Candidate:

Continued From Page 1 results. I asked if any of them had social media posts waiting to be used as ammunition against them. No one else had that experience either.”

Plumsted’s form of government is partisan and members of each voting district are represented by County Committee members. Pastor John Burlaga is the Republican Committeeman of District 3. He said there were six voting districts in the township and this was his first time to be involved in a screening process.

“Pastor Burlaga had pulled out his cell phone to show a Facebook post I made about my medical required D and C also known as an abortion, to save my life. Without that procedure there is a high probability that I would not have the two beautiful sons I have today. That was a lifesaving procedure that caused no deaths and required no intervention from the government but these two pastors (Pastor/Committeeman Dominick Cuozzo and Burlaga) used it to assault me so I could not respond further to questions,” she said. “Bringing up my loss and having to watch Pastor Cuozzo and his wife (Nicole Cuozzo) snickering and giggling at me as I fumbled for the words to say. I now see I am not a good fit for the version of the Republican party that you have,” she added. She said she had hoped to serve on the Plumsted Township Committee to bring her experience in the area of environmental matters to the governing body. Tallon said she currently serves on the municipal environmental committee. A number of people sat on the right side of the seating area in the municipal meeting room who were in support of Tallon during the session. Dr.

Norma Bowe, a university teacher, was among them. She said Tallon has been a guest lecturer on environmental activism. “What happened to her this week is an abomination. She was interviewed for a municipal seat and they asked her about private, protected, medical information.”

Bowe said during the public comment period, “what you have done as part of the selection process, may be illegal if that comment was made during an interview. This has gone all the way to the state level. We have already consulted attorneys about what is happening in this town. Someone’s private medical information is protected in this country.”

“I think there is a misunderstanding. The Republican platform does support pro-life for the most part and that is what we are replacing here is a Republican seat name so that was what was important to people’s views on pro-life,” resident Barbara Diblin said. The Township Committee is all Republican.

Setting The Record Straight

Committeeman Cuozzo asked several times during the meeting for Mayor Robert Bowen and Committeeman Leonard Grilletto to state what they observed during the screening process and the specifics of the questions posed to Tallon. “I want you to weigh in on what happened during the Committee selection. Please tell them what happened, please.”

“If you would like me to do so I will do so but

I will wait until after public comment,” Bowen replied.

Cuozzo argued the public comments to come “would be based on a misunderstanding and you know that. I don’t want to sit here and listen to people talking about me and things that did not happen. I would like for you to correct the record. Lenny would you correct the record?”

After repeated requests by Cuozzo and the mayor repeating his plan to speak after the public comment period, acting Township Attorney Jean L. Cipriani said it was the purview of the chair of the meeting, Mayor Bowen, to speak when he wanted to.

“This is unreasonable,” Cuozzo said. “Mayor, (Candidate - See Page 18)