Open Public Records Act speakers, from left, John Paff, Libertarian Open Government Task Force; Tina Renna, Union County Watchdog Association; and Guy Baehr retired Star-Ledger reporter and Rutgers journalism professor, explain the meaning of the law that allows citizens to obtain public
documents.

A comprehensive learning session on how to use the New Jersey Open Public Records Act was held at Rutgers University on Wednesday evening, Oct. 1. Rutgers students as well as local government activists from across the state attended the packed house.

A local group videotaped the session and published it on the Internet using Veotag. It can viewed HERE

The Open Public Records Act (OPRA) was signed into law in 2002. It allows anyone to review, photocopy, or obtain electronicaly all public records of the state, county or local government agency. Federal records are covered by the Freedom of Information Act.

The session included information on how to make an OPRA request, which records are available to the public and how to challenge a denial of access and other problems that might arise when seeking records.

The objective of OPRA is to make New Jersey’s various levels of government more transparent to the public and to help citizens and the press understand their government better.

Rutgers Society of Professional Journalists sponsored the event. It is the student chapter of the national Society of professional Journalists.

The session was co-sponsored by the following organizations:

• Journalism Resources Institute
• New Jersey Foundation for Open Government
• Rutgers Department of Journalism and Media Studies
• Rutgers Chapter — Society of Professional Journalists
• New Jersey Society of Professional Journalists

Contact:
Tina Renna tinarenna@unioncountywatchdog.org
Patricia Quattrocchi Sajobsq@aol.com

For Immediate Release

A libel lawsuit filed by Sebastian D’Elia, the public Information officer for the Union County Freeholders, against Tina Renna and Patricia Quattrocchi, two vocal critics of Union County government, was thrown out by the court today after oral argument before Judge Marianne Espinosa, in Elizabeth. D’Elia’s lawyers argued that statements made by Renna in an Internet blog, “The County Watchers,” involving her opinions as to the oppressive nature of Union County Democratic politics and government operations were defamatory as a matter of law, while Renna and Quattrocchi’s attorney, Philip J. Morin III, an attorney with the Newark-based law firm of Saul Ewing LLP, argued that the statements were not libelous and that, regardless of whether the statements were defamatory, D’Elia could not prove that he was damaged.

Following oral argument, the Court denied D’Elia’s motion and granted Renna and Quattrocchi’s motion, finding that D’Elia had not provided sufficient proof that he suffered any damages. “This was not a hard case for the court to decide, given the questionable allegations of libel and the complete lack of proof of any damages,” Morin said. “The decision further demonstrates that internet bloggers can challenge the actions of government officials and receive the same protections afforded to the traditional media.”

“This is a great victory for the First Amendment and the citizens of Union County,” Renna said. “Pat and I will continue to shine a light on the inner-workings of county government and make sure it is exposed for what it is.” In addition to her blogging as one of “The County Watchers,” Renna is also the President of the Union County Watchdog Association, a non-profit corporation dedicated to “working on behalf of the residents and taxpayers of Union County monitoring the activity of county government and advocating change to eliminate waste, corruption and incompetence.” http://unioncountywatchdog.org/

“Unfortunately, we will never know what kind of chilling affect that this case had on other individuals who might have stepped forward to criticize county government, but were afraid of being sued,” Quatrrocchi said. “At least now, people will know that they can speak out and that the First Amendment is on their side.” Quattrocchi is a founding member of the Union County Watchdog Association, a former Republican candidate for Union County Freeholder, a frequent contributor to the “The County Watchers” blog, and a writes a weekly column for the widely-read political news website, www.politickernj.com

Charlotte DeFilippo will not be hosting the Union County Democratic Committee’s annual League of Municipalities party in her hotel suite this year. This is when all her fans literally stand in a line to pay homage to her greatness. Chatter is that Charlotte will be indicted any minute now. To date there is no party scheduled for the county dems in AC this year.

Details are sketchy, but some sort of re-organization occurred at last nights Union County Improvement Authority meeting. Employee’s Shawn Faun and Ron Zuber were switched from the Authorities payroll to the county’s Parks and Recreation payroll.

However, the beat goes on for Lesniak’s nephew. A county vendor supplied tickets to county manager George Devanney and 4 of his buddies, all county employees, to the Who concert last week.

PoliticerNJ.com reports today that Union County College President, whose salary is paid for by the taxpayers, is offering the UC Reps space for a rally with President Bush in response to complaints that the college is playing party politics.

