Harry

Harry Larrison

The late and long-time Monmouth County Freeholder Director Harry Larrison (1926-2005) is not a complicated subject for me.

I knew him. I liked him. I respected him.

I did what he told me to do. He knew me. He was fine with me.

Every now and again we had things in common, but it was usually rare we interacted to get anything done. Still, when we did it was usually a big deal. Despite that, we used to pass the time of day pretty well, though, when there was call for it. Harry never did a thing for me or against me, so I can tell it like it is: good and bad in equal parts.

I successfully pushed for Harry's last award, a lifetime achievement award from the Monmouth County GOP, in December, 2004. He liked the award a lot and kept it on his kitchen table in the final months of his life.

Along with some people on my staff, I sometimes visited him at his hangout, a Perkins Pancake House on the circle in Neptune. Mostly, he complained about his health and talked about big projects he was proud of, like the Manasquan Reservoir. I would jokingly call it "Lake Harry" to him and it made him smile. But, as I learned, life shouldn't be about just getting along to go along. 

Harry died while charges were pending from NJ US Attorney (at the time) Chris Christie. Harry's case was prominent among several others in Monmouth, which were characterized as "Operation Bid Rig" by the FBI and repeated often in the newspapers of the time. Operation Bid Rig involved corrupt politicians who accepted money or services from people and repaid them with political favors or contracts or whatever. The abuses happened over a long period of time and involved many friends and associates of mine at the time, most living and some dead. There were some horrible excesses, really, but that will be another story. From what I knew and saw, absolutely every charge against Harry was legitimate. It is my belief that it was not disease that finally killed Harry, but heartbreak, betrayal and maybe even some guilt. With that said, charging Harry with corruption in Monmouth County was not unlike writing a speeding ticket to a single racer on the Daytona Speedway during a qualifying heat.

Harry died with charges pending, as did a mutual friend of ours, former Keyport councilman and Monmouth County Clerk's Office confidential adviser Bob Hyer.

OK, now the part of the truth that isn't in the newspapers: Harry oversaw a Republican Party in Monmouth County that was at once familial, byzantine and thoroughly incestuous; and whose tentacles extended through nearly every one of Monmouth's towns and certainly through every governmental entity in the county, including municipalities. It was a conspiracy (my word) of a sort, and there were certainly many incidents of questionable legality that I witnessed take place for many years as part of that conspiracy. I do not claim to have been aware of everyone's life in office or around politics back then, or even most of them. I knew many leaders in the county, though, and my impression was that they ruled with an absolute steel glove and believe it would have been remarkable if these leaders did not influence, to one degree or another, many peoples' political careers and careers, in general.

What is the difference between a successful lawyer and an unsuccessful one? In many cases, a governmental appointment. Who appoints them? Politicians. Mostly that goes for a score of people, not just professionals and not just lawyers among all professionals.

I first got involved with the Monmouth County GOP as an active member helping campaigns in 1998. At the time, the party struck me as being an almost feudal system of minor 'princes' who all towed the line and swore their allegiance to Harry (quite literally I feel comfortable saying) and a few other major players (some of whom are still in the game) or they faced political extinction. No one was a successful candidate or office holder for very long if either Harry or a few others took a disliking to them. Likewise, no one got or kept county or prominent municipal jobs (or professional work) if they were disliked by Harry 'and company.' Harry was sometimes referred to as the "President of Monmouth County," and that was not incorrect. This went on for many years.

There were exceptions to this general rule above, as in the case of former Wall Township Republican Chairman Bob McKenna, who was smart enough, tough enough, successful enough and rich enough to be able to ignore anyone else's notions of pulling his strings. Consequently, Harry frequently expressed his dislike for Bob in front of me. I must say, though, as much as Bob McKenna was not an affable fellow, he was among the most honest politicians I saw in major leadership. Of course, my boss, Assemblyman Joe Azzolina, was (far and away) the most honest, credible guy I knew during my entire time in Monmouth politics/journalism. People will say otherwise, but I saw that man every day and when he played hardball with someone, it was only because they were already a player in the league. Joe never challenged anyone who was defenseless politically or not coming after him.

Back to Harry: Jobs were doled out by Harry or close political subordinates of his in the county government to loyal (if not competent) Republicans he liked as rewards for either excellent service, campaign contributions or favors of some kind to him. I don't want to go into specifics, because it sounds terrible. And, I don't want Harry to sound terrible because he wasn't. When Harry came to power, in 1966, as he came to fill a vacancy on the Freeholder board, Monmouth County was a rural expanse with very limited economic production and activity. The county included large tracts of farmlands and agrarian ventures in places and these kinds of micro-economies dominated many towns: Howell, Middletown and Wall townships, prominently. Harry and his age of politicians dared to have a vision of the county and possessed the rocks to make that vision happen. 

Basic services like dumps and garbage collection, the county Sheriff's Department, Public Works and the Department of Roads were barely functional, let alone anything to write home about when Harry took his seat. Brookdale Community College, in Lincroft, which is now a prominent and well-respected county college, was a pipe dream when Harry took office. More than any single person in this world, Harry improved, honed or, in the case of Monmouth County waste disposal facilities, as well as Brookdale, created these institutions. He made them with his own two hands the way a potter would a vase. The only difference is that Harry used politics and government to accomplish his ends.

If anyone paints Harry as purely a villain, they are, in my opinion, either misinformed, purposefully hateful or very shortsighted. Monmouth County may have 'grown up' without Harry, but it may not have grown up so handsomely or efficiently. He was a great inspirational leader and did many good things.

Harry was a sympathetic person, and he frequently provided free oil to customers of his heating fuel business in Neptune if they could not afford to pay his fees, especially in the Winter. He literally saved people's lives because of his humanity. And, I admire him so much for that.

