A Watchdog Required

I would like to thank the over four hundred Democrats from every Town and District in Monmouth County who nominated me at the convention this past Saturday to run for Monmouth County Freeholder in the November election.

The monopoly control of any political body by one political party is not healthy and leads, inevitably, to corruption. The Republicans now have an unchallenged and unhealthy monopoly on the Freeholder Board. And they have tried to abuse that advantage for the benefit of their friends. A Democratic watchdog is minimally required to provide necessary sunlight and oversight on their actions.

Here are some examples. The current Lucas land deal is the latest Board scandal. But when it first came up for a Freeholder vote several years ago, the only Freeholder who voted against it was the only Democrat, Amy Mallet. If not for Amy, this sleazy deal might have slipped by without notice. Then, once Amy left the Board, the Republican monopoly voted quickly to repeal its ‘pay for play’ ethical prohibitions. And it was the Democrats that pointed out the long term misfeasance in the Republican Monmouth County Clerk’s office regarding voter ballot positioning.

The duty of the minority party is to be a watchdog on the majority.

Here are some abilities I can bring to the role of resident watchdog on the Freeholder Board.

On the current Freeholders Board we have a landscaper, a car dealer, a salesman, a real estate agent, and a lawyer. These are all fine professions and small businesses to be represented on the Board. But none of these members are educated or experienced on the accounting, finance, or management skills needed to monitor the half billion dollar enterprise which is Monmouth County.   

I have a degree in finance and an advanced degree in accounting and law and I was an auditor with the largest accounting firms in the world. And I know about monitoring government agencies. I performed special audits of the Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) here in New Jersey and of the Board of Education in New York City. Both of those audits uncovered real problems in those agencies.

I also know about controlling large organization as well as small. I served as a controller of a subsidiary of a New York Stock Exchange company. And, besides starting my own small business, I managed multi-billion dollar businesses for American Express- one of the most well managed companies in the world.

In short, I will bring important, necessary, and missing education, experience, and management skills to the Freeholder Board.  These are abilities that will help the Board and county agencies and make me a formidable watchdog for the residents of Monmouth County.

I seek your support for this important role.

Brian Froelich

Candidate for Monmouth County Freeholder