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Health & Fitness

Freeholders and Birdsall Scandal

Freeholders should disclose Birdsall payments NOW!

The history of the Republican Party rule in Monmouth County is one of corruption and scandal. Even, then U.S. Attorney, Chris Christie has said that public corruption in Monmouth County ran “both wide and deep.”

And now in 2013 we have the Birdsall scandal and more pay to play issues raised.

Several Birdsall executives have been indicted for making large and widespread illegal political donations. Presumably they made them in expectation of receiving government contracts. And Birdsall has historically been a significant contributor to county Republicans. We also know that Birdsall has received millions of dollars of contracts from Monmouth County that have been approved by these Freehold Board members.

Find out what's happening in Howellwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Birdsall’s principal alleged tactic was to make many small individual donations below the publicly reportable amount in order to hide these actions from public scrutiny.

But each Freeholder has the actual, detailed, non-public records of any such donations — the very information that Birdsall was trying to hide from the public.

Find out what's happening in Howellwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The citizens and voters of Monmouth County have a right to know specifically the number and amount of donations, if any, each Freeholder received — in any form, directly or indirectly — from Birdsall and/or its employees for the last six years.

Each Freeholder should disclose all such information and make all such records available for inspection by the public and the press prior to this upcoming primary election.

I’ll assume that if they publicly report this information and that actual contradictory information subsequently becomes available that they will have the decency to resign their board seat.

I ask for their immediate public commitment to such action.

(PS This open letter was read to the Freeholders at the 5/23/13 meeting held in Hazlet.)

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