Dirty Doherty, Gopal Accuse Monmouth GOP and MoreMonmouthMusings of staging Belmar protest

Monmouth GOP: We’re not run by Debbie Wasserman-Schultz or Hillary Clinton

Monmouth County Democrat Chairman Vin Gopal has a canny knack for getting otherwise good journalists to print stories based on his libelous allegations that have no basis in fact.

In 2013 Gopal issued a Friday evening press release accusing a Republican Red Bank Council candidate of having a warrant out for his arrest in Texas. MoreMonmouthMusings contacted Texas authorities to confirm the story and found that it was false.  But several respected publications ran with Gopal’s lie before retracting their story after MMM published the truth.

Gopal was at it again yesterday when he accused the Monmouth GOP and this website of paying the protesters who peaceably organized outside of a high dollar fundraiser featuring Senator Cory Booker at Belmar Mayor “Lawless Matt” Doherty’s home last Wednesday evening.  Observer New Jersey Politics (formerly PolitickerNJ) took the click bait and printed Gopal and Doherty’s allegations without checking to see if they were true.

This morning the Monmouth GOP issued the following statement about the controversy:

It is libelous for Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty to falsely accuse Monmouth County Republicans of paying peaceful protestors to sit outside his high dollar fundraiser with Senator Booker. We had absolutely nothing to do with it, and the Mayor knows it. The Monmouth GOP is not run by Debbie Wasserman Schultz or Mayor Doherty’s running-mate Hillary Clinton.  We don’t pay protesters to disrupt our opponents’ events.

As is evident from photographs taken at the event, the demonstrators appeared to be representing “Salt Waterfront Belmar,” a waterfront bar that sits completely vacant because the Mayor and Council refused to transfer the establishment’s liquor license, despite the fact that they approved a redevelopment agreement for the property nearly three years ago. Now the Borough is being sued for $4.5 million dollars in damages, with Belmar borough taxpayers on the hook.

The signs held by the demonstrators indicate that they were representing that business. This is not the first time Mayor Doherty has angered his constituents in Belmar due to his poor decision making as Mayor. The Borough’s debt has more than doubled on the Mayor’s watch, and he is incapable of balancing the budget without one shot tricks and gimmicks. It appears that these residents have had enough and are speaking out.

This election is a question of who will best represent the interests of Monmouth County taxpayers. Freeholders Tom Arnone & Serena DiMaso passed the largest property tax and spending cuts in Monmouth County last year, while Belmar drowns in fiscal gimmickry and mismanagement. Mayor Doherty will try to distract from that the best he can, given his abysmal track record of governing a small town.

MoreMonmouthMusings had nothing to do with the protest. We found out about it via text message from a reader while it was happening.  We urged the reader to get pictures.

Doherty posted on facebook that he received an email from a young man  who apologized for participating in the protest and claiming he got paid. Gopal complained that the Monmouth GOP promoted MMM’s article about the protest on facebook and noted that the GOP reported paying the company that owns this site $5000 in its last disclosure to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.

MMM asked Doherty and Gopal for a copy of the young man’s email claiming he was paid and apologizing to the mayor. They did not respond.

Observer reported that the young man was holding a Trump sign while protesting. He was holding a sign that said “The Mayor IS A LOSER” according to a photograph posted on facebook by Doherty and captured by Common Sense for Belmar.

The Monmouth GOP did promote MMM’s coverage of the protest on facebook.  The Monmouth Dems promoted Observer’s coverage of the fundraiser on their facebook page.  This a Republican leaning site. Observer New Jersey Politics, despite being owned by Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is competing with the Asbury Park Press for Gopal’s affections.

The Monmouth GOP did pay the company that owns this site $5000 in May.  That was for four months of advertising.  They pay, just like all the other advertisers who allow us to bring you this enlightening news and commentary. (Click on the MMM Good Advertising link if you’d like to get your message to our thousands of readers. We’re running a special Christmas special for November and December.)

Tim Harmon, one of the owners of the Boathouse Bar and Grill and Salt, the Belmar establishment that Dirty Doherty and his Council denied a liquor license transfer for after they approved it’s redevelopment plan told MoreMonmouthMusings this morning that the protesters were supporters of his from the community.  He said he did not organize the protest and his humbled by the support he and his brother/partner are getting from the community in their ongoing battle with the Doherty administration. Harmon said he did not pay any of the protesters.