A letter from former Middletown BoE President Thomas Stokes

Letter To Editor:

It appears I have been put into the middle of a political campaign in Middletown, through websites and flyers.

Some flyers proclaim that the Democratic candidate (Pat Walsh) "took a secret $30,000 gift".

At a recent press conference, the Democratic candidate said "It's a lie." according to a news reporter.

Actually, Pat Walsh, the Democratic candidate for Middletown Township Committee, may be telling the truth.

Under oath, at a 2001 hearing, minutes reflect that "Ms. Walsh stated .. the amount exceeds $82,000, approximately $100,000 over the past four years". The records also show that she had not paid any of this money back after four years.

So, the Democratic candidate is correct, it wasn't $30,000. It was approximately $100,000!

Now what is wrong with her taking $100,000?

First, court depositions, under oath, show that the money taken was alleged to be a "loan". However, under oath it was stated that there was NO written loan document, NO security and NO interest to be paid. The lack of interest, in itself, is a gift. Just ask the IRS.

Oh, another point, the individual providing this money just happened to be suing the school board while the Democratic candidate was taking this money, and the Democratic candidate was on the school board. She hid the financial relationship between herself and the plaintiff by failing to disclose this information on her financial disclosure form.

Does anybody else out there have a "friend" who would "loan" them $100,000 without a written loan agreement, without any security and without interest? If you do, there are a lot of people who would like to know your friend.

What most people are unaware of is that this entire incident began over Walsh's sabotage of a school board effort to save more than a million dollars annually in insurance costs. That's a fact.

Now I read in the media that this Democratic candidate has been wheeling in money from Middlesex vendors through an Ocean County "front" organization. Nice. Why am I not surprised?

Before voting, especially during these tough economic times. every Middletown property taxpayer, regardless of political party affiliation, needs to ask themselves two simple questions.

"Can anyone trust Pat Walsh?" and "Can we afford Pat Walsh?"

Thomas F. Stokes