Toms River GOP Primary: Claims, Counterclaims And Consent Decree

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A political campaign that has seemingly gone on for months winds up on Tuesday when Toms River voters go to the polls to decide which Republican candidates will face the Democrats in the township council ward races in November.

The last two months have been particularly bitter, with personal attacks and allegations of undue influence that have enveloped not only the council but the Toms River school board as well.

In Toms River, the GOP primary for Wards 1 through 4 features a pair of slates. Incumbent Maria Maruca (Ward 1) heads a slate that includes Jason Crispin (Ward 2), James J. Quinlisk (Ward 3), and David J. Ciccozzi (Ward 4). They are opposed by incumbent Daniel Rodrick (Ward 2), Justin Lamb (Ward 1), Grace Piscopo (Ward 3) and John J. Loiacono (Ward 4). (Click their names to read their candidate profiles.)

The dueling slates are the result of a split within the Ocean County Republican party that developed after George Gilmore was forced to step down from his post at the head of the county’s Republican party in 2019, when he was convicted in federal court on failure to pay payroll taxes. Gilmore was sentenced to 366 days in federal prison but a pardon in January by former President Donald Trump set aside his punishment; the conviction remains, however.

Rodrick and his slate have continued to press a message Rodrick has been campaigning on going back to 2017, when he ran and won as a Democrat: overdevelopment, particularly “Lakewood-style development.”

Critics say that message plays to fears and conspiracy theories with its focus on the Orthodox Jewish community.

A mailer circulated Friday in Ward 4 has particularly drawn criticism. The mailer said the Toms River Jewish Community Council had endorsed Ciccozzi, Maruca's running mate, saying “They have a new plan and Ciccozzi supports it.” The mailer includes a photo of Booky Kaluszyner, who is a member of the community council, wearing a shtreimel, the fur hat worn by some Jewish men on Fridays for Shabbos, their Sabbath, and on Jewish holidays, and coat, and focuses on the issue of the acreage for houses of worship.

The mailer says, “This is not about religion, faith, or where people live. It’s about zoning, planning and development. People of all faiths want to keep Commercial Development out of their neighborhoods.”

It also includes a partial quote from Kaluszyner from an Asbury Park Press article about the town’s settlement with the Justice Department over the zoning for houses of worship. In the article, Kaluszyner says the 2-acre rule is still too restrictive and he hopes town officials will continue to negotiate. "We are not pro-lawsuits," Kaluszyner stressed. "We feel that we can work it out through dialogue without going to litigation."

Kaluszyner, reached Friday afternoon, rejected the assertion on the mailer that the issue isn’t about religion.

“I don't know where they got the picture,” he said, adding that he only wears the shtreimel on Fridays. Kaluszyner said that photo and one Rodrick posted to Facebook showing him with Toms River Mayor Maurice Hill when Hill won the mayoral election were posted solely to fuel division.

“It’s basically saying 'look at their friends, keep the Jews out, they're friends with these councilmen,' ” Kaluszyner said. “I’m just the poster boy.”

He also took issue with language that has been used on several pieces of campaign literature from Rodrick, Lamb, Piscopo and Loiacono that accuses Maruca, Crispin, Ciccozzi and Quinlisk of supporting “Lakewood-style development.”

“They keep saying ‘Lakewood-style development,’ it's code for Jews,” Kaluszyner said.

“The Orthodox Jews in Toms River are angry about overdevelopment, too,” he said. “If there were to be a vote to open up more land to development, we would be 100 percent against it.”

Rodrick, in a phone call and a follow-up email, said the issue is not about religion.

"Mr. Kaluszyner told the Asbury Park Press that he felt there shouldn't be an acreage requirement, and that he could get it accomplished, ‘through dialogue with the township,’ " Rodrick said. "Kaluszyner is a public figure and self-proclaimed lobbyist for the TRJCC. Anyone who brings up the way Kaluszyner dresses is trying to distract attention away from the fact that Kaluszyner and the TRJCC endorsed our opponents, and signed their petition. Shame on them for playing the race card!"

