Statement From Democratic County Chairman Calls For Resignation of Union Beach Mayor

For Immediate Release:

The following is a statement from Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal regarding the recent comments by Union Beach Mayor Paul Smith, as highlighted in today's Asbury Park Press

http://www.app.com/story/news/local/monmouth-county/2015/03/09/facebook-posts-put-monmoth-gop-officials-hot-water/24664635/


"Union Beach Mayor Paul Smith's bigoted and blatantly false comments have no place in our political discourse and raise serious questions about his ability to uphold his oath of office. His comments show a complete lack of respect for the people of Monmouth County and for the President of this country. They are beneath the office he holds and undermine our confidence in his ability to fairly represent people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds. For that reason, the Mayor should resign and I urge Republican Party Chairman Shaun Golden and the Republican Freeholder Board to join me in asking Mayor Smith to resign."

Jersey Shore Insider: Monmouth GOP Leaders Display Racist Posts On Social Media; When Will They Learn??

The blog Jersey Shore Insider created quite a stir the other day when it reported on a pair of
Monmouth County GOP members, Union Beach Mayor Paul Smith and Marlboro Board of Education Vice President Victoria Dean, who's husband is Marlboro GOP Municipal Chair Chris Dean, posted rather questionable and to some, offensive racist material to their Facebook pages.

Union Beach's Smith and Marlboro's Dean each had posted and or "liked" racists and offensive anti-President Obama on their Facebook pages; Smith an insulting meme  calling President Obama “A Communist, a Muslim, and an Illegal Alien.” and Dean "who displayed and “liked” a post on her Facebook page stating “America isn’t America anymore! It’s run by foreigners including this RAG HEAD PRESIDENT!”, according to the Jersey Shore Insider.

This little story by the Insider has been made even bigger today by the fact that  the Asbury Park Press picked up on it last night and has posted an article dressing it.

In light of the recent Facebook flap created by Stafford Township Mayor John Spodofora, who launched a police probe against a critic who questioned his military service you would think that public officials would be a little more careful about what the post or have others post on their Facebook pages.

This story also brings to mind Middletown's own Facebook controversy that I posted about last September concerning Tony Fiore, who was seeking reelection to the Township Committee. If you remember Fiore had an offensive anti-woman meme posted to his Facebook account on which he "liked' and commented on.

 Fiore tried to deny that the post existed but later admitted it on social media before deleting it and turning his personal Facebook setting to "private" so that his posts couldn't bee seen by those that weren't his "friends".