Paul Brush

 Toms River Mayor Thomas KelaherReflecting on when he first moved to Toms River over 50 years ago, Thomas P. Kelaher said there were more chickens and chicken coops than people and houses, and now the Ocean County shore town has a population of almost 100,000 and is the seventh largest municipality in the state.

Still, it has some distance to go before it becomes a full-fledged city, as New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg reminded Kelaher when they lunched several days ago at a meeting of mayors.

"When he asked me to describe the characteristics of Toms River, I told him we did have 600 miles of streets and he said, ‘Tom, that’s nice, but in New York City we have 6,000 miles of streets,’" said Kelaher, 75, who was sworn in as the town’s second elected mayor at Town Hall on Tuesday.

Five years later, Republicans could be the beneficiary of "Bob's Law" -- a New Jersey Supreme Court decision to allow Democrats to replace Robert Torricelli on the ballot with Frank Lautenberg in the '02 U.S. Senate race. In two of the state's larger towns, where Republicans could win mayoral seats they had held until recent years, their potential success could be impeded by flawed candidates. A change of candidates -- it's administratively feasible to do that for at least another month -- could change the races entirely.

In Toms River, population 89,706, the Internal Revenue Service has over $120,000 in federal tax lients against Council President Greg McGuckin, the Republican candidate for Mayor. And in Hamilton Township, population 87,109, John Bencivengo, the GOP mayoral candidate, faces allegations that he sought to profit over an Anthrax scare at the Hamilton Post Office after 9/11.

Toms River has been around since the 18th century, but this year's mayoral race will only be the second ever in this Ocean County town of 89,706.

That’s because the town, which until last year was officially named Dover Township, changed its form of government in 2003 from a Township Committee that appointed the mayor to the more common mayor/council setup. Since then, odd alliances and rivalries have taken shape, giving way to a Democratic mayor, Paul Brush, and a council controlled completely by Republicans.

Now that Brush is not seeking a second term, Democrat Richard Strada, a former committeeman who served a brief stint as Mayor under the old system in 1978, is facing off against Republican town council President Gregory McGuckin. Councilman Carmine Inteso, another Republican, is trying to enter the race as an independent along with a slate of three council candidates, but his petition has been challenged in court.

Brush tries to hide his ties with corrupt political party boss by opposing a development application he was tied to.
September 19, 2006 - - On January 1, 2006, an expose on New Jersey party boss, John Lynch was published in "The New York Times", not usually a GOP friendly newspaper. That story detailed how the disgraced and now admitted criminal boss and his close associate, Jack Morris, a well known developer, together gave "$65,000 in donations to Mayoral candidate Paul Brush in early 2003."
Brush won election in 2003 as an Independent and then changed parties some months later after a secret meeting between Brush, disgraced ex- governor, Jim McGreevey, then Ocean County Democratic Chairman Fred Potter and Brush political advisor Sal Mattia.
The timing of the decision to flip parties was also suspicious because it very closely coincided with a significant donation from the local Democrats to Brush. Those details are also part of a massive ELEC Law violation complaint filed in 2005 and still under investigation according to NJ ELEC.
"The New York Times" article further stated that "Mr. Brush embraced the plan (referring to a Morris project entitled JSM at Hickory) and appointed one of Mr. Lynch's allies to the local planning board. The project’s new found support on the local level helped JSM at Hickory win two state zoning changes even though hundreds of community residents had rallied against the development."
Then fast forward to two months ago when Mr. Brush and several other members of the planning board, appointed by Mr. Brush, voted against the very project "The Times" reported that he embraced after receiving the donations from Lynch and Morris.
"The timing is more than a little suspicious" says Ginny Haines, President of the Dover Township Republicans.
"In voting against Mr. Morris’s project, Brush was clearly trying to get himself some political cover given the pending guilty pleas by Mr. Lynch for official corruption and bribe taking", says Ginny Haines, President of the Dover Township Republican Organization.
"Given the circumstances, Mr. Brush at the very least should return the tainted $65,000 he received from Lynch and Morris" she said.
"But much more importantly, Mr. Brush must explain to the public the complete nature of the connection between Brush, Morris, Lynch, and the on again – off again approval of the Morris project", she continued.
"Finally," said Haines, "it’s clear some sort of a deal was made by these gentlemen, one of who is now an admitted criminal. The information provided by "The New York Times," and Mr. Brush’s failure to adequately address the issue when the story was published and to let it stand on its merits, give us reason to believe that not only is it true, but it is problematic for our boisterous Mayor."

As usual Brush ducks responsibilityOrders Township supervisors not to attend budget workshop

Republicans File Massive Election Law Violation Complaint Against Paul Brush, The Democrats and The Former Independent Team Leadership
GOP Says Pattern of Fraud and Deception Must be Addressed

Following Paul Brush's election as the first independent Mayor of Dover Township, newspapers broke the story that Brush had accepted tens of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions filtered through his own campaign fund and other funds that he and his political partners controlled during that historic run for office.

AMID TAX CRISIS, BRUSH SUPER GENEROUS TO HIS FRIENDS REWRITES EMPLOYEE MANUAL TO REWARD BUDDIES

By now, everyone in Dover Township has heard the story about how Paul Brush is the subject of a lawsuit for the termination of former personnel director, Richard Vasil. The excuse given to Vasil at the time he was terminated was the fact hat he did not wear a tie, (he hadn't worn a tie for many, many years and wearing ties is not a requirement in Town Hall) and because he locked the door to his office, a personnel director's office containing confidential files when he went to lunch.

Mayor's Ball Invitation Lists Spurs Concerns
Employees home addresses used for invitations