Hill rejected the idea of going to 1 acre for houses of worship in the Asbury Park Press article where Kaluszyner is quoted.

Rodrick and his running mates also continue to criticize the township’s settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over religious discrimination due to the 10-acre zoning for houses of worship under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. Friday’s mailer references it and says “Even if we were sued, a $1 million fight would cost each household just $29.”

Rodrick, at the council meeting where the settlement was approved, insisted the town was not under threat of a lawsuit and has insisted the change was something Hill had promised to the Jewish community before he was elected.

The Justice Department, in its March 10 news release announcing the consent decree, said it filed a lawsuit against Toms River the same day it filed the agreement to settle that lawsuit.

“Federal law protects religious communities against unequal treatment and unwarranted burdens,” Rachael A. Honig, acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, said in the news release. “Zoning regulations that impose unreasonable restrictions or prevent religious faiths from having a place to worship violate RLUIPA. Through the resolution entered today, this office takes another step to put an end to unlawful zoning practices and vindicate the civil rights of minority religious communities in the District of New Jersey.”

The Justice Department letter threatening the township with a lawsuit and the consent decree can be read in full at the bottom of this article.

The Justice Department has filed RLUIPA lawsuits against a number of towns, including neighboring Jackson Township, and has been particularly active on the issue of religious land use discrimination since 2017. A 2019 article from the Washington Times reported the number of RLUIPA suits filed had doubled from seven to 14 in a year, with seven of them filed in a 10-month span.

Settlements and fines have ranged from $400,000 to $7.75 million, not including what those towns spent on legal fees, and all were forced to make changes to their land use ordinances.

While the issue of acreage for houses of worship and development has been the primary campaign argument, other mailers and social media campaigning have accused Crispin and Ciccozzi of “special deals” allowing hundreds of units of housing.

The township is under mandate to provide nearly 1,300 units of affordable housing by 2025, a mandate the town fought for years before reaching an agreement in 2016. Read more: Toms River Officials Blast 'Liberal' Judges, Politicians In Affordable Housing Settlement

Land use law makes it difficult for town planning boards to reject developments that conform to the zoning requirements of the parcels where they’re proposed, and courts have repeatedly sided with developers and landowners seeking to develop parcels of land. In neighboring Manchester, there was a 10-year battle over what could and could not be done with the 7,000-acre former Heritage Minerals mining site; a court order exists that would allow nearly 2,400 units of housing at the site, should Hovsons choose to move forward, though a more recent proposal for nearly 4,000 homes was rejected by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Beyond the development issues, there have been personal attacks.

A report on simple assault charges filed in 2002 against Quinlisk was circulated in early May. The Republicans for Toms River campaign distributed a news release in response that included documentation showing the charges against Quinlisk were dismissed at the request of the person who filed the assault charge. The news release also demanded Lamb answer for an assault charge that was filed against him in 2018 and dismissed days later.

Rodrick has been accused of meddling in several election campaigns. At the April 27 Township Council meeting, council president Kevin Geoghegan aired accusations of involvement that had been the subject of rumors for months, including the school board election in Middletown, where Rodrick is a teacher; in another town’s mayoral election; and in the 2020 school board and recent fire election campaigns in Toms River.

Rodrick flatly denied being involved in “any election in Monmouth County,” and also denied involvement with the school board campaigns of Lisa Contessa and Ashley Palmiere, both of whom were in attendance at the April 27 council meeting.

Rodrick countered with accusations that Hill and township business administrator Louis Amoruso had made a special deal to provide health benefits to a township employee who retired after 13 years. Rodrick identified the person as the girlfriend of Frank Holman III, the chairman of the Ocean County Republican Party, who won a narrow election as chairman after Gilmore was forced to step down, and shouted repeatedly, calling the township council and town officials “criminals” and “liars.”

In a May 4 news release, township officials distributed documents that show the health benefits decision took place in March 2019, after a review requested by then-Township business administrator Don Guardian and then-Mayor Thomas Kelaher. The documents note that while the employee had worked for Toms River for 13 years, her employment also fell under the oversight of the state judiciary because she was a municipal court administrator, and she had more years of service with state as a result. You can view the documents here.

