Six of these photo cases were recently installed in county buildings cost to taxpayers $15,188. That’s $2,531 each not including the headshots.

Considering they were outspent, besides the homeland security campaign mailer and the Directions Newsletter, by God only knows how much (Worrall Newspapers reported this week that the Democratic challengers didn’t file ELEC reports – I didn’t check) and that the county and towns have armies of public employees to get their families out to vote and to help out with the Union County Regular Democratic Committee campaigns, the very close Election results are shocking.

Have people awoken out of their apathetic coma to be rightfully outraged and sickened by things like this $15,188 expenditure on showcasing the freeholders and Sen. Ray Lesniak’s nephew during this severe recession? What could your family, or business, do with $15,188?

More of the same machine politicians on Column A – Democrats for Change on Column B

Registered Democrats you have a choice to make this Tuesday, please make sure to vote. Also, unaffiliated voters can declare a party affiliation at their polling station on Election Day and vote.

Freeholder B.J. Kowalski, who had not a word to say or write about the Union County budget which just passed or an explanation or apology for her recent lies both written and spoken about a local cable station which happens to allow freedom of speech on their airways was busy posting on the Patch sites this week.

Union County Provides Good Services
Posted by BJ Kowalski | June 4, 2010 |
UNION COUNTY WORKS FOR YOU
Union County provides a wide array of services for our residents — including free concerts and movies in the parks, Kids Kingdom rides for the little ones, child safety seat assistance, mosquito control assistance, and many other events and services.
Please check what is scheduled at: www.ucnj.org

VOTE COLUMN A IN DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
Posted by BJ Kowalski | May 26, 2010 |
VOTE “COLUMN A” IN THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
ON JUNE 8
Sheriff Ralph Froehlich, County Clerk Joanne Rajoppi, Freeholders Dan Sullivan and Bette Jane Kowalski, and Linda Carter have the experience and knowledge to deliver services at a reasonable cost.

Cast of the Jersey Shore: Standing: Ronnie, Vinny, Ammi “Sweetheart”, Nicole “Snooki”, DJ Pauly D. Kneeling: Jennie “J-WOWW”, Mike “The situation” Leaning: Union County Spokesman Sebastian D’Elia “The Hack”

$400,751 is the total salaries for the Union County Office of Public Information. A letter published last week and signed by Sebastian D’Elia, the head of this department (salary $111,420) nastily whines about my being misinformed about a cell tower. Besides its lie regarding my association with the county it states in part “Ms. Renna could have easily requested the bid documentation and the old lease and learned this, but chose not to”.

Easily? Placing an Open Public Records Act Request and then having to travel to Elizabeth during work hours to view it isn’t easy. Knowing what documents to ask for isn’t easy either; and if you don’t ask for the exact document that would answer your questions you are told no documents exist. I know from experience. I spend countless hours hunting down information on county expenditures.

What would be easy is if a citizen could simply have their questions answered at public meetings by freeholders who are paid approximately $30,000 per year for their part-time positions instead of being instructed to “place an OPRA” for more information. What would be easier is to be able to phone or email D’Elia, or his extensive staff and simply ask for information. They should work for the taxpayers instead of turning out fluff press releases for the Union County Democratic Committee freeholder slate.

The public information department as listed on the Union County website doesn’t include the public information departments of the Sheriff and Prosecutor’s office. The county sold a golf course and laid off an engineering department but leaves this in tact:

Sebastian D’Elia, Communications Director - $111,420
Wayne Avery, Assistant Information Director - $65,168
Thomas Plante, Parks, Public Information Officer - $74,350
Jim Lowney, Staff Photographer, Public Information Officer - $60,568
Maritza Maseda, Bilingual Communications, Public Information Officer - $49,045
Tina Casey, General Assignment, Public Information Officer $41,200

Despite expending $400,751 in salaries for a public information department the county chooses not to have a transparent government and to make obtaining information difficult and even harasses citizens for trying to participate in the governmental process. The Union County Watchdog Association has uncovered much waste and abuse of the public trust over the years. I demand to know why this extensive department of public information and its freeholder board felt it necessary to have their spokesperson, who is more suited to represent the cast of the Jersey Shore, attack a citizen yet again, while making it difficult to obtain information and leaving many questions regarding public spending and health and public safety unanswered.

Let’s break this down: D’Elia was paid by our tax dollars to write this letter:
According to WikiAnswers there are 261 workdays in 2010. County employees get 13 paid holidays per year; 15 Sick days; 3 Personal days; department heads get a minimum of 20 vacation days.

51 days comp time deducted from 261 workdays = a 210 day work year for D’Elia.

Sebastian D’Elia’s salary: 210 days divided by $111,420 = $530.57 per day/$66.32 per hour (based on an 8 hour day; it might be only 7)

Previosly reported:
Chronicle of Harassment

County Employees and Campaigns

Emails to county go unanswered

The County Watchers Successfully Defend Libel Case

When will they release the cost

What a Coinky - Dinky…..

When you push for someone’s silence via a lawsuit, you had better have nothing to hide. When you sue someone that gives that person the opportunity to conduct discovery. Depositions give the person you’re suing a chance to have their attorneys question you under oath.

A libel lawsuit was thrown out recently; it was filed by the county spokesperson Sebastian D’Elia, he is the public information officer for the Union County Freeholders. The suit was against me, Patricia Quattrocchi and the Elizabeth Reporter. Although being involved in a lawsuit is unpleasant, the upside was I could ask all about D’Elia’s involvement with freeholder campaigns and D’Elia didn’t disappoint. He confirmed my suspicions and admitted to working on campaigns during work hours.

