and campaign experts have said that the Birdsall money should be given back, some politicians are responding that the money has already been spent.

Interestingly, Birdsall also gave substantial donations to Manalapan Committeeman and former Mayor Andrew Lucas who was involved in a recent controversy along with the Freeholders. The Freeholders awarded Lucas over $1 million for some land preservation rights. That transaction was widely and highly criticized.

In November the voters’ broom will sweep clean the Freeholder/Birdsall mess.

Brian Froelich
Candidate, Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders

NJ.com: Monmouth Democrats primed for up-hill battle in Freeholder race

NJ.com posted a nice profile piece on Monmouth County Democratic Freeholder candidates Brian Froelich and Larry Luttrell last night and plan on posting follow-up story on Monday to discuss the issues that they plan on running on which are near and dear to their heart. Check it out, it's a pretty good intro piece that should start the discussion on the candiates.

From NJ.com:

They are ready to rumble, but they know they are playing Rocky to Republicans’ Apollo Creed.

The two Democratic candidates for Monmouth County Freeholder, Brian Froelich, 67, of Spring Lake, and Lawrence Luttrell, 41, of Holmdel, plan to take the fight to the GOP incumbents.  

“I’m excited about the opportunity, I appreciate the Democratic Party with entrusting me with this mantle,” Froelich said. “I hope to get around and talk to as many people as I can and let them know what we would like to do.” 

The pair are running against Freeholder Director Thomas Arnone, of Neptune City, and Deputy Director Serena DiMaso, of Holmdel. 

Both Democrats realize that they face an entrenched Republican political apparatus.
“There’s no way that we’re going to out-fundraise a 30-year incumbent institution,” Froelich said. “They may not have Birdsall anymore, but they have a lot more people willing to support incumbents and entrenched leaders.”

There is also an enthusiasm gap between Democrats and Republicans – the incumbents are riding high after easily winning a contested primary against Tea Party challengers. The Democrats, on the other hand, were uncontested.

The primary contest galvanized the already strong Republican organization, but Luttrell says the pair will catch up by taking their message directly to voters.

“Obviously, we’re planning to get the message out there, hitting the ground and getting to the people as much as possible,” Luttrell said. “One of the things we’ve been doing is establishing a good ground game and getting out the vote and talking to people.”

All the things in my life that allowed me to have what I have were created by Democrats, it is my turn to give back. 

Luttrell said it is the Democrats’ compassionate message and track record of helping people of all walks of life that make them the best choice for Monmouth County during these difficult times. He pointed to his family’s purchase of a home in Monmouth County using a Federal Housing Association loan, his public education and federal grants that allowed him to attend law school.

“All the things in my life that allowed me to have what I have were created by Democrats, it is my turn to give back,” Luttrell said. “I have to preserve those things and create other opportunities for the future.”...   

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An Open Letter to Freeholders

The history of the Republican Party rule in Monmouth County is one of corruption and scandal. Even, then US Attorney, Chris Christie has said that public corruption in Monmouth County ran "both wide and deep."

And now in 2013 we have Birdsall and more pay to play issues raised.

(Brian Froelich)

Several Birdsall executives have been indicted for making large and widespread illegal political donations. Presumably they made them in expectation of receiving government contracts. And Birdsall has historically been a significant contributor to county Republicans. We also know that Birdsall has received millions of dollars of contracts from Monmouth County that have been approved by these Freehold Board members.

Birdsall’s principal alleged tactic was to make many small individual donations below the publicly reportable amount in order to hide these actions from public scrutiny.

But each Freeholder has the actual, detailed, nonpublic records of any such donations- the very information that Birdsall was trying to hide from the public.

The citizens and voters of Monmouth County have a right to know specifically the number and amount of donations, if any, each Freeholder received- in any form, directly or indirectly- from Birdsall and/or its employees for the last 6 years.

Each Freeholder should disclose all such information and make all such records available for inspection by the public and the press prior to this upcoming primary election.

I’ll assume that if they publicly report this information and that actual contradictory information subsequently becomes available that they will have the decency to resign their Board seat.

I ask for their immediate public commitment to such action.

Sincerely,

Brian Froelich, Democratic Candidate for Freeholder

Froelich For Freeholder: 'Once more unto the breech'

I would like to thank the over four hundred Democrats from every Town and District in Monmouth County who nominated me at the convention this past Saturday to run for Monmouth County Freeholder in the November election.

The monopoly control of any political body by one political party is not healthy and leads, inevitably, to corruption. The Republicans now have an unchallenged and unhealthy monopoly on the Freeholder Board. And they have tried to abuse that advantage for the benefit of their friends. A Democratic watchdog is minimally required to provide necessary sunlight and oversight on their actions.

Brian Froelich

Here are some examples. The current Lucas land deal is the latest Board scandal. But when it first came up for a Freeholder vote several years ago, the only Freeholder who voted against it was the only Democrat, Amy Mallet. If not for Amy, this sleazy deal might have slipped by without notice. Then, once Amy left the Board, the Republican monopoly voted quickly to repeal its ‘pay for play’ ethical prohibitions. And it was the Democrats that pointed out the long term misfeasance (or malfeasance) in the Republican Monmouth County Clerk’s office regarding voter ballot positioning.

The duty of the minority party is to be a watchdog on the majority.

Here are some abilities I can bring to the role of resident watchdog on the Freeholder Board.

On the current Freeholders Board we have a landscaper, a car dealer, a salesman, a real estate agent, and a lawyer. These are all fine professions and small businesses to be represented on the Board. But none of these members are educated or experienced on the accounting, finance, or management skills needed to monitor the half billion dollar enterprise which is Monmouth County.

I have a degree in finance and an advanced degree in accounting and law and I was an auditor with the largest accounting firms in the world. And I know about monitoring government agencies. I performed special audits of the Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) here in New Jersey and of the Board of Education in New York City. Both of those audits uncovered real problems in those agencies.

I also know about controlling large organization as well as small. I served as a controller of a subsidiary of a New York Stock Exchange company. And, besides starting my own small business, I managed multi-billion dollar businesses for American Express- one of the most well managed companies in the world.


In short, I will bring important, necessary, and missing education, experience, and management skills to the Freeholder Board. These are abilities that will help the Board and county agencies and make me a formidable watchdog for the residents of Monmouth County.

I seek your support for this important role.

Brian Froelich

Candidate for Monmouth County Freeholder

Spring Lake, NJ