TOMS RIVER, NJ – After losing his election for Chairman, Ocean County Sheriff Michael Mastronardy received a final hour campaign donation of $6,000 from outgoing Ocean County GOP Chairman Frank B. Holman. Ocean County Commissioner Virginia Haines also received a $6,000 final hour contribution.
In the hours before handing the Ocean County GOP to new chairman George Gilmore, Holman’s operatives plundered the organization, razing it to the ground before handing the keys over to George Gilmore.
Related: After Crushing Defeat, Ginny Haines Caught Emptying Out GOP Headquarters in Toms River
The party headquarters was emptied. The organization’s website was shut down. The GOP email account was deleted. $30,000 in funds were transferred out of the party account and into the accounts of Sheriff Mastronardy and Ocean County Commissioner Virginia Haines, who is also an RNC state committeewoman.
On Thursday, the Ocean County GOP headquarters in Downtown Toms River was plundered by Commissioner Virginia Haines and an unknown elderly male. Haines was caught emptying the office of belongings, which she now claims were personal belongings. Considering Haines is still a candidate for office for the Republican party in November.
Related: There’s a New Sheriff in Town as Gilmore Defeats Mastronardy in OC GOP Chairman’s Election
Holman made sure all of his operatives were paid before the transfer of power, including $12,000 in monthly expenses to pay OC GOP Director Pat Lane and other secretaries hired by Holman. A series of other last-minute financial transactions sent money to party operatives, leaving the account nearly depleted. Some of those funds were then funneled through an account owned by an operative of Mo Hill, suspected to have been used to pay a criminal political operative working for Mastronardy.
Today, Chairman George Gilmore confirmed the ransacking of the Ocean County GOP by Holman, Mastronardy, and Haines, saying the organization is working to get back online, but would not go into details about the extent of the damage done.
“We have changed the locks on the doors and took ownership and secured all of the accounts,” Gilmore said, in an attempt to stop further pillaging of party property by the outgoing leadership team.
Chairman Gilmore confirmed the last-minute banking transactions but said he’s confident that under his leadership, the Ocean County GOP will be able to replace the funds through fundraising and will be able to successfully bounce back and get back to the business of winning political campaigns for Republicans across the county.
Gilmore said the Ocean County GOP will be returned to its former glory of the pre-Holman era. He expressed disappointment in the actions of the former regime’s less than the smooth transition of power.
Gilmore said he also intends to streamline operations and reduce expenses for the party, which became bloated during the Holman era, sending more resources to political campaigns to focus instead on winning elections.
In addition to depleting the party’s bank account, the organization’s website was taken offline, all party emails were deleted and the headquarters was nearly cleared out.
Gilmore said today he has IT security professionals working with the vendor to restore all of the emails deleted by Holman, Mastronardy, and Haines. Sheriff Mastronardy did not return phone calls or texts for comment about the allegations.
Online rumors that Ginny Haines removed the ‘G’ keys from all of the computers in the office could not be confirmed at this time.
Correction: Article incorrectly stated donations of $15,000 each. $15,000 represents the total balance of accounts individually for Haines/Mastronardy while transfers of $6,000 were made in the final hour by outgoing GOP Chairman Frank B. Holman. This error was noted by Chairman Gilmore Monday evening and reported to Shore News Network to be corrected.
