We hear our politicians claim that they are allowing developments, like the 920 units that have just been given preliminary approval, because of the affordable housing obligation mandated by the state.

The state is run by developers, which is why we are not allowed to ask for things like schools be built by developers to offset the impact of the development.

So, the developer run state mandates an affordable housing obligation through a developer run Judge like Jude Wolfson who, soon after ruling on affordable housing, went to work for JSM, the very same developer who are looking to build the 920 units in Monroe Township.  (Link to Wolfson Crime against taxpayers.)
Then the developer run township hides behind the affordable housing obligation and grants approvals for the developments.  Meanwhile, elected officials, like our 28 year Mayor Pucci where accepting “consultation fees” from the same developer, through a PAC set up by former Senator Lynch,  while he sat on the Monroe Township Planning Board.  His hand picked successor, Gerri Tamburro just voted “yes” for preliminary approval for the same JSM last night. Read Soprano State for more info (Link to Pucci Crime against taxpayers).

In Monroe, JSM has magnanimously offered to take on 25% of our affordable housing obligation.   In this case, it does not mean that JSM will only build affordable housing, they will build nearly four times as many unaffordable units.  See how it works?

They are all one big happy family, so next time someone tells you that the development is due to the affordable housing obligations, throw this in their faces and watch their reactions.  There are no defenses against the truth.

Tonight at the Monroe Township Planning Board Meeting, the Planning Board granted preliminary approval for 920 units in the southern section of Monroe off of Bentley Road.

Good Day,
I hope that everyone is having a wonderful weekend.  This was not put out by us. It looks like Councilman Liebowitz is putting out information to make it look like he is being supported by Independents for Monroe.  In fact, this letter came to me from someone in Ward 3 who was handed this letter and was told that I was support Mike Liebowitz.  That is far from the truth.  Mr.  Liebowitz is part of the problem. He has never voted “No” for anything that might jeopardize his 10k opt out check, so he votes for every development and every item on every agenda.  He even switched parties and became a Democrat to prove his loyalty.

This letter is not from us.  Voting Line A will help get new blood and a new vision for Monroe.  We need to end this Builder run control of our town.

Good morning,
At the last Board of Ed meeting, the Board of Ed voted to accept and deliver the letter to our Legislators that the Fair School Funding Committee put together. Unfortunately, the letter was not sent after that meeting. Late last week I inquired about the letter delivery and was told that it was not sent. I am not assigning blame because it seems to have been a mistake. I want to ensure that the letter is delivered so my plan is to hand deliver the letter this Saturday in person to Senator Greenstein’s office, which is right on the outskirts of Monroe in Cranbury on South River Road.

I always hear the elected officials in Monroe Township talking about “going green” and how we are a “green township”. Let’s really show that we a green township by getting rid of The Monroe News, which is little more than a propaganda vehicle.  All of the active adult communities have their own papers, internal websites and Facebook pages. Everyone outside of the communities has access to the internet. Why are we spending almost $13,000 per issue for a paper that could easily be posted online?

Let’s really go green and save the taxpayers some money. The township can find out how wonderful our elected officials are just as easily electronically.  Most of the internal community papers already host columns by the mayor and council.

I have attached the costs for Monroe News from an OPRA request that I did last week. You have a right to know what this costs. Let’s really go green, Monroe!

 Monroe news

I want to thank our supporters and all of our friends and family who worked to help us in this campaign. We were not successful but we stayed true to our word. We abided by all of the rules and we fought for what we thought was right.

Running as an independent was an uphill battle from the start and we knew that. We pledged to not spend any more than $5000 on this race and we stayed beneath that.

We will continue to fight and to serve. I spent 7 years on the Board of Ed and on various other boards working as a volunteer. I will continue to serve you and fight for what I think is right. I am not going away.
Thank you.

Ken

This will be my last post before I go vote and get drawn into the craziness of Election Day. I want to thank everyone who has supported us. You have no idea how grateful I am for all of you. Win or lose you have given me a wonderful gift and I will not forget it. I am humbled by you support! Thank you!

Please email friends and relatives in Monroe. If you know someone who needs a ride to the polls please let us know. We have to push right up until the polls close. When you see your friends and neighbors today please ask them if they voted. There will not be any change without a change in the engagement of our residents in the process. PLEASE get out and vote!

Please vote for Ken Chiarella, Chirag Bhagat and Stanley Edelman. Line D!

Thank you!

Please Vote Line D Tomorrow and End This Nonsense!!

This is how Gerry Tamburro operates. Two residents invited me to Stonebridge this weekend so that I could meet them for the first time and meet their friends. One of Gerry’s henchmen, named Gary, found the men who invited me and sent one of them this email.  My friends do not know Gary, but Gary found them.  How?  Gary even explains that he is not on Facebook.  They watch everything and are very careful to guard their machine. I am a threat to their machine so they watch everything that I do.  Too bad they don’t spend this much time guarding our tax dollars this ferociously.

This is how they work to keep me out. It just so happens that the henchman is also on the Rec board and is one of the people that helped get the community garden built. The land for that garden was given by a developer. What did we get in exchange for this? All of the new townshouses and condos going up on Applegarth Road and Route 33!

Please vote tomorrow. We need to end this nonsense. Our residents should be free to associate with whomever they choose. Shame on you Gerry and Gary for bullying a resident who pays taxes in Monroe. This is not the Soviet Union!  Send Gary and Gerry a message that they just made some ill will toward themselves with the people of Monroe Township!

On Nov 2, 2015, at 7:28 PM, Gary <> wrote:

This is why I don’t do Facebook. The way you approached this posting infers approval. Kenny knows who I support. This has now created ill will directed towards you. I would never do what you did.

Gary
Sent from my iPad

On Nov 2, 2015, at 6:19 PM, > wrote:

ken was invited here to see the Clubhouse on Sunday and I introduced myself to him. He was not “ politicking “ as you described it and he did not meet anyone else or discuss his political agenda. Calm down!

On Nov 2, 2015, at 6:04 PM, Gary<> wrote:

Alex

Shame on You!!!!!!!!!

