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
Your are correct. There is a need for the minority party to serve as a "watchdog" over the shenanigans of the majority party in power. But why stop with the Lucas land deal? We can go back to Operation Bid Rig in it's various phases. The most recent phase starring convicted fraudster Solomon Dwek, and his giving campaign money to quite a few politicians in this county. What was the quid pro quo? Another festering corruption case is the Sheriff's Department pension scam (see below). All Freeholders are aware of it; however, they choose to do nothing about it. The Freeholders are the funding mechanism of the sheriff's department--they should threaten to reduce funding until an independent investigation is completed. http://newjersey.watchdog.org/2011/10/10/the-golden-age-of-double-dipping-in-monmouth-county/
Red Bank is a very cool & special town with so much wonderful diversity, with exception of politics AND with politics in Red Bank it's diversity by appointment & perception...
I have no intention of analyzing and/or commenting on the hundreds of individual races, candidates, towns, etc involved in this election.
Mr. Froelich is concentrated on the Freeholder race. Why don't you support your local candidate to do the same as Mr. Froelich is doing: namely, get opposition members elected to keep an eye on the majority party.
I understand the hierarchy of government from town to county. And thank you, I think I will support my local candidates. No offense, but please read my reply to Mr. Froelich to see why I think it was a fair question. It's a long way to November... but I guess the arrival of silly season corresponds with the return of the robins in these parts.
The campaigns of two of the politicians who voted in favor - Madam Freeholder Burry and Manalapan Mayor Cohen benefited from Lucas fundraising activities. A third politician, Manapan Committee Rep Don Holland benefits because the value of his farm increases because the Lucas farm will never be developed. The citizens of Monmouth and Manalapan are like one big happy family. The taxpayers are like Cinderella; the Republicans are like her sisters and her mother.
First, Freeholders aren’t unelected or unaccountable and they are spending your/our money. They are elected (or unelected!) directly by Monmouth county voters. Second, pointing out majority impropriety is not the only purpose of the minority – but it is an important one. Without citizen interest and oversight the government really would be unaccountable.
There has been a large county financial scandal that has not been reported by the local papers, nor addressed by county policitians. I have posted it below. Would you demand a independent counsel for this situation? And would this be one of your campaign platforms to see this gets investigated? http://newjersey.watchdog.org/2013/01/07/7154/
Democrats, and thinking conservatives, understand that there are certain roles that the government must play - defining the law, enforcing the law, securing the community, the state, and the nation, educating our children, etc.
Meanwhile, as the politicians get dirtier and dirtier the citizens just get more and more cynical. Politics is too important to be left to the politicians.
After the sequester, this fiscal year's federal budget ($3.553 trillion) will still be larger than last year's ($3.538 trillion). Last year, the border was patrolled, emergency responders arrived when called, and airplanes left on time and landed safely. the Department of Transportation. Its budget last year was $75 billion; this year it is $89 billion. If Mr. LaHood believes he should start accumulating his $600 million in sequester savings by furloughing air-traffic controllers, the House Transportation Committee can ask why he didn't begin by cutting expenditures like Alaska sightseeing trains ($72 million), old-fashioned trolleys in Missouri ($22 million plus) and sidewalks to nowhere in Florida ($1.1 million)? These were all Department of Transportation outlays identified by Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn last October.
Join our fight -- come to a 1-hour meeting Sat. March 9th, 3 PM, at Silverton First Aid Squad, 86 Maine St., Toms River (all towns welcome). Info at StopFemaNow.com and Facebook.com/StopFemaNow. Save our Shore Communities!
I am a citizen first and foremost and I want honest, effective government- not semantics. FYI, I have worked against dishonest politicans before- of both parties.