Democrats' Rift In Brick Turns Ugly

BRICK, NJ — What appeared to be a small rift among Democrats in Brick Township has turned into a gaping chasm.

A week after Brick Township Mayor John Ducey was voted in as chairman of the Brick Democrats' municipal committee — the local arm of the Democratic Party -- Township Councilman Jim Fozman and Ducey have continued to trade barbs and crticisms over the situation.

In a June 15 report in the Coast Star on the committee reorganziation meeting and vote, Ducey called Fozman desperate and said the councilman had lied to try to gain support. Ducey was elected by a 49-8 vote. The report said Fozman sought a show of hands before the final vote tally was announced.

"It is clear that he was a very desperate person so I guess he figured he would burn all bridges and try to destroy the party. "All but his close friends saw through the lies and venom," he added, saying he was looking forward to moving past the issue, the report quoted Ducey as saying.

Fozman fired back on Tuesday. In an email to Patch, Fozman said he'd had a high regard for Ducey when the two were running mates in 2011 and backed Ducey in his campaign for reelection as mayor.

"But recently I have seen a different side of him that seems to be more concerned about amassing political power than serving the people of Brick," Fozman said. "That’s why I ran for chairman."

"The position of mayor is special," he said. "If you’re the mayor you’re the mayor for everyone in the community. If you’re the Democratic chairman, you’re the leader of the Democrats – not the Republicans and not the independent or unaffiliated voters."

Ducey, in an email to Patch before the municipal committee vote, said if Fozman was concerned about it being a conflict for a sitting government official to be the municipal chair, that Fozman was in a similar conflict.

Fozman, however, draws a distinction between mayor and council.

"There’s a big difference between being a mayor and being a councilman," he said. "The mayor gets to make appointments of professionals and sign contracts, something a councilman never gets to do. I was worried that John Ducey’s becoming Democratic chairman would lead to the following legitimate question; is he making that appointment because it's good for Brick or good for the Democratic Party?"

Brick Township's government operates unter the Mayor-Council form of government under the Faulkner Act, with the form creating a "strong mayor" who acts as a chief executive, while the council controls the budget. While elected council members set policy and are responsible for passing the municipal budget, they are not empowered to make such appointments as municipal attorney, engineer and some other professional services providers. The council lacks the ability to oppose certain professional appointments, "no matter how they may feel about them," then-mayor Stephen Acropolis said in a 2011 Patch interview after Ducey and Fozman were elected to the council..

"I base our all of our appointments on qualifications," Ducey said Tuesday. "There's a line between governance and party politics. It's a shame Jim doesn't believe that line exists."

Fozman also was critical of the municipal committee voting process, which he felt should have been conducted as a secret ballot.

"What happened was anything but an open and fair competition," Fozman said. "Committee people who hold appointments the mayor makes, were told how to vote – or else."

Ducey said the committee voted to have a hands-raised vote for the chairmanship. "I don't hold anything against people if they voted for me or ageinst me. It's all part ofthe process," he said. He said he's only ever seen a hand count at committee elections, including when Joe Lamb and Mike Blandina ran for the chairmanship several years ago.

Fozman's frustration with Ducey and his councilmates was in full view last Tuesday at the Council meeting, where he opposed two ordinances that were on the agenda for final votes. One instituted a parking time limit for the playground lot at Traders Cove. At the meeting Ducey said the ordinance was the result of people parking while they took their boats out for hours, tying up spaces that could be there for families.

Fozman countered it, saying the measure is ridiculous and that there is more than enough parking at the site. He also criticized the fact that signs indicating the time limit had been installed at Traders Cove before the council had even appproved the ordinance. Brick Township Business Administrator Joanne Bergin said that was her fault and that the signs would be taken down until the ordinance takes effect.

"The business administrator took full responsibility for the signs, but the buck should stop with the mayor," Fozman said, who also criticized a proposed ordinance — later tabled — that sought to require landlords to perform criminal background checks on potential tenants.

"I ran (for municipal chair) because I believed that becoming chairman would the undoing of John Ducey. I believed that then and I believe it now," Fozman said. "I know that Party Boss Ducey will try to push me off the council when my term is up using the same back room underhanded tactics he used to become Chairman. Fortunately, the voters of Brick will have something to say about that. And I look forward to that competition."

Photos of John Ducey and Jim Fozman via Brick Township Municipal Facebook page