On October 11, when I first wrote about the Salem County Sheriff election, I thought it would be my only post about that race.

I only wrote about it because at The Bob & Steve Show we focus on South Jersey politics and at that point I had yet to write anything about Salem County. I thought writing that a guy running for office and using personal days to campaign would get little attention. That was the week we learned George Norcross was wiretapped, the week we asked if Vincent Squire was breaking the law again and the week we learned about sexual misconduct within Governor Phil Murphy’s administration.

With all that going on, you can imagine why I was shocked my seemingly innocuous first piece on the Salem County Sheriff race caught fire.

Not only did the piece get a lot of attention, Gant supporters took to social media to attack Bob and I. Bob being Bob, and me being the kind of guy I am, we were not going to let anyone bully us. Bob egged me on – he does that well – and I started digging around. It’s amazing how being good at opposition research translates to blogging.

A bunch of digging led us to a second blog post that included an interview with Bunyan Mills, a one-time inmate at Salem County Jail who told his story of being assaulted by Gant while in the jail. Again, we were attacked on social media by Gant’s supporters. Even Gant got into the act. Many of those social media comments have since been deleted.

The one constant in all of this is that Bob and I have repeatedly replied to those comments with invitations for Gant to call in to our radio show, he has not. The call-in number is still 856-696-0092.

So, because Gant’s supporters have attempted to “bully” us, called us liars and went so far as to claim Gant was never disciplined or fired by the County I am writing this third piece on the Salem County Sheriff race and providing the paperwork to go along with Docket No. A-4025-91 T2.

Here are the facts: Gant and Salem County settle the case by Stipulation of Settlement (party's sign on September 4, 1992; Appellate Division Clerk files it on November 24, 1992), resulting in (i) dismissal of the appeal, (ii) Gant's severance is termed a resignation in good standing, (iii) Gant can't seek re-employment with the County; (iv) County agrees to tell anyone that asks only dates of employment, rate of pay and fact the Appellant resigned.

Obviously somewhere along the line someone screwed up and rehired Gant. The above document is clear “Appellant Robert Gant agrees that he will not seek re-employment with the County of Salem at any time in the future; provided, however, that the County of Salem, in its sole discretion, may waive this restriction.”

Some on social media have been saying Gant must be good because the sheriff promoted him. True, Gant has made it to the rank of lieutenant, he can thank Civil Service rules for that. I’m oversimplifying but the rules are basically, take the test, pass the test and when it’s your turn you get the promotion.

This document opens Gant up to another important question voters should be asking. How could a guy who once agreed to never seek re-employment with the County of Salem, and obviously didn’t hold to that agreement, be trusted to keep his word as a political candidate?