Pallone Slams State’s Mishandled MMC Hearing After Hundreds of People Denied Entry

Eatontown, N.J. – Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) today condemned the state’s deeply flawed public hearing on the proposed closure of Monmouth Medical Center after more than 500 residents arrived to speak and were denied entry. The hearing was held inside an RWJ Barnabas facility in a room so small that employees of the corporation proposing the closure filled nearly every seat. Pallone said:

“More than 500 people came today to speak out about the closure of Monmouth Medical Center hospital in Long Branch and they were denied entry because the state forced this hearing into a room so small that RWJ Barnabas employees filled nearly every seat. No surprise they were able to take seats away from actual residents since the state’s public hearing was held inside an RWJ Barnabas facility. That alone tells you everything about how this process has been handled. I demanded that the hearing be shut down and rescheduled so every resident could participate. That request was crassly ignored, and I am appalled.

This so-called public hearing was a disgrace. At every step, it has been engineered to shut the public out. First, the state scheduled it in the middle of the workday and violated basic notice requirements. Then they canceled it but 250 people still showed up because this hospital is a lifeline. And today, the hearing was moved out of Long Branch entirely, making it even harder for residents to participate.

Our neighbors stood outside for hours in the cold because they refuse to let a multi billion-dollar organization strip Long Branch of its hospital without a fight. They deserved to be heard. Instead, the state allowed a deeply flawed, profit-driven process to leave residents out in the cold, literally.

I will continue leading this fight until RWJ Barnabas abandons this reckless proposal. We will not allow it to be taken from us without a fair, truly public process.”

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