Correcting the mis-truths being circulated by the mayor and his supporters is becoming a full time job and I already have a full time job and a 300 mile per week Parkway/Turnpike commute. But there is never any respite so here I am again. (I’m getting surgery in mid-November and will probably be taking a couple of weeks off from blogging. That alone probably makes the surgery worth it.)
On line in today’s Press (probably in print tomorrow or Monday):
LETTER: Vote ‘yes’ for Taylor Pavilion in Belmar
It is important for Belmar voters to come out and vote “yes” on the public question regarding the Taylor Pavilion on Tuesday. (Yes, but who, exactly, is it important for?) Now that we have all our families finally back home after three years (Don’t even get me started on THAT) , it is time to rebuild our pavilions. (What does one have to do with the other?) Voting yes will allow us to rebuild Taylor as a one-story building (and whose idea was the two-story building?) and finally remove the food trucks on Ocean Avenue. (This argument makes no sense. Are people all the way down the beach going to walk the whole way to 5th Ave for lunch after the new pavilion is built? Anyway, you can get rid of the lunch trucks any time you want.)
Voting yes has broad bipartisan support from both Democrats and Republicans. Both Democratic Councilwoman Jennifer Nicolay and her opponent Republican council candidate Tom Burke agree that people should vote yes. (One guy, who ran unopposed for the Republican nomination because nobody else…including this author…wanted the job, who has the support of no Republicans I know…and I know a lot of Republicans..supports everything the mayor does. Now everything the mayor does has bipartisan support.) That says a lot since nowadays Democrats and Republicans agree on little. (They still agree on too much IMHO.)
It is important to note that rebuilding the Taylor Pavilion will impose no financial burden on Belmar taxpayers. (You’ve been telling us that for 6 months but Colleen Connolly testified that what you tell us is just your “opinion” and that she will figure out what the cost is to taxpayers after the thing is built and that she will be following Judge Lawson’s directives, not your “opinion”) FEMA has obligated $5.4 million and the building costs $4.1 million. (Judge Gummer will allow us to use less than $2 million of the FEMA money.) So there is plenty of FEMA money to cover the cost, and then some. (Yeah, we’re going to make a $1.3 million profit.) In addition, we have had no tax increase in the past five years, and we are now working on the 2016 budget to ensure there is no tax increase next year as well. (Debt has roughly tripled since Doherty became mayor. And if the “yes” side wins it will increase at least another $2.1 million.) Lastly, Moody’s has recently improved our credit rating to Aa3 and we continue to aggressively pay down our debt. (First of all, Aa3 is not that great. Plenty of NJ towns have better ratings. Secondly, one reason Moody’s pointed to for the decent rating was the fact that property owners have a lot of money the mayor can grab if he needs to. Thirdly, maybe Moody’s will lower our rating if we borrow another $2.1 million.)
Let’s keep our recovery moving forward in Belmar in a way that is fiscally responsible (not) and built to last (like all the previous pavilions) by voting yes on Tuesday.
Matt Doherty (true)
Belmar (unfortunately)
***
BTW, the mayor was out knocking on doors yesterday handing out this similar letter:
and a reprint of a letter sent to the Coast Star by supporter Tom Burke:
28 Comments
Good luck with your surgery.
Keep it up mayor, I never really realized what the entire story was about. I see now that it’s about doing it your way and not for the residents.
No matter the outcome of the vote Tuesday. The pre-election goings on have deepened the divide. This mayor and his allies will govern with less and not more consensus. Their my-way-or-highway, their doubling down, their contempt for compromise will have serious consequences. If they score a political victory, the cost to their legitimacy will be great.
I know, Belmar can charge .5 cents to view a video of each and every council meeting until December. Considering you get at least 1000 video viewers after each council meeting, there’s another revenue stream to reduce the 4.1 million dollar pavilion cost. Maybe Bill McKim could do it for us for the few meetings we will have?
