PORTASH: Putting The Scandal In Perspective

The next installment of a series on Joseph Portash, who helped fashion the township as a seasonal alternative for retirees who thought Florida was too far, and too hot for them to treat as a year-round home.

In the early 1990s, however, he became the central figure in a scandal that transformed his image from a reformer and innovator to that of a large-scale petty thief and burglar.

Every Thursday, we'll look back at the stories that told the tale of what happened, and how Manchester survived one of the worst corruption scandals in the state' history.

We'll also look at how Portash rose to prominence as an Ocean County freeholder and Manchester mayor, and then as an administrator who ushered in the cash cow known as "adult communities."

This installment features an Associated Press story, written almost two years after the scandal broke, that puts the scandal in historical perspective. This story attracted attention way beyond Manchester, appearing in The Free Lance-Star of Fredericksburg, Va. on March 28, 1992

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Senior Community Looks Ahead After Officials' Scandal

March 28, 1992

By Terry Mutchler/Associated Press Writer

A courtyard plaque at the Manchester Municipal Building bears the names of former Mayors Joseph Murray and Ralph Rizzolo in gold lettering.

But the public servants likely will be remembered for siphoning at least $2.25 million from taxpayers' pockets, not for securing a new building.

Murray, Rizzolo, former township administrator Joseph Portash and others were part of a seven-year scheme to loot millions from this community, which is about 80 percent senior citizens.

Prosecutors say Portash bilked $900,000 to feed gambling habits in Atlantic City and Las Vegas, finance his mistress's condominium and maintain a vacation home in Maine for his family. He died before the scheme unraveled.

"It was one of the biggest scandals in the history of this state," said Ocean County Prosecutor James W. Holzapfel.

Holzapfel said as much as $5 million may have been pocketed, but township officials dumped a truckload of financial records into a sludge pit, destroying the paper trail.

Rizzolo and Murray were convicted Feb. 24 of conspiring to steal $2.25 million. Murray has been hospitalized with a heart attack since; Portash died in February 1990.

Four other defendants pleaded and testified for the prosecution. Former Mayor Lynch, 81, has been declared mentally incompetent but charges have not been dismissed.

As prosecutors continue to sift through undamaged records, residents focus on returning the 88-square-mile township to financial health.

"I'm angry. People work very hard for their money," said 71-year-old Beatrice "Penny" Trachtenberg.

"It was like somebody cleaning your house and walking off with all the jewels," she said.

Retirees Edward Brunicardi and Elaine Roffman said they are disgusted.

"You work all your life and send your kids through school to try to make a living, and for what?" Brunicardi said.

Roffman said the politicians "took such advantage of us and laughed."

In 1988, residents said, property taxes began to soar and hundreds of people went to council meetings demanding answers. Stonewalled by their leaders, they decided to dig for answers on their own.

"There's a wealth of intelligence in a senior citizen community ... retired accountants, CEOs," said Mayor Jane Cameron, 68 and a lawyer. "Money was pouring out of the township and we wanted to know why."

Cameron and a makeshift financial crew started to piece together what was happening and determined it was time for a change of government. She was elected after a bitter campaign in 1990.

People just thought government was being wasteful until her first day on the job, she said.

Click here for a link to the article.