THE BONDS OF THE
DOHERTY ADMINISTRATION
The above ordinance removes $4.1 mil from 2015-22 and a separate bond for that amount is issued by 2015-25. (I’m sure you all remember the fight over the bundling.)
The above list doesn’t include all the pavilion bond ordinances from 2013 and 2014 that we managed to beat back. These are the ones that were enacted and have to be paid.
67 Comments
Most residents put their faith in their leaders to be prudent and do what’s best. Thinking they have a plan. But not Doherty, Magovern, Connolly, Brennan and Nicolay. I also blame CFO Robbin Kirk for not saying enough is enough. We can’t afford any more bonding because when they become due we wont be able to pay them. Dohertys tenure of no taxes was a ploy to advance his political agenda and we the taxpayers of Belmar are on the hook.
Absolutely true # 1. And those trying to blow the whistle on this mayhem, including our former councilman Bean, those running against the Dorehty machine, Mike Seabeck, the Admin of this blog Dave Schneck (also a candidate for council) among others, are still referred to as having been angry!! Angry and negative about trying to expose this mess?? As if being ANGRY was a bad thing! I for one am still ANGRY!!
And though moving forward is a must (I hear that all the time too) I find it unconscionable that Doherty walks away with a cushy state job. That those that followed him blindly like he was some kind of messiah, that allowed this injustice, that voted for these bonds one after the other with no push back or worked to help slander good people raising the red flag; that those people walk away with no consequences.
Let this be a lesson going forward! When your asleep at the wheel or don’t heed the warning signs you will eventually crash.
We were just against recovery, that’s all.
I saw the way the past administration treated Dave (the Administrator of this blog) and others…like they were crazies. I watched our former mayor ridicule him and others at public meetings…it was disgusting. Dave you have been vindicated! We all owe you a big thank you!
Stench of Bill Young. Mastermind, dirtbag!
Brennan should resign immediately or face a recall for this Novembers ballot.
It’s amazing to me to that so many people fled from areas like Newark and JC for example,who have resettledin Belmar, now find that their paradise at the shore could be on the brink of a State takeover very much like Newark, Camden, JC. The worst part is that the same people voted the machine in in both places. Now what?
And don’t forget that same crew “gave away” many of our valuable assets and resources. Whoring out or police department cheap, giving away our parking lot on 10th Ave.at RR to Depep for $150k, giving away rights to the valuable Marina property too cheap, taking the 5th Ave. pavilion away from the taxpayers’ for Merry Makers profits and so on and so on. Years ago these people would have been run out of town. How these idiots walk around this town and smile is disgusting. I really wish those guys from Florida were still here to organize some picketing in front of homes again. SLASH BUDGETS. NO TAX RAISE>
If the revenue from the Festivals do not cover the expenses they must be cancelled!
DPW payroll must be cut immediately i cant tell you how many times i have seen 4 guys planting around Silver Lake, Busy work????
#1 – I don’t include Nicholay, Magovern and Brennan in what you say sir. Obviously, they’re not smart enough to have had any idea of what was going on. I don’t believe Robin Kirk was involved either.
#9 – Cut 2 cronies from the top and you save 5 jobs of actual workers.
#10 Tom i agree they are all as dumb as rocks!
#2-I hope that you will listen to Mayor Walsifer and move on. Seems like you are wallowing in the recent findings with deep hatred of all that’s happened. Mentioning the former mayor’s new position is telling. He’s gone. Isn’t that what you wanted? I’m thrilled that Mark Walsifer is our Mayor. Why can’t you be happy and move on. Take Mark’s lead. Doherty found a new job. You’re saying he doesn’t deserve it. Who made you judge and jury? You always go beyond others when stating your objections to the past administration. Others, of course , state their objections, but you always are over the top with your anger and resentment. Get over it. Move on. Do something positive for the town. Volunteer for a committee. Stop moaning.
#13- You’re still pissed Hillary lost.
Claire ?
