PORTMAN ABANDONS NON-PARTISAN PLEDGE, FUNDS CAMPAIGN WITH DARK MONEY SUPER PAC FUNDS

“No wonder he refuses to debate me!” – Tim Hogan

May 3, 2023, Red Bank NJ – After pledging to support non-partisan elections and if elected serve only one five-month term, Billy Portman has abandoned his lofty campaign promises from 2022 and is openly calling on Red Bank Democrats to elect his partisan political slate into office.

Slamming challenger Tim Hogan for spending the last two-plus decades building Riverview Medical Center into one of the leading hospitals in the state, Portman and his team of elected Democratic Party loyalists are pleading with Red Bank Democrats to save their hyper-partisan ticket and ensure continued one-party rule.

“Tim Hogan would be the first Mayor in Red Bank in over 32 years who is not a Democrat” Portman’s mailer says, conveniently ignoring the fact that these same politicians spent over a year and more than $100,000 in tax-payer money removing all party affiliations from the upcoming May ballot, while simultaneously brushing over the fact that he ran against the Monmouth County Democratic party’s official nominee last year, pledging only to make non-partisan elections a reality before stepping down in June.

“It’s ironic that Billy, who was recruited and funded by the Democratic machine to run for mayor last year, built a campaign around transparency and the end of “Boss politics” but is now engaging in the worst kind of dark money, back room politicking out there,” said Borough Council President and lifelong Democrat Michael Ballard.  “The hypocrisy is as stunning as it is sickening.”

Fueled by the Democratic Super Pac America’s Future First, Portman’s campaign has been quietly running television commercials and media placements while claiming to be the financial “underdogs” in the fight for Red Bank’s future.

Portman has also kept secret the disturbing fact that America’s Future First parent organization, Fairview Insurance Brokers, is currently enjoying a $54,333 taxpayer-funded contract from Red Bank for insurance services, essentially reaping the exact kind of pay-to-play rewards non-partisan elections were intended to eliminate.

“Billy and his supporters are very vocal about my supposed conflicts of interest but they can never point to anything specific,” said challenger Tim Hogan.  “He wants to attack my salary, my professional accomplishments, my political independence, but he won’t face me and actually discuss and all of the real issues and concerns that this town is facing in a live, one-on-one debate.  Unfortunately for him and his slate, our residents are smart.  They get it!  They are tired of his and his team’s empty rhetoric and are joining with Red Bank Together because they want positive change and want to be led by professionals who are qualified and understand how to manage the business and best interests of the town.”

Early voting in Red Bank’s first nonpartisan election will be held May 5-7 at Borough Hall, 90 Monmouth Street.

Regular polling places will be open on Election Day, May 9, from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.