Double Dipping is Just the Tip of the Iceberg When It Comes to NJ Assemblyman Brian Rumpf

TOMS RIVER, NJ – It started with a township council meeting in Toms River and it’s starting to grow into a very ugly scenario for the taxpayers of Ocean County and New Jersey.  When Toms River Councilman claimed New Jersey Assemblyman Gregory P. McGuckin was extorting members of the Toms River MUA Board of Commissioners, we felt compelled to fact check the councilman’s claim that McGuckin held dozens of public patronage jobs across Ocean County.

When then uncovered the nearly two dozen public jobs claimed by McGuckin law firm partner Christopher Connors.  Today, we expanded our search and as we go further out from McGuckin’s 10th legislative district, things don’t get any better.

In a time when most of Ocean County is unemployed, sheltered in place, and not even receiving New Jersey unemployment insurance and small businesses are getting rejected left and right for federal COVID-19 stimulus grants, enter Brian Rumpf, a New Jersey District 9 Assemblyman.

Rumpf’s investigation turned out to be almost worse than MgGuckin and Connors.  We found out Rumpf has a full-time politically appointed job at the Ocean County Board of Health as the Director of Administration and Program Development, a patronage job awarded to him by the Ocean County Board of Chosen Freeholders in 2018.  In that full-time job, Rumpf earns $139,000 annually, on top of his $49,0000 salary as an elected member of the New Jersey Assembly.  That alone nets Rumpf $188,000 and that was in 2018.  No later figures on Rumpf’s public salary were available at this time.

That would be more than enough to satisfy anyone in the Garden State, but Rumpf’s wife Debra who took over his firm after an injury sidelined him as a practicing attorney in 2011 is also a practicing private attorney for his law firm Rumpf Law, P.C.  It’s not known how much he earns from the family business.   At this point, Rumpf is the run of the mill New Jersey style double-dipper, but the fact that his wife holds nearly two-dozen public jobs in the legal practice named after himself does raise a slight red flag.

Now, enter the 23 other public jobs and positions the Rumpf P.C. law  firm holds across Ocean County, according to his 2020 campaign finance disclosure on record with the state of New Jersey. While double-dippers are plenty in Ocean County with his full-time job with the Ocean County’s Health Department, a part-time day job, wife Debra has time for a mind-blowing 23 other public jobs in addition to her running the family practice in Brian’s absence.

This is the epitome of pay-to-play and maybe Dan Rodrick is onto something when he says it’s time for small towns in Ocean County to once and for all put an end to this absolute crap-show of pay to play, cronyism, patronage, and nepotism that lands people like Brian Rumpf, a grand total of 26 full-time jobs!

We’re spreading our net across Ocean County and will look into other District 9, 12 and 30 elected officials in the coming days.  We’d like to thank Assemblyman Greg McGuckin for tipping us off on the sheer volume of patronage jobs being doled out across the county to political insiders.

Here’s the full list of 23 public jobs held by Debra Rumpf, wife of New Jersey Assemblyman Brian Rumpf:

1. Barnegat Township – County of Ocean Barnegat Township Zoning Board Attorney
2. Long Beach Township – County of Ocean Township of Long Beach Conflict Public Defender
3. Harvey Cedars Borough – County of Ocean Borough of Harvey Cedars Public Defender
4. Ship Bottom Borough – County of Ocean Rumpf Law Public Defender
5. Little Egg Harbor Township – County of Ocean Municipal Utility Authority Attorney
6. Island Heights Borough – County of Ocean Administration Public Defender
7. Plumsted Township – County of Ocean Attorney Alternate Public Defender/Hearing Officer
8. Beachwood Borough – County of Ocean Borough of Beachwood Public Defender
9. Stafford Township – County of Ocean Stafford Township Public Defender
10. Ocean Township – County of Ocean Zoning Board of Adjustment Alternate Attorney
11. Ocean Township – County of Ocean Planning Board Alternate Attorney
12. Jackson Township – County of Ocean Jackson Township Rent Leveling Board Attorney, Rent Leveling Board
13. Manchester Township – County of Ocean Municipal Court Conflict Public Defender
14. Little Egg Harbor Township – County of Ocean Zoning Board of Adjustment Board Attorney
15. Little Egg Harbor Township – County of Ocean
16. Little Egg Harbor Township Conflict Attorney
17. Little Egg Harbor Township – County of Ocean Planning Board Conflict Attorney
18. Lakehurst Borough – County of Ocean Borough of Lakehurst Conflict Public Defender
19. Bass River Township – County of Burlington Municipal Court Public Defender
20. Beach Haven Borough – County of Ocean Beach Haven Borough Conflict Public Defender
21. Seaside Park Borough – County of Ocean Seaside Park Alternate Conflict Municipal Public Defender
22. Barnegat Township – County of Ocean Barnegat Township Conflict Planning Board Attorney
23. Ocean City City – County of Cape May Ocean City Municipal Court Conflict Public Defender