13: Katrina is a truth seeker. USA, NJ and Belmar need to be protected from what was learned about Doherty and his sheepeople. Benefitting from diaster and riding on the coattails of other democrats by forked tongue is not qualities to be espoused. Remember who sat back and allowed our 1 mile borough to drown because DOHERTY & pals, including our former CFO chose not to warn all the citizenry. That was dastardly.
#13 How can you possibly defend Doherty and his crew? Are ya kiddin? Finger pointing isn’t the best thing to do at a council meeting but that doesn’t mean their illegal and nefarious activities, bullying and corruption shouldn’t be discussed in an open forum such as this! They should be held accountable, not forgotten. Stop drinking the kool aid already.
Were any of the former leaders of the Dem party in attendance at the meeting of truths or have they moved on like nothing has happened. Claire? Brian? Pulido?
What do you get when you put a community organizer with fancy degrees but experience combined with a strong desire for political power, a grammar school gym teacher, a grammar school music teacher, a cheerleader and a former pilot to run Belmar? A financial disaster the implications of which will haunt our town for decades to come. Zero practical business, management or governing experience.
#14-Was never a Hillary fan. Never liked her .
#18. Tom Carvelli was there.
#2- Do you intentionally misspell Matt’s last name? Doherty is the correct way. You have yet to spell it correctly in any of your posts on this blog, which are many. Your contempt for him is obvious. So I’m guessing that’s why you continue to spell his name incorrectly. (Dorehty??)
look at the upside … Belmar passed the trash to Atlantic City.
For those of you who claim former mayor was rude to people, I thought he showed amazing restraint at times. People who came to the microphone were at times rude and accusatory as well. Have never been a fan of past mayors or council members. I guess the opposition had to prove to cohorts that they could speak on behalf of those who were not happy . Questions were asked which had nothing to do with the town . It’s like they were playing gotcha. It was only after several rounds of rudeness by political opponents did the mayor get riled and responded accordingly. I’ve not been to many council meetings over the years. I watch the videos of meetings. Council members were accused of make-believe scenarios. Let’s not forget that negative remarks about family members of council members (as comments) were posted on this blog. The indignation about the mayor’s rudeness is hypocritical. Go back and check the videos. One critic of the Mayor lost total control . But that was OKAY. Oh, but she had a right to do so. The opposition is SO one-way.
#17- Never defended Doherty. Read carefully. Just said that the person who made the comment about his job can’t judge whether he was deserving or not .
Yes, that Matt is a real saint, and there will be a special place in heaven for him. Forgive and forget that he and his cohorts nearly ruined the borough and their antics were supported by mesmerized followers. Let us initiate a special novena for them. Hey, how about planting a tree for Matt at Silver Lake! No permit necessary. Someone commission a painting of him and his council members to be hung in the pavilion at 5th Avenue to honor them for their illustrious service. Then when the beach opens in the Spring, a free day for their family members. That should make amends for any perceived insults. Heck, FREE beach access for them for life.
Stay out of politics if you do not want your family members mentioned, in a good light or bad. Goes with the territory. Even Bill Clinton had his Rodgering.
#24 elected officials choose to put their hat in the ring and know what they are signing up for. it’s a choice and ruling and governing has been that way since the start of civilized man. If they were not able to take the heat and conduct themselves with civility and professionalism they never should have stepped into the fire that is politics.
13, 20, 24. Welcome to the internet.
#26-Sorry you missed my point, but your use of sarcasm is superb. My only meaning was to answer the remarks that pointed to Mayor Doherty as being rude. His opponents were no angels when they came to the microphone. They conspired to constantly put him on the spot, and , up to a point, he demonstrated great control. I never addressed any other topic regarding the Mayor.
I guess that disrespecting people who came to the mic to speak is a form of rudeness – or defensiveness. Well, Matt is gone, let us be thankful. Now we have to clean up his residue.
#30: Regarding people’s attitude at council meetings: If you heard gotcha questions, or angry and rude comments, it’s because they were REACTING to injustice. They didn’t have an agenda to take down the mayor. If the town communicated clearly and honestly, people wouldn’t have been rude. It’s really hard to keep your cool when you can’t get a truthful answer from an elected official. Add the political spin directed at questioners to make them look like they’re busybody naysayers who are against Belmar’s recovery. It wasn’t easy for me to keep my cool, I can’t imagine how bad it was for some who were more seriously maligned by him.