If the hot rumors are true and indictments are imminent after Election Day in Union County, I would hope the Union County Republicans can take the party democrats up on their offer and have a rally about corruption busting in Union County with both U.S. and N.J. Attorney’s Generals, Christopher Christie and Anne Milgram. They can also include all the elected Union County Democrats not included in the indictment to the rally. President Bush and Senator Lance would be fun to have there too.

“Anybody is entitled to come here,” he said. “I’d be happy to have him here with President Bush.” Thomas H. Brown Union County College President Politicer.NJ.com 10/1/08

“I’ve got to tell you, the Republicans gave Tom a pretty hard time about having this rally here. In fact the Republican chairman was screaming that there’s no reason to have a rally here. I want to let everyone know that on behalf of equal time… if Leonard Lance wants to bring in George Bush today and stand with him the way he has, we’d be happy to pay for it, the State Democratic Party.” State Democratic Chairman Assemblyman Joseph Cryan, Politicer.NJ.com 10/1/08

In a letter to the Union County College President, the Union County Republican Committee (UCRC) is charging that the upcoming campaign rally for former freeholder Assemblywoman Linda Stender is clearly not permitted.

Union County College will be hosting a rally promoting one Democratic candidate to the exclusion of her Republican opponent, Leonard Lance. There was never any offer of this event being an “open public debate of political issues” as this rally was apparently orchestrated without contacting the Lance campaign. …….

Their facilities rental agreement states:
In no case shall external use of College facilities be granted for an event or other activity which promotes partisan political activities or candidates to the exclusion of their opponents. This prohibition shall not preclude the use of College facilities for open public debate of political issues.

The county uses their cars against county regs, they serve alcohol in the park against their regs, etc. There attitude is “so sue us”. Of course that literally means “US” as the taxpayers would have to foot the legal bills.

As usual, there is a double standard. The UCRC requested use of the same county college facilities in 2006 for their annual party convention, but were denied because it was considered partisan political activity. And when the county received a Homeland Security Boat in 2007 to protect the county coastline, the boat’s first critical mission was to have freeholder candidates pose for photo’s that were used in their campaign literature. The Republicans of course were denied access to the boat.

Star-Ledger reporter Jason Jett did a great job of exposing nepotism in Union Township and showing the connection to the county in an article published recently. Nepotism has been investigated by the Union County Watchdog Association and has been reported on this blog extensively as it is an institutional problem in county government.

In 2006 the UCWA investigated and found 542 Union County Employees have the same surnames as elected Democrat Officials. Admittedly, we can’t say for sure that they are all related, but we can say we have no way of knowing how many relatives with different surnames are on the payroll. When asked outright at a public meeting Freeholder Daniel Sullivan refused to state how many cousins he has on the county payroll. Please note, he didn’t say “none”.

I know, you know by now that THE APPOINTED COUNTY MANAGER IS SENATOR RAYMOND LESNIAK’S NEPHEW and with no prior experience and steady raises he has become the third highest paid county manager in the state in the few short years he’s been on our tax backs. Consider that Lesniak’s nephew’s name is Devanney, Devanney put his mother-in-law on the payroll and her last name is Bowen.

It doesn’t stop at the jobs that may or may not be needed or the relatives and friends that may or not be qualified for them. Nepotism has been rampant so long here in Union County that it is no longer good enough that connected people are given jobs. They want promotions too. In 2000, 29 employees made over $100,000, today there are 126.

Consider just recently a 38 year county employee who was making $98,000 retired and was replaced with the county manager’s personal trainer who joined the payroll at $110,000 to do the same job.

In December 2000, Worrall newspapers reported “The Union County Improvement Authority has a new executive director: Charlotte DeFilippo, chairwoman of the Union County Democratic Committee.” DeFilippo replaced Doug Placa, who was then Angie Devanney’s husband. (Angie is now married to the county manager.) Placa was the UCIA’s first executive director, appointed in February 1999 at an annual part-time salary of $40,000. The position was turned full-time when DeFilippo was appointed and the salary was set at 104,000. DeFilippo’s current salary is $143,409 up over $100,000 since she took over.

Union County has also been noted for padding pensions, Prosecutor Theodore Romankow and Senator Richard Codey’s brother just to name a famous few.

