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George
Gilmore |
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Mayor
Scarpelli |
GOP Pay-To-Play Lawyers Gilmore
And McGuckin Raided Brick Schools For Easy Million$
In "Legal" Fees When They Thought Acropolis Was A Sure Thing
But Now, Two Party Dialogue
Has Been Restored To Brick With The Return Of Mayor Scarpelli As A
Candidate
Ocean County Republican Chairman
George Gilmore and Dover Township Council President Gregory McGuckin
are both pay-to-play lawyers whose firms took in more than $2.8
million in legal fees from no-bid contracts they received from public
agencies last year as a result of their political influence.
When Democrat Mayor Joseph
Scarpelli decided not to be a candidate for re-election earlier this
year, he was replaced on the Democratic ticket with Councilwoman Kathy
Russell.
Gilmore Poll Showed Acropolis
With Easy Win Over Russell
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Acropolis |
Gilmore took a poll which
revealed to no one's great surprise that Council President Stephen
Acropolis, the Republican candidate and a partner in a Toms River
investment business, would win easily over Russell and that three
Republican council candidates would win also.
So with things
sewed up as far as the mayoral election was concerned, and total 8-0
Republican monopoly control of the Brick local government assured for
the first time in more than fifteen years, Gilmore and McGuckin went
hunting in Brick.
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Pannucci
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They found a
willing accomplice in Gilmore stooge Frank Pannucci, a member of the
Brick School Board and a Commissioner on the Ocean County Utilities
Authority.
Arrogant
Triumvirate Of Greedy GOP
Lawyers Went Hunting In Brick Schools
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Needy Jack Sahradnik Esq. |
Pannucci had just
been re-elected to the Brick school board with Gilmore's support, so
it was natural to show his gratitude by handing Gilmore, McGuckin and
needy GOP Committeeman Jack Sahradnik, a lawyer who receives as much
as $700,000 a year from the Republican freeholder board, a stack of
lucrative no-bid "legal" service contracts from the Brick schools.
Greed
Coalition Dumped Nick Montenegro: The McGuckin, Gilmore, Sahradnik
Trio Could Get $5 Million In Ten Years
Pannucci and the
new Gilmore-McGuckin majority on the Brick school board simply dumped
long-time board attorney Nicholas Montenegro to make room for Gilmore,
McGuckin and Sahradnik, who may "earn" as much as $5 million during
the next ten years from the no-bid pay-to-play contracts.
Everywhere Gilmore And McGuckin
Go, Big Tax And Spending Increases Follow
Everywhere
Gilmore and McGuckin go, taxes go up, but the Acropolis victory in the
mayoral contest was the shield they could depend on to keep them
insulated from public criticism.
Robert
Burns: "Best Laid Schemes • • Aft Gang A-Gley"
Or so they
thought. As poet Robert Burns observed more than two hundred twenty
years ago: "The best laid schemes o' mice and men gang aft a-gley." So
true.
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Dover Township Council President
Gregory McGuckin and Gilmore are major GOP figures in
greed conspiracy |
Russell Will Drop Out; Scarpelli Will Drop In
So now it appears that Councilwoman Kathy Russell will drop out of the
mayor's race, paving the way for the return of Mayor Scarpelli to the
political wars.
Acropolis is still the favorite because of the pathetic weakness of
the county Democratic organization, and because of the controversies
in the Brick public works department and the Brick MUA.
But a lot of that cuts both ways. Scarpelli remains untouched by
scandal, and Acropolis has some potentially serious public relations
problems.
Attorney Robert Shea Was '03 Acropolis' Finance Chairman
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Shea |
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Sadeghi |
Pay-to-play attorney Robert Shea was finance committee chairman of the
2003 Brick Republican council campaign, the Acropolis council
re-election effort, and pay-to-play architect Massimo Yezzi,
pay-to-play attorney Joseph Coronato and pay-to-play engineer F. Frank
Sadeghi were Acropolis fund raisers on the same committee.
Acropolis' Finance & Greed
Committee Mostly From Dover
Acropolis and the Republican council majority have made an issue out
of hiring locally, so the gentle reader will no doubt notice that the
pay-to-play lawyers, architects and engineers with their hands out the
farthest (Shea, Yezzi, Coronato, Gilmore, Sadeghi, McGuckin) all live
in Dover Township. Go figure.
More To Come On Restoration Of Two Party Dialogue
There will be at least a dozen OCP stories on the
Republican greed conspiracy as it leers perniciously at Brick
taxpayers and tries to focus on getting Acropolis elected mayor and
laying claim to public treasuries all over Brick, Dover, Berkeley and
everywhere else.
But Scarpelli is back, so the mayor's race is competitive, definitely
a good thing for a healthy two-party dialogue in the second largest
community in Ocean County.
Click for background stories appearing earlier this year on OCP:
Acropolis Runs For Mayor
Under Cloud Of Conflicts - 2/20/05
Axis-Of-Greed Hidden Tax Hits Dover, Brick, Berkeley - 1/31/05
Acropolis Partner Rewarded, Rips Off Dover Taxpayers - 1/05/05
This article
prepared for publication August 18, 2005.
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