In Three Berkeley Wards, Republican Candidates Have More Baggage Than Continental Airlines: In The First And Second Wards, Former Berkeley School Board Member Karen Davis And Central Regional School Board President Carmen Amato Have Recent Records That Have Been Reviewed By OCP And Are Still Captioned On The Front Page

In The Third Ward, The GOP Is Running Joann Petrizzo, Former Dover Committeewoman Who Shares Responsibility For The Devastating 1992 Financial Crisis, And The Very Same Planning Board Member Whose Cop-Out Is Responsible For JAMM Realty Approval That May Cost Dover Taxpayers More Than $14 Million:

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The bulk of the following article originally appeared 10/31/02:

Dover Democrats, Once Again, Fail To Meet Their Obligations As Loyal Opposition: They Never Said A Word As Former Republican Township Committeewoman Copped Out On JAMM Vote

Haines Wasn’t The Only Whitman Administration Patronage Recipient Who Betrayed Local Residents

JoAnn Petrizzo Didn’t Show For JAMM Realty Vote At County Planning Board; If She Was There For Dover Taxpayers, Project Would Have Been Voted Down Two Years Ago

River City: Former Committeewoman JoAnn Petrizzo, Dover Township’s representative on the Ocean County Planning Board, could have killed the JAMM Realty application simply by showing up to vote “No”.

But Petrizzo failed to show up for the meeting two years ago, and the JAMM project was approved 3-2, with Chairman George Buckwald and Surf City Councilman Jerry Little voting to disapprove.

The JAMM approval was enabled by the absence of Ms. Petrizzo who, if she was present at the hearing, could have denied the approval by making the vote 3-3 to kill it instead of 3-2 in favor.

Petrizzo Got $70,000 Whitman Patronage Job

Mrs. Petrizzo, like recently appointed township committeewoman Virginia Haines,  was the recipient of a Whitman patronage job at an inflated salary ($70,000), and her failure to show up on the JAMM Realty application might be evaluated in this context.

The JAMM issue has surfaced on numerous occasions since, but no one has ever criticized the role (and the betrayal of local residents) Ms. Petrizzo played in allowing the JAMM project to go forward.

Despite being advised of the facts, neither Democrat on the township committee at the time ever criticized Ms. Petrizzo for failing to show for the JAMM vote.

Was Petrizzo Ordered To Stay Home?

Did Mrs. Petrizzo stay away because she was requested to do so, or was there another reason she was derelict in her public responsibility to show up and vote "NO" at the JAMM hearing?

Loyal opposition Democrats said nothing. Neither did the Republicans. No one spoke out for the public, but it was widely rumored at the time that Mrs. Petrizzo was invited to stay home by members of the Dover and county Republican "leadership."

And not a single member of the new Dover Township Republican Council, including pay-to-play lawyer and Council President Gregory McGuckin, has uttered a single word about the part Petrizzo played in the JAMM Realty fiasco, in spite of the fact that "negotiations" are currently going forward to buy the JAMM Realty property for a price that may exceed $14 million.

If Mrs. Petrizzo Did Her Duty, The JAMM Property
Could Have Been Purchased For $1.2 Million

If Petrizzo had done her duty and attended the county planning board meeting where the JAMM approval was voted, and cast her vote for her constituents against the project that she knew was bad for Dover Township, the property could have been bought for about $1.2 million.

Mrs. Petrizzo is a Real Estate Broker. She was a member of the Dover Township Committee from 1989-1992 and needs to accept her share of the responsibility for the 1992 Dover Township financial crisis which produced the largest tax increase in the township's history.

We'll have a lot more on these issues in the fullness of time.

Most of this article first appeared on October 31, 2002. The article has been updated with the addition of a couple of paragraphs at the end of the article.

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