At the Dec. 20, 2007 freeholder meeting the county created 6 new Sheriff Captain spots in a cryptic resolution that they refused to explain to the public. It just so happened that Union County Democratic Chairwoman Charlotte DeFilippo’s daughter-in-law, who was a Sergeant, scored seventh highest on the Lieutenant’s exam. Lieutenants had to be promoted to make room for her promotion. This added $271,604 to the payroll annually.

On November 03, 2006 reporter Leslie Murray wrote for the Cranford Chronicle…
A job applicant for a Union County post was asked about his political affiliation and encouraged to “get active” in the Democratic party to improve his chances of being hired.

Union County is now paying two superintendent salaries for one superintendent of weights and measures as a result of three law suits stemming from the promotion of former Union Township Mayor Jim Florio’s son. The son was promoted over 2 long-standing county employees even though they scored higher on a civil service exam.

Maria Todaro was hired by the county Division of Weights and Measurers in 1993. Michael Florio joined the county 5 years later in 1998. The division is responsible for ensuring that gasoline pumps, supermarket scales, store scanners and other measurement devices are accurate.

Todaro who scored higher than Florio on a civil service exam, has a math degree, is bilingual, formerly worked for a law school dean and was a former packing manager for Proctor and Gamble. She has been secretary to the New Jersey Weights and Measures Association since 1997 and was employee of the month. Todaro was able to prove that she was passed over for the county promotion because she is a registered Republican.

The only background information I was able to find on Michael Florio is that he is the son of former Union Township Mayor Florio.

In Maria Todaro’s first lawsuit a Union County Grand Jury, which found she was discriminated against, initially awarded Ms. Todaro $300,000. Ms. Todaro appealed the second part of the lawsuit, in which she argued she should be awarded the job because she was the most qualified candidate.

At the November 8, 2007 freeholder meeting (2 days after Election Day) the county agreed to settle Todaro’s second lawsuit for $200,000 and give her the Superintendents pay raise but they would not give Todaro the job.

Employee Joseph Freitas, who joined the county in 1987, 11 years prior to Mayor Florio’s son, also won $150,000 in a suit filed in Federal Court for being passed over for the same job. Freitas also scored higher than Florio on a civil service exam. The county’s legal fees were $25,000. Freitas is no longer on the county payroll.

Florio’s son is still the Superintendent, Todaro is the Assistant Superintendent they both have the same salary $62,113 – taxpayers are out approximately $675,000 so a mayor’s son could get a lousy $8,000 pay raise and all elected officials involved are still in office.

2007 Quote of the year:
“We were able to establish that Mike Florio had repeatedly bragged to several people that he was going to get the job because he was a Democrat, his father was a Democrat and that they had made connections to Sen. (Raymond) Lesniak,” stated Todaro’s attorney David Corrigan in a Star-Ledger article.

George and Angie Devanney, nephew and niece-in-law of Senator Raymond Lesniak, show their support for local Republican candidates for council Elaine Perna and Joseph Bruno with a campaign lawn sign in Berkeley Heights.

Kudos to the all-Democratic ruled Roselle Borough Council for following the towns of Summit, Cranford and Kenilworth in passing a resolution calling for the districting of county government. The only vocal objection came from Councilman Jamal Holley who just happens to be a county employee. Currently all 9 freeholders are elected at-large. The idea of districting county government has certainly hit a nerve with the all-Democrat for a decade now county government. With all the issues confronting Union County residents, it is only the districting issue, the issue threatening their absolute power, which has drawn out responses from freeholders.

At the last freeholder meeting a rant was presented again by freeholder Daniel Sullivan of Elizabeth. At the end he stated “At best Republicans would only pick-up one seat with this plan”. As if this issue were just about getting Republicans elected and not electing an outside of the machine Democrat. He also spat “If this board were all-Republican Ms. Renna wouldn’t be calling for change.”

I’d like to state for the record that I voted for Adrian Mapp for freeholder in the last General Election. Freeholder Mapp was thrown off the Democrat line a few months prior to the Primary Election last year and unlike his unfortunate predecessors he chose not to leave quietly. He headed a full slate of freeholder candidates in the Primary Election and then the General Election proving that it is just as hard for a Democrat to launch a successful election against the powerbroker-backed Democrat machine.

In the months that Mapp remained as an outsider on the freeholder board he made a huge difference. The campaigning with public funds was drastically cut, and he made several public comments regarding his distain for the way citizens were treated during freeholder meetings. When a citizen asked questions about cryptic resolutions which routinely get voted on without explanation, it was Adrian Mapp that would give an explanation. Mapp proved that even one person could make a difference no matter their party affiliation.

