Guadagno’s Worrisome Record as Sheriff of Monmouth County

The following was written by former Monmouth County Freeholder John D'Amico and was published last week on Insidernj.com. As we head to the polls tomorrow Kim Guadagno's shady actions as Monmouth County Sheriff should be in voters minds before casting a vote for her:


By John DAmico
October 31, 2017,
 INSIDERNJ

Kim Guadagno dodges responsibility for the failures of the Christie Administration by alternately hiding behind or blaming the Governor.  But she cannot hide from her record of dishonesty as Monmouth County Sheriff.

Kim Guadagno and Gov. Christie

In 2009, to cover a large budget deficit resulting from the recession, the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders, of which I was a member, froze the wages of non-union county employees and asked the unions to agree to a wage freeze. Failing such an agreement, some union members would have to be laid off.

The Freeholders asked Sheriff Guadagno to persuade the unions representing her sheriff’s officers and corrections officers to accept the freeze.  She refused to cooperate, predicting that the savings anticipated from a wage freeze or offsetting layoffs would be lost because she was going to use overtime to continue running the jail, serve warrants, and discharge other functions.  When invited to comment on her budget at a public meeting, she turned her back on the Freeholders and told the hundreds of union members present that they were right to object to the freeze and the Freeholders were wrong. (Asbury Park Press, 7/21/09).

The Sheriff’s unions rejected the freeze, and fourteen of their least senior members with young families were laid off. In addition, Guadagno laid off process servers who had agreed to the freeze and replaced them with higher paid personnel.  After intervention by the county administrator and attorneys, the process servers were reinstated (APP, 7/27/09).  Despite Guadagno’s machinations, the county ultimately did realize salary and fringe benefit savings in the Sheriff’s budget (APP, 10/1/09).

At her first press conference as a candidate for Lieutenant Governor, Guadagno said, “I can tell you that I’m probably the only elected public official who had to stand toe-to- toe, eye-to- eye and negotiate with unions.”  The truth is she was playing footsie with them. At a closed Freeholder meeting earlier in the year, the Republican County Administrator and County Counsel had recommended that the Freeholders pull operation of the jail and youth detention center from Guadagno because of “complaints and concerns relative to the …performance of her duties and lack of responsiveness to the Freeholders” and her close alignment with labor unions in opposing payroll cuts. (APP, 9/30/09).

Angered by these episodes, a Republican blogger wrote “it is common knowledge that Guadagno made the union men and women feel as if she was 100%  PRO them. Then after the smoke clears and she is running with Christie she publicly states that she fought hard to suppress the unions she was protecting.  She still makes 110K as sheriff….What do the laid off workers have?  Sheriff Guadagno is a fraud.”  (PA_TH_TIC, 9/30/09).

This history of shady behavior by former Sheriff Kim Guadagno, strikingly similar in many respects to that of President Donald Trump, is worrisome and calls to mind the warning in the following Bible verse: “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.” (Luke 16:10, New Living Translation).

Democratic Hall of Fame Dinner

This past Thursday night the Monmouth County Democrats held their inaugural Hall of Fame Dinner, where they inducted 6 longtime and distinguished members of the Monmouth County Democratic organization into its Hall of Fame. It was well attended by many prominent democrats from around the county and included a keynote address from a very special guest, former Governor James Florio.

Those honored during the induction ceremony where:

Feeholder John D'Amico (Oceanport)

Dorothy Davis (Red Bank)

Norma Rosenbloom (Shrewsbury)

 Mayor Michael Ryan (Lake Cuomo)

Robert Salman (Marlboro)

and

Chairman Victor V. Scudiery ( Middletown)

I snapped a few pictures from the evening to share with everyone, it was truly a great event! 

