FREEHOLD - The Monmouth County Freeholders' race just turned into a flashpoint, as the influential Asbury Park Press endorsed Democrat Sean Brynes, answered by Republican John Curley's charge of a conflict-of-interest against Byrnes, a Middletown Township committeeman.
Stunned by the Press's Sunday endorsement of his Democratic opponent, the same paper that endorsed the Republican last year, Curley turned around and condemned Byrnes for voting on Jan. 6th, 2008 against appointing Thomas F. Stokes to the Middletown Sewerage Authority.
Byrnes's recorded his "no" vote on the governing body for the failed township committee candidate while serving as trial counsel in a lawsuit brought by a client against Stokes.
“For Mr. Byrnes to vote on this man’s appointment, instead of recusing himself, is unethical and frankly, unconscionable," said Curley, a Middletown resident and former Red Bank councilman. "Anybody who has been a local elected official for five minutes could see that this is a total conflict of interest and that he had no business voting on this appointment. If Mr. Byrnes cant recognize a conflict on a matter as clear cut as this, how can anyone believe he’ll do it as a freeholder?”
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