As a resident of Stonebridge I’m deeply upset of your comment…….. Stonebridge residents: Come meet Mayoral Candidate Ken Chiarella tomorrow in the Clubhouse at 10 A.M.

This inferred that this “event” is sanctioned by the Board, which it was not. You should have indicated that YOU wanted to introduce him. In fact political events do not happen at Stonebridge. What you do at your own home would be fine.

I know Kenny. He knows that no politicking is allowed in the Stonebridge Clubhouse.

My history: My name is Ken Chiarella and I am running as an Independent for Mayor. I am the great grandson of a Monroe farmer who moved to Monroe after arriving at Ellis Island about 100 years ago. My father recently left Monroe because he could not afford that taxes in the town that he was born and raised in. That same story is being repeated all over Monroe Township. I graduated with a Bachelors degree in Political Science from Rutgers University. I work for CVS Pharmacy as a Regional Loss Prevention Manager. I have a wife and children. I have served on the Monroe Township Board of Education until 11 months ago. I was on the Planning Board as an Alternate for about a year and resigned after realizing that the game was rigged in favor of developers. My resignation letter is here and explains why I left. Resignation

I was also a member of the Historic Preservation Commission and I was a Liaison to the Recreation Board from the Board of Ed.

Stop development. All development! We are not looking to create new schemes for developers to enter Monroe to build anything. Light industrial schemes will bring more developers, more traffic and the need for more services. The revenue they will generate will not reduce taxes. It might help stabilize taxes but at what cost? We will have more strip malls with a pizza place, dry cleaners, a bagel place and a Subway in each new strip mall. We don’t need that. We need to clean up our local government. The time for planning development is over. We have allowed developers to run this town for nearly 30 years and we don’t even have a town center. We now need to plan to cut the fat out of government. We have to stop development, create an active chamber of commerce with a shop local program and give Monroe residents an incentive to shop locally

We do not need to continue building in Monroe to offset taxes. We can offset taxes by bringing services in house. The costs for the Law firm and engineering firm are due to development. The cost for our school district is due to rampant development. We will need more schools as development continues and that will cause tax increases.  We brought our legal services in-house while I was serving on the Board of Education and we have seen a sizable savings. We can stop those increases by stopping all development at the master plan level and at the application level.

We have to take party politics outside of our borders. Under the Faulkner act, which Monroe is currently organized under, we have the option of making our elections non-partisan. Imagine elections where the integrity and ideas of a candidate matter more than the party they belong to? The elected officials from the parties would have to come to Monroe to ask for support based upon what they will do for our taxpayers.

We need to protect our utilities. The current administration acquired the Monroe Township Utilities Authority and the 50 million dollars they had in reserves. The Authority became the Monroe Township Utilities Department and the township just borrowed 20 million dollars to fund that department. What happened to the 50 million? The money was used to offset municipal tax increases. What happens now that the money is gone? Taxes will increase again. The utilities department makes approximately 4 million dollars per year. That revenue is generated by charging developers to hook up to water and sewer, and now the department is being funded with debt. This is one reason why they will not stop developing no matter what the Master Plan currently stipulates. They have shown that they are willing to change the master plan when it suits their development schemes.

We estimate that our utilities are worth approximately $165 million dollars if there were sold. Selling would be a nice way to kick the can down the road for a while but then it would get ugly. Look at the rates of surrounding towns. When other towns have sold their utilities the rates for water and sewer have skyrocketed. We must have our elected officials pledge to never sell our utilities.

Community: We are one community. We need to build bridges within our community. We grew too fast and we lost our rural character. Stopping development will give us a chance to assimilate and build community ties for all of our residents. We have proposed our community commission in order to accomplish this. The mayor will sit on this commission with representatives of all communities. They will meet monthly to discuss issues and come up with solutions, create community events and to find ways to build bridges.

I have made several pledges over the past few months.

• I will not accept pay to be your mayor. I will not accept any benefit other than the personal benefit of being able to fix the issues that  plague our town.

• I will not sell our utilities.

• I will not accept PAC donations or donations from professional services…Ever! This choice has limited our reach in this election but we have maintained our integrity.

• I will institute term limits. I was always against term limits until I saw the effects of money on our system. The parties set up a monopoly through patronage and PAC donations. We need to limit the power of individual politicians and guard against a power monopoly unfairly gained by the money in politics.

• I will make our town non-partisan. Good ideas come from people and not from party politics. There are good ideas and good people in both parties but better results, on the local level, come from elected officials who are not bound to party platforms and party politics.

You can view our entire platform and our fiscal plan at http://www.independentsformonroe.com .

We have an opportunity to make real change in Monroe on November 3rd but that will be up to you. If you want real change then please vote Line D!

PLEASE VOTE LINE D on November 3rd!

If you are wondering what Monroe Township paid employees and our professional services do on Election Day we have the answer. They work for Gerry Tamburro while getting paid with your tax dollars. For instance, in the 2015 Primary salaried employees were enlisted by Gerry to work the polls as challengers. Many showed up in township vehicles, wearing township clothing and were being paid by the township while acting on Gerry’s behalf. They were compelled to do this. This is how Gerry operates. He forces the township employee, many of whom are wonderful people, to support him, put up his signs, work polls and do other campaign related jobs. Just pull a township employee aside and ask them. Just make sure Gerry isn’t around or they will run and hide.  He will say he “asked” them.  This is the root of the problem.  When a boss “asks” for a favor like this can you say “no”?   Our employees should not be placed in this position.

We can and should do better, Monroe! Our employees are not, and should not, be forced campaign workers while also being paid by taxpayer dollars. The Primary was on June 2, 2015, and that is a Tuesday. They were working.

We have attached the list of Challengers we received via OPRA request from the Middlesex County Clerk’s office.

Your tax dollars at work!

Here is a brief list but you can see the entire list of challengers below:

Mark Rasimowicz- Owner of Center State Engineering firm. Mark also holds a job in Monroe Township and receives a pension.

Karen Adreadis- Mayor’s Administrative Assistant.

