Neptune Committeewoman Tassie York. (D) was appointed, not elected, in early 2022.  Elected later that year.

Lately she headed the hodgepodge of a parking committee which got defeated at the Township Workshop on Feb. 27, 2023.  She was the only Committee person to vote “Yes” but how can she do otherwise?

 

By Paul Goldfinger,  MD,  Editor Blogfinger.net.    (Reposted from February 2022. ).

Despite her behavior with the NTPD (see below,) she received the nomination and won the election in November 2022 as Neptune Committeewoman.

She was just (Jan 2023) sworn in as the only female Committeeman in town.  We don’t know the result of the ethics  investigation.

TIMELINE:

Blogfinger post Feb. 2022:  The public should know about this member of the Township Committee.

Tassie York is a familiar face in Neptune Township  starting when she was a Scarlet Flyer at NHS.  When Carol Rizzo, Committeewoman from OG, resigned, Tassie York was chosen to replace her in Feb 2022.

Recently Ms. York attempted to influence police charges/tickets  against her son-in law, Tristan Charleau, who was stopped by Neptune Police for failing to react lawfully  to traffic signage and for reckless driving.

The Asbury Park Press    2/22  said, ” Neptune Committeewoman Tassie York allegedly accused an officer of racially profiling her son-in-law before saying she was going to call her “very good friend,” prosecutor James N. Butler Jr., to get the tickets thrown out.

“The Neptune Police were found to have done their jobs by-the-book according to the Monmouth County Prosecutors’ office which investigated after Ms. York accused the NTPD  of racial profiling.”

This is from that report, “Our review indicated no misconduct whatsoever by any of the officers involved,” the prosecutor’s letter said.

“The motor vehicle violations committed by Charleau were clear and were captured on the (police cameras). The officers who dealt with Charleau at the scene and with York when she called the police department were professional and respectful.”

And York also called upon the Neptune Municipal Prosecutor James N Butler, Jr. to do something about the charges, and he did,  creating a plea deal favoring her son-in-law.

Now Young and Butler face an investigation by a New Jersey Department of Community Affairs ethics agency.  The investigation was requested by the Neptune Mayor Williams.

The APP  reported: “Prosecutors found no wrongdoing on the part of officers, but said York and Butler’s conduct “raises ethical and conflict-of-interest concerns that warrant review.”   2/22.

This situation could explode in multiple directions.

Neptune Republicans said,   “The Township GOP chairman is calling on a Democratic committeewoman to resign because of an ethics investigation stemming from her son-in-law’s traffic tickets.

“Neptune Republican municipal Chairman Kevin Sheehan accused Committeewoman Tassie York of using her official position in an attempt to sway the outcome of her son-in-law’s tickets.

“The revelations regarding Committeewoman Tassie York’s conduct in connection with her son-in-law’s automobile incident displays a level of arrogance this town hasn’t seen in quite some time,” Sheehan wrote in his statement calling for York’s resignation.”

As far as racial charges against the Neptune police, there have been other charges based on race which have surfaced in the past involving the NTPD.

So this one case causes the State to come in right away, and that is appropriate given the climate regarding such matters locally.

But the Committee must be squeaky-clean itself.

This Committeewoman, by accusing the Neptune Police of racial profiling, may have opened a can of worms.  If she is found to have been unethical in this matter, then she must be fired by the Mayor.  And the same for the Township’s Municipal Prosecutor who seems to have caved to pressure from a Committeewoman.

It will be fascinating to see what Mayor Williams does, because the buck stops with him, and there have been ethical concerns when it comes to the Committee’s approval of the North End plan zoning.  It would be for the public good if that subject could be scrutinized by the State of New Jersey.

When it comes to investigations, what’s good for the goose…… But we don’t know what the Neptune Mayor Williams  later  did with this situation.  His term was over on Dec. 31, 2022, and we have no information about any ethics investigation which might have cleared York’s reputation which remains tarnished.

Editor’s note. 1/7/2023:  Obviously the Committee accepted York anyhow despite the charges.  Shouldn’t the new mayor tell the public how he feels about such public unethical behavior?    Note that current Mayor Cafferty was a Committeeman when the York matter  was before the Committee in 2022.

If anyone else in Neptune government repeats such behavior, will they get off the hook also?  Are there double standards in Neptune governance?

3/2/23:      Mayor Cafferty:  Blogfinger has  not seen the report of the ethics investigation.  How about making it public if it actually exists; or was it buried or quietly dismissed without proceedings?

Do you have a transparency issue at the Neptune Committee?  You made Ms York a Deputy Mayor, but what has she done to deserve that title and what has she done to deserve bring placed in charge of the parking controversy?    Putting her in charge suggests that you did not have high hopes for the plan, and sure enough, it died a quick death at your workshop.

BOB MARLEY AND THE WHALERS:   “Stir It Up.”

Come on and stir it up; …, little darlin’!
Stir it up; come on, baby!
Come on and stir it up, yeah!
Little darlin’, stir it up! O-oh!