MANALAPAN- For the second meeting in a row, the topic of anonymous Internet attacks was front and center at a Township Committee meeting.
Another former mayor came forward to state his opinion about the anonymous attacks and a sitting committeewoman said the attacks, which can be seen by a worldwide audience, are turning her off to the idea of seeking a second term.
Deputy Mayor Susan Cohen told the News Transcript that the poisonous political atmosphere perpetrated by the anonymous Internet attacks on message boards and blogs (Internet journals) led to her decision to serve out her present term and not to seek re-election.
C
ohen joined the committee in the
spring of 2007 when she was appointed to fill a vacant seat. She won a full threeyear term in the November election. Her present term is due to end on Dec. 31, 2010.
Speaking about her decision not to seek re-election, Cohen said, “I have to tell you that right now that is my thinking. I really don’t see myself taking on another three years of this what with the additional pressures they (the Internet attacks) bring besides those of job and family. I just want to accomplish what I can with the three years left on my term, but at this point, no, it is not my intention to seek another term.”
Meanwhile, former Manalapan Mayor James Gray spoke during the public comment session of the meeting and his remarks made it clear that he had come to praise the governing body and bury the idea of anonymous blogging.
“I came to express my gratitude and respect to the five members of the Township Committee” said Gray, adding that “very few [people] know the problems, pressures and demands” that come with being a member of the committee.
Gray, a Republican who served on the committee for 15 years, said he attended the Feb. 27 meeting after reading stories in the News Transcript about anonymous Internet attacks and the people who might be victimized by them. Gray said the unrelenting personal
attacks that are being
levied at Manalapan officials
and volunteers by
the anonymous Internet
posters are ruining the
sense of community in
Manalapan “even if they
(the anonymous posters)
don’t speak for the majority of people in town.”
“The lies and needless innuendos are horrendous. This town is not what it used to be when I raised my family here,” he said.
Speaking with a reporter after making his remarks during the committee meeting, Gray said he felt compelled to join his one-time political opponent, former mayor George Spodak, in publicly denouncing several Internet sites on which anonymous individuals post messages that attack public officials and other people who are in the public eye in Manalapan.
G
ray said he agreed with what Spodak
said at the committee’s Feb. 13 meeting when he (Spodak) asked Manalapan’s current elected officials to denounce anonymous Internet attacks being made against elected officials and municipal volunteers.
“Journalistic cowards are what they are. They hide behind being anonymous so they don’t have to account for making statements they would never have the nerve to make if they had to answer for those statements or offer proof of anything they write,” Gray said

