It’s been 24 hours since the County Watchers broke the story of a prisoner escaping from the Union County Jail; approximately 34.5 hours since the prisoner walked out of the jail and 17.5 hours since the Star-Ledger reported on the incident.

Some facts and thoughts:

1. The prisoner is still at-large (maybe he should be considered “safe”. Like in tag when you make it on base.)

2. The freeholders, all 9 of them who are also at-large, and appointed by the Union County Democratic Committee, have not been held accountable for their jail oversight or lack there of. They also weren’t held accountable for the last escape. (Running the prison is what they are constitutionally mandated for, running concerts is not.)

3. The extensive office of Public Information did not alert the press until after the County Watchers blog was published (10.5 hours after the prisoner ran off). Another example of how this office is there to protect the government and not to inform the citizens.

4. The county spokesman, Sebastian D’Elia, was quoted in the Ledger article as stating “The good thing is this doesn’t happen very often,” he said of the latest escape (the last one happened under 2 years ago). “But we take it very seriously.”

5. There has been no official explanation as to why the county doesn’t take escapes seriously before they happen or why they don’t consider them news.

6. There was no mention in the Ledger article or in the Prosecutor’s press release as to why the jail stopped the out-side detail that was ordered after the last escape or what, if anything, did the county do after they were warned by the Union County Watchdog Association on 5/14/09, that there were reports of rampant problems at the jail.

7. There was no mention in the Ledger article about the prisoner being not eligible to be on work detail. Two sourses told the UCWA that there was a computer glitch and a screw up on the prisoner’s classification.

In a Star-Ledger article dated 12/19/07, Union County Prosector Romankow said “major changes” would be coming at the jail, including the establishment of patrols outside, the installation of more cameras to cover the jail’s outer perimeter, and the addition of razor wire on the roof from which Jose Espinosa and Otis Blunt leaped to freedom.

The only major change is that prisoners can just walk out of jail; and leaping is now a problem.

Star-Ledger, June 29, 2009

A source within the county administration has told the Union County Watchdog Association that there was a prisoner escape around midnight today.

The prisoner was working on the cleaning crew and just walked out the front door of the jail. We are told that the county is furiously trying to keep a lid on this.

The prisoner was being held on what is called severe detainments from Middlesex County, and should not have been eligible for working on the cleaning crew.

This escape follows a warning to the Freeholders during public comment on 5/14/09 freeholder meeting in which I was libelously attacked by the County Manager in retaliation for bringing dangerous conditions at the jail to the freeholder’s attention after receiving an annonomous letter signed alledgedly by concerned prison guards. You can view the incident HERE.

This escape also follows a Star-Ledger article published yesterday, which reported on improvements to the jail since the escape, which made international headlines last year. As reported in the past, the article states that cameras have since been installed inside the jail, but it fails to mention why the county manager, George Devanney, disapproved the orginial plans to install the cameras years ago.

“Mrs. Renna wasted twenty-seven thousand tax dollars on this lawsuit.” Freeholder Daniel Sullivan, June 26, 2009 freeholder meeting in a statement read about the county setteling a lawsuit they lost pertaining to the official use of forms for OPRA requests.

Actually Danny it was $28,307.80 and quite frankly I’m tired of picking up the slack of informing the public and you freeholders who clearly have no clue as to what’s going on with our tax dollars.

From freeholder Sullivan’s personal attack against me (he read a letter to the editor submitted by some random citizen - it wasn’t this one) during last nights public meeting, it was clear he never even read the complaint, cross briefs or the facinating amicus brief filed by the New Jersey Press Association on behalf of our lawsuit.

Of course he wasn’t concerned about the subject of the lawsuit which has changed government for the better across NJ, he just wanted an excuse to harass someone that represents a watchdog association that has revealed his misuse of a county vehicle (he gave it up after the Star-Ledger picked up on the story), and pointed out how many relatives he and other officials have on the county payroll. And I still haven’t gotten around to blogging about how Sullivan played free golf with his three buddies at Oak Ridge Golf course every Sunday for years and years costing about $200 a pop, all while bullying his way to reserving and blocking out the 8:30 am walk on time which is supposed to be open to all golfers.

