BY DICK METZGAR
Staff Writer
Immediate action must be taken to restore faith and confidence in Monmouth County government in the wake of the arrest last week of 11 government officials as the result of an FBI bribery sting, according to Monmouth County Deputy Freeholder Director Amy Handlin.
“We are still in a state of shock over the arrests,” Handlin said Monday. “However, we must act immediately to put machinery in place to help prevent this from happening in the future.”
One of Handlin’s early proposals is to bar all county employees from holding elective offices on all levels — municipal, state, county and federal.
“We could put this regulation into effect within a week,” Handlin said. “The sooner we do the better it will be in light of what has happened.”
The arrests have been a big embarrassment to the all-Republican Monmouth County Board of Freeholders.
Seven of the 11 men arrested on corruption charges were Repub-licans. These included Keyport Mayor John Merla; Middletown Committeeman Raymond O’Grady, who is the director of the county motor pool; Hazlet Mayor Paul Coughlin; Neptune Township Deputy Mayor Richard J. Iadanza, who is the county roads supervisor; Thomas E. Broderick, a former Marlboro councilman who is the assistant county roads supervisor; Robert Hyer, a former Keyport councilman who is the confidential aide to County Clerk M. Claire French; and Joseph McCurnin, an operations manager in charge of the county’s Special Citizen Area Transportation (SCAT) buses.
Democrats arrested were Asbury Park Councilman John Hamilton, West Long Branch Mayor Paul Zambrano, West Long Branch Councilman Joseph DeLisa, and Patsy Townsend, a deputy county fire marshal, who is Neptune’s code enforcement and emergency management official.
All of the county employees who were charged in the FBI sting have been suspended without pay and could be fired, Handlin said. They may also be asked to resign from elective offices and step down from leadership positions with the county Republican organization, she said.
Freeholder Director Thomas J. Powers said he was shocked and incensed when he learned about the charges that had been brought against the county employees.
“These were not people I had thought much of,” Powers said. “I think we did the right thing to suspend these people without pay. If they are convicted or plea bargain, I think they should be deprived of any benefits such as pensions. Our administrator, Louis Paparozzi, has been instructed to send a letter to the U.S. Attorney requesting that should any of the accused be convicted or plea bargain, part of their punishment should be that they will not be allowed to hold any elective office in the future, or be employed by any government agency.”
At the same time, Powers said he thought it unfair to tarnish the reputations of other county employees as a result of the arrests and charges.
“Only a handful of people are involved in these allegations,” Powers said. “We have about 3,600 county employees and outside of the ones charged, these are good people. I don’t think it is fair to paint them with the same brush used on the accused [individuals]. I think that would be very unfair to our loyal and honest employees.”
Freeholder Ted Narozanick, a former county finance director and administrator who has served as a county official for 47 years, said he was shocked and in a state of disbelief over the charges.
“When I first heard of the arrests that Tuesday morning, I was not only in a state of shock, but I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” Narozanick said. “This is a terrible thing. We have always been proud of the way the county has been run. This development has tarnished the entire county of Monmouth. We did the right thing by immediately suspending these people without pay. We have advised the U.S. Attorney that these people, if convicted, should never be able to hold a government office and secure government employment in the future.”
Narozanick said he is serving his final two years as a freeholder — 2005 and 2006.
“I will not seek re-election in 2006,” he said. “My priority during my last two years in office will be to help put safeguards in place that will prevent corruption of this kind in the future. This is something we must deal with and rectify immediately.”
Narozanick said preventing county employees from holding elective offices merits careful study.
“We have to look into this carefully,” he said. “We have to consider the constitutionality of such a move and the rights of the people involved. However, I have never witnessed anything like these charges in all of the 47 years I have served Monmouth County.”
“We have a long way to go,” Handlin said. “We have to get back the public confidence and improve on the transparency of what we do as public servants. We can have no secrets or dark corners in our operations. The public must be able to see what all of their public servants are doing at all times.”
Monmouth County Republican Chairman Fredrick P. Niemann has asked the Republicans who were arrested in the FBI sting to resign from their public posts. He supports remedial action proposed by Handlin and other freeholders.
“They’re right on point,” Niemann said. “If convicted, this is indefensible. We’re going to continue to support the efforts of the county, state and federal law enforcement officials to continue their investigation and let it take us where it takes us.”