Showing that views of Mr. Mulvihill weren’t merely matters of gossip, but could significantly affect elections; with a note that I will pull back from much discussion of incendiary local politics
[Note on standard for revealing names: (1) Last names are used for people who either had significant public profiles in the time discussed, have been public figures in the local area for some time, and/or about whom there is no ongoing controversy. For others, first initial only is used for last name. (2) “Skoder” is a pseudonym used for a figure about whom the reason for being discreet will become clear. Edit 9/19/13.]
I realized from the selective interest in my blog entry on Gene Mulvihill, and from an item that appeared in a small-scale local newspaper, and from my own reflections, that my November 6 entry on Mulvihill in itself could have stirred up a bit of a hornet’s nest of reaction, and also reflects the difficulty in talking about some matters of local politics I am well aware of, especially in a blog with exposure like this one.
Some of this latter difficulty as to do with the sheer controversy that can arise, and some has to do with explaining the baseline, background, and such aspects to outsiders. Also, in reviewing some old records of mine from the 1990s, I saw that, especially on the person I gave the pseudonym Skoder, there was such a wealth of little tidbits, and evidence of such a range of behavior that could be evaluated in not entirely complimentary terms, that it seemed very forbidding to go on with much discussion about Skoder in the future. So I think that, at least, I will truncate further discussion on my blog about Skoder, but I believe there will, and should, be something, as it provides a framework of discussion outside the realm of politics and civic life in Vernon Township, N.J.
However, for those who have been “partisans” in favor of Gene Mulvihill, I saw I should produce some evidence that shows how controversial he has been over years in the region, and that my remarks to this effect in my November 6 entry weren’t simply loose talk. Fortunately, I didn’t have to go far.
Background: The local Democrats’ work that I’m proud to have been part of
In the 1990s, after being unaligned with any particular local political group for a number of years, I threw my lot in with the township Democrats. The most involvement I had was in 1994, 1995, and 1996. In each of those years I ended up being involved, as a helper, with political campaigns (by others as candidates) for township committee. In 1994, when my involvement started only in about September, the campaign was for Howard Burrell and Bill Bravenboer (neither won that year).
In 1995, I was involved throughout the year, including with a standing Democratic club, as well as the ad hoc campaign group in the fall, for which the candidates were Burrell again (this time he won, the first Black man to be elected to the township committee in Vernon) and Richard Conklin (who did not win; today he is chairman of the county Board of Elections).
In 1996, I was again involved throughout the year, with the standing club, and with the fall campaign. That fall, I was de facto campaign manager (though listed as treasurer) for candidates John Kraus and Virginia Crotty (neither won; the race included three sets of candidates, Republican, Democratic, and Independent, which made campaign strategizing hard). (1996 was also the year I was first named to a township board or committee, with the help of Howard Burrell; I started on the Environmental Commission.)
Mr. Mulvihill’s reputation as reflected in judicious news reports
In 1994, the terms in which I’ve presented not only Mr. Mulvihill but some aspects of township politics were stark and clear. In the state’s respectable Star-Ledger, one county reporter was Patty Paugh, who worked as a bylined reporter for the Ledger for years and later became a schoolteacher. In her article of October 30, 1994 (Section One, p. 45), her article starts, “Vernon’s perennial debate about construction usually draws residents into highly polarized camps: People either become avowed champions or staunch adversaries of Gene Mulvihill, a director of the township’s largest development firm.
“But township committee hopeful Howard Burrell refuses to pigeonhole himself, instead insisting it’s time to concentrate on Vernon
“ ‘I don’t see Mr. Mulvihill as the personification of evil or the second coming of Christ… I use those descriptions because people seem to see him either way,’ the candidate said.”
Mr. Burrell was not someone given to loose or irresponsibly rhetorical talk. He had served on the township Board of Education for years, and later got a doctorate in psychology. He not only was elected to township committee in 1995, but later was elected county freeholder, I believe the first Black man to be elected to that office. He later served in the administration of Gov. Jon Corzine. He has more recently served as a trustee of Centenary College in Hackettstown , N.J.
Mr. Mulvihill’s status as a focus of controversy at the time was also shown in an article in The New Jersey Herald that appeared shortly after Election Day. In a November 1994 article (sorry, I don’t have the specific date [it might have been a Sunday], but I believe this was on the front page of the relevant section), the article notes about the two Republicans who ran against the two Democrats, Burrell and Bravenboer: “[Paulette] Anderson and [Daniel] Kadish carried every district but Glenwood, which is the home area of Burrell. The Republicans cruised through nine districts, winning heavily in Hidden Valley Condominiums, the adjacent northwestern section of Highland Lakes , and Barry Lakes
“…Highland Lakes manager Jack McLaughlin said the vote in the Highland Lakes
“ ‘Development, the whole commercial/recreation thing [a good identifier for what Mr. Mulvihill was associated with], is a major issue. […] There are fears over how development is being handled’…” Of course, the big development issue at the time was the so-called campground project that Mr. Mulvihill’s company planned, and presented to one board or another in town for approval, to be situated on top of Hamburg Mountain Highland Lakes
This article’s writer was Jim Lockwood, who reported for the Herald for years and later worked as a bylined reporter for The Star-Ledger.
