Three character assassins, one of them a former president of the Dover Township Democratic organization, are active in Republican campaigns in the three largest townships in Ocean County.

One of them, Brick Republican Chairman Allen Cartine, promised over a year ago to produce copies the 2003 campaign fliers of Mayoral candidate Steven Acropolis and three incumbent Republican council members, which were full of misrepresentations and distortions prepared by Cartine and Acropolis.

OCP is still waiting for Cartine to deliver the campaign flier copies.

Cartine Making Wild Charges Again

Just last week, when Mayor Joseph Scarpelli decided to run for re-election after all, Cartine unleashed a broadside which included among other things, a wild charge quoted in the Asbury Park Press that Scarpelli was guilty of "criminal corruption," the first time anyone has charged the mayor with direct commission of a crime.

Cartine didn't say which criminal corruption crime Scarpelli allegedly committed, and didn't back up his charge in any way at all, but recent events in Monmouth County made it clear that guilt-by-innuendo is going to be a central feature of a GOP smear campaign in Brick.

Brush Extortionist Moriarty Is Baaaaaack - For Dover GOP

The Brick smear campaign was matched by a disclosure a month ago that former Democratic organization president and chief character assassin "Doctor" John Moriarty was working for the local Republican campaigns of four ward candidates which included Council President Gregory McGuckin, a pay-to-play lawyer who set a record by breaking all of his campaign promises made in the 2003 election.

Moriarty earned a well deserved reputation for never telling the whole truth if he could help it as a publicist for the Democrats. In 2003, he was charged by mayoral candidate Paul Brush with blackmail and extortion in an attempt to force Brush to resign as a candidate.

Smear Artist Richard Ciullo Also On
McGuckin-Gilmore Campaign Payroll

Also on McGuckin's campaign payroll is Central Regional School Board member and Berkeley Republican Club vice president Richard Ciullo, the operator of a series of offensive and mendacious websites recently funded by the McGuckin campaign and Republican County Chairman George Gilmore.

Most of the material on Ciullo's Berkeley websites, even the part that barely passes the smell test, is not factually true to begin with, and Republican ward candidates have began to pay the price for Ciullo's carelessness with the truth.

Ciullo-Krone Letter Backfires

Ciullo's authorship of a letter published over the name of Berkeley Fourth Ward candidate Hugh Krone is a classic example of Ciullo's contempt for the truth in any form.

Krone's letter, published in the Berkeley Times and other media, contained the charge, thoroughly discredited in 2003, that mayor Jason Varano is a health insurance double dipper. He is not.

Ciullo Knew The Truth, But Lied Anyway

Ciullo knew the truth, but lied anyway. Krone probably did not know the truth , but signed the letter anyway; and now, both of them have egg all over their faces, Ciullo for about the thirteenth time in a year.

Ciullo Calls Critics Pedophiles & Pornographers

Ciullo smears his many critics by calling them "pedophiles," or "pornographers," or "adulterers," or "lawbreakers," or worse.

Ciullo Uses His Kinky Websites To Speculate
About The Sexual Activities Of His Enemies

Sometimes lowlife Ciullo uses his kinky websites to speculate and fantasize about the sexual activities of his enemies. "And We Have Pictures," Ciullo recently announced triumphantly after accusing one of his critics of "leading a double life."

Ciullo announced recently that Mayor Varano hired an attorney, a publicist and a municipal court judge "involved in pornography," charges that were absurd in everybody's mind except that of Ciullo and Carmen Amato, the Berkeley Republican chairman who is a candidate for township council in Ward II.

Taxpayers Can Expect An Avalanche
Of Lies Just Before The Election

The taxpayers of all three communities can expect an avalanche of campaign fliers loaded with the most outrageous lies and distortions if past performance is anything close to October's reality.

There will be at least a Part II, and maybe Parts III and IV on these issues, so stay tuned to OceanCountyPolitics•Com for all the data.

This article prepared for publication August 20, 2005.