#32 You can’t convince me that people were maligned by the former Mayor. He REACTED to the planned efforts of his opponents. Comments at the microphone were being directed with a purpose; to humiliate and embarrass, and also to provoke. Efforts were also in my place to humiliate other members of the council. Opponents would huddle together at meetings in an attempt to come up with questions that had no merit. Opponents posed questions to council members as well because they were hopeful that they would look stupid. I witnessed this. Then opponents would giggle together if they prevailed. I also believe that opponents were being directed by an outside agency by phone. I’m not supporting all that the mayor has done. I’m just stating that certain opponents went overboard in an effort to humiliate, and enjoyed the outcome if they were successful.
#33. $36 MILLION in debt, 0 dollars in the Beach utility fund, inches away from a state takeover, gross crony salaries and you are sympathizing with the former administration over public comments at council meetings?!? You have got to be joking me.
#34-Responding to comments that the mayor was rude. Not commenting about anything else. I’m not questioning your claims. Mounting evidence proves your points. People (during Doherty administration) addressing the council asked questions unrelated to anything other than personal attacks, then, overjoyed, snickered with each other in delight.
#33 – Maybe the outside agency who was directing the Element was calling from Mars?
33: white jacket personnel are available to take you to the funny farm. Oh and it’s FREE to koolaiders.
Love the humor in the #36 and #37 postings! Mars is a good guess, but the outside commenter running the show was more local. Actually, as they were putting on my white jacket, I was happy to go to the funny farm because I like fun and farm animals!
Funny thing, I have attended many meetings for the last few years and have not noticed this snickering and malicious commenting at the microphone, but have noticed the attitudes of mockery in Doherty and Nicolay, especially. Looks of consternation and disbelief among the element, sometimes, yes, The critical koolaider could be from a parallel universe where a funny farm is a rest home for those who refuse to believe that Hilary lost the election, where room and board are FREE.
The Element work for the Russians, and Putin directs them. They are not a right wing conspiracy and this blog is not a right wing device, as the former mayor once claimed. They want to bring down America. Hilary would not have let this happen.
I met Putin
http://blog.commonsenseforbelmar.org/thanks-vlad/
Rock on, Admin! No “Sieg Heils” here.
Vlad’s secret collusion message revealed if you follow the news feed…
Joke all you want. Opponents of the former mayor were communicating with a Belmar resident who was advising them about questions that should be asked. I know this for a fact. So it’s not so foreign or crazy. This person was feeding them questions and ideas that would put council people on the spot. And yes, when the opponents were successful ( in their minds) they all but gave each other high fives. I’m just catching up with the blog, and thought I’d put what I know to be true. Laugh and make fun all you want. What was uncovered by our new mayor was bad news, no doubt. But I’m simply commenting on earlier remarks about council meeting behaviors.
This is total nonsense. While some of us would whisper to each other what questions we wanted to ask…so we wouldn’t waste our precious 5 minutes asking the same question…any questions that were asked came from the people asking them.
So the only excuse 44 has is that the Wizard of Belmar mesmerized Liberals, Dems, Gop and purple people eaters to nefariously set up Mcdirty and his gang in order to trip them up on their corrupt scheme(s) to mismanage Belmar and push us to Bankruptcy? There’s a bridge near JC that 44 can buy now b4 it freezes.
#44- I suggest you go back and do a little more catching up. I for one had been publicly called names at a council meeting. Unprofessional, egotistical, child like behavior. And I wouldn’t know a member of this so called element if I tripped over them.
This conspiracy theory is all deflection from the fact that the former mayor and council where deceptive and condescending.
#48 Correct!! This is just an attempt by #44 to deflect the severity of our current state of Belmar. #44 where were you and your outrage when McDirty and the Queen of Mean were the targeted victims of the alleged behavior you are describing? Probably snickering at the people trying to hold the council accountable, like the rest of the Dems. Only when the truth comes out do you try to create a false narrative. But we all know the truth, McDirty, the Queen of Mean and the rest of their followers took advantage of our town, with nefarious, negligent and down-right immoral actions and behavior. Shame on them. The only story is what they did, and what can be done to right the ship. There is no conspiracy theory as you suggest.