I responded to Sullivan’s attack during my five minutes allotted to the public to speak, and he continually interrupted me like a 10 year-old would do to annoy their big sister. I protected my First Amendment rights as best I could before being removed from the meeting by a county police officer. I had to speak over Sullivan and I did manage to mention the lawsuit cost less than a freeholder’s part-time salary (Sullivan’s is $29,500) and their catered meetings of chicken, ribs, cheese cake, 18 flavor coffee machine…… Out the door I was thrown while county employees made comments and snickered as I passed them. How concerned can they actually be about the cost of lawsuits?

The Government Records Council met with the New Jersey Press Association recently. The lawsuit Renna vs. Union County has led to an open discussion about many promised policy changes regarding forms as well as other issues involving the public’s right to access their government records and the state’s education of clerk’s.

In a perfect democratic society government would be of, by and for the people; and open government would be a given. History has proven that a fight for liberty is never left won; therefore citizens must be ever vigilant in holding their government accountable. Few citizens realize how laws are enacted and changed; and how much of the burden has historically fallen on individuals to challenge bad laws, which lead to the betterment of our society as a whole.

When Union County insisted that citizens use their official form to obtain public records, rather than just asking for them in writing as the Open Public Records Act states, the Union County Watchdog Association took up the burden to challenge what we considered to be a bad law affecting record seekers across the State. The New Jersey Press Association, whose members include over 150 newspapers, soon joined us in our lawsuit.

On May 21, 2009 the Appellate Division of the NJ Superior Court ruled that people requesting access to government records under the OPRA are not required to obtain, fill out or submit government agencies’ official request forms. To be valid, the request need only be in writing, including letters, faxes and e-mails.

Think of all the government agencies we have in New Jersey. If you wanted to obtain the same record from each of our 566 municipalities you would have to first obtain 566 forms, fill them all out, and then submit them 566 times. Instead of just sending one email requesting the record copied to all 566 municipalities.

You couldn’t even rely on a form obtained previously. In the time it took to overturn this law, Union County changed their official OPRA form three times. Each time they insisted that the requester resubmit their requests on their “new official form”.

Since our inception in 2001 the UCWA has obtained records through the OPRA from the county and posted them on our website for free and easy public access. For this we’ve been decried as a nuisance by the county’s extensive office of Public Information in many articles through the years. Besides the name of this department what is also ironic is that with all our digging for public information we haven’t been able to ascertain just how many county employees are on the payroll to dispense public information and we’ve recently suggested to the State’s Comptrollers Office that they institute guidelines so public payrolls could be more transparent.

Thousands of people visit www.UnionCountyWatchdog.org every month, proving that there is an interest and a need for these public records to flow freely and that they can easily be provided on the Internet.

If Union County posted these records on their site, the UCWA wouldn’t have to. How many other people wouldn’t have to place OPRA requests?

In a star-ledger article the county’s spokesperson stated, “The procedure worked well when used by thousands of people who received their requested public records.” Are the same records being requested over and over by multiple requestors? This spokesperson has contacted citizens who’ve placed OPRA’s and asked them why they wanted the information. It would take a lot less time and effort and would save tax dollars if the county simply posted public records on their website. But then many thousands more would find this information.

The county prefers for citizens to individually seek and obtain public records through a bureaucratic process, which they control and closely monitor. A process which employees dozens of people, many of which we are told are on the payroll to provide the public with information.

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Tina Renna is the President of the Union County Watchdog Association (www.unioncountywatchdog.org) she can be reached at tinarenna@unioncountywatchdog.org or 908-418-5586

County governments in New Jersey will spend over $6 billion in 2009. What do they spend that money on and how do they compare? This is the first part of what I expect to be a detailed examination of every appropriation and revenue item in those 21 budgets that’s of interest to me.

But first I had to find the budgets. The Division of Local Government Services has budget information but, true to their name, that’s more to serve local governments by providing forms than it is the public.

So far I’ve found eleven full budgets, labeled County Data Sheets, one summary, one appropriations-only, and two more on the way. For those without ‘official’ numbers I searched out press reports and releases to develop this summary spreadsheet.

I’m not ready to draw any conclusions on the numbers since counties provide different services. But as to county websites and the search for the single most important piece of information that the government needs to provide, I have some thoughts.

Atlantic
Takes a little surfing and they only have the summary.

