TOMS RIVER, NJ – Toms River Mayor Maurice “Mo” Hill was caught in a fit of road rage on Sunday after leaving services at St. Luke’s Church on Old Freehold Road in Toms River.
Hill, who was leaving the church in his vehicle spotted his opponent Dan Rodrick leaving after placing campaign signs on a median of the road across from the church.
That’s when the mayor pulled his vehicle alongside Rodrick and his teenage son, rolled down the window, and began shouting obscenities at Rodrick.
“Why don’t you put them closer to mine, you f-cking -sshole?” Hill shouted at Rodrick.
Rodrick said Hill was visibly triggered because Rodrick’s signs were on the same median as Hill’s signs. He said he told the mayor his signs were nowhere near the mayor’s campaign signs. Rodrick said his signs were a good distance away from Hill’s signs.
“You’re such a f-cking -sshole,” Hill shouted at Rodrick before speeding off. The comments were made outside St. Luke’s Church after Sunday mass.
Rodrick said Hill appeared to be seething and unhinged during the verbal exchange before the mayor sped away.
“Mo Hill is losing it. He knows how unpopular he is in Toms River and how unpopular his plan to turn our town into a city is with the people who live here,” Rodrick said. “His plan to put a spoiler, Gerri Ambrosio, in the race isn’t working, and Mo seems to be losing his mind. This outburst he had in front of the church is just the latest incident of many that shows he’s not really fit to be our mayor anymore.”
Hill refused to comment on the profanity-laden altercation he had with Rodrick.
Instead, Art Gallagher, Hill’s spokesperson and political campaign manager, said, “Mayor Hill wishes Diana [Rodrick’s Wife] a happy Mother’s Day.”
Gallagher did not deny Hill’s encounter with Rodrick as reported.
Last week, Hill and Gallagher mailed out a bizarre campaign mailer attacking Rodrick’s wife Diana for being a school teacher, claiming she was ‘corrupting children’ on the orders of the NJEA and was just an ‘overpaid’ teacher.
The mailer was just one in a string of bizarre and outlandish claims being made by Hill and Gallagher in recent weeks.
“Mo knows he’s on his way out, and since losing his township-funded three-year failed attempt to collect an illegal public pension, using town lawyers to do it on his way out, he’s become unhinged,” Rodrick added.
Last week, Hill also claimed his opponent Geri Ambrosio had received the endorsement of the TRJCC, a Jewish community council. That council later denied Hill’s claim as a lie, saying the council has not yet made a decision, but members said they are split between Hill and Ambrosio on deciding the important bloc vote.
In a cartoon published on Hill’s campaign Facebook page, Hill claimed Rodrick said Rodrick is simply blaming all of Toms River’s problems on the current mayor.
“It’s true. He is to blame for all of it,” Rodrick said. “Overdevelopment, the downtown hi-rises, 50% tax after property revaluation increases, we can all thank Mo Hill for it. It’s his plan. I voted against all of it.”