A New Jersey committeeman is suing his township because a colleague allegedly insulted him and called him names during township meetings, including “baldilocks” and saying he has “bad breathe[sic].”
Dave Schlick, a Democrat from Tuckerton, New Jersey, has filed a tort claim notice against his Republican colleague John Kehm, for what Schlick calls a “verbal assault” that has resulted in “damages to my political career [that] are impossible to repair.”
In his handwritten notice, Schlick says Kehm slandered him at a Little Egg Harbor Township meeting on April 12, 2018. Schlick wasn’t at the meeting, but apparently knows what was said.
“Some of the allegations in Mr. Schlick’s tort claim – such as allegedly being told he had ‘bad breathe[sic]’ and ‘inappropriate comments’ – read like they could have been made out on the recess field at the nearby Pinelands Junior High School, but they were apparently made at a township committee meeting, according to the tort claim notice that was served on the Little Egg Harbor clerk’s office,” Ocean County Politics reported.
Schlick alleges that Kehm has engaged in “harassment” and “bullying” on “many occasions” by ”making fun of the way I look, the way I walk, what I wear.” He said “inappropriate comments” were made about his fiancé and daughter. Schlick also said Kehm called him “midget,” “old man,” and “baldilocks” and made fun of him “for going gray.”
“It goes on and on. It is never ending,” Schlick wrote. “It has created a hostile work environment.”
Schlick said the township’s legal counsel Jean Cipriani, has witnessed some of the behavior, as well as Republican Committeewoman Bobbi Jo Crea.
Schlick intends to sue the township for $1 million.