Malcolm In The Middle

The Asbury Park Press still has former Monmouth County counsel Malcolm Carton to kick around.

In an editorial today, the APP calls Carton a link to Monmouth County's "tainted past." They say his appointment as a special counsel to work on "as needed basis" for $140 an hour is "a slap in the face to every voter who hoped recent changes on the freeholder board meant ethics would be a priority."

Both of them? Most voters are cynical about ethics ever being a priority in government. They hope for the best when they cast their vote and then go about their lives.

This blog has often been a critic of Carton, especially his insubordination towards former Freeholder Anna Little. It is appropriate that he is no longer county counsel. It is also appropriate that he be retained on an "as needed basis" for $140 per hour.

The APP's argument that retaining Carton to complete pending litigation, for his expertise in county government and to assist county counsel Andrea Blazer is "nonsense" because "attorneys leave jobs every day and others pick up where they left off" is an indication of how little the editorial board knows about attorneys and the legal process.

Carton's institutional knowledge of Monmouth County cannot be bought for $140 per hour, except from Malcolm Carton. $140 per hour is a bargain for a competent attorney. If anyone knows of an attorney who will work for $140 an hour and will not have to be paid for innumerable hours to get up to speed, but can just "pick up where (others) left off," I'm hiring.

The Press bashing Carton for raising "tens of thousands" of dollars for Republicans back when it was legal that he do so is unseemly. That was the system at the time. We have a better system now and all indications are that Carton is complying.

Comparing Carton's historic billings to attorneys for Essex, Mercer and Bergen counties for the same period is like comparing apples and oranges unless one examines the type of work each attorney did and their results. I'm not going to do that work. But I lived in Bergen, Essex and Mercer before settling here in Monmouth. The results here are superior and while some of the past may be tainted, just as it is in those other counties, most of the past is extraordinary.

We already paid Carton to acquire his expertise in county government and to do the work on pending litigation. It would be foolish to abandon that investment now because the APP does not approve.