What's That Smell Coming From Shrewsbury?

A couple of weeks ago I got an email from my old friend, the former anonymous blogger known as Barry Goldwater. Barry was a great blogger at The Voice of Reason. He (or she) always had great insights and information that made a difference and arguably influenced elections. Barry broke the story of Ellen Karcher's Christmas tree farm, which helped Jennifer Beck defeat Karcher for the 12th district State Senate seat.

Karcher might still be in the Senate if she had sold me some trees.

Barry's message was:

Michael Panter has opened his own law office, at 55 White Road in Shrewsbury, and has been blanketing the County with tax appeal solicitations. Yes, the guy who acted to raise our taxes repeatedly is now soliciting to represent people who want to appeal their tax assessment. I thought the irony was delicious, and wondered if there was any hay you could make of

Panter? Who cares about Panter anymore? I was sad that Barry had apparently lost his/her edge in blogger retirement. I figured Panter needs to make a living and his financial advisory business has probably taken a hit lately. Panter wasn't the worst of Democratic legislators. At least he had the political courage to oppose Corzine's 800% toll increase scheme.

Then early this week I started getting messages from a few MMM readers urging me to look at Panter's website, MichaelPanter.com

"What is with these people," I thought, "Panter's not running for anything. We're in the middle of an important gubernatorial primary and Corzine's budget. Can't this wait until June or July when I'll need blogging material?"

This morning I had primary fatigue and the Panter messages were nagging at me.

Look what I found! Panter has his law firm, but he is also a partner in the financial advisory firm Panter and Kelly Financial, LLC

Here's Panter's partner's bio from the site, with my emphasis added.

Daniel M. Kelly has been involved in the financial industry in a wide range of capacities for more than 18 years, and is a managing partner of Panter and Kelly Financial LLC. He is responsible for creating and monitoring investment strategies for high net worth individuals and corporate clients.

He previously served as the Chief Operating Officer of Concord Wealth Management, an investment advisory firm headquartered in Laurence Harbor, New Jersey.


During his tenure as COO, and in his roles as the director of equity and fixed income operations, Dan developed investment strategies for clients and affiliated advisors throughout Concord's national system.

Dan has also served as the director of fixed income trading for a national broker-dealer, and as an institutional trading clerk on the New York Stock Exchange.

He is a former associate member of the National Council on Teacher Retirement, has been a contributing financial editor for several publications, and is a frequent speaker at financial and investment-related seminars.

In 2005, Governor Jon S. Corzine appointed Dan to the Monmouth County Board of Taxation for a 5 year term.

Dan holds numerous NASD licenses, and his professional designations include Accredited Investment Fiduciary (University of Pittsburgh, Katz School of Finance), Certified Retirement Specialist (American Bankers Association) and Certified Estate Advisor (National Association of Financial/Estate Planning).

He is a resident of Little Silver, New Jersey, and an active volunteer in many charitable organizations, youth sports programs and his local school and church.

So in 2005, while Panter was in the legislature, he got Corzine to appoint his partner into the pension system. That's part of what stinks about New Jersey, but Chris Christie probably wouldn't have gotten an indictment for such a thing.

But is Panter now making tax appeals before the board where his partner sits? A look at the Monmouth County Tax Board's website confirms that Dan Kelly is still a member of the board.

Something doesn't smell right. I'll have to look into this after the primary.