Defamatory online posts rile former public official
Manalapan committee asked to condemn anonymous messages
BY KATHY BARATTA Staff Writer

MANALAPAN - As a veteran of local politics, George Spodak thought he had seen the worst that politics has to offer and says he has the battle scars to prove it.

He will tell you he earned those battle scars by working to establish a legacy that he feels is now being threatened by lies and accusations about him that have recently been posted anonymously on an Internet Web site.

Spodak, 67, is a 41-year resident of Manalapan. He served on the Manalapan Township Committee for three terms starting in 1975. He said he is proud of what he accomplished while in office and sees the Internet postings as a threat to that legacy.

He said one of his proudest achievements was successfully lobbying to have the western branch of the Monmouth County Library built on Symmes Drive in Manalapan. Spodak said he signed the deed that transferred the property to the library system.

He said his other accomplishments include the development of Manalapan's road department, the inception of a senior citizens advisory board and the construction of the present municipal building and the Manalapan Recreation Center.

It is the threat to that legacy that led Spodak to hire an attorney in order to pursue legal redress against anonymous Internet attackers who have accused him of committing crimes while in office and other contemptible acts.

He said he has directed attorney Larry Kleiner to pursue whatever legal avenues may be available in an effort to identify the person or persons he maintains

have defamed and/or libeled

him.

Spodak said he has not posted messages on

the Internet site on

which messages have

been posted about him.

He said he does not own

a computer. He cited a recent case in which the identity of a previously anonymous Monmouth County blogger was revealed through legal proceedings.

He came before the Township Committee on Feb. 13 to ask the members of the governing body to publicly censure the InternetWeb site in question. He said he believes the town's elected officials should lead by example and condemn the anonymous attackers.

Spodak contends that if the defamation of individuals on the Internet is allowed to continue it will discourage people from entering public service for fear of becoming the target of anonymous attackers.

"The town loses too," he said.

Spodak likened today's anonymous attacks on the Internet to a hate crime that occurred while he was in office and a local synagogue was vandalized and defaced by graffiti. He said the members of the Township Committee decried the vandalism and he believes today's elected officials must take the same position on Internet hate speech.

After Spodak made his comments, several residents said they believed the former mayor was wasting the committee's time by speaking about the Internet message board. Several people said they, too, had been the target of anonymous attacks on the same Web site.

"What is the price of tea in China?" resident Susan Heckler asked Deputy Mayor Susan Cohen in an effort to illustrate how trivial she believed Spodak's presentation had been.

Spodak said although he had discussed the attacks against him, his reason for mentioning the Web site to the members of the committee had been twofold.

The first reason was to address the attacks because he believed that however untrue they might be, if people read them enough times they might begin to believe they are true. He said he believes the "big lie is catering to the newer residents of our town."

"I think by repeating their slanderous and demeaning accusations someone in our town may start to believe them," he said.

The other reason Spodak believes he has been maligned on-line is because he has recently started to attend municipal meetings after years out of the public eye. He said municipal approval of The Village at Manalapan, a 500,000-square-foot shopping center at Route 33 andMillhurst Road, brought him back to town hall. He has also asked questions about litigation that Manalapan is involved in with Stuart Moskovitz, a former member of the Township Committee and a former township attorney.

The members of the governing body mostly commiserated with Spodak, with several officials noting that they have been attacked on the same Web site.

During his presentation Spodak also asked township officials to examine how the rezoning of a particular piece of property in 2000 came about. He maintains the rezoning was illegal spot zoning. The property in question is the former Probasco farm at Route 33 and Millhurst Road. It was rezoned from office complex to commercial shopping center. That is the property where The Village atManalapan has received preliminary approval.

Spodak alleged that the rezoning ordinance which created a village center zone was drafted by the developer's attorney and not by Manalapan's professionals. He asked that the Monmouth County prosecutor look into how the rezoning ordinance came about.

The developer who proposed a commercial use on the property in 2000 is not the developer who eventually received preliminary approval for The Village at Manalapan. The construction of the shopping center has not gotten under way.

The News Transcript spoke with professionals who were working for Manalapan at the time the village center zoning ordinance was developed.

Norman Kauff, who was township attorney, Anthony Mercantante, who was the township planner, and Greg Valesi, who was the township engineer, all said they had nothing to do with drafting the ordinance and did not see it until it was introduced in March 2000.

All three men said they were not sure who developed the ordinance which was adopted by the committee in May 2000.

Mercantante said he had only been involved in working on the ordinance after its introduction when amendments were made, such as removing some of the major components proposed for the project (a movie theater).

Mayor Michelle Roth and Committeeman Andrew Lucas said it is highly unusual for a developer's representative to develop a land use ordinance without input from the municipality's professionals.

Former Mayor James Gray, who has stated his opposition to The Village at Manalapan, agreed it was unusual, but did not know if it could be considered illegal for an ordinance to be introduced without input from the town's professionals.

Moskovitz, who was mayor in 2000, said it had been his understanding that Mercantante did work on developing the village center ordinance and questioned Spodak's motives for bringing old township business to the forefront.

Commenting on the professionals' assertion that they had not been involved in drafting the ordinance,Moskovitz said, referring to Spodak, "If some idiot hadn't come to the microphone after seven years, maybe these people would have had better memories."

Spodak asked the committee to call on the prosecutor's office "for a full investigation of the (property) dealing with the various zone changes and proposed zone changes from the year 2000 to the present to find out what really took place at the various levels of government to include all the mayors, planning board, township committees and the developer's political involvement to get to the real truth in this matter."

The members of the governing body said they would review the matter before asking the prosecutor to get involved.