TOMS RIVER-Toms River progressive and liberal Democrat Ben Giovine who led the now failed “Clean Slate” team to power on the Toms River School Board in recent years has taken a job with fellow radical progressive, Congressman Andy Kim. It was announced on Saturday that Giovine, a longtime political operative for Democrats, would serve as District Director for the freshman Congressman.
Giovine led the charge on the Toms River School Board to replace the political regime of former school district Superintendent Michael Ritacco. Giovine, along with former Lakewood Democrat County Committeeman Mitch Seim orchestrated a Democrat takeover of the school board, taking advantage of a volatile political power vacuum on the board.
The Clean Slate team led the district down a destructive path that now sees the current board banking on a $100 million bond referendum to fix major infrastructure problems that were largely ignored during Giovine’s six years on the board.
In that time, the district saw facilities continue to deteriorate through neglect and budget mismanagement by the Clean Slate Team.
Kim does not yet have a physical office space in the district as of yet. Giovine has been a Democrat political operative since his days in the early 2000’s when he and Seim worked together for the campaign to elect former Congressman John Adler. He then served as Adler’s County Director from 2009-2011. Adler served just one term in office. Giovine worked previously as an insurance agent for New York Life Insurance, according to his LinkedIn Profile.