Toms River school board member files ethics charges over critic's Facebook posts

Jean Mikle | Asbury Park Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Toms River Regional Superintendent talks about district's state aid crisis Toms River Regional Superintendent David M. Healy discusses community's response to his letter asking residents to write letters asking for more state aid.

TOMS RIVER - Toms River Regional Board of Education member Christopher Raimann has filed ethics charges against fellow board member Daniel Leonard, saying Leonard has repeatedly posted "confidential matters which should not be known to the public" on his Facebook page.

Raimann's complaint, filed Oct. 4 with the state's School Ethics Commission, accuses Leonard of repeatedly "leaking information" from the board's executive session meetings to the public through posts on Facebook.

Leonard, who represents Beachwood on the nine-member regional board, has commented several times on social media about schools Superintendent David M. Healy's contract and other executive session matters, according to Raimann's complaint.

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"Leonard has been counseled numerous times not to speak about confidential matters," Raimann's complaint reads. He said school board President Russell Corby and Board Attorney Stephan R. Leone have not taken any action to stop Leonard from leaking information.

The complaint claims that after the school board meeting Sept. 18, at which Raimann voted against paying Healy a merit bonus that was included in the superintendent's contract, Leonard violated school ethics rules by discussing details of Healy's contract that had been talked about in executive session in posts on Leonard's Facebook page.

Leonard criticized Raimann's vote on Facebook but also panned it publicly at the school board meeting.

"You can't breach his contract," board member Leonard said after Raimann's "no" vote to give Healy his merit pay.

Raimann, who voted against Healy's contract extension in 2017, is running for re-election this year as one of six candidates seeking two seats representing Toms River on the nine-member regional board.

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The increasing bitter school board race comes as the district is struggling with a school funding crisis brought on by a reduction in state aid. Superintendent Healy talks about the funding crisis in the video above this story.

In June, the school board authorized filing an ethics complaint against Raimann with the school ethics commission.

The reason for the still-pending complaint has not been publicly disclosed.

Leonard has in recent weeks been regularly bashing Raimann on social media, including his personal Facebook page and his "Team Leonard" Facebook page, created for his anticipated re-election run next year.

Leonard frequently refers to Raimann as "Raimarosa," a seeming reference to President Donald J. Trump's former political aide Omarosa Manigault Newman, who resigned from her White House job in January and later penned a book, "Unhinged," which is deeply critical of the president.

Leonard on Tuesday called Raimann's ethics complaint "frivolous" and said it was filed because of Leonard's frequent social media criticism of Raimann.

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“Candidate Raimann is clearly feeling the pressure from the pending release of the multiple ethics violations filed against him by the Toms River Board of Education," Leonard wrote. "These are currently under investigation with the State Ethics Commission. In his desperation, he has filed a single frivolous and retaliatory ethics complaint against me since I am his fiercest public critic both in public session and on social media."

The School Ethics Commission keeps pending ethics complaints confidential until there is a public meeting to determine if there is a violation or probable cause to believe there is an ethics violation, according to the commission's website. Information about complaints is also made public if the matters are dismissed, settled or withdrawn.

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Leonard posted the ethics complaint — and supporting documents — Raimann filed against him on his "Team Leonard" page on Oct. 15.

Leonard said he is using the Facebook page to disprove "inaccurate claims" contained in Raimann's campaign fliers.

"I believe that as an elected official,he should be held accountable for lying to the public," Leonard wrote. "If Mr. Raimann feels that calling attention to the lies of a public official is a form of “bullying” – then perhaps he should choose another form of public service!”

In an Aug. 20 email to Board President Russell K. Corby and Board Attorney Stephan R. Leone, Raimann noted that last year, former board member Robert Onofrietti Jr. filed a civil harassment complaint against Leonard.

In the complaint, Onofrietti claimed that Leonard had harassed him by sitting in his truck outside Onofrietti's house for about 30 minutes with an "unidentified man in the passenger seat."

Onofrietti — who lost his bid for re-election last year but is again seeking a seat on the school board this year — eventually dropped his complaint after he and Leonard spoke several times to resolve their differences.

Leonard told the Asbury Park Press that he went to Onofrietti's house out of curiosity, not to harass him. Leonard produced public records he had obtained that showed the residence had been in foreclosure as late as 2015, with more than $760,000 in liens owed on the property.

At the time, Leonard said he felt Onofrietti's financial issues were a relevant campaign issue in last November's school board election as Onofrietti is seeking re-election. Leonard denied he had done anything unlawful and said he immediately left the neighborhood after he was spotted by the family.

Raimann said that Leonard is now harassing him.

"This year he is harassing me for no other reason than he thinks he can," Raimann wrote in the Aug. 20 email. "I never every (sic) buried any hatchet with him as we have no relationship at all. Leonard continues to leak information to any and all."

Jean Mikle: 732-643-4050, @jeanmikle, jmikle@gannettnj.com