Jay Brown– Township employee Recreation Department

Jeanne Crowley- Township Employee Recreation Department

John Riggs- Environmental Manager for Township

Albert Carpenito- Township Employee Rec Center.

There are more but here is the full list: MONROE CHALLENGERS PRIMARY Copy

Gerry Tamburro told a fib on October 8th at the candidate’s forum and we have the proof. Please watch the video and then read the rest of the story below.  Please share this as we need for everyone to know the man who wants to be our mayor.

The Monroe Pay to Play laws were enacted in 2006 after Mayor Richard Pucci got caught accepting $165,000 from the Developers who are building the homes on Rt. 33 and Rt 522. It turns out the Mayor Pucci had a consulting firm that he ran out of his house. That firm only had one client and that client happened to be a major developer in Monroe Township. Mayor Pucci also serves on the planning board where both of these developments were to be approved. Link to that story.

T&M Associates does business in Monroe. T&M Associates is an engineering firm and gave to Gerry in 2013 and also had business in Monroe Township. For instance, they represented Parker House as the engineering firm before, Planning, Zoning and the Environmental Commission. They gave Gerry Tamburro $5200 in 2013 and $900 in 2015 during the primary campaign. If we take a look at the Political Action Committees we can see where all of the developers are. The developers give to the PAC’s who then give to the parties. We have various PAC filings below that show various developers who do business with Monroe. Note Matrix, Federal Business and Joseph Morris, who gave a PAC named Developer’s PAC for $7200 each! Federal Business Centers Inc. owns land on Rt. 33 and is a developer and so does Joseph Morris. They build right here in Monroe. Developers PAC filing with ELEC.

That PAC then gave money to a PAC named NJ Senate Democratic Majority who then gave to Pucci and team. There are so many of these that I could spend an entire week researching the violations of the public trust by Tamburro and the current administration. I believe that I have provided enough to prove that Tamburro lied on October 8 at the Senior Center, and he lied to you!

The ELEC Filings are below.

I just wanted to take a minute to thank Regency for the candidate forum.  It was well attended and they provided a very warm welcome.  Thank you!!

Ken

We just wanted to put out an alert that there are some emails going out that are not being put out by us.  Those emails are asking people to vote for Ken Chiarella for Mayor and they have included some of our information, but they also have added a piece that we did not put out that uses the word “Skim” and also calls out a deceased Councilman and another employee.  I have no idea why they are doing this. It could be misplaced enthusiasm or something more sinister to link us to something that we did not put out.  We just want you to know that the email on “skimming” is not from us. There are only 11 days left and the nonsense is in full bloom.
Thank you.
Ken

Our letter to the Editor published in the paper today, 10-22-15.  letter to the editor.

The Word version:

The Independent candidates- myself , running for Mayor and Chirag Bhagat ad Stan Edelman who are running for Council -have been kept out of candidate forums in Renaissance and Greenbriar at Whittingham. We were purposely blocked from attending so that our message would not reach the residents of those communities. Why did this happen? My best guess is that our message upsets the two party monopolies.
We are not looking to cut services but to enhance them. We want to cut wasteful spending and bring the professional services in house, which will save millions of dollars. We are going to eliminate political patronage jobs. We have made a pledge to not accept campaign contributions from developers and professional services. Our opponents have not made this pledge. In fact our opponents are accepting tens of thousands of dollars from political action committees and party donations that are filled with donations from developers and professional services that do business in Monroe. Do you wonder why the development never stops and why taxes keep going up? It is because developers run Monroe Township.
Monroe is being fleeced by politicians, developers and professional services. Both parties own the responsibility for our predicament. The politicians in Monroe wear multiple hats and all have a pretty stipend attached. The Mayor is also the police commissioner and gets an additional $15,000 for that job. He gets his taxpayer funded health benefits from the Middlesex County Improvement Authority and then opts out of healthcare in Monroe and gets an additional $7000 for opting out. He also gets a $3000 per year stipend for incidentals. The Council President, also running for Mayor, gets a $7000 healthcare opt out check too, and a $3000 stipend on top of his pay for being a Councilman. Councilwoman Koppel also gets the same deal. The Republican on the Council also gets a $7000 opt out check and a $3000 stipend. Plus, they all get pensions. These are part-time elected officials! They should not be fleecing us like this. Two parties working together for their own benefit.

We have to end these practices and restore the trust of the people and the integrity of those offices. To these ends, if elected, we will not accept pensions; opt out checks or payments of any kind. This will save the taxpayers approximately $300,000 over four years starting on day one!
I am not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination, but we need to restore the public trust and we need to stop the machine that puts the special interests of developers, elected officials and professional services above the needs of the taxpayers.
Our plan is to take Monroe out of the political game of Monopoly. Our elections should be independent and non-partisan. We are not a Monopoly card, we are people trying to feed our families and survive. My family has been in Monroe for 100 years and my father was recently forced to move in order to retire because taxes are too high. I am hearing that same story repeated all over Monroe Township. This is just not right.
The reasons that I noted above are why we have been excluded from forums. They don’t want you to hear our message because our message is the truth.
We should not be rewarding our town and our tax dollars to politicians and developers. We should force the state and local politicians of both parties to come to Monroe and ask for our support by showing us that they support us by passing legislation that will give us more state aid for our schools. Schools are 60% of the property tax burden but we receive only $2,755,488 in state aid on a budget that is over 100 million dollars. Surrounding communities receive millions of dollars more in aid than we do because the funding formula is broken. They need to pass legislation that allows towns like ours to ask for impact fees from developers. That is illegal in NJ.  It is illegal because developers run the show. We should be able to ask developers to pay for the schools needed due to their developments.
We have an opportunity to make a change on November 3rd and send a message that we need relief, honesty in government, politicians with integrity and we need to Move Monroe Forward with good ideas that come from the people of Monroe regardless of their party affiliation.
Thank you!
Ken Chiarella

Do you know what perks and payments Tamburro, Koppel and Pucci get from your hard earned tax dollars?

They get their salaries, but that isn’t enough for them so they padded their pocketbooks and helped themselves to more of your money.

