Recently the Toms River Council gave the go ahead for a $48,000 yearly raise for Mayor Brush after two years of saying he did not deserve it. When questioned as to why the sudden change in mind Council President Greg McGucken said that Brush deserved it because he is now doing a better job. Regardless of what one feels the mayors compensation should be, we must ask ourselves, what is this sudden “Good job” that the Mayor has done? Residents and taxpayers of Toms River should ask themselves, was this salary raise a “quid pro quo” for being a good boy and cooperating on certain things? Seeing that the salary raise took place just days after the State Racing Commission gave the go ahead for the OTB betting parlor, makes me think that Mayor Brush’s cooperation with “bipartisan” political kingpins who wanted to see the OTB go through might have influenced their generosity. Was he also being rewarded for the good job he did in changing the name of the town? Remember how Brush said it was so important to attract ratables, was the OTB one those ratables?
What I find strange about the mayoral salary raise is that the raise was made for only one year, and in the next term or future mayors, would have to re-negotiate the salary amount. Shouldn’t the new rate apply to all mayors regardless who they are? Is the Council attempting to use the mayoral salary as a carat and stick? Will the amount future mayors make depend on how much they play ball with the Council?
It has been alleged that GOP political boss Gilmore and Democrat kingpin Steven Leone would make a pretty penny upon delivery of an OTB in Ocean County. We must ask ourselves, is the Council, who often does the bidding of these insiders, using taxpayers money to deliver Brush’s $48,000 piece of the pie?