Weaponization of Government - in Little Ol' West Amwell?
- Jun 7
- 6 min read
A hot topic in politics these days is so-called weaponization of government. This involves a political party using the vast resources of the Federal government to go after and prosecute supposed "enemies" of the party in power. Republicans claim the Biden Administration weaponized the Dept of Justice against Republicans, and Democrats now believe the current Administration has turned the tables and is weaponizing the DOJ right back - this time, against political enemies of the President.
Whether you are an (R), or a (D), an (I), or somewhere in between, the objection to this kind of weaponization is simple: the government has vast powers compared to individuals, and as such we need guard rails to ensure the government does not unfairly target people who have done nothing wrong.
Unfortunately, even a tiny municipality like West Amwell is not immune to this kind of issue. And while our budget is small, the Township still has significantly more resources to bring to bear to issues than your average resident. And it seems some of our Township Committee people may be abusing that power to target specific residents they don't like.
At the June 4th, 2026 Township Committee Meeting, Anthony Poleo of Barry Road accused Township Committeeman Brian Fitting of improperly appearing before the Hunterdon County Agricultural Development Board and speaking out against his application seemingly on behalf of the Township of West Amwell.
The problem? It appears Mr. Fitting was never authorized by the West Amwell Township Committee to appear before the County ADB, and his words and actions may have violated a number of New Jersey Statutes.
The heart of the issue is the Poleo's family desire to develop their property at 23 Barry Road into a working farm and retreat for their family.
To that end, the Poleo's have been trying to receive permission to build a pole barn on their property for some time. Figure 1 shows their 38 acre parcel off of Barry Road on the zoning map highlighted in green.
Zoning can be complicated, and there are deed restrictions and easements on pieces of the deed that can be a problem, and as a result the Poleo's were unsuccessful in their application with the West Amwell Land Use Board. After that rejection, they took their case up with the Hunterdon County Agricultural Development Board and were on the agenda for the May 14, 2026 HC ADB meeting to plead their case as right-to-farm.
There is partial video of Township Committeeman Fitting speaking against the Poleo application at the meeting shown below.
In his opposition, Mr. Fitting states:
"A decision to grant a waiver would draw in the State Ag Development Committee, Green Acres, and the Department of Agricultural and potentially require West Amwell to consider increased farming regulations in our zoning. As I mentioned earlier, we permitted in every zoning district, and we would hate to change that".
Mr. Fitting and the Township Committee was confronted by Anthony Poleo, one of the owners of the property, at the June 4th, 2026 Township Committee meeting. The video of Mr. Poleo's remarks are shown below.
The two Republican Township Committee members indicated that they had no idea Mr. Fitting was appearing before the HC ADB and he was not authorized to do so.
The problem here lies in the form of government West Amwell uses. We use the "Township" form of government. In the Township form, all power is invested in the Committee as a whole, and individual committee persons (including the Mayor, for the most part) have no special rights. As such the only power individual committee members have is in the their vote on issues.
In this case, there was no vote on this issue, and Mr. Fitting was not authorized to speak before the HC ADB.
With that said, Township Committee folk do not lose their first amendment rights when they are elected, and they have the right to speak their mind, as do any other citizens. However, as Township Committee people, they have an obligation to disclaim any speech that involves the Township (as in, "I am speaking on my own as a private citizen and not as a Township Committee person") - so long as they do not then go on and speak as-if they are speaking officially.
In the case of Mr. Fitting, it is not clear from the video if he attempted to disclaim his speech. This is only the end of his remarks, and we do not yet have video or transcripts of his earlier comments. At the Township Committee meeting, Mr. Fitting defended himself and indicated that he did not say he was representing West Amwell in his remarks, but that may not matter.
The issue that may haunt Mr. Fitting is he spoke as if he was representing the Township. He referred to Township zoning matters and effectively threatened the HG ADB that if they ruled in a manner he did not approve of, "We" may have to further restrict farm zoning, with the "we" clearly being the Township of West Amwell.
NJ Rev Stat § 40:81-20 (2025) clearly states that "A majority of all the members of the municipal council shall constitute a quorum and the affirmative vote of a majority of all the members shall be necessary to take any action or pass any measure".
The penalties for Mr. Fitting's alleged actions can be severe. Misrepresenting personal opinions as the official stance of a government entity can be flagged as an unethical use of public office under N.J.S.A. 40A:9-22.5. Local officials are strictly prohibited from using their official position to secure unwarranted privileges or create false impressions of authority.
In addition to all of this, the Poleo's allege that the Mayor, Robin Deal, was present at the HC ADB meeting, and there are indications Township Committeewoman Joan Vanderveen was also aware of and approved of Mr. Fitting's actions. As I mentioned, no vote was taken in this matter, and the two Republicant members of the Committee, Gary Hower and Bob Balaam, both indicated they had no idea this was going on. If this allegation proves to be true, this could rise to a violation of the Open Public Meetings Act, which bars a quorum of members from meeting and deciding issues in private without a public hearing and vote.
To try to figure out what was going on, the Poleo's filed Open Public Records Act (OPRA) requests with the County and West Amwell Township, and also contacted the Hunterdon County Agriculture Development Board Administrator Bob Hornby. For Mr. Hornby, the Poleo's asked him if he was in contact with Township officials. Mr. Hornby replied:
"I spoke with Committee Member Fitting on the May 8, 11, and 12, I believe I also spoke with Mayor Deal on the 12".
The OPRA responses show that both Mr. Fitting and Mrs. Deal were involved in pulling records regarding this property and setting up phone calls about it, and being in contact with Mr. Hornby. Mr. Hornby has indicated that both Mayor Deal and Mr. Fitting identified themselves as Township officials and were acting in an official capacity.
All evidence indicates that Mr. Fitting and Mrs. Deal used their Official personas as Township Committee people to obtain the Poleo's records both locally as well as from the Hunterdon County ADB, and then travelled to the official County ADB to oppose the application. Mr. Poleo has indicated that Mr. Hornby warned him in advance that the Township officials would be present to oppose his application.
This would seem to implicate Mrs. Deal in this retribution scheme, along with Mr. Fitting, against the Poleo family, and may have violated municipal ethics laws as well. It is unclear what the legality is of Township Committee people pulling records of tax payers indiscriminately, and again without any authorization or even knowledge from the Township Committee as a whole.
The issue here is not whether the Poleo's are deserving of a variance or not, but rather the abuse of power by our local Township Committee officials in a clear attempt to target families and individuals they do not approve of.