Bergen
Budget summary only and 2009 not up as of now so relied on press report.

Burlington
Couldn’t find, relied on press report.

Camden
Couldn’t find, relied on press release.

Cape May
A snap after slight scroll down.

Cumberland.
Adopted June 4 and should be posted any day now; relied on press report.

Essex
I’ll get it when they get my $27; in the meantime relied on press report.

Gloucester
Scroll down to the menu choices on the bottom and it’s a read-only file so I can’t link to it for you.

Hudson
They link to the Hudson County Arts Master Plan but not the budget. Relied on sketchy press report.

Hunterdon
Takes a couple of clicks but neatly arranged under Facts and Figures. 2009 not up yet so relied on blogosphere.

Mercer
Couldn’t find, so relied on press release.

Middlesex
Worst website. Only the basics and search feature is broken. Relied on press release or whatever this is.

Monmouth
It’s there somewhere but takes some looking. Only 2008 up now though I was sent the 2009 for my spreadsheet.

Morris
A couple clicks and you’re there.

Ocean
A couple clicks and you’re there.

Passaic
Scroll down and you’re there

Salem
Click on the link for County Government and click on the budget link which is on the left side and you’ve got it.

Somerset
Three clicks to get here.

Sussex
Pull down the Board of Freeholders and you get menu leading here.

Union
Issues with the pull-menus lingering longer than they’re needed but you’re 2 clicks away from here.

Warren
Info Center leads to this.

At this stage I’m open to suggestions as to:
1) How to get budgets from the laggard counties; and
2) What to focus on when I do.

I’ve got line items like pension costs and debt I’ll kick off with but where do I go after that? Go here to comment.

Sorry Charlotte

Word on the “internet street” has it that all the “King Street Men” supposedly are busy gathering cash for Union County Democratic Committee Chairwoman Charlotte DeFilippo’s legal defense fund. Served with subpoenas in October 2007 to produce documents pertaining to both her personal business dealings and those of the Union County Improvement Authority; Charlotte the Director, crowed that in no time flat everyone would be apologizing to her for the inconvenience of the investigation. “I’ve been involved in politics for 35 years, and I do it in the most aboveboard and transparent manner,” she was quoted in the Star Ledger as having said. “I just want to know who’s going to say, ‘Sorry, Charlotte’ when this is all over.”

Well, so far we haven’t heard of anyone stepping up and saying anything but it does stand to reason that if there was nothing for her to be concerned about or if this was going to be over soon her minions, State Senator Ray Lesniack and Assemblyman/Democratic State Chairman Joe Cryan would not be out “shaking-a-can” with her name on it. The King Street Men, which until recently also included former Assemblyman Neil Cohen, who was indicted on child pornography charges, have all been in the news of late with stories that certainly are not the average garden variety. Think about it for a moment or two even the best fiction writer couldn’t make all of this stuff up.

First off the dynamic duo of Lesniack and Cryan are supposedly confronted with the dilemma of what to do when staff tell them that questionable pictures of children are on an office computer and it appears that Cohen, their office space roomy and third musketeer, is responsible. Rather than go to law enforcement immediately, which Cryan should have known to do as he is one of the highest ranking law officers in the county, they go to the Office of Legislative Services. By all appearances this maneuver allowed Cohen the time to skaddle and to get signed up for the rest cure at an inpatient facility. Many are still scratching their heads over that one, in light of the fact that Cryan knew where to go for all sorts of law enforcement when he believed he was being stalked by a woman who had been a past love interest.

Recently State Senator Ray Lesniack reported to police that two guys with a firearm entered his home in the dead of night. After a brief discussion they decide not to shoot the senator and end up taking off with almost nothing except his car keys, but without his Lexus, some cash and his cell phone, they also leave behind his Rolex watch, which he graciously offered. Lesniack than walks down the street to the local fire house, where they call the police to report the break-in as he does not have a house phone only the Blackberry which the intruders have taken. Isn’t it a puzzlement that he didn’t just go to the house next door or across the street? But nothing these guys do is cause for surprise, because realize that all Lesniack actually lost was his Blackberry, which hasn’t turned up yet and according to him does not have anything of importance on it. Odd isn’t it that a person of his importance, a State Senator and prominent attorney, has a Blackberry with nothing of importance on it. Admittedly most of us would be in a panic over loosing our contacts list alone, go figure.