Geoghegan accused Rodrick of being more interested in the other campaigns than he was in the council work, saying he has missed multiple committee meetings where items on the agenda are discussed and hashed out. Rodrick has repeatedly accused Geoghegan and the council of retaliation because he challenges with them.

Rodrick has been accused by school board member Kathy Eagan of calling her and asking her to pressure other board members on the vote for a new superintendent for the school district. The school board’s search committee has narrowed it to two finalists. Two names began circulating publicly in mid-April, but Patch has not been able to definitively confirm the names, as the search process is confidential. Board vice president Anna Polozzo during the April 28 school board meeting said the finalists are one candidate from within the district and one from outside the district.

Contessa and Palmiere, in an email to the township council, denied that Rodrick is trying to influence their decision, and they and Rodrick say his only involvement with their campaign for school board was to provide lawn signs at cost. They pointed fingers at Eagan, saying she is the only person who has violated school board ethics in openly supporting a third person for the superintendent's post. Eagan is not part of the search committee and will not be able to vote on the choice of superintendent because she has family members who work for the district, which disqualifies her from participating under state school ethics rules.

During the phone call Friday with Patch, Rodrick again denied involvement in the campaigns of Contessa and Palmiere beyond making lawn signs. “Yes, I made signs for the girls,” he said. “What’s wrong with a Republican helping other Republicans?”

He said he had done similar for board member Kevin Kidney during the 2019 school board campaign, which is reflected in Kidney’s campaign finance report. But in an audio recording of a telephone message Rodrick left in 2019 for another person, Rodrick identifies himself and states he ran Kidney’s campaign, and says he wants to ask the person a couple of questions. The recording was provided to Patch by the recipient of the phone message.

While the power struggle within the Ocean County GOP has been most sharply felt in Toms River, where Hill broke away from the town’s Republican club in 2019 when it endorsed former Ocean County prosecutor Joseph Coronato in the mayoral primary race, it has been reflected in the GOP primary campaign for the 10th District Assembly race.

Rodrick’s slate is running under the "Make New Jersey Great Again" banner, the same banner that Geraldine Ambrosio and Brian M. Quinn are running under as they challenge Gregory McGuckin and John Catalano for the Republican nomination for the 10th District. Ambrosio is the former chairwoman of the Toms River Republican Club, which was stripped of its credentials in favor of the Regular Republican Club of Toms River in March at a hotly contested county party meeting, the Asbury Park Press reported.

Ambrosio, a longtime Gilmore ally, has aligned herself with Rodrick, vocally supporting him during Toms River Township Council meetings in recent weeks ahead of the primary. Loiacono, Rodrick’s running mate, is her father.

McGuckin, whom Ambrosio is challenging, has been a continual target of Rodrick, who claimed the township’s move to create a law division and hire McGuckin amounted to pay-to-play for political donations to Hill’s campaign. McGuckin, who donated $2,600 to the campaign of Hill, Lotano, Kopp and Geoghegan, has rejected Rodrick’s assertions. Rodrick challenged Toms River’s hiring of McGuckin in court but his lawsuit was was dismissed with prejudice by Superior Court Judge Marlene Lynch Ford, the Asbury Park Press reported.

Rodrick also accused McGuckin of leaking confidential information regarding health benefits for the Toms River MUA commissioners; that led to an investigation and a statement from Carmen Memoli to then-Toms River attorney Ken Fitzsimmons that Rodrick told Memoli about the plan. Rodrick was censured by the Toms River council over that matter, the second of three times he has been censured.

Rodrick and Ambrosio have highlighted McGuckin’s multiple municipal contracts, saying he has 30 such contracts. It’s a common practice; Gilmore had multiple municipal contracts before his tax conviction, many in Ocean County but also in Howell and in Atlantic County.

Toms River Consent Decree Justice Department 2021 by Karen Wall on Scribd