BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer
Sherman and Spalliero are the principals of Crawford Holdings, which successfully sought a zoning change from the council that permitted them to proceed to and receive approval from the Planning Board for the Route 33 Colts Neck Crossing adult community. Work on the project has not started.
All of the individuals who appeared to answer questions before the special commission were basically asked to give their opinion of what the collection of donations charted in the 3-inch thick tome could be construed to represent.
Smith told a reporter he could not see where new ground had been broken and questioned the council’s basis for establishing a conflict of interest on anyone’s part.
“What new facts did they get here for all of this? Not a one,” he said. “All it (the hearings) was, was a read back of township letters and memos; and old (election finance) sheets, information they already had, so what was actually learned they hadn’t already known? It was ridiculous, I resent it.”
Smith said he believes the action will cost the town in lawsuits, starting with an action Sherman and Spalliero have brought against Howell and against individuals after the investigative panel announced its recommendation to undo the zoning that allowed the developers to proceed with the Colts Neck Crossing project.
“What the devil do you expect from your volunteers?” Smith asked the council. “People are not going to be able to volunteer for any boards or commissions if you’re going to leave them hung out to dry. I resent volunteers being put in this kind of jeopardy. All I can say is God help the taxpayers that are going to be paying for the lawsuits you know are coming. And I resent the fact that our volunteers have to pay for their own legal protection.”
Smith’s wife, Pauline, who is a member of the Planning Board, appeared at the April 12 hearing with an attorney. She indicated that as a public official she believed the township should have provided an attorney to represent her at the hearings. However, said Smith, township officials disagreed and her request was denied.
Worried more about what it would cost her to appear without an attorney, Smith decided to spend a little more of her own money, which was not the first time she would spend personal funds because of public service.
The Smiths will say that the rewards of volunteering are priceless. They will also be able to say that the cost of public service — at least for them — is $27,000. That is what it has cost them so far to defend themselves against a complaint that was later dropped by the plaintiff.
The Smiths found themselves the target of a lawsuit by a person who filed an interference complaint against them based on allegations made by some individuals in Howell whose personal grudges against the Smiths lead to public criticism of the Smiths on an Internet Web site.
The suit, which took two years of their time as well as the equivalent of a half-year’s salary as depositions were gathered, was later dismissed when it was decided there was no merit to the allegations and therefore no basis for the litigation.
Pauline Smith said the charges brought against her and her husband were borne out of unfounded statements and actions alleged to have been made and committed by the Smiths while they were officials of the township; she as a member of the Planning Board and he as a member of the environmental commission.
Smith said she therefore had requested that they both be represented in the matter by counsel provided by the township, but the request was denied. She said she was told her request was denied because the plaintiff was suing her and her husband as individuals and not as members of their individual board or commission.
The Smiths said they will once again ask Howell officials for compensation for the $27,000 in legal fees they have accrued.
Smith said she and her husband do not regret a minute of the time they have given to the township. They both grew up in Howell and raised a family here. They say public service is something they believe in and something that should be encouraged in others.
However, as one who has had to literally put her money where her mouth is, Smith said she is worried that other people who might like to serve the community may be discouraged from public service if they think their private security can be threatened.
Given her and her husband’s personal experience in the last two years since the litigation started against them and the just-completed municipal hearings of alleged conflicts of interest, Smith said she is worried it will become harder to get good people to volunteer for Howell boards and committees.
Speaking to the council during the April 12 hearing, Smith said, “While holding investigative hearings could be a beneficial way to gather evidence, if such a procedure is misused it will discourage law-abiding and community-loving citizens from holding public office for fear of being force to defend [themselves against] inaccurate accusations and face public humility, all at their own out-of-pocket expense. Unless the investigative committee is more selective in the individuals they force to submit to this process, Howell risks losing good, decent and honorable citizens to serve as their public representative.”
Former Councilman Fritz Kirchhof had earlier castigated the mayor and members of the special investigative commission for subjecting him and the others who had been asked to appear to public speculation and humiliation.HOWELL — His take on Howell’s special investigation commission’s hearings was apparent from the minute he opened his mouth to speak.
To appreciative laughter and applause, resident Donald Smith told members of the Township Council, “I am not a member of the Communist Party.”
Smith made this declaration to the members of the governing body on April 12, following their hearings into allegations of corruption through ethical conflicts on the part of former township officials.
Smith’s wife, Pauline, had been called to answer questions due to allusions to a conversation she was purported to have had with a former township attorney. She was to swear that her conversation with former municipal attorney Richard Schibell had nothing to do with the Colts Neck Crossing development application. The project was at the heart of the special investigatory hearings.
During a public comment session that followed the investigative hearing, Donald Smith told Mayor Joseph M. DiBella and council members he was dismayed by the hearings that were convened to investigate the actions of former Democratic township officials.
DiBella said the hearings were being held in order to look into information contained in a book that had been sent anonymously to several township officials and other private and public entities.
The book includes copies of what is represented to be election finance reports that show amounts given by developers Terry Sherman and Anthony Spalliero to the Monmouth County Democratic Party, which, it is alleged in the book, then wheeled the money back to Howell’s Democratic candidates in a recent election.