It is not a secret that Charlotte does the county’s business from her dining room table on King Street in Hillside, the Democratic County Committee also operates from this same address, at least, that is the one on their ELEC filings. Although she has denied it, it appears that she controls every nuance of the UC Democratic Committee from her home as well, to include being the final word on who will run for which elective offices in which municipality and so on up the line. Until recently she held the position of legislative aid on Cohen’s payroll, which some believed to be a “no show” job supplementing her county pension, making her a double-dipper. .DeFilippo is a business partner with her pal Cryan in the Camelot Title Company; and isn’t it a bit curious that her top “King Street Man” and Cryan’s “bud” Lesniack was busy penning legislation that pertained only to title insurance companies and the perks that they could give away to their customers. Now, this same legislation seems to have been allowed to quietly die a very slow death while the investigations have been going on.

“When you wear several hats, you acquire enemies over the years,” she said in the Star Ledger article about the subpoenas. One would have to surmise that wearing as many hats as she has that there are many people who would want bad fortune to befall her. At this time we don’t know what infractions of the law she is actually guilty of committing if any or who she has crossed, however, where there is a legal defense fund complete with a treasurer it is a pretty good bet that there is something causing her grave concern and that all the “King Street Men” will be soon be saying: “Sorry Charlotte, but no amount of money we raise can put this all back together again.”

At the last freeholder meeting in her closing statements – you know when a citizen has to sit there and allow themselves to be abused, rather than being at the microphone where you can defend yourself - B.J. Kowalski whined about my being a pain in the butt and stated “Mrs. Renna I invite you to do something positive for the community”. She didn’t specify what that might be. Serve on a board, volunteer for a freeholder campaign? I was left to wonder.

If it were a fair argument, fight was more like it because I was attacked with no recourse to defend myself, I could have politely asked her if she’s viewed the Union County Watchdog Association’s website and isn’t this a positive thing I’ve helped bring to the community?

2,315 people visited in the month of May, that’s up 211 people from 6 months ago. These people returned 8,292 times and the most viewed page was the check registry. This blog is a separate entity and is not included in these stats. At the same meeting at least 3 freeholders whined about this blog, one referred to it as “idle gossip” yet she went on to say “I don’t have time to read blogs”.

Of all the dastardly comments directed at me in their closing comments by freeholders through the years the one that bothered me most was B.J.’s when she stated I pretend to speak for other people. I stand at the microphone alone, but I certainly haven’t accomplished all that the UCWA has on my own. That comment was an insult to all the good people who have helped bring information to the public.

Every record on our website represents a battle won. The check registry being the most popular and most interesting. WE had to negotiate with the county to have them release the registry in electronic format. We meaning myself and my friend John Paff, Chairman of the Libertarian Party’s Open Government Task Force, who helped me go back and forth with the correspondence over several months. The county relented without having to be taken to court and *WE paid about $600.00 for the data. They originally wanted about $15,000 to release a record that was in electronic format to begin with. The court case would have cost at least twice as much.

*WE = all the people who had contributed money to the UCWA. Including the Union County Republican Committee who donated $500.00 to help us obtain the electronic version of the check registries.

Before this, the only way you could peruse county expenditures was to go to the clerk’s office and search though the paper records during business hours. And you couldn’t do it annonomously. Now, not only are thousands of people perusing these check registries monthly in easy to search Excel spreadsheets, my friend Michael Pierone of Lattice Designs wrote a program which puts the information into an even easier to search database. Mike is an open government activist who lives in Somerset County, he saw my email address somewhere on line (tinarenna@unioncountywatchdog.org) and said it intrigued him so he visited our site which was very basic. He contacted me and said he liked what we were doing and he wanted to help. He designed our site and hosts it for free. Mike has been on call 24/7 for tech issues and he loves to devise programs to help citizens have easy access to their government information.

B.J., I know you read this blog, you chosen power broker puppet swine who feeds at the public trough, aren’t worthy to wipe your droppings off of the shoes of patriots like Mike and John. Put your nasty, cowardly mouth into instructing your multi-million dollar public information department to get this information on the tax-payer funded website.

