TOMS RIVER, NJ – Toms River Mayor Maurice “Mo” Hill lost a costly township-funded legal battle that was an attempt to award the mayor a lucrative public pension, and today, a councilman who Hill and his political associates spied on last year fired back.
Toms River First Ward Councilman Justin Lamb has publicly criticized incumbent Mayor Maurice “Mo” Hill for allegedly engaging in a self-serving scheme that puts himself first and Toms River taxpayers last. Lamb called out Hill’s reported efforts to pad his taxpayer-funded pension benefits through a three-year court case, which Lamb described as “disgusting.”
Hill is embroiled in a campaign against Toms River Republican Councilman Dan Rodrick and two other candidates.
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“The disturbing report that Mo Hill has been engaged in a three-year court case to pad his taxpayer-funded pension benefits is disgusting,” Lamb said. “While Toms River residents have been saddled with higher taxes, new fees, and exorbitant beach badge prices, Mo has been working for himself.”
Lamb’s comments come after a decision issued by the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court, requiring Hill to enroll in a defined contribution system instead of the PERS pension system that was reportedly costing taxpayers dearly. Lamb accused Hill of secretly fighting the state to get the same special treatment that a Camden County Democrat got when the Democrat-controlled legislature created a special law to pad her pension.
“The disturbing report that Mo Hill has been engaged in a three-year court case to pad his taxpayer-funded pension benefits is disgusting,” Lamb said.
Lamb, a long-time ally of Councilman Daniel Rodrick, has voted in tandem with Rodrick since being elected two years ago to oppose Hill’s tax and spending policies. The two defeated Hill’s team together in the 2021 township council election.
Rodrick had called Hill’s attempt to get a state-funded pension he was not entitled to a ‘pension scam’.
“This is the sort of pension scam that the law is meant to prevent,” Rodrick said. “Hill tried to fleece the taxpayers of Toms River, but this time, he failed.”
Rodrick said he was shocked that Hill used township attorneys to try to scam the state, saying he expects Hill to reimburse the township for legal expenses in the failed effort.
Lamb has accused Hill of using the township’s director of law, Greg McGuckin, who holds over 30 public jobs, to wage this personal crusade. Lamb claimed that McGuckin and Hill have been fighting the state for years to allow Hill to re-enroll in the state pension system despite being ineligible.
According to legal documents on record with the state, McGuckin and township attorney, Anthony Merlino represented Hill in the pension case.
McGuckin is still under scrutiny for hiring a Monmouth County spy to follow Lamb and his family, Lamb said.
McGuckin had paid a Monmouth County private investigator $6,000 to spy on Lamb and his wife, a Toms River school board member. He was later ordered to pay those funds back to the Ocean County Republican Organization after being sued by GOP Chair George Gilmore.
At the time, McGuckin and Hill believed Lamb did not actually live in his Buermann Avenue home. The private investigator logged hours following Lamb and his wife. That report has never been released publicly by McGuckin and Hill.
Lamb also accused Hill of turning Toms River into a little Camden on Delaware with his massive affordable housing development along the waterfront. Hill has been under fire for presiding over a period of growth in Toms River that saw multiple high-density developments built in North Dover and for his plan to turn downtown Toms River into a city with hi-rise apartment buildings.
“When Mo has not been scheming to increase his own benefits, he’s been steering millions of dollars of prime real estate to one of the state’s biggest Democrat donors for pennies on the dollar,” Lamb said. “But he uses his taxpayer-funded ‘newsletter’ to spin these shenanigans as somehow beneficial to our Township. It’s sickening.”
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He said that Hill uses his taxpayer-funded newsletter to spin these shenanigans as somehow beneficial to the township.