Governor Florio and HoF inductee John D'Amico 

Mayor Jon Hornichk, Governor Florio and Victor Scudeiry 

Governor James Florio

Mayor Mike Ryan

Members of the Monmouth County Woman's Cuacus

Middletown's Bill Stevenson and Harry Hanna

Michael Murphy and HoF inductee Mayor Michael Ryan

Charles Uliano and HoF inductee Chairman Victor Scudeiry

Mayor Jon Hornick and HoF inducteee Robert Salman

MCD's Vice Chair Mary Foster and HoF inductee Norma Rosebloom

D'Amico: "Does the Tea Party Understand the Constitution?"

This past weekend former Monmouth County Freeholder John D'Amico, wrote an outstanding article for  Salon.com titled, "Does the Tea Party understand the Constitution?". It's a wonderfully reasoned column that draws from western traditions as prescribed by the likes of  Plato, the New Testament, founding fathers John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence and the U.S.Constitution, to belittle members of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus and those from the far right of the Republican party, that urge their members and supporters to respect the "individual" and the "principals" outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S.Constitution, without knowing the true meaning or history behind those documents and principals.

For those that don't know former Freeholder John D'Amico, is a graduate of Harvard College and Havard Law School, he is a retired Judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey, is a former State Senator and also served as the Chairman of the New Jersey State Parole Board. D'Amico is a thoughtful and learned person who I respect

Here is a little of what Judge D'Amico had to say:

Last month, 20 House Republicans, along with staffers from nearly 40 congressional offices attended the first meeting of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus. The three premises behind the Caucus, according to Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who emceed the event, are “we’re taxed enough, we spend less than we take in, and we follow the Constitution.” This purported devotion to the founding documents echoes the themes reverberated at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in March, where Sarah Palin and former Rick Santorum declared that the Declaration of Independence has given America “a set of principles and values” — and Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) urged his party to respect the individual “by going forward to the classical and timeless ideas enshrined in our Constitution.”

Naturally, these pronouncements raise a fundamental question — namely, which governmental policies and programs are consistent with the core values and ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution? Are they the ones proposed by the Tea Party and conservatives? The Declaration of Independence proclaims that: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights governments are instituted among men …” Slavery having been abolished and women enfranchised, Thomas Jefferson’s powerful words should be read to mean that all human beings are by nature equal as persons.

A student of classic Greek philosophy, Jefferson may have derived this insight from Plato: “All men are by nature equal, made all of the same earth by the same Workman, and however we deceive ourselves, as dear to God is the poor peasant as the mighty prince.” All people have rights inherent in their human nature including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We all have bodies and brains. Although some people are smarter, better looking or more physically fit than others, we all need food, water, clothing and shelter to survive. But the mere satisfaction of our physical needs is not our ultimate goal. Our founding fathers learned from Aristotle that “happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” It is a whole life well-lived and enriched by the cumulative possession of all the goods — health, sufficient wealth, knowledge, friendship and virtue — that a moral and ethical human being ought to desire.

Accordingly, John Adams believed “the happiness of society is the end of government.” Jefferson agreed, declaring that “the care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government.” The pursuit of happiness is dependent on, and calls for, governmental protection of our life and health. Viewed through the prism of the Declaration, then, universal background checks for gun purchases, health care reform legislation to cover the uninsured, child care, workplace safety, laws and regulations protecting the air we breathe and the water we drink, and measures to slow or reverse global warming that science tells us is threatening the health of our planet and its human inhabitants, are essential to protect our right to life and abet our pursuit of happiness....

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An Evening of Support For Monmouth County Freeholder Amy Mallet

Please Join

THE HONORABLE JOHN D’AMICO

with

STACY and GORDON GEMMA

FOR AN EVENING IN SUPPORT OF

MONMOUTH COUNTY FREEHOLDER

AMY MALLET

FRIDAY, JUNE 10th, 2011 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM

AT 68 SENECA PLACE, OCEANPORT, NJ

$50.00 per Person Donation Requested

Please RSVP to: gngemma@yahoo.com or 973.975-7826

Please make an effort to come out and support Freeholder Amy Mallet at this event on June 10. She is the last bastion of two-party government and checks and balances in Monmouth County Government.

Thanks,

John D'Amico