TOMS RIVER, NJ – People always wonder, how much is a politician’s vote worth? In the case of Ocean County Commissioner Virginia Haines, we finally have a price tag and that price is $37,000. That’s how much Haines and OC GOP Chairman Frank Holman took from Bob Hugin, a candidate to replace outgoing GOP chairman Doug Steinhardt. Haines eventually cashed the check and voted for late-comer Hugin.
At the same time Haines was casting her vote for Hugin, her Republican organization accepted a $37,000 check from the big pharma former CEO. Now it makes sense as to why Frank Holman repeatedly called former Toms River Mayor Tom Kelaher to persuade him to vote for Hugin. In the end, the former Ocean County Prosecutor and Marine Corps veteran was not for sale, he cast his vote instead for Michael Lavery, as Haines had earlier promised as well.
It wasn’t the only check Hugin wrote in exchange for votes at the Jersey Shore. Monmouth County Chairman Shawn Golden also accepted $37,000 in exchange for a vote for Bob Hugin.
It’s not the first time Hugin wrote a bunch of checks and lost an election. In 2018, Hugin invested a reported $40,000,000 of his own money to lose a U.S. Senate election to Democrat Bob Menendez. We haven’t looked into the other counties who voted for Hugin for their donation as of yet.