Who pays for these trips

Union County Freeholder Chester Holmes (C) presents resolutions to Ryan Garner of Union and Angie Devanney of Berkeley Heights commending them on completing the trek to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in East Africa as part of “Kilimanjaro Rocks,” The Love Hope Strength Foundation’s latest musical journey in the fight against cancer.

I had the displeasure of having to sit through the above ceremony, involving the county manager’s wife, at a recent freeholder meeting. The entire spectacle which included speeches and pictures, took longer than the peoples business discussed at a prior agenda meeting which took all of 14 minutes to appropriate approximately 8 million property tax dollars.

In 2008 the Union County Watchdog Association filed a complaint with the state’s Government Records Council in response to the county’s refusal to turn over documents responsive to the UCWA’s request seeking records that would show what individuals donated to a county sponsored fund-raiser in 2007 which the county manager was personally involved in and profited from and politicians used as a campaign whistle stop free from Election Law Enforcement reporting guidelines.

The GRC ruled:
Because the Complainant’s requests are not requests for identifiable government records and because the Custodian is not required to conduct research in response to a request, the requests are invalid and the Custodian has not unlawfully denied access to the requested records

An example of this is because I did not know the specific email to and from what employees on what day to ask for…. The county got away with keeping this information from the public.

If they didn’t have anything to hide, they could have easily responded to the request. They chose not to. My suspicition is that the trips are funded by county vendors which is another form of pay to play and county employees which is another form of pay to work. The fact that the county used public resources, employees and the county website to facilitate this event is another form of theft of services in my very strong opinion.

The county sponsored Walkathon’s held in conjunction with the Music fest resulted in the following trips: In 2007 George Devanney went to Mt. Everest in Nepal, in 2008 he went Machu Picchu in Peru, in 2009 his wife, Angie Devanney, went to Mount Kilimanjaro in East Africa.

As submitted to the GRC in 2008:

• The Co-Chairs of the event were Assemblyman Neil Cohen, Assemblywoman Linda Stender and Freeholder Chairwoman Bette Jean Kowalski.

• The county manager’s wife listed on her website that she was the treasurer of the Love, Hope Strength Organization.

• County resources, including the website and employees, were used to organize, facilitate and raise the money for the event.

• For raising in excess of $25,000 the county manager got to go on the organizations free trip to Mt. Everest in Nepal.

• For donating certain amounts of money contributors, including county employee’s and county vendors, got to rub elbows with elected officials while attending a private party at the county manager’s home in which county vendors performed.

• Politicians connected to the Union County Democrat machine got to use the fund raiser as a campaign whistle stop free from Election Law Enforcement Commission rules on campaign spending and contribution reporting.

Mike Peters of the Love Hope Strength Foundation has written, “Words cannot adequately describe the pride I have in the Union County Freeholder Board ….. Not only were they supportive in my trip to Mount Everest, but they had the vision to make Musicfest more than just a concert in the park by involving the LHSF …..

There is no denying that Union County Government is behind the money that is raised at these events. Until they conduct the peoples business in complete transparency then they aren’t heroes raising money for cancer. They are leaches feeding off of a worthy cause.

“It’s all about getting elected baby!” Senator Raymond Lesniak’s nephew, appointed Union County Manager, George Devanney - 2007 MusicFest

George Devanney performing on stage at a Music Fest along with Freeholders Kowalski & Mirabella.

Previously posted: Union County Getting Bamboozled Again, by Patricia Quattrocchi

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