The Bad News is some of the appointments to the new board have
violated various other campaign pledges by Brush, among them a pledge
to appoint lawyers and other "professionals" on the basis of
competitive proposals.
Brush:
Avoid Obvious Conflicts
Brush also promised to avoid appointees with obvious conflicts or
connected with scandals or investigations that could compromise their
good judgement.
But, one of Brush's first Planning Board choices was Robert D'Anton,
the Lavallette Developer who admitted "loaning" cell phones and fax
machines to renegade state police officers for the purpose of
conducting surveillance and investigations of prominent New Jersey
Republicans.
D'Anton's part in the state police scam earned him an investigation by
the state attorney general and his picture on the front page of the
Newark Star Ledger.
But it also earned him an opportunity to get two of his North Jersey
cronies appointed as lawyer and engineer for the planning board:
Daniel Becht was appointed attorney, and the South Hackensack firm of
Stephen Boswell (Boswell-McClave) was appointed as the planning
board's engineer.
Boswell And Becht Gave $10,000
Principals of the Boswell firm and Becht gave a total of $10,000 to
Brush's mayoral campaign following the deal cut by D'Anton and
Lavallette builder Sal Mattia, now Chairman of the Brush planning
board, to get former Democratic township committeeman John Furey to
resign as a mayoral candidate ten days before the election.
D'Anton gave more than $100,000 to Democratic causes in three years of
pay-for-play campaign contributions, before Governor Jim McGreevey
appointed him as Chairman of the state Lottery Commission.
Boswell and Becht are also lottery commissioners whose pay for play
connections are as aromatic as D'Anton's.
|
2nd Ward Councilman Brian
Kubiel |
Councilman Kubiel Says Connections Never Disclosed By D'Anton,
Brush Or Mattia
Second Ward Councilman Brian Kubiel, one of two Republicans on the new
Planning Board, said neither Brush nor Mattia nor D'Anton ever
disclosed that Becht and Boswell were lottery commissioners with
D'Anton, or that the two appointees were heavy contributors to Brush's
campaign.
Kubiel Went Along To "Promote Harmony"
Kubiel said he went along with the appointments "in the spirit of
cooperation, to promote harmony" in the opening days of the new
government.
"There was never any pre-discussion on these entanglements", Kubiel
said; "I would never have supported these two appointments if I had
known of these connections."
Sources said D'Anton's company, AST Development Corporation, has
worked on dozens of pay for play construction contracts during the
last several years, and that Boswell and Becht may have been involved
in some of the same contracts, or similar no-bid contracts involving
municipal and county governments in North Jersey.
The sources said D'Anton, Boswell and Becht would be asked to make a
full financial disclosure on their pay for play business connections
as the business of the planning board goes forward.
More on Brush and D'Anton, and the newly minted and newly tainted
planning board, as time marches on.