44, keep your minatory, small mind to your peeps who are as ill informed as you are.
#45-Disagree. Undercurrent was palpable.
#44: Let’s say you’re right… That there was a person feeding questions to others to pose. Were these others brainwashed, blackmailed or fooled? Or were they concerned citizens wanting to get to the truth? It is unreasonable to assume the former. IF what you’re saying is true, then a reasonable person would assume this: there were people who wanted to illuminate issues without misspeaking, to get the truth out of council members, to make points that don’t overlap previous points made by others, and only wanting to get the facts straight. I’d call that organizing. Organizing, questioning and even protesting….all part of our democracy (still true thank God).
As for sniggering or any negative reaction when at the mic. or in the audience; can you give an example of such behavior being a result of a scheme to make someone look bad for no logical reason other than hatred (which forgive me, is what I think you’re saying)? As far as I can see, each issue brought to light was a major problem for us residents, and folks were exasperated by having to address them, let alone be ignored or lied to.
Being ignored and lied to does make people get creative if they want to get to the truth. We really couldn’t find out by simply asking direct questions sometimes. My husband Tommy asked indirect questions and Brian Magovern chastised him (after the boro attorney spoke up and warned Brian not to answer). In regards to the expensive attorney hired to combat our petition to keep our campaign finance laws intact, Tommy asked “Who picked the attorney?” The answer? Well, you could hear crickets…no answer. Then he asked “Do you talk to each other about town issues when you’re in social situations?” Brian said yes. That’s when the boro attorney warned Brian to stop (because he may have violated the rules about open public meetings). If however the attorney for Belmar didn’t stop him from answering Tommy’s questions, he’d more clearly uncover the fact that a non-local and wildly expensive attorney was picked without doing so in a public meeting OR in an executive session (we know this because they had no executive sessions for many many months). MAYBE (but prob not) uncovering this would get the citizens to lean on the council to stop the spending spree on this case, to stop the illegal circumvention of our petition, and maybe get the council to be receptive to resident’s concerns and compromise the law so that Matt can raise more money but keep the best aspects of our campaign finance law. Who knows, working together may have brought a decent compromise. We’ll never know.
Is that what you mean by opponents putting council on the spot? They sure were on the spot;)! They were caught off guard. I even came up to the mic to express to Brian that Tommy wasn’t out to get him. Brian was my gym teacher. I felt bad that he was caught off guard. Then I remembered how off guard we’ve been for all the irrevocable decisions made by that administration that will negatively alter our quality of life for many years to come.
That, I regret more.
Good summary, #52. My conclusion is that people see what they want to see, hear what they want to hear, regardless of what is actually happening. Someone who still wants to vindicate the former mayors (Doherty and Magovern) and their cohorts will go the extra mile to justify the desire to do so, and hence, perception, excusing himself/herself from admitting he/she has supported officials who were less than above board, given the evidence. Sorry, some real dubious characters ran the borough and now they have been removed. Face it. Harsh? Yep.
Aileen. Your comments are always right on target and brimming with common sense – please keep them coming. I witnessed first hand how Tommy spoke at the microphone many times in an smart, eloquent and respectful manner only to be dismissed and derided simply because those in power disagreed with him. You and your family are Belmar to the core and to have been treated that way is shameful.
#52-You disproved your own theory about asking questions to get answers on local matters. Why would anyone ask a question about social situations ( discussing local issues between council member and attorney) if not to “stick it to” a council person? Are you stating that it’s OK to contact an outsider by phone to come up with questions for council members? ( which, in fact occurred) . Questions posed were answered by council and staff alike. If a question wasn’t answered, the name, e-mail, and phone # of the person was taken so that follow-up and an answer to the question could be provided after having been researched.
