By Charles Layton
At an emotional Saturday meeting, district leaders of the Neptune Democratic Party learned that the county party is prepared to override their wishes and endorse Mary Beth Jahn for reelection.
Two weeks ago, Neptune’s district leaders voted to dump Jahn, an incumbent, from their ticket in favor of former school board member Nicholas Williams in the race for Township Committee.
However, the final decision rests with the Monmouth County Democratic Party and its chairman, Victor Scudiery. Scudiery has now let it be known that he has chosen to keep Jahn on the ticket, along with another incumbent, Dr. Michael Brantley. Their two seats on the five-member Committee are up for grabs in this year’s election.
In Saturday’s meeting at the VFW post on Corlies Avenue, the party’s municipal chairman, James Mowczan, asked the district leaders to sign a petition requesting Scudiery to reconsider his decision. That petition presumably will be delivered early in the coming week.
The meeting was closed to the press and the public. Cathleen Crandall, Jahn’s sister and one of the leaders in attendance, said it was “a very heated meeting” with “some insults thrown back and forth.”
She said “a lot of slings and arrows” were directed at Mayor Randy Bishop, who has backed Jahn in this dispute. (Bishop was not present at the meeting.)
In a phone conversation several hours after the meeting, Williams told me why he had not made any comment to the news media up to now, and why, in particular, he had not responded to discussions of the controversy on Blogfinger. “I just don’t want to respond to a bunch of people who I don’t know who they are or what they’re writing, what they’re talking about. I’m never going to go to Blogfinger in my life, I won’t read it, I don’t need to read it … I’m not going to respond.”
He then went on to say that he took issue with one of the claims that has been made about his candidacy, which is that he would support the appointment of James Manning, a former Neptune mayor, as Township business administrator.
Jahn has said that Mowczan and other local party officials wanted to replace her in part because of Manning’s application for this key job. She has said Manning is unqualified but that Mowczan tried to get her to go along with his appointment and, when she refused, he brought in Williams to take her place.
Williams declined to say how he felt about a Manning appointment. “I’m not even elected,” he said, “how am I going to make a decision” on his appointment. “I wouldn’t take office until January if I did win.” (The current business administrator, Philip Huhn, has said he intends to retire toward the end of this year. By then, the Township Committee would like to have someone ready to step into the job.)
According to Crandall, Mowczan said at Saturday’s meeting that he has never tried to pressure Township Committee members to hire people for Township jobs. Mowczan did not return our call seeking comment.
Crandall said that a number of party officials on Saturday denounced Jahn’s use of the “social media” — particularly Blogfinger — as a venue to make her case to the public. Crandall said these leaders did not want anyone airing the party’s internal struggles online because, as one speaker put it, such behavior is “unprofessional.”
Informed of this, Jahn said, “There are no legal constraints that prevent me from talking to any member of the press or any local blogs, and it is not considered unprofessional or out of line within the political realm… It just seems that the Neptune Democrats are very upset that light has been shone on their little inner circle.”
The bitter split in the local Democratic Party is not likely to heal soon. The party’s regular meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening at the VFW post. Unlike Saturday’s meeting, that one will be open to the general public. Jahn and Williams have both said they plan to be there. Also present will be Bishop and other members of the Township Committee.
However, as Williams acknowledged to me, the question of who gets the party’s endorsement in the June 5 Democratic primary “is totally up to Vic Scudiery’s decision.”
Several people have said that Scudiery acted on Bishop’s recommendation in deciding to support Jahn. Asked for comment on Saturday, Bishop said, “I know Mary Beth, I got Mary Beth involved in municipal politics, but outside of my feelings about her, the chairman [Scudiery] asked me for a recommendation and I recommended Mary Beth, because she is the incumbent and there’s no scandal involved with her, and past practice is we stand by incumbents unless there is a scandal.”
For previous articles on this issue, go here and here and here.
So is Williams off Ocean Grove or what? If this is the type of leadership The Democratic Club thinks we deserve, I think we deserve a BETTER Democratic organization. Thank God for Bishop and Jahn. I don’t want professionalism. I want results and Jahn brings them.
Well, OG, there you have it. A vote for Williams is a vote against Ocean Grove. He doesn’t care about the Grove, he’s not going to protect it from speculators and slum lords. North End would be a fait accompli. It’s not surprising, his pal Manning never cared a wit for Ocean Grove either. He wants to talk about Jahn’s unprofessionalism? Look in the mirror, bud. You just lost three districts.
I’m with Mary Beth on this one. Why shouldn’t she take her case to the public to rally support? The problem is the Democrat leadership wants to sweep this under the rug.
I heard that Nick Williams lives on the same street as Mowzcan. Maybe that’s another reason (besides Mowzcan wanting Manning) that Mowzcan is pushing for Williams.
Mr. Williams sounds like a real charmer! Like it or not, Blogfinger appears to have its finger on the pulse of Ocean Grove, and to dismiss ever reading it seems awfully cavalier for a person who is looking to represent all of Neptune.
I think it is extremely important for people to go to the Democratic meeting on Tuesday to show your support for Mary Beth. The meeting is this Tuesday at the VFW Hall on Corlies Avenue in Neptune. The more people who attend this meeting to support her good work for the town, the better for Mary Beth. Mary Beth has been a very good committee person, mayor, finance person for the town, Police Commission, etc. She has always tried to do what is best for the town even when it meant going against the majority that rules. (The James Manning issue is a prime example.) This is such an admirable trait in one of our local politicians. Please show your support by going to this meeting or reaching out to the County Democratic Party.
Sounds like some members of the local Democratic Party continue to have more to hide than they have to offer! So shortsighted to dismiss social media. Thank you Blogfinger staff for keeping us so well informed.
The most distressing aspect of this situation is not that the local democrats want to unseat Jahn due to her position on the potential hiring of an administrator she does not consider qualified. It is that local democrats want a specific administrator so badly, regardless of qualifications, that they are willing to get rid of any obstacle in their way. Why do they need this person so much? Given the history of government ethics here in Monmouth County, we should all be concerned.
Williams: Nice guy. Too bad it’s not Thanksgiving—we could name him “turkey of the week.”