Meet The Controversial Figure Behind 'The FOX News Of New Jersey'

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Jersey Shore home builder who lost a bid this year to become Ocean County's Republican Party chairman is now in the news business, having bought the Shore News Network website from its founder, Phil Stilton.

A conservative journalist and businessman who started the website in 2008, Stilton describes Shore News Network as "the Fox News of New Jersey" and the largest conservative site in the state. Stilton sold the site in late August to Frank Sadeghi, the owner of Shore housing developer Arya Properties, for an undisclosed price.

Stilton prides himself on his ability to make or break Republican candidates at the Shore.

“Of the 43 campaigns that advertised over the 10 years we have been in business, only 2 have lost,” Stilton said in an email to Patch.

But his controversial business and reporting tactics may put him at odds with Shore News Network's new owner. Sadeghi told Patch he'd like to see more civic news — the "feel-good stuff."

Stilton's brand of coverage is confrontational and controversial, subjects of his reporting say. But Stilton says the site "is just as much a community activism portal as it is a news portal."

"I have never once hid that, in fact, I pride myself on that," said Stilton, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1991 to 1995 and then worked for the Asbury Park Press briefly before starting his own internet business in 1998.

People subjected to Stilton's reporting say he's beyond confrontational; they say he strong arms people into buying ads to avoid embarrassing stories. They also claim he deliberately twists information and outright makes things up.

Prominent Toms River philanthropist Jeremy Grunin said it happened to him.

In February 2018, Grunin said Stilton called him and told him he had information that Grunin was being investigated in connection with a July 2017 car accident. Stilton asked Grunin if the Jay and Linda Grunin Foundation, where Grunin is president, would buy advertising so Stilton could say he had a conflict and ignore the story. Stilton followed up the next day via Facebook messages that Grunin shared with Patch, again saying he could ignore the story if Grunin was advertising.

"We don’t really advertise," Grunin said. Stilton published the story two weeks later. Grunin said the impact was significant and lasting.

"At the time (it was published), every board and every nonprofit I sit on sat me down for a governance meeting. One even suggested I should resign," Grunin said. "More importantly, my kids were asked about it in school."

"It’s part of my Google history. It comes up every time I meet someone for the first time," including during a recent financial transaction, Grunin said.

The story implies Grunin was driving while intoxicated. “It also implies I was giving payola to the prosecutor’s office,” he said. “It just wasn’t factual.”

Stilton said he never said he would not pursue the story.

Brick Township Mayor John G. Ducey said Stilton published misleading headlines in 2018 and early 2019 after Ducey and township officials ignored Stilton's solicitation for its $1,250 per month public relations package.

Soon after, Ducey was highlighted in Shore News Network headlines that implied he was engaging in corruption. One claimed Ducey was seen "partying" with one of the principles of a controversial proposed medical marijuana dispensary at Ducey’s re-election celebration in 2017. That story included photos allegedly taken at the re-election party.

Ducey said the photos were from a Christmas party; holiday decorations are clearly visible in the photos, and the implications were lies. But the photos and headlines reinforced accusations that Ducey was engaging in backroom deals to get the medical marijuana dispensary application approved. The application, which went through several changes, was never approved. It now is the subject of a court battle.

Stilton said the public relations service pitch was one he sent to a number of entities and was just part of him doing business, adding that because his is a small business, he couldn't afford to hire a sales staff to do those tasks.

Maurice "Mo" Hill, the Republican candidate for mayor in Toms River, also called Stilton’s headlines misleading, and said they are preying on angst among Toms River residents about two issues. Concerns about overdevelopment run deep, as do conflicts that stem from cultural differences between the tight-knit and mostly insular Orthodox Jewish community and the non-Orthodox residents of the township.

The concerns about development and relationships with the Orthodox community played a significant role in the 2017 council election, with Democrats winning three seats.

Art Gallagher, Hill’s campaign adviser, said the headlines implying Hill is favoring the Orthodox community are punitive.

"Phil’s mad because we won’t run ads with him," said Gallagher, the author of More Monmouth Musings, a blog that focuses on Monmouth County politics. Gallagher said despite Stilton's strong conservative sentiments, he has written little critical of Democrat Jonathan Petro, Hill's opponent.

The Hill campaign is advertising on Patch. The advertising department is separate from editorial.

Gallagher supplied screenshots to Patch of messages Stilton sent, promising he could win the election for Hill if the campaign agreed to a $1,500 advertising and the PR access package.

Stilton, in the messages, said for that amount he could write stories to help sway voters to Hill, adding, "It's my election to lose, and he needs all the help he can get."

Stilton in a text message Gallagher shared said he published a fake interview with Toms River Mayor Thomas Kelaher during the 2015 election campaign, saying, “Including the fake interview we did to make Susan (Pontoriero, Kelaher's opponent) look bad." Stilton said he let Kelaher's campaign "see it before publishing and fix and change." Kelaher won re-election.

In an email to Patch, Stilton denied the Kelaher interview was faked and said it was more akin to a debate done through email instead of on a stage.

Control and retribution are just as important to Stilton as money, according to Todd Porter, president of the Jackson Township Republican Club.

"It’s all about him," Porter said. Jackson Republicans who have not gone along with Stilton have repeatedly found themselves on the receiving end of negative headlines on Shore News Network and in JTown Magazine, which Stilton publishes. JTown Magazine and Stilton's Toms River Magazine are separate from the website and were not included in Sadeghi's purchase, Stilton said.

"There’s a side to him (Stilton) that thinks he should be making all the decisions," Porter said.

Screenshots of Facebook messages between himself and Stilton that Porter shared show Stilton chiding Porter for not getting his approval of appointees after a string of zoning board resignations. The resignations happened after Stilton published a series of stories critical of the appointments, including a story that publicly outed private antisemitic comments made by one of the appointees.

Some of it was Stilton’s anger at Jackson Township officials because they quit using his publications for their municipal advertising, Porter said. Stilton said the township is advertising in JTown Magazine currently.

But in the instance of the antisemitic comments, the person Stilton targeted had made mean comments on social media about Stilton’s wife: "Make sure to ask future appointments 'did you piss off phil.’ You won’t have such a problem," Stilton wrote to Porter, taking credit for the resignations.

Sadeghi said he wants to put those tactics, especially those in the exchange with Grunin, in the past.

“That’s extortion,” Sadeghi said when the message Stilton sent Grunin was read to him over the phone. “That’s unacceptable.”

There will be some politics, he said.

"If Gov. Murphy raises taxes, of course we’re going to say something," Sadeghi said. "We’re not going to beat people over the head; we’re not here to get even, and we won’t use it as an extortion tool."

Stilton, however, said he plans to continue to use the site to promote his agenda. He said he sold the website “to make a clear separation between politics and business” but that he will continue to have full editorial control.

“With Frank, that is a clear delineation and we must keep that going forward to remain the #1 online only news source at the shore,” Stilton said. "We will always be on top of the antics of nefarious politicians in Ocean County regardless of party affiliation."

This article has been updated to clarify that Jackson Township currently advertises in JTown Magazine.

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