By The Staff | The Save Jersey Blog
Update: Monmouth County’s #1 resident blogger Art Gallagher did an exclusive follow up with the LG after this story broke:
The New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice (DCJ) and the Police and Firemen’s Retirement System (PFRS) have investigated my actions while Monmouth County Sheriff, regarding the hiring and compensation of an employee and found nothing. When the internal investigative documents that the blogger has sued for are released, they will show – again- that I acted appropriately and in the best interests of Monmouth County taxpayers,’ Guadagno said.”
Read the full story here…
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On Thursday, the New Jersey Appellate Division ordered the State of New Jersey to release confidential records pertaining to an investigation which activist Mark Lagerkvist of New Jersey Watchdog, the Plaintiff-Appellant, believes could implicate Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno.
The story is an old one, and it involves an alleged $245,000 pension fraud that transpired during Guadagno’s tenure as Monmouth County sheriff in 2008.
You can read today’s decision here.
In their ruling reversing Mercer County’s Mary C. Jacobson, Appellate Division Justices George S. Leone and Carol E. Higbee stated they “cannot agree that the fact the investigation concerned possible sensitive issues of public corruption weighs against disclosure. In cases involving allegations of public corruption, transparency and the public’s right to know are particularly important.”
Not everyone following the story closely is impressed by the corruption narrative. Blogger Art Gallagher of MoreMonmouthMusings, who’s tracked Guadagno’s career since her sheriff days, opined back in 2012 that he doesn’t see it going anywhere despite the likelihood of a 2017 gubernatorial campaign:
The hint of scandal that NJ Watchdog has been pushing about Guadagno during her days as Monmouth County Sheriff will have little impact on her status on the ticket. Just like U.S. Senator Robert Menendez’s prostitution scandal, nobody in the media cares about the story Mark Lagerkvitz has been pushing for over two years about Gaudagno arranging for Mickey Donovan being able to collect a police pension while acting as her law enforcement chief in Monmouth. If Trenton Democrats were going to make an issue of Guadagno’s role in Donovan’s double dipping, there probably would already have been hearings in the Senate or Assembly into the matter already.”
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