By Philip Sean Curran
Monmouth County freeholder Thomas A. Arnone will seek a fourth term Nov. 5 when the Republican and his running mate Dominick DiRocco face Democrats Moira Nelson and Michael Penna in a contest for two freeholder seats.
Control of county government is not at stake this year, but Nelson and Penna are seeking to break the Republican grip on the five-member board.
In interviews with The Two River Times, the four candidates touched on the affordability of living in Monmouth County, higher education and other concerns facing residents here.
As part of their pitch to voters, the two Democrats talked of needing two-party government on a freeholder board where only one party is represented.
“I think that you have to have checks and balances,” Penna said. “There has to be two sides.”
“We’re running because we don’t feel represented on the current freeholder board and we want to bring that fresh voice and balance to the board,” Nelson said.
If elected, they would have to make decisions on a budget of more than $400 million and other high-level issues. However, neither Democrat has ever run for or held public office.
Nelson pointed to her background as a businesswoman and her experience sitting on commissions and boards in other communities.
“But I think that my heart’s in the right place and that I want to do the right thing for people, and that I’ll stand up there and fight for people who are just not represented and not seen,” Penna said.
Penna said he felt the county should be funding Brookdale Community College at “a much higher level.” He did not have a specific dollar amount in mind.
“Because by investing in our kids, we’re investing in our future,” he said.
DiRocco said increasing financial suppor t to the college would have to fit into larger issues around the county budget.
“So, yes, would I like to spend more money on Brookdale? Absolutely,” DiRocco said. “But it’s going to depend on how it fits into the grand scheme of funding the county in total. I’m cautious about it, because I want to make sure thatyoucandoitinaway that doesn’t overburden the taxpayer.”
Arnone said that this year the county gave Brookdale $29 million and allowed the college to restructure its debt through the county improvement authority at a savings of $684,000.
Nelson, 45, of Asbury Park, works in the fashion industry and has started her own consulting company. She is also an activist, having taken a vocal role in trying to legalize marijuana in the state. Commenting on Twitter in January 2018, she said, “our criminal justice system is modern day slavery” and “modern day police were once called slave patrols.”
“So, slavery still exists, but it’s less blatant,” she wrote.
Arnone said he felt her remarks were “a disgrace to our police depar tment.”
“Our police departments have a lot of challenges in today’s climate,” he said. “And to be able to not have the support of even a potential elected official, I think that’s a disgrace to our profession. We need to support our law enforcement and give them the tools.”
Nelson called it “absurd” to say she does not support law enforcement.
“I entered the political arena as a drug policy reform advocate,” she said in a statement in response to Arnone’s comments. “I’ve been speaking up for those suffering from substance use disorders for over a decade. If you know anything about drug policy, you know that it directly intersects with social justice, racial justice and criminal justice. You can’t address drug policy without also addressing these other complex subjects.”
This year, the county abated an odor coming from its landfill in Tinton Falls, a problem caused by a combination of factors that had residents upset.
“Tom Arnone’s handling of the (landfill) stands out as a key issue and something that residents are deeply concerned about, the lack of transparency,” Nelson said.
She said residents were going to county officials for years about the odor “before they would even listen to them about it.” She said it took state Sen. Vin Gopal (D-11) getting involved by having a town hall on the issue.
Arnone said the county fixed the problem and that he faced the public and “took the hits.”
But Nelson said the landfill is nearing capacity and the county has yet to get a permit from the state to expand operations there.
DiRocco said the county cannot close the landfill. If it ever did, shipping trash out of state would come at a high cost for taxpayers of the towns that bring their waste there currently, he said.
“Just common sense would tell you what the cost of this would be,” Arnone said.
Yet Arnone said he would not approve further expansion of the landfill capacity “unless I know that nothing would be a negative benefit to the Tinton Falls residents.”
