It snowed and the streets around town hall were extremely dangerous; the parking deck was a sheet of solid ice, but the Mayor and Council proceeded with Tuesday's meeting anyway.

The elected officials proved once again, that the new Dover Township government has become something out of the Twilight Zone: Council President Gregory McGuckin, a lawyer and one of the major beneficiaries of pay-to-play and the no-bid contract syndrome, has set himself up as a spokesman for local taxpayers on pay-to-play policies.

Brush Lies Again: This Time About $500,000
Accumulated Sick Time "Emergency"

Mayor Paul Brush, who may have lied more than a dozen times about the character of the world-class spending and tax increases foisted on the public by him and the Republican Council since they took office last year, has lied again about the bogus emergency appropriation for accumulated employee sick time.

Anybody Who Criticizes His Useless $90,000 Park
Job Payoff Is A "Liar" According To Councilman Fiure

Councilman Michael Michael Fiure is denouncing as "liars" anybody who connects the dots between his useless $90,000 political payoff "job" as "confidential" assistant at the county parks department (appointed December 15, 2003) and his motion to hand GOP County Chairman George Gilmore a $90,000 no-bid township contract on January 3, 2004. (The Asbury Park Press says it "stinks."

Inteso, After Sensitivity Training And Name-Calling
Instruction, Finds The Term Twilight Zone "Offensive"

Councilman Carmine Inteso, still smarting from his OCP designation as one of the ten worst public officials in Ocean County, apparently finds it "offensive" that citizens think Twilight Zone policies of the mayor and council remind taxpayers of the "Twilight Zone."

If Common Cause Caves, Gilmore And Dasti (And McGuckin) Will Be The Only Ones Who Can Raise Any Real Money

McGuckin dominated the discussion and "negotiations" on pay-to-play as civic leaders associated with the Common Cause reform group appeared to compromise their position that a bogus reform ordinance pushed by Republican County Chairman George Gilmore and McGuckin's law partner, Ocean County Republican Chairman Jerry Dasti, could never be successfully amended to serve the interests of the public.

Bad "Compromise" Would Leave
The Public In The Twilight Zone

The ordinance adopted in the December double-cross of the Common Cause group exempts contributions of $400 or less from pay-to-play provisions, leaving Gilmore and Dasti (and McGuckin) as the only ones easily capable with their statewide connections and  enormous influence of manipulating campaign sources to put as many as 50 or 100 of these $400 contributions on the table at the same time, with nobody able to trace the sources of the money.

Axis-Of-Greed In Charge Of Pay-To-Play Process

The election laws exempt contributions of $400 or less from any reporting requirements whatsoever, so the public will be royally screwed once again if the common cause leaders allow themselves to be duped by McGuckin, Mayor Paul Brush and the Republican Council (not to mention Gilmore and Dasti).

Four Republican council members will be candidates for re-election this very year as the two party system in Dover Township is tossed in the can by the Axis-Of-Greed leadership in both parties.

Two Party System Protections Are Trashed

Mayor Paul Brush, a Democrat, has made it clear that the Democrats will nominate only token opposition because he and McGuckin and the GOP have handed themselves the most outrageous conglomeration of expensive political payoffs and crony food in the history of this or any other community, and Brush is very comfortable just the way it is.

Asbury Park Press Instructions
Leave Out Important Detail

In a recent editorial, the Asbury Park Press said "if officials remain unresponsive, residents need to respond by fielding and electing a new council majority in November."

As a practical matter, the Press left out an important detail, however, which is the means to get this done if the two party protections have already been trashed by the collaboration of current officials perfectly content with the dynamics of the status quo.

More On Ciba Geigy, Lie On $500,000 Sick Time
"Emergency," Monthly Haelig Bashing Soon On OCP

The March 8th meeting left a lot of questions unanswered about the latest letter from Brad Campbell about Ciba Geigy, the pay-to-play controversy, the $500,000 accumulated sick leave "emergency" and the most recent ambush of Republican reform leader Robert K. Haelig Jr. by Brush and the Republican Council.

More on all of this in Snow Meeting II and III coming soon.

And, we will go to the video tape for full corroboration.

This article prepared for publication March 10, 2005.