MILLSTONE: Republicans won’t back Abilheira

by Matt Chiappardi, Special Writer
   MILLSTONE — Committeeman Elias Abilheira and his colleagues on the township’s all-Republican governing body are going through a public divorce.
   Local Republicans will not be supporting him for a re-election bid in November, something Mr. Abilheira says is fine with him. That’s because he said he wasn’t planning to run for re-election anyway, and would not have accepted the nomination from GOP leaders he called “hypocrites,” who have “abandoned what the Republican Party stands for.”
   ”I want nothing to do with their organization,” Mr. Abilheira said Monday.
   ”I don’t think they’re Republicans. I don’t think they’re honest. They’re leading this town off the cliff,” he added.
   For his part, however, local GOP chairman and fellow Committeeman Steve Lambros said it’s Mr. Abilheira who is out of touch with Republican values.
   ”Over the last four years he has disconnected with the Republican Party,” Mr. Lambros said.
   ”He just sits back and blames them for not getting what he wants,” he added.
   There are two seats up for election on the five-member Township Committee this fall, one held by Mr. Abilheira and the other by Mayor Nancy Grebelja.
   Earlier this month, the members of the county Republican Executive Committee met to choose who they would endorse in this year’s primaries, Mr. Lambros explained. The members unanimously voted to support Ms. Grebelja, and not one offered any endorsement of Mr. Abilheira, he said.
   But it seems the schism between Mr. Abilheira and other local Republicans goes back about three years, according to Mr. Lambros. During Mr. Abilheira’s first re-election bid in 2006, Mr. Lambros claims county GOP officials only begrudgingly endorsed him.
   ”We thought he was professional enough to work well with others, and we did the best thing for Millstone Township,” Mr. Lambros said.
   ”He chose to demand everybody come to see things his way. Abilheira was not happy unless he was driving the bus,” he added.
   Mr. Abilheira tells a different story.
   ”They were begging me to run,” he said of his 2006 re-election bid.
   As Mr. Abilheira’s second term wore on, both sides agree that their relationship became increasingly strained.
   The clash of personalities came to a flash point over a state Council on Affordable Housing Plan approved late last year that includes a wastewater treatment plant to support a proposed 85-unit mixed use development on Route 33 that would help satisfy the township’s 172-unit obligation.
   The plan, specifically its treatment plant component, drew public criticism despite the fact that township officials said the plan can be changed.
   ”I’m against high-density development. It’s not good for Millstone, and they did this without telling anyone they were considering the option. They left the town in the lurch,” Mr. Abilheira said.
   Mr. Lambros said the approved plan was discussed during at least six public meetings, something Mr. Abilheira does acknowledge. However, Mr. Abilheira says there are a number of other ways the township could have met its COAH obligations without the plant proposal, including zoning that would spread affordable housing throughout Millstone. He submitted two such plans one week before the final vote, but both were deemed not viable by Township Planner Richard Coppola.
   Mr. Lambros pointed out that the state Department of Community Affairs only gave municipalities four months to deal with new COAH regulations, and claimed the township had no choice but to approve the plan even if officials didn’t want the plant.
   ”We had a gun to our heads and our backs to the wall,” he said.
   Mr. Abilheira also chastised his fellow committee members for raising property taxes, something he said Republicans shouldn’t be doing.
   ”I’m a real Republican, and real Republicans don’t support raising taxes,” he said.
   The committee raised township property taxes by .8 cents per $100 of assessed value last year.
   Mr. Lambros scoffed at Mr. Abilheira’s assertion that the hike was at odds with Republican values.
   ”My property tax bill went up $7 because of it. Would you call that a tax increase?” Mr. Lambros asked.
   In lieu of his position on the Township Committee, Mr. Abilheira will be serving on a greenhouse gas reduction advisory panel for the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders. He said he has no plans to run for elected office in the future.
   ”Being exposed to politics in Millstone leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth,” he said.
   Mr. Lambros said the GOP will be sifting through applications to find someone to run in Mr. Abilheira’s place, and maintains that the other four committee members have not steered the township in the wrong direction.
   ”This organization has nothing to be ashamed of, and everything to be proud of,” he said.
   Anyone interested in being endorsed by the Republicans to run for Township Committee can send a resume and mission statement to P.O. Box 65, Perrineville, NJ 08535 by March 13, Mr. Lambros said.