Unlawful, Collusion, Bossism, and Unethical

Speaking of election integrity, after John Catalano lost his election for mayor in Brick in 2023, he was appointed Deputy County Clerk which oversees elections in the county. In 2016 the county prosecutor sent an undercover agent into Catalano’s jewelry store in Brick and sold him some jewelry. The county prosecutor’s office could have received a tip, or it was a random test. By law jewelry stores are supposed to get identification from the seller and give a receipt but Catalano did neither. This law was made so jewelry stores do not become “fences” for stolen jewelry. Catalano was found guilty and fined in the Brick municipal court during a Democratic administration. So now we have a voting system with questionable integrity and a person overseeing the election who does not follow the law! How did John Catalano ever get hired for this very sensitive position? Who was responsible?

John Catalano ran successfully for assembly in 2019 and 2021 and unsuccessfully for mayor in Brick after George Gilmore told him to as the political boss he is and yet the Ocean County Democratic opposition research never mentioned John Catalano’s conviction in Brick municipal court in any race! Time and time again we see cross party endorsements and efforts that seem to keep information from the voters by both parties!

Kenneth Seda previously ran as a Republican for County Commissioner in 2021when he lived in Toms River. After losing, Seda moved to Manchester and ran for mayor as a Democrat with Karen Sugden as a council candidate. The Democratic Municipal Chair, who has close ties to Wyatt Earp, screens candidates to run. Both Seda and Sugden lost.

In the runoff between the Republican slate of Robert Arace who was backed by George Gilmore and incumbent Republican Mayor Hudak’s slate backed by Sheriff Mastronardy, Seda and Sugden, encouraged Democrats to vote and heavily criticized Hudak.

This slick move, while not directly endorsing Arace but indirectly by damaging his opponent, helped the Arace Republican slate supported by George Gilmore to win and helped George Gilmore broaden his support in Ocean County! That is right, these so-called Democrats helped a Republican convicted criminal gain more political power!

So, with a history of cross-party endorsements from prior candidates, why would we think that the Democratic County candidates of Ken Seda and Karen Sugden selected by the county committee in a vote of 174-51 over Regina Discenza and Joseph Lamb, not follow the same pattern when they equally engaged in the same previously? The main question should be after 20 years as Ocean County Democratic Chair, why doesn’t Wyatt Earp have much better candidates not only this year but previously in many cases?

Joseph Lamb in Brick found a union flyer stuck in his front door on a Sunday morning in October of 2022. The union flyer was not meant for general distribution but was meant for union households only and it endorsed the Republican County candidates! The union member that left it obviously did not like the position the union flyer was taking and that they gave it to Joseph Lamb attests to his credibility in the community! When Joseph Lamb questioned Wyatt Earp, the Ocean County Democratic Chair and also the President of the Monmouth Ocean Central Labor council, Wyatt said he does not control what the union does. We understand that logic, right?

In 2018 the Ocean County Democratic leadership ran Teddy Price for Freeholder, the prior term for County Commissioner. Teddy endorsed Republican Hugin for U.S. Senate in the general election. Hugin was formerly the CEO of Celgene. Celgene had marketed cancer drugs for other forms of cancer for which they were not approved causing great harm to some patients. The problem was so egregious that the company was fined $280 million dollars by the federal government, and a law firm would monitor the company for years. Teddy Price in an Asbury Press article after the election said that Wyatt Earp asked him to run and did not state that he was screened for the position.

Both Robert Arace’s and Jennifer Bacchione’s chief qualifications for County Commissioner are that they and their family are ardent supporters of George Gilmore, the disgraced lawyer convicted of tax fraud and bank related charges! To make the point, both they and their families chose to make George Gilmore with his criminal convictions the Ocean County Republican Chair over Sheriff Michael Mastronardy who has a scandal free record as Sheriff for 10 years and Toms River Police Chief for 22 years! Does anyone expect that George Gilmore will be better? More likely, George Gilmore will be worse.

Robert Arace and Jennifer Bacchione will replace County Commissioners Gary Quinn and Bobbi Jo Crea who ran afoul of George Gilmore, and he is acting like a political boss by removing both.

In 2023 the Republican County Commissioners purchased the Election Systems and Software (ES&S) voting system for $10 million to replace the Dominion voting system!!! Dominion had sued Fox News and others over spurious claims of election fraud and substantial amounts. The irony is that the ES&S voting system in Monmouth County duplicated the results in six districts in four towns in 2022! Was the reason to replace Dominion a political decision? It is ironic that when Republicans are so concerned about election integrity that they choose a system with recent questionable integrity and spend $10 million to do it.

County Commissioner Frank Sadeghi must constantly recuse himself from many votes on county business because he is an owner of Morgan Engineering that is doing business in more than several Ocean County towns!

In 2022 there was an election for Ocean County Democratic Chair and the other four positions. Joseph Lamb sent postcards to only those districts that were missing both county committee members to write themselves in and two hundred Democrats did!

Seventy-eight managed to accept the position according to the questionable terms by the County Clerk in a matter of only a few days. The County Clerk said the form needed to have the signature of their Democratic municipal chair or assistant municipal chair! What? We live in America! We do not need anyone’s approval for an elected position! There is no state law requirement or Democratic by-law requirement. Of the 122 that did not meet the requirements, to this date, only three have been appointed.

To make matters worse, by state law the County Clerk and Democratic County Chair must post the names and contact information of the Municipal Chairs in the county. Both were in violation of that law with some not listed and others no longer with that title.

Although Democrats did not have much success in Ocean County before, the new ballot format in the Democratic primaries will open the Democratic Party to more talented candidates. No more will the Ocean County Democratic Party have a strangle hold on the selection process with their candidates that too often are not the best we have to offer. Mark my words!