Yes, I am angry over what occurred at the 5/28/09 freeholder meeting. It was nothing less than tyranny and has left me wondering if it is even possible for a NJ citizen to protect themselves from their government. Something must be done, and I’m a thinkin’ on it.

I mention my friends Mike and John because of all the cowardly attacks I have had to sit through at freeholder meetings when B.J. stated I pretend to speak for other people, I felt she wasn’t attacking me but all the good people that have contributed to the UCWA’s success.

That spans many people and many good deeds from letter writing, to the nitty gritty running of the UCWA as well as the people who have donated to support our battles to obtain government records. The smallest contribution being a $5.00 bill received anonymously in the mail with a note stating “Thank you so much for all you do. Please buy some donuts for your next meeting or something, I’m sorry I can’t contribute more” to a $1,000 check from Westfield Councilman Sal Caruana who sent a note which he also submitted for publication in the Westfield Leader stating “please purchase OPRA documents and let me know when you need more money”.

I go to freeholder meetings, I take the heat of their anger for much of what citizens uncover through their research on our website, and I respect their wishes to remain annonomous. No one knows better than I how unjust our supposed democracy is at the moment. But don’t for a moment think I deserve all the credit. Donations to the Watchdog Association have steadily increased over the years and our email list grows steadily as well.

We post the freeholder meetings on the Internet, and after a long hiatus due to technical difficulties on the UCWA’s part, we have them back on the Internet We have the latest meeting tagged (5/28/09) and hope to have the prior meetings up in the very near future.

It is the nastiest meeting to date, and it inspired me to work through out tech issues and get these meetings back out there. I implore you to watch it. Pay particular attention to how these appointed puppets love themselves and their own, yet have utter contempt and even blind hatred for citizens who dare to question their government. Notice the information they don’t give you.

One after the other they attack this blog, the UCWA and me personally. Yet a citizen can’t speak at the microphone without being told they are “stepping over the line” and making a “personal attack” and made to shut up. I was removed from a freeholder meeting once because while making public comment about the county manager getting a raise I simply stated “George Devanney is Senator Raymond Lesniak’s nephew”. Keep that in mind when you watch these freeholder’s attack.

Also remember this when next you vote. B.J. who is a democrat like all 9 freeholders stated that “we represent the people, large numbers of people vote for us”. Democrats outnumber Republicans 2 to 1 in Union County. Considering this and the small margins they get elected by, they don’t really get elected. They are appointed by a powerbroker and fired when they don’t tow the party line.

Freeholder Sullivan, puts me on trial during his closing statements, and asks why I haven’t blogged about my involvement with being a witness in a legal proceeding. He wants to come back to the next meeting on 6/25 and “use her 5 minutes to explain this”.

I am also attacked for the recent lawsuit that WE’ve won regarding the official OPRA request form and how many OPRA requests I place. Just about every document I obtain from the county is put on the UCWA website where citizens can have hassle free access to it. Every dollar that is used to purchase these records comes from contributors. I only humbly process the information.

I will write about my outrageous experience while fully cooperating with law enforcement – when the legal proceeding is settled. While the wheels of justice (NJ style) are turning I have no business interfering, it certainly isn’t any one else’s damn business. I will also gladly blog about the costs of our OPRA lawsuit – when my attorney says I can. The legal fees haven’t been settled yet so its still “ongoing litigation”. I can give you a hint. It cost less than one freeholder’s bloated annual part-time salary and the cost of their catered meetings.

Most interestingly, it is a mere fraction of the cost of their public information employee’s salaries and benefits. Which reminds me, no freeholder ever read their public information officer’s testimony under oath about how he works on freeholder campaigns.

You can view the 5/28/09 freeholder meeting here.

tinarenna@unioncountywatchdog.org

It’s hard to think of Union County freeholders as public servants when they spend so much of their time, energy, and verbiage maligning the public.

We are in a depression. The economy is collapsing around us and government, on all levels, should be focused on containing taxes, providing only essential services, and leading us. Instead, at the last UC freeholder meeting no less than three freeholders used most of their comment time to defend themselves against what they viewed as personal attacks.

