Manchester,. NJ – Republican megadonor Larry Bathgate, a Lakewood attorney, has cashed in on a $20,500,000 land sale with the Ocean County Natural Land Trust. Bathgate, owner of a property on Ridgeway Road sold the property to the county in a sweetheart deal for the aging GOP megadonor.
The lot, located in the New Jersey Pinelands sold for more than most realtors valued the property.
That comes out to $220,000 per acre for land that would sell on the open market for between $60,000 and $80,000 per acre.
The deal was facilitated by Ocean County GOP Chairman George Gilmore, a development lobbyist who advocated on behalf of Bathgate at the board’s meeting for the purchase by members of his party.
Weeks after the sale, Bathgate wrote a $5,000 check to Gilmore’s Ocean County Republican Chairman’s PAC. The first time the longtime megadonor donated to Gilmore’s organization after years of a self-admitted policy that he did not get involved in local politics,
Other Bathgate family members have also donated to Gilmore-aligned candidates since the county commissioners’ mega deal to purchase the lawyer’s Manchester property to preserve it as open space.
A $5,800 check from the Bathgate family was also contributed to Bill Spadea, a GOP candidate for governor, who pays Gilmore $5,000 per month as a political consultant and the ‘man behind the curtain’ on Spadea’s political campaign.
Former Manchester Mayor Robert Arace, now a county commissioner, endorsed the deal and spoke on behalf of the purchase at the meeting.
A Lakewood developer tied to the deal also sent money to Spadea, in the form of three $5,800 political contributions, after the deal was closed by Gilmore, who was convicted of tax fraud and sentenced to prison. He was later pardoned by President Donald J. Trump.
According to ELEC reports, Bathgate has been relatively inactive in donating to local and state-level politics since 2008. He made a 2023 donation to Gilmore’s Southern Ocean County Conservatives PAC in the amount of $1,500. That PAC was Gilmore’s fundraising vessel after being ousted as GOP Chairman after his federal tax fraud conviction. He also donated $1,500 that year to the Ocean County Conservative Republican Organization PAC, another Gilmore-aligned political action committee.
Accepting the recommendation of the OC Natural Lands Trust Fund Advisory Committee to acquire property identified as Block 62, Lots 15, 16 & 33 in Manchester Township totaling approximately 89.57 acres located on Ridgeway Road, in an amount not to exceed $20,500,000.00 plus up to $2,500.00 in property tax adjustments.
Meeting Agenda, Ocean County Board of Commissioners
While the deal does not appear to be illegal, on paper, it could be viewed to some as a quid pro quo arrangement.
Tax records show the property was assessed by the Ocean County tax board for $13,200 and paid just under $400 in taxes annually for the 89 acre property on Route 70.
The Ridgeway branch of the Toms River runs through the property, making a large portion of the property unbuildable due to wetlands restrictions.
Gilmore did not respond when asked for a comment through Tom Bonfonti, his assistant.
The deal made it through the process without public attention last August, but became a red flag when multiple donations were made to Spadea’s campaign by the associated Lakewood development company and Bathgate in recent filings on record with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.
While no legal improprieties are suspected, the donations raise moral and ethical questions for Gilmore, a county chairman who works as a lobbyist and serves as a county Republican chairman with influence over the Ocean County Board of Commissioners, then receiving political donations from his clients.
It is not known how much Gilmore was paid by Bathgate to facilitate the transaction.