In addition to their part-time salary they give themselves:

• $3000 per year for incidentals

• $7000 per year checks for opting out of healthcare. Part-time politicians but full time pay! For example, Mayor Pucci gets his taxpayer funded healthcare from the Middlesex County Improvement authority. You pay for that. Then he opts out of healthcare in Monroe and gets a $7000 check. You are paying twice for Mayor Pucci to get healthcare, and a check for not getting healthcare.

• Stipends for wearing multiple hats. Mayor Pucci, for instance, is also the police commissioner for an additional $15,000 of your hard earned money.  This is on top of our “good” Mayor’s salary of $210,000 at the MCIA (Which you also pay for) and a $400 car allowance.  His pension will be $150,000 per year when he retires in January.  Here is a link to that.

• They get pensions! Part-time politicians are getting pensions in Monroe. No wonder they are giving themselves all of these perks. They are padding their pensions at your expense.

• Ken Chiarella, if elected Mayor, will end this once and for all and we will save you $300,000 on day one by not accepting any pensions, perks or payments.

Below are the copies of the healthcare opt out checks as proof.

Please vote Line D on November 3rd and stop this travesty.

Ken Chiarella for Mayor. Chirag Bhagat and Stanley Edelman for Council.

Did you know that we have all sorts of interesting properties in the Monroe Township Open Space Inventory?

When you think about an open space preservation program you think of a program that was created with the intent of preserving open space in order to contain development. The program, if managed properly, could really benefit the residents of Monroe.

When you look at many of the Gerry Tamburro sign locations, it almost seems like they acquired some locations in order to have spots for Gerry’s signs.  If you get a chance, print the list of the homes on both lists below and drive by.  You will see Tamburro signs at some of those locations.  That is a violation of Gerry’s own sign ordinance!

We do have some legitimate open space acquisitions that have benefited the residents but we also have some acquisitions that really don’t make sense. Those acquisitions look more like favors for political allies and supporters of the administration than open space acquisition for the sake of preserving open space.

The administration is also bumping up their open space numbers to make the program look better than it actually is. Did you know what the current administration lists in their open space inventory? We have attached the list, but there are things like:

• The toxic waste dump on Spotswood Gravelhill road.

• Runoff retention basins.

• Schools.

• Golf Courses.

• Sewerage treatment inlets.

• Berms

• Easements. That’s right! If you have an easement on your private property it is considered open space!

We need smart open space acquisition. We need to take the political patronage out of our open space program and acquire real open space. These are your tax dollars and they need to be spent for your benefit.  We should not be spending money on small scraps of land, or on old houses owned by the politically connected.  Those scraps would be open space anyway, because they cannot be built upon, without spending our hard earned money on them.

The documents at the link below list the current open space inventory and the proposed inventory. Note the small size of some of the parcels and the locations.

Open Space Inventory:  OPEN SPACE INVENTORY 6-5-2015 Copy

Future Open Space Targets:  TARGETED OPEN SPACE 5-12-2015 Copy

Please vote for Ken Chiarella for Mayor and Bhagat and Edelman for Council.

Our Plan:

Restore the Integrity of the Mayor’s Office and Cut the Waste:

We will save the taxpayers of Monroe Township approximately $300,000 on day one by not accepting any payment, alternate positions or Pensions if we are elected.

Mayor: $15,000

Mayor is currently also Police Commissioner: $15,000

Health Care Opt Out Check: $7,000

Stipend: $3000

Total savings over 4 years: $160,000

Council 2 Members: $6500 each
Health care opt out $7000

Stipends: $3000 each

Total Savings over 4 years: $132,000

Total: $292,000

Cut Political Patronage Jobs:

There are several political patronage jobs that were awarded to a former councilman, owners of the engineering firm and law firms. We will eliminate those positions day one. Those positions are nothing but rewards for political allegiance and do not serve the taxpayers.

Owner of Center State is also an employee. The Director of Center State is also a township employee. They charge us as a firm and also are employees that will receive pensions that taxpayers are footing the bill for.

Position elimination savings: $370,000

Bring Professional Services in House: The Board of Ed did this while Ken Chiarella was on the Board. The savings has been $300,000 since implementation in 2014. The savings for Monroe Township by bringing services in house will be 2.1 million dollars. The current law firm is budgeted at $675,000 per year, but they also charge for the tax appeals phone calls, lawsuits and everyone other billable item.  Bringing those services in-house will save the Monroe Township Taxpayers millions of dollars. 

Savings: $2.1Million Dollars.

Open Space Tax:

We will put the open space tax to a vote for the people to decide. It is our belief that we can cut the open space tax and increase the acquisition of open space. The current administration is using open space dollars to award the politically connected and to use the funds for things like fixing tennis courts at the high school for $300,000. Of course, they only did this after we shed light on the fact that the Board of Ed and the Administration have had an awful relationship. The Administration even charged the Board of Ed 2 million dollars to connect the new high school and Oak Tree School. Those are your tax dollars being spent where there should have been an agreement to save the taxpayers’ money.

The current open space roster includes things like retention basins, easements on private property, berms, golf courses, sewerage treatment sites, schools and even the toxic waste dump on Spotswood Gravelhill road. We can save 1 million dollars in open space taxes and still acquire more real open space land.

Savings: $1 million dollars.

Shared Services with Board of Ed and Surrounding Towns:

We have an opportunity to work with the Board of Education on shared services for things like plowing lots, paving and by creating economies of scale when purchasing fuel, heating oil and paper.

The township owns the equipment that can pave and plow and yet the Board of Education hires out contractors to plow the schools when it snows and to do things like paving. For instance, the Board of Ed could buy the materials and the township could pave the parking lot at the tennis courts which is currently very dangerous. That would enable a cost savings for taxpayers.

Snow plowing and landscaping alone would save the taxpayers an inordinate amount of money. The township has the staff and the machinery. Why are we paying twice for these services?

Plowing Paving and Landscaping Savings at Schools Savings: $348,000 per year

Total savings: $4,110,000

We have been locked out of the forums for the Monroe Township candidates in Renaissance and Greenbriar.  We aren’t going to cry over spilled milk.  We are going to keep fighting and keep moving forward.

