committeeman claims
ethical conflicts
Former township
committeeman claims
ethical conflicts
BY ELAINE VAN DEVELDE
Staff Writer
Less than a month after the municipal election, a former township committeeman is looking to oust Middletown Township Committeeman Rick Brodsky from the governing body.
Joseph McGrath, who served on the committee from 1980-83, was expected to file a formal ethics complaint with the Monmouth County Ethics Committee against Brodsky yesterday.
McGrath has called for Brodsky’s resignation, citing ethical conflicts of interest. In a letter to Township Attorney Bernard Reilly dated Nov. 17, McGrath said he hoped "Mr. Brodsky would see that the appearance of conflict in this matter (the town center issue) concerns many residents and taxpayers like myself and voluntarily take the corrective action without the need to resort to a public process."
"I’m definitely thinking about whether or not to run again (in 2004)," Brodsky said. "But, as for resigning — as of right now, no, I am not resigning."
McGrath said he would file a similar complaint with the state Office of Attorney Ethics if Brodsky does not resign.
McGrath said Brodsky’s seat may be worth a $150 million, 137-acre town center — the largest development to hit Monmouth County in more than a decade.
The basis of McGrath’s complaint is that the proposed town center developer, the family of Republican Assemblyman Joseph Azzolina (R-13), has been a long-time client of the law firm in which Brodsky practices as a partner — Ansell, Zaro, Grimm and Aaron, Ocean.
Brodsky represents several real-estate-affiliated clients. While he does not represent any of the Azzolinas, other members of his firm do and have for close to 50 years, he said.
With Brodsky’s inaction to resign, McGrath said he "may be giving The Mountain Hill Group (town center developer) and/or its related corporations/partnerships an advantage, since it is clear that the remaining committee members would be likely to appoint a replacement committee person who shares their views on zoning/planning issues."
McGrath claims, in another letter to Reilly dated Oct. 17, that Brodsky has had conflicts of interest because of his job from the onset of his public service career. He not only has a conflict with the town center issue, but other pivotal township business, McGrath said.
Sitting on the committee are Republicans Mayor Rosemarie Peters, Deputy Mayor Joan Smith, and Committeemen Patrick Parkinson, Raymond O’Grady and Brodsky.
Since the controversial town center plan was unveiled in September 2000, O’Grady has come out in favor of it and Brodsky has been kept from voting on anything having to do with the center.
Though Brodsky can vote for a mayor and to fill the five Planning Board and four Zoning Board seats which will be up in January, his conflict with town center votes puts him in a dicey political position, McGrath said.
Brodsky said he voted to seat the current, largely conservation-minded Republican board members whose terms will soon expire. He was also present at town hall on election night and said he wholeheartedly supported Peters’ re-election.
"I don’t think people want to take a chance on which way he might lean with those votes. He represents many major developers in his legal dealings. Considering that, it seems logical to have some doubts that he would go against developers," Peters said.
"His law firm is very large; and, since he is a real estate attorney, little conflicts here and there, besides the town center issue, pop up and inevitably spill into township business," Peters said. "This makes it very difficult for him to serve on the committee."
Democratic candidate in this year’s Township Committee election, Alex DeSevo, said municipal Republican Chairman Peter Carton supported Brodsky (in 2001) and O’Grady (in 2002) to keep the town center issue steeped in litigation and billable hours for township attorney and county Republican Chairman William Dowd.
"My theory is that the township’s Republican Chairman Peter Carton pulls all the political strings," DeSevo said. "If he wanted to get rid of people on the committee who favor the project or have no vote, he would have not supported their bids for re-election. It’s that simple."
"Concerning Rick Brodsky, two years ago, when he was up for re-election, we did not realize the extent of his conflict. The town center was not a hot, viable issue at the time, either. As for O’Grady, he was against the size of the development until the very last minute. Then he changed his mind and it was too late to not support him. He was already on the ballot for the primaries," Carton said.