TOMS RIVER, NJ – When Democrats won the 2017 Toms River election, it sent shockwaves through the local political world.   Republicans in Toms River suffered a major upset, losing 3 out of 7 seats on the majority Republican council for the first time in many years.  That’s because Democrats Terrance Turnbach and Laurie Huryk played upon the fears of residents during that election with mailers detailing “Lakewood Style Development” being supported by their Republican opponents.

Now, Turnbach is leading a bipartisan charge against Toms River Councilman Daniel Rodrick to have the New Jersey Attorney General to silence him for opposing overdevelopment in Toms River.   The Democrats are joined by “Republican”  Councilwoman Maria Maruca and Councilman Kevin Geoghegan in a letter filed with the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office seeking criminal charges against those who now oppose “Lakewood Style Development” in Toms River.

It was quite a different narrative in 2017 when Huryk and Turnbach were trying to get elected.  Their political campaign mailers warned of “Lakewood” incursion in North Dover. Turnbach even had a newspaper printed, which he personally picked up from the printer, paid for and mailed to the residents of Toms River, warning of the impending “Lakewood” threat if he and Huryk were not elected.

“If you don’t vote for us, Lakewood is going to take over Toms River,” was the message Huryk and Turnbach sent in their mailers.  They blamed Republicans for the overdevelopment, crowding, and changing demographics of the northern portion of Toms River.  They vowed to fight “Lakewood Style” development and they also vowed to stop Republicans from giving patronage jobs.

Since being elected, Huryk and Turnbach have done neither.  The two Democrats have since folded into the mix with Republican establishment in Toms River. Since taking office, Huryk and Turnbach have not opposed a single development project in the township, in fact, worked heavily behind the scenes in facilitating the resolution of lawsuits to allow what they once called “Lakewood-Style Development” in their campaign mailers.

When it comes to stopping Republican patronage jobs, Huryk and Turnbach have rubber-stamped every appointment proposed by Mo Hill, including a nearly half-million-dollar no-show pay-to-play job to Mo Hill’s political attorney ally, Gregory P. McGuckin.  When Mo Hill packed town hall with campaign donors, friends and political allies, Huryk and Turbach also voted yes.

At this point, nobody in politics would be surprised when Turnbach, a lawyer who represents sex offenders, rapists, and pedophiles by day, and Huryk, a nurse run their 2021 re-election bid under the Mo Hil team umbrella as a bi-partisan ticket.  Last week, Turnbach and Huryk railed against Councilman Daniel Rodrick because Rodrick warned residents about an unholy alliance between Hill and Scott Gartner during the 2019 mayor election.  Hill brought Gartner into his inner circle after Gartner threatened to sue Toms River unless the township changed the ten-acre zoning restrictions on houses of worship.  Because Gartner is an Orthodox Jewish resident, Turnbach contends that using his name and likeness in political mailers amounts to”criminal” anti-semitism.

Since winning their election with a campaign promise to defend Toms River against what they referred to as a threat from the north, Lakewood, Turnbach, and Huryk have now seen the error of their ways and according to a filing with the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.  In that filing, Turnbach said Councilman Rodrick’s never ending battle to fight overdevelopment in Toms River is “anti-Semitic”.   In fact, saying anything about North Dover building, building violations, traffic and other growing pains associated with develpoment in that section of town, according to Turnbach amounts to nothing but “bigotry”.

Turnbach said Rodrick and his followers, the residents of Toms River, on social media are undermining his and Huryk’s goal of promoting diversity in Toms River, even saying Rodrick’s opposition to over-development is leading to “Chaos, Division and Destruction” in Toms River.  Turnbach went further, stating that the reporting of Huryk’s claim that Toms River is not a diverse enough community, being “too white” is nothing short of “racism”.

“The conduct of Mr. Rodrick and his affiliates in social media contradict and undermine the important initiatives, sponsored by both the Attorney General and the Toms River Police  Department, to foster inclusivity, promote diversity, and combat bigotry, and, if ignored, portend more chaos, division, and destruction,” Turnbach said in a letter to the Attorney General’s Office asking them to take criminal actions against any elected officials and media who seek to oppose overdevelopment.

Turnbach said Rodrick’s opposition to the township council’s now blind eye to overdevelopment amounts to nothing more than hatred and bigotry.

“Mr. Rodrick feeds the Internet hate machine to advance his personal and political agendas,” Turnbach said in his letter to Attorney General Gurbir Grewal to take criminal actions on all who oppose the Turnbach agenda.  That agenda includes homeless shelters, high-density housing and a radical shift in the fabric of the community in Toms River.   Turnbach, who by day represents the ugliest society has to offer, murderers, rapists, child sex offenders, child [censored]ographers, according to his website represents the local impact of America’s radical shift to the far left.   In fact, Turnbach, hopes one day he can serve as a judge to espouse his liberal agenda from the bench.

In the sharply worded request to silence Rodrick, Turnbach claimed Rodrick’s ousting of Gartner as a significant financial donor to Hill’s political campaign was nothing short of Anti-Semitic. In fact, Gartner, who threatened to sue the town months earlier, claiming a substantial financial war chest, instead, used that war chest to fund Hill’s campaign. After being elected, Hill immediately went to work to change the zoning ordinance in Toms River for Gartner, but he was caught working behind the scenes on an ordinance that would turn lower that limit from 10 acres to two acres in North Dover, but because Gartner is an Orthodox Jew, Turnbach says the criticism is off-limits.

“His campaign literature tells much of the story. In the 2017 campaign to represent Ward 2 on the Township Council, Mr. Rodrick disseminated numerous mailers attacking Lakewood-style development and accusing his opponent of taking campaign contributions from Lakewood developers. Lakewood borders Toms River to the north in is home to one of the world’s largest concentrations of Orthodox Jews,” Turnbach said.

Turnbach intentionally misled the Attorney General’s Office that his own campaign mailers in 2017 were exactly the same. They were also the same ones Huryk used in 2017.   Turnbach, who has aspirations to become a judge in Ocean County filed that letter to intentionally mislead the Attorney General to take criminal action against his political opponent…even in 2020 woke America, it’s too much for many to stomach.