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Controversy over Jon's Dontation to NJ Town

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After superstorm Sandy, the...Sea Bright New Jersey...fire department and first aid squad's two ambulances were rendered inoperable from the flood. "(Jon) said, 'Read, I'll buy you an ambulance,'" Read Murphy, the borough's emergency management coordinator recalled...The rock star sent the fire department a check for $119,000.

...What had town officials confused was that they were never told officially about Bon Jovi's donation, even after the taxpayers bought a new ambulance.

...Instead of buying a second new ambulance, Murphy — who's on the board of the fire department and first aid squad, both nonprofit entities separate from the borough — said the organizations decided instead to refurbish a damaged ambulance, and then use the rest of the money to purchase a SUV for use by the emergency management coordinator... The SUV cost $31,000 after lights and other related equipment were installed...It is registered to Sea Bright First Aid... Murphy said the vehicle "stays in my possession," and he drives it for emergency management business and on fire and first aid calls. He said he sometimes uses the vehicle to go to dinner within town.

...(T)he Federal Emergency Management Agency Public Assistance Program...reimburses municipalities for assets, such as ambulances, lost in the storm... Mimi Box, the Soul Foundation's executive director...said...(i)f the ambulance could be replaced with programs like that, the original donation could be used for other purposes in town...

...Murphy said replacing that ambulance with a new one would have cost $140,000, while the rebuild cost $82,000..."We got two ambulances for the price of one, which is the way I'm looking at it," he said... (T)he first aid squad...planned to cut an $82,000 check this week... The insurance claim is now in court... "They were very generous to us," Murphy said, speaking of Bon Jovi. "Nothing was bought without their permission...There were no shenanigans..."

Murphy also is a former councilman who resigned this month in an unrelated dispute...

No shenanigans? Having three conflicting job titles and not "officially" mentioning the donation to the city council THAT YOU WERE A MEMBER OF are MAJOR shenanigans, Murph! It COULD be why somebody called the New Jersey District Attorney!

P.S. Jon also donated a million dollars to the Sandy charity headed by New Jersey governor's Chris Christie's wife. So there's an outside chance that his name could pop up in the Christie federal investigation.

A little more info on Read Murphy's "resignation":

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Red Bank Green: A month after coming in tied for second in the Sea Bright Republican primary, incumbent Councilman Read Murphy has resigned...He said friction with the rest of the council over both his “unilateral” approach to serving and his request to be hired as the town’s beach manager had taken the “fun” out of the job...

(H)e said he was used to an old-school style of local government, in which he described himself as acting first, and “then go tell the council about it...The council’s getting pissed off at me because I still act unilaterally, and they want everything by the book,” he said...

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NJ.com: Councilman C. Read Murphy...handed in his resignation...July 1...when the council members would not decide whether to hire him as the beach manager...“A great amount of it was burnout since Sandy,” Murphy said. “But there also was a bit of contention between myself and the council.”

As head of the borough's office of emergency management, Murphy said he will keep that post despite his resignation from council.

Murphy said he also didn’t endear himself to some council members because he often made decisions about beach operations without first consulting the governing body, the same way previous councils had run their committees over the years...

He comes in tied for second, gets pissed off when he isn't handed a job just because he asks for it, brags of acting though he's the only person on the council, has had access to three independent municipal budgets, -- and no one has stood up to him in twenty years? No wonder it took a member of Bon Jovi AND a super hurricane to to "spoil" his "fun!"

I mean, Jon's $119K check was reportedly made out to the fire department, and the Soul Foundation reportedly said that any money that didn't need to be spent on ambulance replacement could be spent by the city. So why is only $82K going to the city council, and why is it coming out of the first aid squad's budget? Shouldn't the $31K that was spent on the SUV be reimbursed to the city also -- or did it qualify as one of the "other purposes in town?" Which leaves $6K unaccounted for -- where did that go? :confused:

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Originally Posted by rocknation (Post 1180741)

Jon's $119K check was reportedly made out to the fire department...So why is only $82K going to the city council...Shouldn't the $31K that was spent on the SUV reimbursed to the city also...Which leaves $6K unaccounted for...

According to this story from the Asbury Park Press on BonJovi.com:

"Bon Jovi is known for his local philanthropy...(H)e donated $125,000 to the Sea Bright Fire Department after superstorm Sandy..."

I always thought that $119K was a strange amount to give -- why not 120? But if you subtract 119K from 125K, you get six thousand -- the same six thousand that seems to be unaccounted for!