To that effort we have to make a plea for donations and help. Yes, we are begging. We are a grassroots team without party support.  We are spending every dollar wisely to get the word out.  Any donations, no matter how small, will really help us spread the word, especially in the communities where we have been barred from taking part in forums.

The Dems are heavily funded with money from Developers and professional services, and we estimate that they are going to spend approximately $100,000 to keep us out.  Imagine that.  $100,000 for a $15,000 per year for a part-time Mayor’s seat.  Ken and his team have already pledged to do the job for free.  That will be a net savings of almost $400,000 dollars back in taxpayer’s pockets over 4 years.  Ken is not rich and could use the money, but he feels that we need a good faith effort, after years of fleecing by elected officials, to bring integrity back to the mayor’s office.  We need to end the reign of developers in Monroe Township!

Should you decide to donate, all checks should be made out to “friends of Chiarella, Bhagat and Edelman.

Checks can be sent to: Friends of Chiarella, Bhagat and Edelman

116 Pergola ave.,

Monroe, N.J. 08831

We will be at Garba on Saturday and we have a table at Oktoberfest.  We look forward to seeing you there.
Thank you and PLEASE vote on November 3rd!
Ken Chiarella

On October 7th and on October 8th there were forums for the Monroe Township candidates running in the November 3rd election.

Ward 2 Councilman Gerry Tamburro, who is running for Mayor was pressed by Ken Chiarella regarding donations from political action committees and the county party, which are filled with donations from developers and professional services that do business with Monroe Township.

Gerry Tamburro looked into the eyes of the Monroe Township Residents who were in attendance and told them that he and his running mates never received any donations from developers, Attorneys or Engineering firms that do business with Monroe.  What’s more,  Tamburro’s lie was captured at the video taped forum at the Monroe Township Senior Center.

At the Encore meeting, Chiarella asked the audience of residents to Google “Tamburro, PACs, Pucci and Developers”.  A resident came up to the microphone a short while later and showed the audience that Ken Chiarella was correct and Gerry was not telling the truth.  Tamburro repeated the lie.

Follow the money.  We posted this article a while back about the financial campaign funding documents filed by the local Democrats with the Election Law Enforcement Commission.  Please read it for details.

…and this one.

http://independentsformonroe.com/2015/09/05/monroe-dems-receive-donations-from-professional-service/

When the video of the forum is released we will post it for all to see.

Below are some articles that will shed light on the information that is out there.

http://politickernj.com/2012/04/middlesex-pacs-rife-with-potential-conflicts/

http://independentsformonroe.com/2015/07/11/pucci-tamburro-and-koppels-campaign-donations/

Last night Ken Chiarella was invited to Encore for a forum with the Republican and Democrat candidates for Mayor.  It was well attended and the people of Encore gave us a very warm welcome.

We want to thank the residents of Encore for a great forum.  We are lucky to have them in our greater Monroe township Community.

Tonight is the forum at the Monroe Township Senior Center.  Please come out and ask questions.

Did you know that it is illegal in New Jersey to ask developers for impact fees? The entire state caters to developers. You cannot ask a developer to pay for the impact to the community they are building in. That is an insane law created to protect large developers.

What Monroe could have done, and what we will do, is weigh the impact before giving approval to developers.

Not only was that not done in Monroe, but Tamburro was Chair of the Master Plan committee and changed the Master Plan again and again to allow developers to develop where it was restricted by the Master Plan. The developers buy the property, the Master Plan is changed and the developers build more houses, condos and townhouses.

Then Tamburro and friends claim that their hands are tied because people have a right to develop their private property. They never tell you that they changed the plan to allow that development.

They are also quick to tell us that they can’t ask for impact fees for things like schools which take on the impact through increased enrollment.

If impact fees from developers are illegal, then how could Tamburro and team have asked developers to pay 2 million dollars to offset overspending at the Senior Center?

They get around the law by making it a contribution. The developers bailed out Tamburro and friends by making a “contribution” of 2 million dollars to the Senior Center.

I ask Ward 2 Councilman Tamburro why he never thought to ask his developer friends to donate or “Contribute” money for the overburdened schools. Wouldn’t that be legal? Anyone who thinks that the developers weren’t asked to contribute to the senior center is lying to themselves.

Here are the donations for the Senior Center which was over budget until the developers decided they needed to get rid of 2 million dollars by contributing it to the Senior Center. (Documents)

Please vote for Ken Chiarella for Mayor and Chirag Bhagat and Stanley Edelman for Council on November 3rd.

Here they go again!  As soon as the taxpayers get a little relief from gas prices the politicians kick in to grab more.  The price of gas goes down so the politicians see it as a way to grab more pie for themselves.

Don’t let this happen.  When people speak up the politicians cower.  Contact your Assemblymen and make your voices heard.  Here is the story.

Tell Trenton to cut into double dipping,  perks and pensions for politicians before they cut into our wallets!

Assemblyman Dan Benson

3691A Nottingham Way, Hamilton Square, NJ 08690
Phone: (609) 631-0198

Assemblyman DeAngelo
4621A Nottingham Way, Hamilton, NJ 08690
Phone: (609) 631-7501

Going up now!  Thank you!!

I don’t think that anyone can argue that we are a divided community.  The obvious divisions are between the Active Adult Communities and those residing in single family homes, but there are other divisions that run along ethnic and religious lines.  Those differences can also be our strengths.  Those differences can make us stronger if we look at it from a positive perspective and embark upon the task of creating one Monroe where there is interaction, respect and even friendship.  Many complain about the walls that bar us from the “Senior Communities”, but those are not walls that cannot be scaled.  How?  Make a friend.  Some of my closest friends reside in the Senior communities.  They invite me in and I am easily able to enter.   We have good friends in nearly every community, both gated and ungated.  Chirag Bhagat is an Indian American and his religion is Hindu. Stanley Edelman retired and is Jewish and lives in Greenbriar.  I am an Italian American and I am a Catholic.  Our vision is to move Monroe Forward by bridging those gaps through association and a common effort.   We can create one vibrant Monroe but it will take some work.

