Monmouth Commissioner Ross Licitra, Who Told Employee He Was 'Stupid,' Won't Seek Re-Election

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Monmouth County Commissioner Ross Licitra will not seek re-election this year.

However, Licitra will remain executive director of the Monmouth County SPCA, a position for which he is paid $132,000 a year in taxpayer dollars.

Licitra has not said why he won't seek re-election, and he did not return a request for comment for this article. But in 2024, a leaked audio recording captured him viciously criticizing an animal shelter employee, telling him he was "stupid" and "a nobody."

This was after the employee questioned why a dog had to be euthanized.

"You can't be that stupid, can you?" Licitra told the worker. "It just amazes me how people like you all of a sudden think you have the right. Where do you get that inherent right from? .... You have zero right to question anything. Anything. You're nobody. You got it? ... Who do you think you are to question someone?"

"You're disposable," Licitra continued, telling the worker he should never "question the directors. Start learning stuff before you open your stupid mouth."

The employee is paid $16.50 an hour to walk the dogs at the county shelter, which is located in Eatontown.

Patch was the first news outlet to break the leaked audio. After the story went viral, other Monmouth County SPCA employees anonymously contacted us. They said it is routine for Licitra to speak to his staff like that.

A second shelter employee said when he similarly brought up concerns over a decision to euthanize that same dog, he said Licitra told him "when people are rude to (my) managers, it makes him want to reach over the desk and cut their throat and watch them bleed out on the floor."

That employee filed a report with Eatontown Police.

Here is the leaked audio:

After Patch reported all this, many members of the public spoke at Monmouth County Commissioner meetings, where they called for Licitra to be fired as the head of the SPCA and voted off the board. This petition wanted Licitra and the SPCA's associate executive director Barbara Lovell fired; it received more than 2,000 signatures. Lovell was also captured on that audio telling the employee he should not question upper-level management.

Licitra's fellow county commissioners — Tom Arnone, Erik Anderson, former Hazlet Mayor Sue Kiley and Dominick DiRocco — did not vote him off the board, but they said the way he speaks to his employees was "inappropriate."

Monmouth County SPCA Board President Andrew Grossman said the SPCA board found Licitra's comments "unacceptable," but allowed him to keep his job as executive director.

Licitra initially defended the way he spoke to the shelter employee, saying the employee had "bullied" female staff. Twenty four hours later, after his comments were widely condemned, Licitra publicly apologized.

Licitra served two terms as a Monmouth County Commissioner. 2026 is the first time he was up for re-election after his remarks were caught on tape.

Middletown Mayor Tony Perry is the front-runner to run for the seat, New Jersey Globe reported. Perry is a Republican and so is Licitra. The current Monmouth County Commissioners are all Republican.

Licitra lives in Morganville.

'Stupid.' 'You're Nobody.' Monmouth SPCA Director Ross Licitra Berates Worker (July 28, 2024)

Monmouth SPCA Director Licitra Apologizes For Outburst On Employee (July 29, 2024)

Ross Licitra Accused Of Threatening A 2nd Monmouth SPCA Employee (Aug. 7, 2024)