NEWS12 NJ Report --Marlboro Mayor Hornik pressures local business to cancel Republican fundraiser

Marlboro Mayor Hornik pressures local business to cancel Republican fundraiser

Email to Bella Vista Country Club owner reveals Mayors bully tactics

September 12, 2009 [Marlboro, New Jersey] Marlboro Republican Council candidates Jack Zatz, Carol Mazzola, and Selika Josiah-Gore claimed today that Marlboro Mayor Jonathan Hornik pressured the owner of the Bella Vista Country Club in Marlboro to cancel a fundraiser the Republican candidates had scheduled for September 16th.
We had confirmed weeks ago with Bella Vista for this event, and were expecting a turnout of more than 100 supporters of our ticket to attend. stated Zatz. Then, all of the sudden, the Bella Vista said they had to cancel our event, and I became aware that it was a result of an email the Mayor sent to the owner. When I confronted Mayor Hornik about his actions, he admitted it to me. This kind of intimidation by an elected official against a local business owner is outrageous, said Zatz.
Hornik sent a personal email to the owner of Bella Vista on September 10 at 12:09 PM challenging his hosting of the Zatz-Mazzola-Gore fundraising event. Josiah-Gore, who is an attorney, said When a mayor of a town strong-arms a business owner in that town, it leaves the owner in a precarious position where he would be forced to cave in to that mayors request in order to avoid risking his livelihood. She further stated, In this instance, it feels like an abuse of power.
Carol Mazzola, the other candidate on the GOP ticket, said Part of the reason Selika, Jack and I decided to run is that we've seen too many talented people shut out of participating in local government because they are not part of the Mayors circle. People are losing their homes, property taxes are through the roof, and this fundraiser is what the Mayor is worrying about?
Marlboros GOP Municipal Chair, John Gibardi, said the candidates were able to re-book the GOP event at the Colts Neck Inn for the same time, 7 p.m. on Wednesday, September 16. Fortunately we were able to re-schedule another venue and contact supporters to inform them that our event was pushed out of town by the mayor. said Gibardi. He may be able to stop us from having an event in our own town, but he can't stop us from talking about Marlboros high property taxes and wasteful spending which have so many people in Marlboro worried.
The campaign is seeking legal opinions on whether the Mayors actions constitute an ethics violation.

Category:

News & Politics

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• News12
• Hornik
• Pressures
• Bella
• Vista
• Sept
• 14

[MarlboroGOP]

Regarding the Country Club press release, what else could they say without pissing off the mayor?

Furthermore, the GOP Campaign DID offer an alternative sponor who is a Bella VIsta Member and was willing to host the event, but the Bella Vista management still said "sorry we cannot handle your event here"

[MarlboroGOP]

given that the mayor is stooping to intimidation tactics with local merchants in the town is reason enough to NOT vote for his ticket. Furthemore, if you make the effort to learn about the brainpower, experience, integrity, and dedication of the ZATZ-MAZZOLA-GORE ticket, you will see that they are the BEST FUTURE for Marlboro! Have a great day!

[Undertaker1770]

i live their

[mikegoldnj]

A little paranoia, huh?

[17adoc]

I would also like to comment on that "special meeting" scheduled for 9/17 @ 5:30 ~ why was it cancelled? Maybe because they found out that the media outlets were going to be present. I guess he didn't want any more bad publicity. I truly believed that this Mayor was going to be the change Marlboro needed, but I was wrong. I am very disappointed. So many lies but I guess that is what politics is all about, unfortunately. Drama begins all over again!

I

[mikegoldnj]

I guess the fact that the owners of the country club released a statement completely contradicting your fairy tale is irrelevant?

[sicopolitic]

Why does this current council call "special emergency" meetings that most residents cannot make? When will Marlboro find people who actually want to help the entire population of the township and not just their "friends"!

[mikegoldnj]

What nonsense.

Come up with some actual reasons for people to vote for you rather than whining about non-issues.