Our Plan:  We are going to create a Community Commission. That commission will be in charge of having meetings with representatives of all communities to meet and discuss issues, create events and come up with solutions. The Mayor and a Councilperson will also be on that commission. They will report back to the Council.

That commission will also run our Volunteer Initiative. That initiative will have a page on the township page and a Facebook page. Community members will be able to sign up and volunteer to help others in the community. The Volunteer Initiative will allow volunteers to get a credit for their property taxes. The coordinator will manage the program and provide documentation when volunteer hours have been satisfied, based on a set of stringent criteria, so that volunteers can receive credit. We currently provide tax credit for veterans and we would like to see that expanded to volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Medical Technicians.  They would get $250 to $500 in property tax credit for the year when they volunteer.

How will we pay for it?:
The commission itself will be voluntary.  The only costs will be for the Coordinator.  We will transition some of the current political patronage jobs to the job of Volunteer Coordinator so that our residents and not the politically connected receive the benefits of those taxpayer dollar.  We will also be bringing the professional services in-house.  We did this on the Board of Ed when I was a Board of Ed Member. It has resulted in savings.  We currently spend over a million dollars per year on the professional services of Township Attorney and Township Engineering firm.  The Township Attorney has a retainer alone that is approximately $22,000 per month.  He bills us on top of that retainer too.  We can move those services in house and still realize a savings.

Part of our community initiative will be to strengthen our relationship with the Board of Ed. We will have board members on the Community, Zoning, Open Space and Planning Boards. We will have a council person sit on the Board of Ed as liaison.

We are all in this together.  We will only succeed together.  There is no “us against them” without our consent.  Our “them” is “us” in the future and their “them” is “us” right now.  We are one Monroe!

Ken Chiarella

Attached is a document that shows all new housing that has preliminary and final approvals. This does not show new applications or applications without preliminary approval.  We will be posting those also.  There are thousands of units still in the works.  This will cause taxes to increase!

Copy of Building Analysis 1-2015 admin Copy

We want to take a moment to thank Raj and Usha for a wonderful picnic today.  Our team had a great time with the families from Monroe Manor.  Ken even learned a little about Cricket.  We had a fun time.
Thank you!

Ken, Chirag and Stanley

Monroe Township took over the Monroe Township Municipal Authority which controls sewer and water, and appropriated over 48 million dollars that the MTUA had in reserves.  They spend the money keeping the municipal tax rate low.  All of the money is gone.

Now they have borrowed millions of dollars to finance that department which became the Monroe Township Utilities Department.

They explained their borrowing philosophy at the 7-6-15 Township Council Meeting. Please listen to their own words.

Please vote for Chiarella, Bhagat and Edelman on November 3rd and end this nonsense once and for all.

We are one town.  When we pay property taxes we pay one town.  When the township charges the Board of Education they charge us.  Monroe Township charged the board of education over 1 million dollars to connect the new high school.  This is a hidden tax.  They also charged the Board of Ed to connect Oak Tree School.  That was over $500,000.  We have the documents for the connection fees for the new high school below.

Did they charge the Rec Center to connect?

What did the charge the Senior Center to connect?

We are working on finding out.

This practice has to stop.  This was an easy way for them to move money from the money earmarked for the schools back into the township.  Ken Chiarella, Chirag Bhagat and Stan Edelman will end this practice which will save the taxpayers money.

New high school connection fees

Other than the fact that Ken needs Glamour shots and a makeover, the message is right except for one point about both of the parties receiving donations from developers.  I did say Chiarella, Bhagat and Edelman have made a pledge to not accept money from PAC’s and from county and state parties, which are filled with money from professional services and developers and the Republicans and Democrats that are running have not accepted that pledge.  The Democrats have filled their campaign war chest with money from developers and professional services doing business with the town.

http://politickernj.com/2015/09/independent-monroe-mayor-candidate-hopes-to-take-money-out-of-local-politics/

Tonight at 7pm is a Monroe Council Meeting at the Municipal Building.  We will be there.

The Monroe Township independent team has asked the Democrats and Republicans to take a pledge to not accept campaign donations from Political Action Committees and from sources like developers and professional services.  It is our belief that donations from those sources fly in the face of the Pay to Play laws and violate the trust of the people of Monroe Township.

They are at it again!  Gerald Tamburro has received contributions form developers and from T&M Associates which is an engineering firm.  Here is an article regarding T&M.

Do you wonder why our Master Plan has been changed so many times to suit developers?  Follow the money.
Here is Tamburro’s filing with ELEC for the 2015 Primary where he ran against Charles Dipierro.

Tamburro filing

We have contacted The League of Women Voters to have our 10-8 candidates forum on Channel 28, and then also saved online, so voters can see it. We need for the two party candidates to agree.
Please share this and speak out.  You have a right to see the candidates answer your questions and be held accountable for their responses and promises.

Can anyone tell me if Police Commissioner/ Mayor Pucci is investigating the campaign financing abnormalities the Monroe Dems have created? I have highlighted the salary he receives for being the police commissioner for Monroe. This is paid toward his pension. He is an astute crime fighter you know, and deserves this extra pension padding job.   ADT has named Monroe one of the 15 safest places in NJ because of his crime fighting prowess.  Our Monroe Township Police Department is wonderful and they would be exemplary even without Pucci sucking a salary as Police Commissioner.
The Democrats and Republicans should have taken our pledge to not accept campaign donations from PACS filled with cash from developers, Engineers, law firms or anyone else that is doing business with Monroe Township. They turned Ken Chiarella down and have filled their coffers with a whole lot of trouble.

Over the next week or so we will add to this story.  We will show the cost overruns for the Senior Center, the sources of funds and the charges by the Township Engineering firm for work to the center so please check back often.

Our objective is not to attack the Senior Center but to show how the current elected officials abuse taxpayers and the system for their own gain.  We will also do this with several other projects and developments in town.