The county Democrat machine is trying to spin this districting issue as being a political maneuver, when in fact the issue is about fair representation. The “at-large” versus “district” elections stems from the civil rights movements in the 1960’s. According to the ACLU, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 became a weapon against not only the worst Jim Crow laws but the more subtle schemes that had rendered minority votes all but meaningless. (The powerbroker controlled democrat freeholder line loses the election in most Union County towns, but the votes from the handful of cities renders the will of the rest of the county all but meaningless. Also noteworthy is that most registered voters don’t vote Democrat, rather most don’t vote at all.) The most common of these schemes is the at-large election. The Voting Rights Act has been used to compel the creation of multiple districts within a jurisdiction. A public policy alert from the ACLU eloquently put it: “The right to choose one’s representatives in the voting booth is the linchpin of a free society, without which it is often impossible to exercise other rights.”

In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled in White v. Regester (412 U.S. 755) that at-large election schemes were unconstitutional. With that decision, ACLU and other civil rights groups began the hard work of challenging the at-large systems in place in every level of government throughout the south. Amendments to the act in 1982 corrected some challenging issues and strengthened its effectiveness. After 1982 hundreds of cities and counties switched from at-large systems.

From a managerial perspective the importance in changing the electoral system is one of responsiveness and accountability. At play is the underlying philosophy of the so called “spoils system.” According to Willis Swartz, in his book, American Government Problems, the general practice of selecting public administrators and administrative employees - whether elected or appointed - on the basis of partisan politics rather than that of individual merit or technical skill leads to corruption and inefficiency and can be accepted as natural, if not a necessary, consequence of “the system.”

Have I mentioned lately that our appointed Union County manager is the nephew of State Senator Raymond Lesniak?

Being led to believe that Governor Corzine in his address to the Legislature today would propose to invest some state pension funds in New Jersey’s community banks so they can lend to consumers I was ready to decry fiscal tactics felonious were they in the private sector.

Though the governor did spell out a need to get $150 million out there, he was vague on where that money would be coming from so I’ll save that ‘pension raid’ piece for later. However, in reviewing his wish list it seems to me that the government already has all the money it needs from the highest taxed state in the nation were they to spend it wisely. For example, the governor said he’s concerned about the ability of food banks to provide emergency assistance and will call for a supplemental budget appropriation of $3 million. But New Jersey politicians are spending plenty on food - just for themselves.

Union County freeholders spend about $10,000 annually to cater their meetings and they’re smug about it. Why couldn’t that be going to food banks instead? The freeholders will tell you that it’s not a lot of money compared to what’s being spent in Iraq and that some of those meetings can run well over an hour so sustenance can be an issue.

But these perks add up. You’ve got 21 counties, 566 municipalities, and all those authorities and school districts. If they all took to thinking that they’re entitled to eat as well as a Union County freeholder you could get a total cost of $10 million.

Would the governor consider selling bonds for that expense? Of course not. That’s why the governor’s list of items to fund by ’special appropriations’ consist of essentials to help the struggling in our society while expenditures# going toward maintaining the rock star lifestyle of some of our elected officials, to which they have accustomed themselves to with our tax money, get a pass at budget time.

Were these ‘public servants’ to spend our money on what mattered, instead of rewarding themselves for their own service, we might not need emergency appropriations for the essentials.

# Here I mean not only food but cars, cell phones, trips, health benefits, and pensions. I’m not implying that Union County freeholders get, or take, all of these (and they do not get cars per their assertion at yesterday’s debate) but these are the places to cut before bonding.

Tags: bailout, Corzine, county, freeholder, meals, musicfest, property, union

The UCWA’s new YouTube depicts a typical freeholder debate, just in time for the 2008 debate scheduled for October 15th. In this YouTube you will see incumbent democrat freeholders lie (excuse me, I know that’s redundant) about their tax-payer funded dinners.

You can also judge from the laughter in the room, how many county employees are involved with prepping the freeholders for debates. The format of the debate is for people present to submit questions on q-cards and the debate moderator then chooses the questions. The freeholders have been seen with matching q-cards to answer the questions. There are about one to two-dozen county employees in the room stuffing the question box.

It’s a total set-up, and in my strong opinion, a waste of time as it isn’t a fair and accurate vetting of the candidates. The incumbents lie and cheat their way through it, excuse me, there I go being redundant again.