We Told You So On June 25th!

Forrester Tries To Pretend In Pay-To-Play Benefits Scam That Dover Township Council And TR Regional School Board Are NOT Controlled By The Same GOP Bosses

Poll Shows Corzine Extended His Lead To 13 Points, But That Was Before The Forrester Pay-To-Play Revelations

GOP gubernatorial candidate Douglas Forrester told the Star-Ledger yesterday it is "absurd" to suggest that $5000 Forrester contributed to the Republican council slate led by lawyer Gregory McGuckin in 2003 helped Forrester's company, Benecard Services, win a contract with the Toms River Regional School Board the following year.

Forrester said the council and the school board "are two different entities with two different sets of officials," but he neglected to mention that both "entities" are controlled by the same political bosses, including Republican County Chairman George Gilmore, local GOP boss Richard Clement, McGuckin, now Dover council president in the all-Republican council, and regional school superintendent Michael Ritacco.

Gilmore Is The Attorney For
The Regional School Board

Gilmore is the attorney for the regional school system who also got a $90,000 contract from McGuckin and the council to make changes to the township administrative code shortly after the new council organized last year.

McGuckin's Law Firm Has Many No-Bid Contracts With Public Agencies

McGuckin is also a pay-to-play attorney and the beneficiary of many no-bid public agency contracts, including one with the Brick school system where he and Gilmore recently arranged for the ouster of long-time attorney Nicholas Montenegro so they could replace Montenegro with themselves and GOP committeeman Jack Sahradnik, the $700,000 lawyer for the Republican county freeholders.

Don't Forget To Read 6/25 OCP Article Again

Back on June 25th, OCP suggested that Forrester might have a little trouble overcoming the presence of 800 pound Republican gorilla Gilmore and his greed conspiracy collaborators to make a straight-face case for his program of so-called "ethics reform."

Gilmore In Profile?

Middleman Prescription Benefit Service

Benecard Services is a middle man between drug companies and public agencies with prescription plans, and Forrester is the company's founder and chief stockholder.

According to the Star-Ledger, Benecard holds $89 million in public contracts to handle prescription drug health benefits for 114 local government agencies in New Jersey, including municipalities, counties, school boards and autonomous authorities.

Forrester Says He Doesn't Need To Make His Contributions Public Because They're "Already Public"

Forrester was challenged by his Democratic opponent, Sen. John Corzine, to make public all of his political contributions, a challenge that was rejected by Forrester, who said all of the contributions given by him and his company were "already public."

Forrester has made the elimination of pay-to-play and political influence peddling a centerpiece of his campaign for governor.

Eleven More Contract Extensions For Lawyers

Just recently, McGuckin and the Republican council awarded no-bid contract extensions to eleven outside lawyers, after McGuckin repeatedly promised the full time law department would handle nearly all of the township's legal work.

What happens now? Stay tuned to OCP and we'll continue to cover this issue and follow the money, wherever it leads.

This article prepared for publication  August 2, 2005

For OCP article predicting Forrester might have difficulty overcoming the gang of 800lb Ocean County GOP Gorillas, Click Here