Appointments draw fire from Aaronson, Shapiro

Manalapan trio names
Stuart Moskovitz
municipal attorney
BY DAVE BENJAMIN
Staff Writer

The appointment of professionals proved to be a bone of contention among members of the Manalapan Township Committee during the governing body’s reorganization meeting Sunday.

Among the appointments was the naming of Stuart Moskovitz, who served on the Township Committee as a Democrat in 1999, 2000 and 2001, as township attorney.

The majority of the appointments were made in 3-2 votes that saw Democratic Mayor Bill Scherer join new Republican committeemen Joe Locricchio and Andrew Lucas.

Democrats Drew Shapiro and Rebecca Aaronson voted in the minority against most of the professional appointments and claimed the appointments violated ordinances that are aimed at limiting the practice of tying campaign contributions and municipal positions.

"A short nine months ago the previous Township Committee was hailed by Common Cause for passing one of the toughest pay-to-play ordinances in the state," Aaronson said. "Today the newly elected Republican majority will immediately turn its back on these ethical standards and usher in a shameless wave of political paybacks to those who financed their campaign. This committee will vote to hire paid professionals that clearly violate the criteria set forth by this legislation."

Aaronson said she would vote no on the appointment of many of the paid professionals because their contributions have exceeded the limits allowed by law and thus disqualifies them from accepting the appointments.

"The ink is barely dry on this ordinance and it is already being violated," she said.

Aaronson congratulated Locricchio and Lucas and said she was looking forward to working with them.

Scherer took issue with Aaronson’s statement that there is a Republican majority on the governing body. He said, "There’s three Democrats and two Repub-licans and all of us will work for the town. If I decide to run again, it will be on my terms and my own conditions. I’m up here as mayor and I will vote as I see fit."

Scherer’s second term on the committee will end on Dec. 31. The seat held be Aaronson will also be up for election in November.

Shapiro said he also had some major concerns about the appointments.

"Today there is an attempt to circumvent the system," said Shapiro. "If they do not believe that a law that was enacted is legal, then only a Superior Court judge’s power can make a ruling to overturn them. There were several laws enacted last year, one being the pay-to-play ordinance and the other the Request for Proposal (RFP) ordinance. Today, both are about to be broken."

The RFP ordinance establishes guidelines by which the members of the Township Committee are supposed to advertise for and hire professionals for certain municipal positions.

On Sunday, Shapiro said some of the professionals who were about to be selected were in violation of the township’s pay-to-play ordinance.

"They’re choosing to ignore the law and put them in place anyway," Shapiro said, adding that he and Aaronson had no involvement in the appointments nor the liaison positions.

Scherer, Locricchio and Lucas voted for the appointment of Moskovitz as township attorney. Shapiro and Aaronson voted against the appointment.

Donald Lomurro, who served as township attorney in 2004, was paid $145 per hour. A township official said Monday that a contract for Moskovitz has not been finalized.

Shapiro questioned Moskovitz’s experience and asked that attorney Christopher J. Hanlon, who he identified as a Republican, be appointed township attorney on an interim basis.

Locricchio read a list of Moskovitz’s qualifications and said "This is what’s best for the township of Manalapan."

By the same 3-2 votes, the following appointments were made:

• James Priolo, Birdsall Engineering, township engineer.

• Donna Miller, Gravatt Geller and Associates, township planner.

• Robert Oliwa, Oliwa and Company, township auditor.

Those three appointments represent a change from 2004.

Scherer said there will be two municipal judges, pending the approval of Superior Court Assignment Judge Lawrence M. Lawson. James Newman was reappointed as Manalapan’s municipal judge and Jeffrey Roth was also appointed to the position.

All five committee members voted to appoint Lucas to the Planning Board.

Other appointments include:

• Chief Public Defender, Mitchell J. Ansell, of Ansell, Zaro Grimm and Aaron (3-2 vote).

• Chief Public Defender, Allen E. Falk, of Healy and Falk (5-0 vote).

• Public Defender, Ronald W. Reba, subject to approval by Lawson (3-2 vote).

• Public Prosecutor, John J. Lane Jr., subject to approval by Lawson for a second municipal judge in Manalapan (5-0 vote).

• Forester and arborist, Gary Lovallo (3-2 vote).

• Special Counsel for Tax Appeals and Special Council for Litigation, Labor and Bankruptcy, Christopher J. Hanlon (3-2 vote).

Mayoral appointments to the Zoning Board of Adjustment were Steven Johnson and Maryann Musich, each for a four-year term ending Dec. 31, 2008, and Tonya Hornsby for the unexpired term of Salvatore Vitale ending Dec. 31, 2006.

Scherer also appointed a new Teen Affairs Advisory Committee, made up of local youths. The members are Kirsten Cluver, Christine Giardina, John Giardina, Laura Giardina, Kara Gurrieri and Nicole Saviano.

The public portion of the meeting included comments related to the appointments made by the committee.

Former committeewoman Michelle Roth said, "It was at Mr. Scherer’s insistence that Common Cause attend Township Committee meetings in early 2004 with the specific mission to convince the governing body to enact a pay-to-play ordinance. This ordinance was meant to prevent professionals from getting lucrative contracts with the town in exchange for contributions to political campaigns."

Roth said the governing body welcomed Common Cause and proceeded to enact what she said is the toughest pay-to-play ordinance in the state.

"At that time I remember Joe Locricchio yelling and complaining at the public hearing that the ordinance was no good because it left loopholes. Joe (Locricchio), Bill (Scherer) and Andrew (Lucas) have decided to ignore the law altogether and appoint individuals such as Stuart Moskovitz and firms such as Birdsall Engineering, despite the fact that they, as well as other professionals appointed by this gang of three, contributed to Joe and Andrew’s campaign well in excess of the legal amounts permitted by law," Roth said.

Roth questioned why only one person was asked to return to the recreation advisory board and not the others.

Resident Stephen Pine congratulated the new committee members and asked them to consider reappointing CME Associates, which had been working for the township as engineer for more than 30 years.

"This is a top engineering firm," said Pine. "Nobody knows Manalapan like they do. At least put Birdsall on an interim basis."

"Birdsall is top notch as well," Scherer said.

Resident Karen Eastman said she would like to see the infighting on the committee stopped.

Resident Jill Levine said she worked on the recreation advisory board for the past two years and wanted to know why she was no longer asked to be on the board, which is a volunteer position.

"I did my job for two years," she said. "I did a good job. I didn’t do anything wrong."

Levine was told by Lucas that the people who were on the board "came and asked to be appointed. We assumed that the [others] didn’t want to be reappointed. If you’d like to put your name in for next year’s appointments you’d be more than welcomed."

Locricchio told Levine she was not replaced.

"A lot of people wanted to help," said the committeeman.

Manalapan police Sgt. Glenn Essner said he was asked to return to the recreation advisory board, but did not know why most of the other people were not asked back.

"I think in the future when appointments are made, the people who are on the committee should be approached individually before new appointments are made," said Essner. "These people have been doing good work. Democrat or Republican, I don’t think it matters. I don’t think it’s right."

During the reorganization meeting, a moment of silence was observed for Louise Kleinhenz, the township’s former tax collector who died over the weekend. Kleinhenz was a 40-year resident of the community.