Editing Marlboro Township, New Jersey (section)

===Local political issues===
Perennially popular political issues of note in Marlboro include [[land development]] and loss of [[Urban open space|open space]], growth of population leading to the need for additional [[public education|public schools]] and higher [[property tax]]es, and recurring instances of graft and [[political corruption]].

Former three-term mayor [[Matthew Scannapieco]] was arrested by the [[FBI]] and subsequently pleaded guilty to taking $245,000 in bribes from land developer [[Anthony Spalliero]], in exchange for favorable rulings and sexual favors.<ref>Quirk, James A. [https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/app/access/1791949841.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Apr+13%2C+2005&author=JAMES+A+QUIRK&pub=Asbury+Park+Press&desc=Developer+Spalliero's+ties+to+mayor+go+back+for+years&pqatl=google "Developer Spalliero's ties to mayor go back for years"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130302001742/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/app/access/1791949841.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS%3AFT&type=current&date=Apr+13%2C+2005&author=JAMES+A+QUIRK&pub=Asbury+Park+Press&desc=Developer+Spalliero%27s+ties+to+mayor+go+back+for+years&pqatl=google |date=March 2, 2013 }}, ''[[Asbury Park Press]]'', April 13, 2005. Accessed January 4, 2012. "Early in his 12-year run as mayor, Scannapieco socialized with Spalliero at Bourbon Street in Sayreville, a go-go bar owned by one of Spalliero's sons. Shopping center suit A 1999 lawsuit, filed by a group of Marlboro citizens trying to overturn the Planning Board's decision to allow Spalliero to build a Route 79 shopping center, claimed various conflicts of interest between Scannapieco and Spalliero."</ref><ref>[http://www.app.com/assets/pdf/B33010412.PDF United States Of America -v- Matthew V. Scannapieco]</ref> The same investigation has also resulted in charges against several other township officials as well as a Monmouth County [[Freeholder (New Jersey)|Freeholder]].