ASBURY PARK PRESS

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TUESDAY 11.24.15

Asbury hotel to be entertainment site

New details on luxury lodgings expected to open in May. TODAY, 3A

Is Christie holding
back on Trump?
I think if it had
happened, I would
remember it, but, you
know, there could be
things I forget, too.
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE

I watched in Jersey City,

New Jersey, where
thousands and thousands
of people were cheering
as that building was
coming down.
DONALD TRUMP

Monmouth County Tax Administrator Matt

Clark is interviewed about the Assessment
Demonstration Program in June in his office
at the Hall of Records in Freehold.
THOMAS P. COSTELLO/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

2 officials
call for tax
admin to
step aside
SUSANNE CERVENKA @SCERVENKA

FREEHOLD - A state senator and a Monmouth County Tax Board member have called for Tax Administrator Matthew S. Clark to step aside after emails published by the Asbury Park Press and sought after by a
grand jury showed Clark shared government information with a private bidder involved with the countys
controversial new tax program.
State Sen. Jennifer Beck, R-Monmouth, called for
Clark to be suspended from day-to-day operations until
the criminal investigation is concluded.
At present, our taxpayers have lost confidence in
the Administrator and until he is either vindicated or
indicted, Matthew Clark should step aside, Beck wrote
in a statement released Monday.
In an email sent Friday, Tax Commissioner Wayne
Pomanowski said it was in the best interest of both
(Clark) and the tax board for Clark to take a temporary
leave from his job. Although Clark reports to the fivemember Tax Board, he is tenured and cannot be removed from his $157,000-a-year job without cause.
Becks and Pomanowskis request came after the
Press last week published online emails Clark sent to
See TAX, Page 8A

Voters: None of the above

Poll finds New Jerseyans convinced neither party will fix high
property taxes or other pressing state problems. Page 8A

BOB JORDAN @BOBJORDANAPP

TRENTON - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is known for verbally

assailing his political opponents, but his long-term plan to salvage his
presidential campaign may be whats prompting him to go easy on
Donald Trump.

KALA KACHMAR @NEWSQUIP

Christie let Trump, a rival for the 2016 Republican nomination, slide
again over the weekend after Trump said he saw thousands and thousands of people in New Jersey, referring to Arab and Muslim Americans, cheering as the World Trade Center came down on 9/11.
Multiple independent fact-checkers say they have found little evidence to verify Trumps claim.
The Christie response to Trumps claim was a shrug of the shoulders. Christie had found out the day before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks
that he was President George W. Bushs pick to be the U.S. attorney for
New Jersey, a job he would begin in 2002.
See CHRISTIE, Page 9A

I saw what Christie said in response to Trump, and it

was awfully mild. One would have expected a more
Christie-like response.
CARL GOLDEN
Political analyst and former press secretary to Govs. Thomas H. Kean and Christie Whitman

Speak your mind: Join the conversation at facebook.com/asburyparkpress

ADVICE
CLASSIFIED
COMICS
HEALTHY LIVING
LOCAL

6D
7D
5D
1D
3A

Mayor apologizes
for outburst seen
in posted video

OBITUARIES
OPINION
SPORTS
TECH TUESDAY
WEATHER

10A
13A
1C
6A
8C

VOLUME 136
NUMBER 281
SINCE 1879

HOWELL - Mayor William Gotto has apologized

for his behavior after a video of him lashing out at a
19-year-old resident during a meeting was posted on
YouTube.
The video was taken on a cellphone during an Oct.
14 meeting at the public library called by residents
opposed to an affordable housing complex proposed
for a parcel of land near West Farms and Fort Plains
roads.
The 43-second clip shows the mayor yelling at
Christopher Cohen, a project opponent.
Cohen said his posing a question to the mayor
Whose pockets are being lined? is what prompted
See MAYOR, Page 8A