I would hope the good residents of Belmar see through all of the hype, fanfare and most of all the money being spent by the Democratic Committee)on the pavilion vote. I thought this was not political. The best was the ad they had in the Coast Star for the pavilion and none for Mrs. Nicolay.
After receiving and reading Mr. Pringle’s letter you would have to be either a millionaire who $$$$ doesn’t matter, god bless you, or pretty stupid. If this Mayor does not change his greedy ways we should not sue again we should forge a petition to REMOVE him from office.
…and then there was light. Ken Pringle’s letter today was more then a ray of light. It was complete illumination and exposure of the consequences of Tuesday’s election and the critical importance of all of our votes on the pavilion question. Additionally, Dave’s dissection of the Mayor’s letter, particularly paragraph 3, exposes Matt’s blatant efforts to create an alternate reality that suits his purposes without regard for truth, or a judicial ruling. Tuesday…Vote NO on the pavilion question, and YES to Dave Schneck as our new councilman.
Its that time of year when I call the mayor out for more mendacity then any one person can handle.
Well a recall would be a grand thing. The last one we had there was no proof of anything illegal there was a 12 o’clock closing a garbage issue and twice as many registered voters for a recall. This is more serious and no one appears to want to do anything about it. We are losing our town people the out come might be that we keep paying until he gets bored and moves on or stays. One is as bad as the other.
#9 Tulips. For starters creating an ordinance that legally rigged the bid so only union employees could bid on the Pavilions. Second a clear conflict of interest with accepting Donations from companies that do business with his wife. Not being truthful about his relationship with the donors and how the Pavilions would be financed. We should not have to keep going to court to prove he is corrupt.
I need more aspirins.
I agree with everything you say. Where
do we go now? The dems did the recall the first time. Maybe it is the way to stop him.
12 Tulip I wish i knew how to do it. An attorney i am not.
The mayor has to be caught in something clearly criminal to be brought down. After all, Big Al from Chicago went to jail for tax evasion, and he was worse than this guy.
All career politicians lie and it is not a crime. Criminal actions include:
Abuse of Power, Official Misconduct, and /or a variety of charges to do with finances. Good luck with that. DPW director retired from Monmouth Prosecutor’s job. Criminal atty for the gang…Ed Bertuccio has 100% batting average defending Belmar corrupt officials. Really have to file charges out of the box and out of the County to even have a chance of getting them.
Certain cases were not shared with local, county or state law enforcement agencies before being turned over to a GJ. Was there trust leaks, misplaced loyalties? Never a question of legality or honesty being questioned or published. You figure it out.
#14 Call Me Cynical, The Mayor is only guilty of being a Jerk. The Luna donation could be considered influence peddling by the Organization. Time will tell.
#17 – I agree with your assessment of what our mayor is guilty of. Hopefully, after the beating he is about to receive on Tues. with the Pavilion Question going down, he may see reason and negotiate a reasonable compromise between his interesting faction and the citizenry.
#17 As I recall, a few years ago, the mayor claimed, “We take care of our own.” The circle of “caretakers” is wider, as to who qualifies as “our own.” The whole thing smells.
#15 Dont forget. Rumor has it that the DPW Director is about to become a Belmar Cop. From what I understand this is supposed to happen in a few weeks. The Chief is retiring and they will not replace the Chief but hire Mike Campbell as Public Safety Director.
GAF!
Eddie Kirschenbaum he is not. What a joke.
Ken Pringle the epitome of a statue of Honest American manhood.
Will the next switcheroo be ray Claudio filling the shoes of dpw director? no quality just quantity
#24 And an incentive for his wife to keep her mouth shut and play Borough Ball.
Whistleblowers make a lot of money
…if they can afford to be fired. In this case, she may get a raise. I wonder if April could become Borough Administrator if Colleen is asked to resign (for being too “honest”). Nah, Colleen will get a raise as well. New gameboard: Borough Ball. Favorite card? Go to jail!
Whistle-blower in brink woth 250k
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