55: Colleen you wouldn’t know a name, return # email if you fell over it without saying “you’ll have to speak to Mcdirty about” abc, a license, a permit, etc. NOT code, safety, zoning or planning departments
Someone just asked me not long ago, and I couldn’t answer it. Maybe someone can help. Was there a person acting as a detective during Mayor Doherty’s terms of office ? I was told that someone was trying to monitor his phone calls. Can anyone speak to this?
Did Vlad tell him to tap his office?
55- You seem to be confused about this. Matt and the council were presented with a petition regarding Matt’s attempt to gut the town’s pay to play laws so that he could raise money for his freeholder bid. They ignored the petition even though it met all legal requirements. The reason? They hired an expensive law firm from Essex county (a law firm that specializes in helping politicians get around pay to play obstacles)and they, unsurprisingly,came to the conclusion that Belmar’s pay to play law is possibly unconstitutional. A judge later found that Matt and the gang violated the petitioner’s civil rights.
My question to the council was simple and direct; who decided to hire this outside law firm and under what circumstances was that decision made. The decision was not made during a closed session because there weren’t any closed sessions. It is a pretty big decision so I was curious as to how and when it was made. They wouldn’t answer and instead started stammering and spinning like a group of people who are guilty of something. I asked if they discussed it socially because that would be a direct violation of the Open Public Meetings Act. Brian basically admitted that they did but McGill shut it down quickly and then Brian said my five minutes was up at about the three minute and twenty seven second mark.
I conspired with no one. I didn’t giggle or snicker. Characterizing that as me playing ‘gotcha’ with them is like a burglar claiming you were playing gotcha when you caught him going through your jewelry box.
#57- Let’s hope it’s the Feds because Matt is in bed with the MCPO and now the State of N.J.
#59-I didn’t see the need for the question about socializing and discussion of the topic at hand. You and #52 doth protest too much.
Yeah – T – we should have just allowed the shenanigans. Uncovering wrongdoings is protesting too much. There’s no need to get to the bottom of violations. Just cause they happened doesn’t mean we should question or illuminate them. It’s not nice. 😉
T and A: Mea Culpa, beware of Campbell Porta people please.
62-Sarcasm isn’t usually your style. Self-righteous generally is how you come off. Self-appointed judge and jury. Are your perceptions truly realities?
Ah oh Aileen, careful now. The coward hiding behind anonymity is using the same language to scold you as he does me. Lol. 36 million of debt, buildings falling apart,ridiculous lawyer bills,terrible redevelopment deals, 10 lost lawsuits, unpaid insurance bills, no flood insurance on the pavilions, totally broke beach utility and our critic thinks we are very rude and mean. Oh and superior judge and jury.
Forget that everything we were fighting to reveal has been exposed. It was our tone ya see. That’s what is important. We are bad bad bad.
#64- Your loyalty, although blind and kinda sad, would make a golden retriever jealous. You keep on klinging to your misguided perception and ignore the facts. It is really hard to admit to yourself that you put your faith in the wrong people for all those years. So don’t do it. Don’t soul search, don’t reflect on the past deeds of the former town officials, don’t worry about it. You just keep on manufacturing scenarios that help you get through the night. We’ll pick up the slack and do the work of keeping our elected officials honest. You go ahead and wallow in your own self righteousness. Maybe one day you’ll get clarity, and then you can lend a hand.
I have refrained from comment since it was painfully obvious that this debt train wreck as well as the other lingering effects of bad judgement on the dais [yes i know that is giving incompetence and potential corruption the benefit of the doubt]were surely going to burden the town for many years. And yes it would have been worse were it not for the efforts of some who were dubbed the ‘element’. But i see there are some [probably relatively new arrivals who pay little or none of the taxes]who still want to support what would appear to be the mis[or mal]feasence of the crowd previously running the show because the people paying the freight wanted transparency and were not getting it.Those meanies actually wanted reasonable explanations and were not satisfied being told nonsense [like it was ‘free’].
And thanks #65 for the bare bones summary of what went on. Katrina and Aileen, you both deserve applause. I can only hope that the new people in charge will use honest good judgement to right the ship after the Doherty [Mr Ambitious Politician] debacle.
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