Harry also accepted money from people, either for his personal use or for his campaigns, and frequently repaid that back with county work for the benefactor. Sometimes, he would give someone a job because they were political allies, or subordinates and a "good soldier" or they were the family members of subordinates or good soldiers. In fact, very few people got a big job in Monmouth County, to my knowledge, simply because they were only good at what they did -- and that is the truth as I saw it. This was frequently true at the municipal level in many places also.

But, being a member of that inner-circle itself came with privileges just for belonging. A small example was an old joke Bob Hyer told me once: "Where does a Monmouth County Republican park?" I said I don't know. Bob responded, "Anywhere he wants, who the hell is writing the ticket?" And then he laughed. I even found it funny at the time.

In my case, being good with Harry and company, even if it did not translate to a job for me in the county, did allow me to keep my position at my newspaper and enjoy a great deal of job security, be in good with Big Joe and help me out when Joe was deciding about whether or not to give me raises (and the decision was close), as well as grant me a lot of influence in the county. It also helped me get side work, which I will discuss later on. I was not the only publisher or journalist to have 'flexible morality' back then -- most were just flat out kidding themselves (they must have been) about why they received support for their projects, employment or certain doors opened for them. Journalists have some of the most enormous egos known to mankind, I think, myself included. There were many journalists in various media sources involved. But, I was popular among the GOP folks -- at least until the whole Town Center thing (now that is definitely another story). I will talk about GOP "friendlies" in the media later, in a general sense. No names. No duty positions. I don't want anyone taking legitimate issue with me (not that they won't anyway). Anyway, anyone who knows me probably knows my response to their objections.

Well, working in my capacity for Big Joe and being trusted by Harry, I could get a lot of things done politically -- and I did, for the good and bad looking at it in hindsight. For the first time in my life I was a bona fide member of the middle class, and everything that came with it. I loved it. All it cost me were little bits of my soul a piece at a time until, in the end, I had barely enough to put into a Tick Tack container.

A former attorney of mine (many years ago) once said that it made "no sense" for anyone to try to include me in Operation Bid Rig. "Even if you did hang out with those guys, knew what they were doing and let it go, what you would have done isn't illegal. Sure, it's unethical and immoral, but not illegal. You're fine," he said. What he said struck me like a hammer in my chest. Yes, I had done all of that. And, sometimes I told Big Joe about what the knuckleheads I hung out with were doing and sometimes I didn't. Of course, I didn't know everything that was going on (far from it). Still, I knew enough for that lawyer to be right. I thought that since something didn't involve Joe, plausible deniability would be the gift that keeps on giving.

I don't want to rehash the events leading up to Operation Bid Rig or the painful costs involved in it as a consequence. It was a whole thing, and so much of it caught me totally off-guard and there was so much going on I had no idea about. But, it is enough to say it was hard for me to look at myself in the mirror and proudly proclaim that I was one of the 'good guys' when soberly contemplating my actions of the past several years at that point. Of course, in the beginning, I absolutely believed the only way to 'fight fire was with fire' and used to always say to make an omelet 'sometimes you had to break some eggs' but that the ends can sometimes justify the means. Many people in the game today still believe that.

Besides Big Joe, I did what Harry said (like a lot of people who won't own up to it today). It was Harry's game and Harry's rules and I played the game so I did it his way. I was absolutely aware of what he was doing in a general sense, and sometimes specifically. But, for me to try to take a stand against his conduct or anyone else's in that circle would, in my estimate, not be a great idea because: 1. There were plenty of people in law enforcement circles who owed their jobs to Harry and company so they would identify me and bury what I said (and I would lose everything for nothing); 2. It would be the end of my journalism career also, because I would rightfully be blacklisted by credible journalists who sometimes suspected (but never knew) of my ties to the powers that be, and 3. I would not be making the money I did anymore and would no longer be a comfortable member of the middle class. Sure, many others made more but I made more than enough working for Joe. More than I had before and certainly since.

People in politics tend to either canonize someone or vilify them, without any middle ground whatsoever. Some of the loudest voices against Harry in the years after his death were people who directly benefited from his favor and leadership and, in fact, owed their political or professional careers to how he did things. To me, Harry was neither the greatest sinner nor the biggest of saints. He was what we all are: complicated, occasionally self-serving, kind, committed, selfless, selfish and often a hero and only sometimes a villain. Harry may have made some important steps some might not take. But, more than a few people, I think, would have taken much greater license with the kind of power he enjoyed and wielded. Absolute power did not corrupt Harry absolutely. It did help him in making some terrible decisions that have to reflect on him, though.

I would offer, without using names or even job titles, that those of us who were playing this game, and especially Harry's game, have a lot to account for to ourselves and our higher powers, whatever that may be for someone. I am not about to excuse my actions at this point in my game.

There was, in fact, a lot of good done by Monmouth County Republicans over the years. They made a wilderness someplace wonderful -- I grant that. I'm very glad of my participation in many things, which I will include in this blog. But, there was a lot of wrong there too -- and not just by Harry but by everyone. I will accept my share of that blame without any bitches, moans or gripes. However, for those of you who come here (from the Old Days) wondering if I am going to 'rat anyone out' -- no, I'm not. I won't.

So no now-geriatric politicians or office holders have to come up with any ridiculous means of retaliation. And yet, I am not going to shut up about my story because I have any fear of anything left in this world: Everything is gone, what is there left to take? However, dragging other people down is not my thing; not spilling other peoples' business. Everyone has to inevitably make their own peace with their own God in their own way. I do, however, suggest that can be a big priority for some more than others.