Other news coverage from a less-established news source
Another source in the newspapers clippings I have is none other than Skoder herself, who (if you knew who I meant) has worked for the local press for many years, going back to 1987. In fall 1994, she worked for a little newspaper, The Highland Times, that had just started up, was run by men who apparently had left another local newspaper, and folded after no more than about a year. In the November 18, 1994, issue, p. 9, there are letters to the editor from two women who were friends of Skoder’s at the time (and whom she later named as defendants in a defamation lawsuit that she filed in 1996, along with four other former friends of hers as defendants). One letter, by Patricia M. [D___], includes—which I present just to show the cultural ways in which Mr. Mulvihill was discussed publicly, never mind the veracity or sincerity of how The Highland Times addressed this (which was certainly open to question at the time), “Now that the election is over, I’d like to address some things that a lot of people in Vernon seem to be whispering about.
“Let’s start with Republican headquarters [I believe this was a name given to some apparent front that acted on behalf of Democratic candidates Burrell and Bravenboer that we in the Democrat campaign group had nothing operationally to do with]. It never has been stationed at the Great Gorge complex, and Republican headquarters [the real one, I presume she meant] never endorsed or sanctioned the phone calls that came [from] Great Gorge for Democrats Howard Burrell and William Bravenboer. The Mulvihill camp has used this underhanded tactic in several elections now in an effort to get Vernon
Aside from how often “the Mulvihill camp” really did this sort of thing, the premises of referring to such a thing show how Mr. Mulvihill was apt to be publicly discussed at the time.
In actual direct reporting in the same small newspaper, Skoder herself, in an article headlined “Politics as usual as campaign turned negative” (The Highland Times, November 11, 1994, p. 23), wrote in relation to a phenomenon that was clear-cut enough and was also reported in The New Jersey Herald, that township mayor (selected from the township committee) Marianne Reilly, a Republican, endorsed the Democrats Burrell and Bravenboer, and that Chuck Reinhardt, a township Democrat who had recently chaired the township’s Board of Ethics (which was disbanded that year), backed the Republicans. There is discussion in the article of how well, or whether, this party-line-crossing helped the respective candidates, then Skoder moves on to another topic.
The issue of a campaign flier listing supposed backers without permission
“In another twist, campaign literature supporting the Democratic candidates angered some people because names were listed on endorsements without permission.
“A campaign letter askings resident[s] to ‘put politics aside’ to vote for Burrell and Bravenboer listed the alleged endorsements of 25 people and business firms, including Vernon Valley/Great Gorge Ski Resort, Hidden Valley Ski Resort, and Stonehill [condominium] Manager John [D___]. But Tony [H___], membership chairman of the township Republican Club whose name was also listed on the endorsement, said he knew nothing about the flier and was never called [to be asked whether he wanted to make] an endorsement.
“H___ was out of town when called [by Skoder, I presume] to confirm his endorsement of the Democrats; but his wife, Tammy [H___], said, ‘We knew nothing about it. Tony was shocked to find out. Nobody ever called us and asked us. We would never have given permission.
[…]
“[H__’s] so-called endorsement also angered long-time Republicans Roger [S___] and Eleanor [M___], who insisted [H___] did not give permission to be listed in the Democrats’ ad. …”
From an insider view: The issue of the poorly conceived campaign letter
In fact, the campaign group that worked for Burrell and Bravenboer in fall 1994 did not authorize the release of a letter/flier that included the listed names as described in Skoder’s article. Not to besmirch Skoder on this: this was not something Skoder could have known. The actual story behind that flier is one of the very few things I would want to reveal about the productive, exciting times enjoyed by the Democratic group (club and campaign groups, which were not identical, nor continuous in “membership” from year to year) in Vernon Township of which I was a part in the mid-1990s.
The person responsible for that flier was a paid consultant who worked within the campaign group, but took a peculiar approach to trying to run it. He acted like a management consultant running a seminar. His efforts actually didn’t make a whole lot of difference in our outcomes; others were responsible for designing and arranging distribution for mailed fliers, radio ads, and so on that had a more obvious impact on public opinion. Indeed, when the campaign group behind the 1995 candidates pursued their enthusiastic efforts, it did not, by and large, use the peculiar methods that the 1994 paid consultant tried to have us follow (he wasn’t even part of the group then), and the 1995 effort did have one candidate win—and it was a novel result on two counts: a Democrat winning a seat on township committee, and a Black man winning for such a seat, to boot. [Update 9/19/13: See further information on this matter in the entry of September 19, 2013, viewable here.]
The following year, 1996, again the consultant’s methods were not followed (of course, he wasn’t even part of the functioning group). We did not have either of our two candidates win, but the reasons were obviously different. For one thing, as I said above, the race included three sets of candidates, Republican, Democratic, and Independent, which made campaign strategizing hard.
Who the consultant who worked with us in 1994 was, I hold off on saying. But it’s not that there aren’t some remarks to be made about the nature of that person’s work with us and what it meant to some of us who were skeptical about him at the time.
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The news clippings I based this reporting on are in my possession, and anyone wanting to see them might request they be faxed--I would rather not go to the expense of scanning and then posting them on Google Docs or such, and linking to them on this blog. E-mail: bootstrp@warwick.net (a response might take time, and is not guaranteed).