For now we start with the fact that the flooring in the Senior Center already needs to be replaced.  Why?  The well thought out bamboo flooring doesn’t seem to be working out so now they have decided to go with porcelain.  Of course, the Township Engineering firm gets a cut.  We will produce the documents for their share later on.

In the state of New Jersey it is illegal for towns to ask developers for impact fees due to any impact on things like schools caused by their development.  The developers have a stranglehold on our government.

Here in Monroe we are also not allowed to ask developers for impact fees, but somehow our township leaders have found a way to ask for “contributions” from developers for their Senior Center.  Wouldn’t it have been nice if they asked for “contributions” for our schools since the developers, courted by our current elected officials, are the root cause of the increases in property taxes?  Of course, they opted to have the contributions go to their Senior Center.  We have to ask why?  Here are the contributions for 2014 through July 2015.

Up next:  Construction Management Office charges, Architect fees and other fleecing of taxpayers using the Senior Center as a front.

Of course, the left us out.  Lazy journalism!

http://politickernj.com/2015/09/monroe-mayoral-candidate-under-scrutiny-for-campaign-contribution-reports/

Our reporting on campaign contributions!  http://independentsformonroe.com/2015/07/11/pucci-tamburro-and-koppels-campaign-donations/

There is a Monroe Township Town Council Meeting tonight at 7pm at the Municipal Building.  We will be there.

Busy weekend for our campaign.   Please come and give blood today at the Rec Center in Monroe.  It is for a great cause.  Summer is a time when blood banks are at their lowest levels.  Giving will be helping people in need.

Later today we are going to a party in Monroe, and tomorrow we are doing more door to door visits all day.  Enjoy the weekend.

You are cordially invited to join us for a Meet & Greet
on Sunday, August 16th!

This is your chance to meet and talk to the Independents of Monroe
Mayoral Candidate Ken Chiarella and
Council-At-Large Candidate Chirag Bhagat
one on one.
They would love to hear your concerns, questions, and comments. Get to know them and what they stand for.

Ken Chiarella, Chirag Bhagat and Stan Edelman wish our Monroe Township Indian Community and Indians everywhere a happy Independence Day!  We will be celebrating Indian Independence Day at Thompson Park today.  We will be uploading more pictures and the video of the flag raising ceremony shortly

This is a link to the event.
This is a link to a history of Indian Independence.

It looks like our campaign has a place to call home.  We will be giving the address shortly.  We plan on having weekly set dates and times for open house meetings that will be open to the public.  The candidates will be available to answer questions, learn issues and share some free refreshments with anyone who stops by.  We will provide flexible times so that we are sure to make ourselves available to any Monroe residents who wish to stop in for a cup of coffee and to chat.

I have recently heard quite a few party politicians, on both sides lambasting independent candidates just because they are running.  They aren’t attacking their ideas, but they are attacking the fact that they exist.   Let me quickly explain why people are drawn to independent candidates these days and why both parties are on the attack.

People are sick and tired of lying politicians who are out to line their own pockets and the pockets of their friends with money that comes from the voters. They are sick of being sold a bill of goods that, at the end of the day, only helps those politicians and their donating friends. People are sick of being called names, especially ending it “ist”  if they don’t swallow the poison peddled by these politicians.  The taxpayers are browbeaten into submission with these tactics.

Ken, Chirag and Stan will be attending “Shabbat Under the Stars” tonight, hosted by Rabbi Z.  We are looking forward to a wonderful time as always!

100 best high schools in NJ and Monroe is number 72 out of 662 public high schools. Monroe was listed as number 82 in 2014 and 124 in 2012! Our Teachers and Administrators are doing a great job. There has been steady progress since moving to the new high school.

There is a Monroe Township Council Meeting tonight at the Municipal building at 7 PM.

Monroe Township Mayoral candidate, Ken Chiarella and Council Candidates Chirag Bhagat and Stanley Edelman believe that their opponents have created a trust and credibility crises by accepting campaign donations from developers and professional services that do business in Monroe Township.

The onerous tax increases are caused by those relationships, and it is putting a severe burden on the taxpayers, on the school district and on the services of Monroe Township.

They hereby make a pledge to not accept any campaign contributions from Political Action Committees, developers or professional services doing business in Monroe Township, or who may do business with Monroe in the future.

Chiarella, Bhagat and Edelman call on all Monroe Township candidates, for Mayor and Town Council, to join them in restoring the public trust by running campaigns devoid of this type of funding, which they believe is a major conflict of interest and a breach of the public trust. Monroe residents need to know that their elected officials will place their interests before any other, and that they will be fully transparent.

Mayor Richard Pucci apparently doesn’t believe that there is anything wrong with accepting donations from professional services that do business in Monroe Township.  In fact, Pucci is placing blame on the Supreme Court of New Jersey for allowing it.  That’s sort of like a teenager blaming his parents after stealing from his father’s wallet because his father didn’t lock his wallet in a safe.

Pucci’s heir apparent will continue his policies if he is reelected. Why wouldn’t he?  He hasn’t stopped these practices in the past 14 years that he has been Council President and has been more than happy to accept the donations for his own Council campaigns.   If Ken Chiarella is elected Mayor the practice will end!  Vote Chiarella for Mayor and Chirag Bhagat and Stanley Edelman for Monroe Township Council.

Here is a quote from the article and link to the article: PAC Donations in Monroe Township

“In Monroe Township, Mayor Richard Pucci and his running mates received at least $13,000 in donations from three different PACS during the last election cycle.  All three PACS received donations from Monroe Township professional services contractors, including $4,800 from Hodulik and Morrison, which holds the township’s accounting contract and $3,600 from Epic Construction Management, which holds a contract for management of the expansion of the township community center.

In addition, the Monroe Township Democratic Committee, which Pucci chairs, received more than $20,000 in the past year from the same three PACs.  The committee in turn donated $20,000 to the candidates on Oct. 21.

Pucci, who when he signed the township’s pay to play reforms in 2007 called them “a model for others in the nation and state to follow” said the intent of the ordinance was to limit direct donations to candidates and had nothing to do with PACs.