Arnone, 57, is a vice president of property management for the PRC Group, a real estate development company. He served 15 years in municipal government in Neptune City as a councilman and then as the mayor. He was elected to the freeholder board in 2010.
“I still think that there’s more to do and there’s more I think I can bring to the table,” he said. “I think I’ve proven that I have the ability to make the tough decisions.”
Penna, 36, teaches at Collier High School. If elected, the Long Branch resident would be the first openly gay member of the freeholder board.
Since freeholders have meetings in the early afternoon, Penna said he would have to leave work early to attend if elected. He said most counties have their meetings at night.
“It’s not about us being there,” he said. “It’s about the community being able to come and have a voice.”
DiRocco, elected in 2013 to the Wall Township Committee, also served as the mayor of that community. The New Jersey native has held high-level posts in the administration of former Gov. Chris Christie and U.S. Sen. Jeffrey S. Chiesa (R-NJ). He works as the director of government relations with South Jersey Industries.
He said he enjoys the process of sitting around a table with people trying to solve problems. “It sounds hokey, but I really enjoy public service,” said DiRocco, 45.
He said the state faces “an affordability crisis” and that Monmouth County “is not immune” to that issue.
“We have a lot of issues that are challenging, unfortunately coming from misguided leadership out of Trenton,” he said. “So we have higher taxes, higher burdens on our business community, all of which increases the cost of living.”
Nelson said the county “is becoming increasingly unaffordable for working class families.” She came from that background, growing up in Middletown in the 1970s and ’80s when both her parents worked. “Yet they could still raise four kids and afford to set aside some money for retirement (and) set aside money for their children’s education,” she said. “Working families, in general, are feeling the squeeze and aren’t feeling represented in government, in all levels of government.”
Asked what he would do to make the county more affordable, DiRocco said, “you’ve got to continue to manage the budget appropriately.” He said that the county budget once stood at $489 million, a total that Arnone and others cut by $40 million.
“That is from a lot of hard work, a lot of creative planning and, more importantly, looking at a way where we could merge duplicate services (and) get out of areas that government should not be in,” Arnone said.
Steps along that way included privatizing two county-run nursing homes and sharing services. For example, the county sheriff ’s office handles dispatch services for most first responder agencies in Monmouth.
DiRocco said he wants to address aging infrastructure in the county, pointing to bridges that need attention as an example.
“So as we keep expanding with development…we have to look at the roads, we have to look at the bridges, we have to look at the stormwater management protections,” Arnone said.
In September, state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal issued a directive that made Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden’s office end a cooperation agreement with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The arrangement was in effect at the county jail, involving the county notifying ICE if inmates were found to be in the country illegally.
DiRocco said he would support the county challenging Grewal in court.
“I think it’s worth the county fighting that policy with whatever resources are available and appropriate,” he said. “Because I think at the end of the day, it’s a public safety issue and you can’t leave the public in a position where they are not protected by the police.”
Arnone said he supports Golden “100 percent” and joined other freeholders this month to look for a lawyer or law firm to represent them in a lawsuit against the attorney general.
The two Democrats, however, oppose any legal fight.
“We’re highly disappointed to see that the freeholders are moving forward with hiring an attorney to challenge the (attorney general’s) directive,” they said in a statement. “It sends the wrong message and is a flat-out waste of Monmouth taxpayers’ dollars.”
Golden, who is up for re-election, is also the chairman of the Monmouth County Republican Party. That puts him, by day, in a position where the freeholders have control of his budget and make other decisions that affect his office. By night, he holds large sway over county politics, including who gets the party’s backing to run for freeholder. Penna and Nelson said that arrangement poses a “potential” conflict of interest.
Arnone dismissed such talk. “He has never, in my period of time of my friendship, because we’re friends too, and as sheriff and as chairman, shown me any side of partisanship to where I have to make a decision because he’s a chair,” Arnone said. “He’ll tell you, ‘Hey, it’s your decision, you run the county.’ ’’
