Atlantic Highlands voters taken to court by mayor candidate who won't concede 5-vote loss
Frank Allsman and Michael Ferguson have lived together in Atlantic Highlands since 2014. They’ve immersed themselves in local activities and have gotten to know plenty of folks around town.
So they were floored by what happened earlier this month.
“We had a constable coming to our house, serving us subpoenas like criminals, banging on our door, in front of all of our neighbors,” Allsman said.
The subpoenas ordered them to appear before a judge Tuesday, Feb. 20, in state Superior Court in Monmouth County to prove that their Atlantic Highlands home is their full-time residence. Dozens of others have been ordered to do the same as part of a lawsuit filed by James Murphy, who lost November’s mayoral election by five votes.
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The Republican candidate, who already requested a recount that certified Democrat Lori Hohenleitner winning by a count of 847 to 842, contends in his claim that “illegal votes were received and that legal votes were improperly rejected.”
Though Allsman and Ferguson, who are married, were not given specific reasons for being subpoenaed, it may have to do with Ferguson’s work as a doctor in New York City. He has an arrangement with New York University that allows him to dorm there overnight as needed.
“I don’t pay taxes in New York, I don’t vote in New York, all of my bills are from New Jersey,” Ferguson said. “Shouldn’t they have done their homework on this?”
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'A Trump, copycat sore-loser issue'
Ferguson said he had to cancel appointments with patients to appear at the hearing. Allsman, who works in financial technology, also had to take a day off from work and said he spent 12 hours assembling a folder of documents proving their full-time residency.
“I’m coming with tax returns, driver’s licenses, car registrations, our credit cards, our utility bills, bank accounts, every single thing in our life that has our address,” he said. “So other than them coming here to make sure my pillow’s warm at night, I’m not sure what else they want me to prove.”
Murphy has declined to respond to repeated requests to be interviewed about the election and his contesting of it.
“I find this to be very much a Trump, copycat sore-loser issue,” Ferguson said, referencing Donald Trump's accusations of widespread voter fraud (which were dismissed by the courts) in the 2020 presidential election.
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Hohenleitner was sworn in Jan. 1. Murphy remains a member of the Borough Council, the sole Republican on that body.
“I’m shocked and surprised that this is the route that Mr. Murphy is taking, since he probably knows who we are,” Allsman said. “I find it a little bit insulting too, that we are getting accused of this basic voter fraud. I find it very difficult that he’s choosing to do it this way, dividing the community.”
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'Not how your treat your neighbors'
That sentiment was echoed by others who received subpoenas.
“We’re sad, we’re disappointed and we’re angry because we’re residents and it's very easily provable that we are,” Norah Zaidan said.
Zaidan was raised in Atlantic Highlands, then later moved back there with her husband George in 2010. They purchased their current home in 2012. For an 18-month spell around 2015, they lived in Connecticut while George worked there, but never relinquished their Atlantic Highlands home; she said they moved back permanently in 2016.
“It’s very frustrating, and the bigger picture is, ‘OK if I don’t win, all these people are cheating,’” Norah Zaidan said. “They say, ‘Oh, we have to make sure the votes are good,’ but what’s behind those votes are people. And it’s not just people — we’re neighbors. This is a town of 4,000 people. I never cared who was Republican or Democrat because typically everyone is working toward the same goals for the town.”
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Mary Ellen Connerty, who along with her husband David has lived at her current home since 2021, expressed exasperation at the process.
“My husband and I were both served in an unorthodox manner — the supbeonas were left in our doorknobs without any envelopes,” she said. “This did not have to be done this way. A letter explaining Murphy’s position, whether you agree with it or not and that he’s exercising his right to challenge and this is what we need from you, would have gone much further with me than what happened. This was so unnecessary in terms of how it unfolded.”
Connerty said “we own a small studio (apartment) in New York City, so I guess that was a trigger point for them (the subpoenas). We’ve had that since 2016.”
David Connerty works in New York City, she said, and they spend one or two nights a week there.
“It really didn’t have to be done this way,” Mary Ellen Connerty said. “And you know, he’s a neighbor. That’s not how you treat your neighbors.”
Jerry Carino is community columnist for the Asbury Park Press, focusing on the Jersey Shore’s interesting people, inspiring stories and pressing issues. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Atlantic Highlands voters taken to court; GOP candidate won't concede