“I’m the mayor and the chairman or the Monroe Democratic Party,” Pucci said. “We have always followed the law. That’s been our policy all along. We haven’t done anything illegal. That’s our policy.”

Pucci blamed the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision for sending campaign finance off the rails.”

As much as our current administration protests being labeled as being beholden to the developers the facts tell another story.  Richard Pucci, Gerald Tamburro and Leslie Koppel are awash in developer cash.  The political donations from developers in Monroe Township are helping keep the current team in office for sure.  

How does this scheme work?  Well, developers give money to the Pucci, Tamburro and Koppel via campaign donations.  Is it illegal?  No.  Is it unethical?  You be the judge.

I will provide a small sample here and then you can decide.  Over the next couple of weeks we will highlight more developer connections.  We will also show you how our professional services in Monroe work to keep the current team in power.  We will list employees of those services who also are township employees and who also work very hard on the political campaigns for the aforementioned.

Donor Facts Right from our NJ State ELEC database These are only the direct donations and not the donations funneled through PACS We will do the deep dive on those for you shortly also:

Below are some of the PAC donations from 2011 with a link to an interesting article on how the PAC donations work and are filled with donations from developers and professional services that do business with Monroe Township. T&M Associates is an engineering firm located in Red Bank. Here is an interesting article about them. http://www.redbankgreen.com/2011/04/tm-tops-contractor-donor-list.html.

Ken Chiarella, Chirag Bhagat and Stanley Edelman want to wish everyone a very happy Independence Day!  We need to recapture that spirit of independence that drove our Founding Fathers to fight for their liberty.  If the Founding Fathers were willing to trade peace and security for liberty and freedom, we would still be a bunch of colonies of Great Britain.  Be proud to be American, be proud of our flag and never shirk the responsibilities that come with maintaining your liberty and freedom and your right to pursue happiness.  Now go clean your barbeques and start cooking!

What does this sign mean to you? For those of us who are new to the town this sign won’t mean anything.  This is a campaign sign from back in 2001 when Ken Chiarella ran for Town Council for the Ward 2 seat against Gerald Tamburro.  Tamburro is now running for Mayor.

What was that campaign about?

Chiarella warned residents that major developments were coming and that our infrastructure in Monroe could not handle it.

He explained that the schools and roads could not handle the development.  He explained that our schools would become overcrowded and that new schools would be needed if we allowed the developments to go up.

Chiarella talked about how taxes would increase exponentially because of the debt incurred by the Pucci administration, and because all of the students that would enter the schools due to the proposed developments.  People said that Chiarella was crazy and that it was all political grandstanding,  and that taxes would remain the lowest in Middlesex County. The Pucci administration laughed off  Chiarella, and instead they talked about how they were for open space and keeping Monroe rural.  Look it up!

Chiarella went on to explain the links to the developers.  He explained that there were township construction officials and elected officials deep in the pockets of the developers and that there would be no stopping major developments from coming to Monroe because there was a cabal in charge that was actually making money from the developments.

The Pucci team laughed it off, said that Chiarella was making it all up and talked about how they were ethically above reproach.

When Chiarella talked about stopping development and instituting minimum acreage  which would ensure that the rural character was maintained, he was again laughed off.

Chiarella lost and all of these signs were destroyed, except for this one.

What happened after Chiarella lost in 2001?

• Well, Gerald Tamburro went on to become Council President and Chair of the Master-plan Committee. He went on to oversee the approvals of all of the development that you see today.
• The population of Monroe grew exponentially.
• Taxes grew exponentially.
• The roads became congested.
• In 2007 township construction officials, along with many others were raided by the FBI and questioned. (Construction official, Investigation)
• In 2006 Pucci was caught with his hand in the cookie jar(Article in News) when it was discovered that he had a consultation firm set up that only had ONE client.  That client happened to be a major developer in Monroe and he happened to pay Mayor Pucci $165,000 to consult.  When it was pointed out that Pucci was also a sitting member of the Monroe Township Planning Board and voted on approvals for the same developer, Pucci closed down his “consultation business”.
• In 2012 the Pucci team was found to be in violation of the tax cap.  The revaluations cost many Monroe residents steep tax in creases in 2014-2015. 101.5
• In 2013 Pucci was found to be making a boatload of money on the backs of the taxpayers, including a bonus for dressing for work.  Here is the article.

Development in Monroe exploded. A few years later, when the schools became overcrowded and everything that he stated would happen did happen, Chiarella  ran for the Monroe Township Board of Ed and spent two terms working to be part of the solution.

Here we are again!  14 years later everything Chiarella warned about in 2001 has happened.  He is here again fighting for Monroe and he is sending up warnings again.

Chiarella is telling us that 4000 new units are slated to be developed over the next several years.   More schools will be needed if these developments are all approved.  Property taxes are going to continue to climb and the quality of life in Monroe is going to diminish. He is telling you that the  professional services in Monroe are a vehicle to fleece the taxpayers of Monroe and is going to prove it over the next few months. There are employees of those same professional services that are also Monroe Township employees.  Those same employees work on the political campaigns, and take part in the political machine even the ones who do not live in Monroe Township.  Do you wonder how Pucci has been able to maintain control for the last 28 years?  That is not democracy.  That is something else and the taxpayers of Monroe are paying for it.

He will be showing you how the PACs work and how the money is taken from towns like Monroe, through the professional services, funneled through PACS to County and State machines and then how it comes back to Monroe to enable the political machine to survive and thrive.  Will the people listen this time, or will the once again be swayed by Pucci propaganda?

We are officially filed to be on the ballot in November.  We are very excited and we are ready to start moving Monroe forward!

Please sign up for our updates here, join us on Facebook and follow our updates on Twitter.

We can’t do this alone.  If you feel that Monroe needs change please join our team.  We will need your help.  Please reach out of if you are willing to join our campaign team.

We would like to thank everyone who worked to get us on the ballot.  Our voice is muted without all of you.

We will be posting news about the campaign, our schools, developments and any other noteworthy events. Come back often for updates or subscribe and have our news delivered to your email box.