by Geri Bahar, Letter to the Editor
William Mark Felt, (1913-2008) was a 30-year FBI veteran who was loyal to J. Edgar Hoover and rose to the position of Deputy Director. He was passed over for the Director position which went to L. Patrick Gray, a lawyer and naval officer with no law enforcement experience with whom Felt was said to have had thereafter a strained relationship. Felt was indicted in 1978 for his involvement with FBI agents’ warrantless searching of the homes of Weather Underground members and similarly leaning groups. He was convicted in 1980 and pardoned by President Ronald Reagan in 1981. However, none of this was responsible for the celebrity, though unwelcome, that Felt achieved.
Burglars had broken into a hotel room/suite (May 1972), installing eavesdropping/wiretapping equipment, and, as it is said, most criminals do, they returned to the scene of the crime to fix the malfunctioning equipment they had previously placed. On June 17, 1972, they were caught red-handed and arrested because Frank Wills, a hotel security guard, noticed tape covering the latches of some doors and called the police. Officers, John B. Barrett, Carl M. Shoffler, and Sgt. Paul W. Leeper made the arrests of, Bernard Barker, Virgilio Gonzalez, James McCord, Eugenio Martínez, and Frank Sturgis. The suspects had in their possession burglary tools, a police scanner, portable radio, cameras and film, tear gas, latex gloves, electronic devices and $2,300 cash – in 1972!
They also had a notebook with names and phone numbers, including James W. McCord (former CIA) and E. Howard White, a White House Official.
The break-in was of the Democratic National Committee’s office located in the Watergate Hotel, 2650 Virginia Avenue NW, Washington, DC.
Twenty-nine year old reporter Robert Woodward was assigned to cover the seemingly mundane court arraignment and takes note that McCord and four Cuban-Americans from Miami are represented by an expensive high-end attorney. Woodward makes connections between the burglars and Charles Colson, formerly of the CIA and one E. Howard Hunt, who works for President Nixon’s White House counsel. This wasn’t some ordinary arraignment of petty burglars.
G. Gordon Liddy, (a.k.a. The G Man), born in Brooklyn, raised in Hoboken and West Caldwell, military veteran (Army), lawyer (Fordham), and former FBI Agent supposedly brainstormed, planned and supervised this botched operation by his “Plumbers.”
Woodward, like all good reporters, had a source – later come to be known as “Deep Throat.” Using analogue (as everything was back then) cloak and dagger methods, when “Deep Throat” wanted a meeting, he would make unique marks on page 20 of Woodward’s copy of The New York Times.
By circling the page number and drawing an hour hand as with a clock, Woodward would know the time for the meeting. When Woodward wanted to meet Deep Throat, he would move a flowerpot with a red flag to the rear of his apartment’s balcony. Their main 2:00 a.m. meeting place was on the bottom level of an underground garage at 1401 Wilson Boulevard. It is now a historic place. Mark Felt was Deep Throat and though credited with famously saying, “Follow the money” that phrase was actually written into the screenplay of the movie All the President’s Men and spoken by the actor Hal Holbrook. Following the money is sagacious even today.
What does all of this have to do with Ocean County?
The Ocean County Republican Organization has reigned, since the era of Joseph Buckelew and earlier with the OC GOP Finance Committee being the hub of the spokes that made the wheel go round and round.
During the Gilmore 1.0 era, that dominion was solidified if not monetized; the Gilmore & Monahan P.A. law firm had lots of government clients and clients needing to interact with government.
During the Gilmore 2.0 redux, with the law firm no longer existing, some would say that the money and power was streamlined to a committee of one – George Gilmore. It is told that in days gone by, club presidents, municipal chairs, campaign managers and local candidates would go on bended knee to 10 Allen Street seeking campaign money from the county GOP coffers.
Of late, local campaigns have apparently lost their taste for boot leather and ring kissing. With their own bevy of professionals and supporters, towns started financing their own campaigns.
At fundraising events, the Chairman was almost always invited but not allowed to touch the money.
Little by little, through hushed whispers and cautious phone calls, questions formerly unspoken were being asked.
The raised eyebrows amongst the county GOP faithful became increasingly obvious. Elected officials, operatives and observers started coming out of the closet – and not merely those loyal to Jerry Dasti, whose long running feud, er uh, I mean rivalry, was a poorly kept secret.
Those who had no dog in the race between Gilmore and Dasti started questioning not only Gilmore’s leadership, but his loyalties.
Groucho Marx once said, “I intend to live forever or die trying.”
Ever crafty and long-game Gilmore continues to play three chess moves ahead of his detractors.
In addition to having sprinkled and splashed his loyalists and spies into various positions throughout the county, (elected and otherwise), Gilmore has been strategically amassing legislative and other slots with his adherents. He has stacked the Commissioner Board with his comrades.
Sliding Kelly over to the County Clerk’s slot was a “two for one” deal. It got George’s ever devoted Jack Kelly a paycheck and maybe a pension pad while opening a Commissioner slot to station a replacement soldier.
Come January, it is widely believed that he will have five of five Commissioner votes at his disposal. Others, with faith in one or more of the Commissions that will be seated in 2026, believe that eventually Gilmore may have only four or three out of five, but for as long as he has a majority on the third floor of 100 Hooper Avenue observers will continue to be unsure about some of the County’s actions while those in neighboring counties, already suspicious of Gilmore, may say that Ocean County is for sale.
After Curtis Bashaw and Bill Spadea’s ill-fated efforts, does George Gilmore, the political campaign consultant, have a viable product to sell?
Will developers with potential projects in towns where Gilmore carried/carries sway see a return on investment with him?
Will someone seeking something in Ocean County pay for his consulting services? Do vendors to Ocean County see value in a relationship with Gilmore? If George Gilmore has influence (some might say control) over three or more County Commissioners, these may be a questions worth asking. Would this be his only product left to sell? Will Ocean County be for sale?
Will three of the five Commissioners stand (bow) for it? One or more, if hand-picked to stardom by Gilmore, might know the answer. Anyone care to have a conversation at bottom level the County parking garage? Got a flowerpot with a red flag?
Behar is a concerned Ocean County resident and the views and opinions in this letter to the editor do not necessarily reflect the views of Shore News Networks, its affiliates or partners.
