Rodrick Campaign's 'Paper' Too Closely Mimics Toms River Paper, News Organization Says

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A "newspaper" circulating in Toms River promoting the mayoral campaign of Dan Rodrick has drawn a rebuke from the management of local news organization Jersey Shore Online, which criticized the ad as looking too much like its printed newspaper.

Jersey Shore Online produces the Toms River Times, along with several other newspapers, and they are distributed on racks at a number of local stores.

In an editorial published Wednesday, Jason Allentoff, vice president of Micromedia, which owns Jersey Shore Online, says the "Toms River Sun" uses similar layouts, typography and design to the Toms River Times, which may be confusing to readers.

The campaign ad includes a headline for the town's fall leaf collection schedule and bills it as a "Special Election Issue". The type saying it is produced by the Committee to Elect Daniel Rodrick is on the bottom on the back page of the paper.

Allentoff said the fictitious newspaper also was produced ahead of the June primary, and copies of it were put on some of Micromedia’s newsstands, "a form of stealing as the company pays for space in those racks each month."

Rodrick on Thursday dismissed the claim and accused Micromedia of "working for Ben Giovine," the Democratic mayoral candidate, because the Giovine campaign has advertised in the Toms River Times and because there have been opinion pieces published without names backing Giovine.

"All candidates running locally had been given information on how to place print and digital ads with our company – some chose to do so, others did not," Allentoff said, noting that several other candidates, including Republican state Senate candidate Carmen Amato and his opponent, Gabriel Franco placed ads, along with Lisa Crate and John Catalano, the mayoral candidates in Brick. "In the 28 years since this company was founded, we have never endorsed any political candidate."

The campaign ad distributed this week features claims Rodrick has repeated continuously about Giovine, including alleging Giovine supports "20 more hi-rise buildings up to 12 stories."

Rodrick has referred to it as a 500-unit complex, but the plans approved by the Toms River Planning Board were for 285 apartments. That number was reduced to 281 apartments in the six-story towers approved in October by the planning board.

Rodrick also claims Giovine "jacked up property taxes by $45 million" during Giovine's time on the Toms River Regional Board of Education.

In a statement to Patch, Giovine said he has never spoken in favor of the towers being built at the property on Irons and Water streets.

"In fact, I have expressed my concerns about traffic and ability to support the infrastructure needed," Giovine said. "I am on the record not favoring additional projects like those approved by the planning board earlier this month."

Rodrick, in his response Thursday, said Giovine is flip-flopping and had supported efforts to bring redevelopment to the township.

Giovine rejected Rodrick's claim on property taxes related to the school district, and said he would "vigorously defend the referendum which was passed by an overwhelming majority of voters to improve our school facilities."

"Mr. Rodrick should go back and learn how smartly the Board and the administration structured the Energy Savings Improvement Program and referendum to bring the most amount of savings to our taxpayers," Giovine said.

A closer examination of Rodrick's claim on property taxes related to the schools shows he is referring to the change in the property tax levy to the current school year, 2023-24. Giovine served on the school board from 2012 to 2017.

Since 2010, school districts across New Jersey have been barred from increasing their property tax levy by more than 2 percent — a trade-off for removing the school budget from the annual election process and signed into law by then-Gov. Chris Christie.

Since 2017, the Toms River Regional School District has been required by law under S2 to raise its property tax levy by the full 2 percent. That requirement exists because the district is under adequacy — meaning it is not spending the amount of money on educating its students that the state Department of Education has determined is necessary to meet the state's constitutional requirement for a "thorough and efficient education."

Under S2, the district's funding has been cut because the state says taxpayers in the Toms River school district are not paying the local fare share, the amount of property taxes the state Department of Education says the township should be contributing to fund its schools.

Toms River Regional's local fair share for 2023-24 is $250,875,466, according to the state Department of Education. That is more than district's general fund budget of $246 million and more than $75 million more than the district's tax levy of $175,795,831.