Democratic leader assails use of detective against Lucas

Iapplaud Greater Media Newspapers Executive Editor Greg Bean for offering a call for a bipartisan response to the latest stunt by Stuart Moskovitz (“In Manalapan, Politics Has Reached A Record Low,” Coda, News Transcript, March 12, 2008).

As amazing as it is, Stuart Moskovitz stooped to a new low when he hired a private detective to follow Republican Manalapan Committeeman Andrew Lucas. This is Mr. Moskovitz’s latest effort to distract the people of Manalapan from the fact that he failed them terribly while serving as township attorney.

However, I must correct one error in Mr. Bean’s column. Stuart Moskovitz is not a Democrat. The Manalapan Democrats ended his affiliation with the Democratic Party in 2002 when he divided our party in a typically nasty and brutish primary.

Stuart Moskovitz waged that primary against the candidates that the party had unanimously chosen to run for Township Committee. Mr. Moskovitz became a Republican then and since that time he has brought to the Republican Party the same skills and qualifications that led the Democrats to disown him in 2002.

In my opinion, Mr. Moskovitz has always suffered from the same problem: he is incapable of self-restraint and lacks sound judgment. Worse, he uses his law license as a weapon to settle personal grudges.

This latest episode with Andrew Lucas is no exception. As the municipal leader of the Democratic Party – and one who would ordinarily leave it to the Republican Party to defend their own – I stand shoulder to shoulder with Chairman Steve McEnery and the Manalapan Republican Party in support of Andrew Lucas.

The degree of vindictiveness and desperation demonstrated by Mr. Moskovitz cannot be tolerated in a democratic society. Stuart Moskovitz’s destructive tactics have put at risk the ability of our government to attract the best and the brightest of our community, to offer themselves to the service of the public. Our great township of Manalapan deserves better than this. We have all seen enough of Mr. Moskovitz’s inexcusable behavior.

Gerard Ward Democratic Municipal Leader

Manalapan