Freeholder Bette Jane Kowalski made an allusion to “people who love to talk to people involved with stalking a politician” at which point a brief exchange with the audience member Ms. Kowalski was alluding to broke out where the words ‘coward’ and ‘fool’ were hurled. Freeholder Chester Holmes took exception to the manner in which a blog lampooned his dress. Finally, freeholder Daniel Sullivan took exception to all the OPRA requests that Tina Renna has filed over the years and vowed to file an OPRA request of his own in regard to a trial at which Ms. Renna testified. In keeping with the theme of the evening, assistant county manager, Elizabeth Genevich took to the microphone to defend county manager George Devanney against a critical blog.

My house is not in danger of being foreclosed upon. My kids will have their college paid for. I have a job that I can’t be fired from. My retirement fund is as safe as a savings account can be. So to me, much of these contretemps I found amusing.

But what about the 12% of New Jerseyans who can’t pay their mortgages, or the 8.4% unemployed, or those who have seen their savings decimated in the markets? Would they find anything funny in government officials wasting time that’s precious to them as they dread those phone calls from collection agencies, or those past-due bills in the mail, or that knock on the door from the sheriff.

Are these freeholders serving them or their own egos?

There is something terribly wrong going on here in Union County. When did it become acceptable for county employees to be abusive toward the public? Just when did the county manager, who in actuality is nothing more than a hired hand like any other CEO or COO of a corporation, become endowed with the right to publicly malign share holders, in his case taxpayers, and get away with it?

County Manager, George Devanney, was appointed to his position by virtue it appears of nothing more than his family ties, he is the nephew of State Senator and self proclaimed political power broker Raymond Lesniack. Devanney came into his position ill prepared to manage the daily operations of a 3,000 plus employee operation that spends over one million dollars a day. From a professional perspective Devanney’s experience from his prior positions would have left him far too light to qualify for anything even remotely similar in the private sector. And further, based on his performance the past couple of years it can be said that he has been learning by doing made evident by his errors and bumbling in many areas especially that of Public Relations. Unfortunately the management of county government does not readily lend itself to a trial and error “on the job training” arrangement, as there is just too much at stake.

Devanney is fortunate that he has had the deputy county manager at his disposal to lean on; most assuredly Elizabeth Genevich is probably his greatest asset and one can only surmise that she has had to rescue his posterior from time to time, simply because she is more capable than he. .A genuinely caring person Genevich is one of the bright stars of Union County government. Woefully her talents have been overshadowed by Devanney’s bravado. She has proven herself to be more than a capable administrator and leader when she has had to hold up the tent in Devanney’s absences. Because of her professional demeanor she has commanded and received the public’s respect, too bad the number one guy cannot take a cue or two from her.

Recently, he was caught in a non-truth by a respected newspaper writer covering the closing of a county golf course. When questioned about how certain regulations would apply to this particular public land use he appeared to out right fabricate an answer. But we should remember that here in NJ it not against the law for a public official or employee to tell a lie to the public as long as they are not giving sworn testimony. In this case the county Director of Public Information attempted to execute a save and flatly denied that Devanney said what he said and there is not a thing anyone can do about it. But what Devanney cannot deny is what he has said at Freeholder meetings and what has been captured on tape and preserved on the internet where it can hideout seemingly forever.

Everyone knows someone like George Devanney, someone who always has to have the last word, someone who has something to say about everyone and everything and someone who just cannot control the urge to speak out regardless of where they are, what has been said and who is speaking. To “hear” him in action one simply can click on the following link http://www.veotag.com/browse/?q=union+county and view the Union County Freeholder meetings on tape. Devanney is the little voice in the background taunting some citizen speakers as they return to their seats after sharing their concerns, or more frequently being critical of the board. These criticisms don’t sit well with the county manager who will blurt out the first thing that comes to mind or most recently an inaccuracy regarding a citizen’s personal affairs. He has been known to attempt to drown out the speaker with laughter or other juvenile noises. He is out of line, speaking out of turn and certainly out of control on a regular basis deserving a reprimand from the higher ups.

The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders cannot possibly believe that he does anything good for their image or of county government for that matter and continually giving him raises and allowing him to publicly defame those who disagree with the board is not doing anyone any good. And if it is true, as has been rumored, that Uncle Ray Lesniack is grooming his nephew for higher office in the future he may wish to take a closer look at how this guy handles himself when dealing with the general public. His behavior in public is an embarrassment to all who pay his salary and can only be described as nothing more than that of a common street thug.

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