March 7, 2007: Shewmake Letter

Ocean County Politics, Barnaget Light

Ocean County Politics .com

Jim Shewmake Commentary

Shewmake: 7-0 South Toms River Republican Control Is A "Bad Joke" As GOP Hikes Taxes 58% In Three Years; Former Councilman Condemns "Puppet Government" Of GOP Chairman Gilmore And Pay-To-Play Lawyer McGuckin, Whose Wife Was Handed A $70,000 Election Board Job

The following editorial by former Councilman James Shewmake was also published in the Ocean County Observer:

Councilman Ross

Sandford Ross is kidding himself if he thinks he can con us again after the 58% tax increase from the 7-0 Republican council he was “President” of.

Everybody in South Toms River knows that Ross and Karen Paden, Republican candidate in the “special” election on March 13^th, are puppets of Republican Boss George Gilmore, lawyer for the sewer authority, and Republican Boss #2 Gregory McGuckin, lawyer for the Mayor and Council.

Paden County Job: $90,000; Mrs. McGuckin County
Job: $70,000; McGuckin Included In STR Pension Plan

Karen Paden

Paden has a county job as a jail guard where she makes more than $90,000 including benefits, and Paden and Ross put McGuckin in the South Toms River pension plan long before Gilmore put McGuckin’s wife on the county election board payroll for $70,000.

Ross and Paden: Worst Public
Officials In Ocean County?

Ross’s defense of McGuckin is a joke. The South Toms River Republicans are also an expensive joke. Their administration for the past three years is a bad joke. Councilman Ross and Paden easily qualify as two of the worst public officials in the county.

Real Joke On STR Taxpayers

But the real joke is on South Toms River taxpayers who pay dearly every day for the Republican incompetence and mismanagement that gave us the 58% tax increase.

James Shewmake, South Toms River

This article prepared for publication on March 7, 2007.