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Freeholder Candidates Answer Questions From Public At Library Forum
By John Burton
MANALAPAN - During the course of a nearly two-hour debate on Wednesday evening, Oct. 22, the four candidates for the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders had a chance to answer about a dozen questions. And while the questions provided the candidates with a chance to briefly address their positions on the challenges the county faces, it also allowed for ample opportunity for them take swipes at their opponents.
Republican incumbent Freeholder Director Lillian Burry joined her GOP running mate John P. Curley, Middletown, and Democrats Amy Mallet, Fair Haven, and Glenn Mason, Hazlet, as they addressed audience questions at the Monmouth County Library Western Branch, 125 Symmes Road.
The questions, submitted on white index cards by the roughly 50-member audience just prior to the 7 p.m. starting time, covered topics related to environmental issues, such as encouraging more recycling, government ethics issues, the impact of state mandated for affordable housing requirements, and even what should be done with the county's Youth Detention Center. But candidates used some of the questions as gateways to level charges they had been raising against their opponents.
An early question asked of Mallet about county government transparency allowed the Democrat to again level a charge against Burry, alleging Burry used a historic house tour of Burry's hometown of Colts Neck to benefit her local real estate business.
"I would not be mixing business with public service," Mallet said to the question.
"It's so out of order it's incredible," Burry replied.
"To say I benefited personally is a little ridiculous," Burry added.
Curley, who has a reputation as something of a political firebrand during his almost six years on the Red Bank Borough Council, said of Mallet, "She has a hell of a nerve," as he countered with charges against Mallet for allegedly not paying back campaign expenses related to her failed fun for the state Assembly last year. Curley went on to hold up a state Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) report indicating the Democrats had taken money, in this case $35,000, from labor unions headquartered outside of Monmouth County. "What the hell are they looking for?" he said of the out-of-county contributors.
Curley during the course of the evening kept trying to link Mason and Mallet with a "Corzine-Norcross-Roberts" connection, referring to the Democratic Governor and Joseph Roberts a south Democratic Assembly leader, and George Norcross, a Camden County Democratic power broker.
"Mr. Curley is not immune to ethical issues, either," Mason offered, alluding to a recent dispute between Curley and Burry over the county's reappointment of a Red Bank law firm, headed by former Red Bank Mayor Edward J. McKenna Jr., with whom Curley has had a contentious relationship for years. Mason said Curley was motivated to "pay an old score," by way of county politics and went on to accuse Curley of using, "false cues and lies."
As for the contributions, "Yes we are raising money and continue to do so," Mallet said, noting the union offices maybe from out of county, but many of its members live and work here.
Along with the attempted smack-downs, the four used the evening to tout their accomplishments and vision for the future.
Burry talked of the strides the county has made under Republican leadership, retaining a sterling bond rating; no tax increase this year, stellar educational, and parks and recreational programs; and an ongoing dedication to expand the open space program and to look to trim costs and actually make money through some initiatives.
Curley talked of his work on the Red Bank Borough Council (where he was first elected as a Democrat), where he said he has been a "reformer," responsible with a then fellow Republican Councilwoman, and now Senator, Jennifer Beck, for a strong municipal pay-to-play ordinance, among his other achievements. Mallet talked of running a small marketing business and the need to bring that business acumen to county government, where the budget is inflated annually, not at an estimated half-billion dollars; and to bring greater emphasis for a green agenda that would be good for the taxpayers and for the environment.
Mason, a retired Hazlet police officer and current president of the Hazlet Board of Education, where he advocated seeking competitive bids for employee health insurance, a strategy apparently overlooked by the freeholders, and much needed on that level, he and Mallet said.
