Toms River Mayor Dan Rodrick issued a press release today condeming the bias reporting of Asbury Park Press writer Jean Mikle. In a statement today, he said it is his responsibility to stand up for the truth and to defend Toms River from misleading media reports.
The entire press release is below:
TOMS RIVER, NJ — Mayor Daniel T. Rodrick issues the following statement regarding a pattern of biased, misleading, and inaccurate reporting by Jean Mikle of the Asbury Park Press:
“As Mayor, it is my responsibility to stand up for both the truth and the interests of Toms River residents. I am compelled to address the ongoing campaign of distortion and bias being waged by Jean Mikle and the Asbury Park Press. This newspaper has accepted advertising dollars from a political action committee whose sole purpose is to undermine my Administration. This presents a blatant conflict of interest and calls into question the credibility and motivations behind their reporting.
Repeatedly, the Asbury Park Press has run stories with sensational, misleading headlines, presenting opinions as facts and often omitting key information. Either I am not contacted for comment, or when I am, my statements are relegated to the bottom of stories, if included at all. This is not objective journalism—this is advocacy, designed to serve the interests of their financial supporters, not the people of Toms River.
A recent example highlights this issue: Ms. Mikle reported that my Administration approved a 150-unit development in North Dover.
This is simply false. The project was actually approved by a previous Administration over ten years ago as part of their affordable housing plan.
The only recent action by the Planning Board was to consider converting the non-affordable units from apartments to condominiums, which would be better for the township and had to be approved as a matter of law. This information was clearly stated by the attorney, planner, and board members at the meeting, yet none of it was included in Ms. Mikle’s article. The story left residents with the false impression that a brand-new development had just been approved—an omission that can only be seen as intentional.
Why has my Administration become the target of these groups? Because we have broken the mold in New Jersey politics: we have rooted out political corruption, cut wasteful spending by $11 million per year, reduced the township budget by 9%, and kept municipal taxes flat every year I have been in office. We also negotiated the best affordable housing deal in the state.
The state’s original mandate would have required the construction of 1,740 affordable units—which, under state guidelines, would have meant building a total of about 8,700 new apartments in Toms River (with only 20% being affordable and the rest market-rate). We successfully negotiated that number down to just 183 new units to cover Toms River for the next 10 years. We also put a stop to Mo Hill’s 10-story towers and repealed the prior administration’s plan for a city of high-rise apartments downtown.
I am proud of our achievements: eliminating corruption, fighting overdevelopment, reducing wasteful spending, and bringing true transparency to local government. The political establishment and their media puppets like Jean Mikle at the Asbury Park Press want to undermine us because we have ended their era of cronyism and waste. The people of Toms River know the truth, and I urge every resident to question whether the outrage they see in the Asbury Park Press headlines matches the reality in our community.
Toms River residents deserve honest, fact-based reporting—not propaganda paid for by special interests. My Administration remains committed to transparency, fiscal responsibility, and always putting Toms River first.”