Missing Dems

In 2013, not all that long ago, Democrats held the Middlesex Borough mayoralty and all six Borough Council seats. The firm of a state Senator from that party served as municipal attorney.

Complete governmental control flipped to Republicans by 2020, a reversal aided by the misdeeds of a Democratic mayor who got indicted the prior year.

The GOP’s total hold on the governing body now includes a problematic aspect that will play out on Nov. 7. After six prior years of losing every municipal seat contested in general elections – 13 straight defeats in all – Democrats are waving the white flag in 2023. Republican candidates for mayor and two council seats this year don’t have any Democratic opposition.

One party controls borough government and voters don’t have another option. With the fifth-year approaching of all-Republican rule, it’s fair for Middlesex residents to question whether this is a positive, a negative, or a bit of both.

During the 2013-17 elections, when Republicans fought to gain a foothold on the council, their campaigns pitched the message that they weren’t like the Democrats. It was a subtle theme, alluding to doubts about Democratic practices. As a mayoral election year approached the message got stronger, leading to a full-fledged referendum on government ethics in the 2019 mayoral voting.

The all-Republican mayor and council have made certain corrections in recent years. Several Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreements appeared to be on a pay whenever you want schedule under the prior Democratic mayor. They are now collected regularly.

The Route 28 streetscape project finally got moving. There’s talk of completing MHS field improvements, which only progressed to a point under the previous leadership, but provided thousands in earnings for a consistent political donor. Numerous roads got paved this summer. The municipal tax levy stayed flat for two years until a 2023 increase.

Prior to 2019, the political donor-redevelopers of two different Democratic state Senators appeared to see Middlesex as a place to plunder. The prior mayor directly participated in one high rise’s site plan approval. After the GOP gained council control, another high rise got stopped, as did an intensive plan proposed for the current site of a Popeye’s chicken outlet.

While Republicans – and two administrators they have hired – have gotten things done, there’s been a bit of slippage in another area.

The Middlesex Borough Republican Organization has shown an increasing lack of concern for ethics and the way things are perceived outside the party.

• In January 2019, shortly after Republicans gained council control, they hired Ocean County GOP chairman George Gilmore’s law firm as legal counsel. The hiring came despite numerous media reports that Gilmore was about to be indicted. The council backtracked and dumped Gilmore’s firm. He was later convicted on federal tax-related charges and his firm folded.

• The council voted unanimously in December 2021 to hire Middlesex’s Republican chairman to a $12,000-per-year part-time job in the Recreation Department. Council members saw no problem with giving a paying municipal job to someone who has a political role in their campaigns.

• A closed-door cannabis caucus was held in April 2021, attended by council members and Republican Party officials. Also in attendance were cannabis industry reps. GOP officials never divulged their identities. Other New Jersey governing bodies that have hosted cannabis reps in recent years have done so in public session.

• Shortly before the 2022 election, campaign donations were accepted from the bond counsel firm serving the borough and one of its individuals. After the GOP got called out publicly, the donations were refunded.

There have been a pair of eyebrow-raising contributions on recent GOP 2023 campaign reports, filed with the state in October.

The prior bond counsel firm, Gluck Walrath, was absorbed in a June merger by Dilworth Paxson LLP. The Dilworth chief operating officer donated $500 to the campaign of Republican mayoral candidate Jack Mikolazczyk on Oct. 10. Gluck handled a $6.1 million bond sale for the municipality last spring. At a recent council meeting, borough officials could not say how much Gluck earned from that bond sale. Another bond sale is planned later this year.

The 2023 campaign of Council President Michael Conahan reported a $1,000 donation on Oct. 27 from Liberty & Freedom Political Action Committee. The filing listed the PAC at the same Somerville building as Savo. Schalk, Corsini, et al, the governing body’s legal counsel.

Liberty & Freedom PAC has not yet reported its funding sources to the state Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) in 2023. Savo, Schalk donated $2,600 to the PAC in 2021, according the ELEC web site’s pay to play listings.

If Savo, Schalk, Corsini was the source of the Liberty PAC donation to the Middlesex GOP, it raises one set of questions. If not, who was the source?

Only a few years ago, Middlesex Republicans questioned the political donations received by Democrats from professional firms that worked for the municipality. Now the GOP collects them itself.

With no active Democratic Party to ask questions, Middlesex Republicans are free to play fast and loose with donations and ethics. Aside from a lack of 2023 candidates, there are other signs that Middlesex Borough Democrats are in no position to protest.

Only two posts have occurred on the Middlesex Borough Democratic Organization’s Facebook page in 2023, and none since April.

The Dems’ internet web site is apparently defunct. Attempts to log on to the site – www.middlesexborodems.com – are met with the message: This site can’t be reached.

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