County employees can be seen all over on Election Day, on the campaign trail when freeholders give interviews to the press and at campaign debates. They can also be found on ELEC reports getting paid for campaign work.

I’ve compared the Union County Public Information department to other county’s and found that Union is spending the most, some counties do without this department. I’ve counted up Union County press releases churned out by this department, which they consider public information, and found that the lions share in any particular year features the three freeholders that are up for re-election.

During a deposition the county spokesperson admitted to working on campaigns during work hours.

The county spokesperson verbally communicates his intentions to take time off, including vacation days, personal days and comp time to the county manager. He doesn’t submit a form, nor did he mention email. The process is all verbal. The county manager is George Devanney, former State Democratic Chairman and Senator Raymond Lesniak’s nephew.

An OPRA request in 2005 seeking the county spokesperson’s days off came with a disclaimer from the clerk “this record may contain errors or omissions”. When I questioned this, I received a letter from county council which stated in part “there appear to be duplicative and/or incorrect entries in the attendance records of Sebastian D’Elia (missing data)”. Therefore there is no accountability of when D’Elia is on campaign time or taxpayer time.

The county spokesperson admitted to a wide variety of campaign activities including prepping freeholders for their debates. “I’ve distributed flyers. I’ve stuffed envelops I’ve made phone calls. I’ve got out the vote, knocked on doors.”

The county spokesperson stated that he does not use his county issued computer to work on partisan political campaign materials, he uses his personal laptop, which he brings into the office in the Union County Administration Building. He stated he doesn’t use his laptop inside the building. When asked “What would be the reason you would bring your laptop to the office?” He replied “I – well, I always carry my laptop around with me, in case I have to leave the office and do – do work, you know, someplace else. I don’t have a county laptop, so I can use that laptop in case I need to have something around during emergency.”

The county spokesperson also admitted to writing for campaigns, although he didn’t have a copy of what he described as a letter where he “Just talked about some of the accomplishments the Board did. That was it.”

In 2005 a letter tailored to each town was mailed to all residents, it talked about some of the accomplishments the Board did. The letter was printed in the County print shop and was mailed using county postage.

When asked who instructed him on where to go on one Election Day he replied in part “I asked Charlotte DeFilippo where she needed me.” Charlotte DeFilippo is the Chairman of the Union County Democratic Committee

D’Elia’s present annual salary is $107,135. The county manager outlined a justification for a promotion in 2005.

Excerpts from the deposition of Sebastian D’Elia, begins with question regarding compensation for working on campaigns

Previously posted:
Chronicle of Harassment

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.

The county democrat machine would like everyone to believe that districting county government is “political” and a Republican initiative “against” democrats. What has been left out of the debate is the fact that there is a democrat freeholder challenge in the primary every year. Our current at-large system makes it just as impossible for the dissenters and reformers of the county democrat machine to get on their party’s line as it is for a Republican or an Independent candidate to get elected in the general election. The bigger threat to business as usual for the county government powerbrokers is that districting county government would empower democrats at all levels of government.

Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 2 to 1 in Union County. Doing away with the at-large system of electing freeholders would offer Democrats that are not aligned with the county machine an opportunity to have a chance to take back their party and return it to the people. People such as Mayor Garret Smith of Roselle and former freeholder Adrian Mapp just to name a few. The numbers in Union County freeholder races don’t change much from year to year. The Democrats win by the same margins. The only thing that causes a fluctuation in freeholder race numbers is the top of the ticket; presidential and gubernatorial elections bring out more voters who more than likely will vote straight down their party line.

Union County is overwhelmingly democratic. If county government was districted it would have the most benefit to Democrats. The Republican freeholder candidates win the race in most of the towns but the large population of just a few cities outdoes the efforts of the rest of the county. Just because a freeholder lives in Cranford, doesn’t mean that she is the choice of the voters in the area to represent them. Democrat Freeholder B.J. Kowalski has never won an election in her hometown of Cranford. If county government was districted she would face real opposition in both a primary and general election.

Using 2003 numbers: Towns in which Republican freeholder candidates won the election were: Berkeley Heights, Clark, Cranford, Fanwood, Garwood, Kenilworth, Mountainside, New Providence, Roselle Park, Scotch Plains, Springfield, Summit and Westfield.

A breakdown of registered voters of the above towns by party affiliation is: 54 percent unaffiliated and independent; 22 percent Democrat; 24 percent Republican. With a combined total of 106,306 registered voters.

Towns in which Democrat freeholder candidates won the election were:

Elizabeth, Hillside, Linden, Plainfield, Rahway, Roselle, Union and Winfield. A breakdown of registered voters of the above towns by party affiliation is: 49 percent unaffiliated and independent; 41 percent Democrat and a paltry 10 percent are Republican. With a combined total of 142,600 registered voters.

It is the Democrat leaning towns that elect the freeholders that then have absolute power over approximately ¼ of our property tax bills and it is the powerbrokers who are deciding who gets the party line and therefore the contracts and jobs. Districting county government would not only offer all county residents’ true representation no matter their party affiliation but it would free democrats from the stranglehold of their own machine.

More numbers can be found HERE

The primary failing of most political candidates, especially the ‘winners’ at the local level, is a reluctance to speak truthfully on developing problems out of either ignorance or fear20of rejection. The state sees this and tries to place parameters, like budget caps and mandates, on the damage these officials can do in office. But though this may limit the damage it also limits actions that can be taken to fix the problems.

The main problem I see is that property taxes are too high. Yet the state allows annual increases even when the real income of taxpayers is falling. Budgets are now strictly prepared to keep within the caps, with major items like pension and health care expenses being exempt, with no incentive to take proactive steps to actually reduce taxes that have become onerous. Too many elected officials feel their jobs are done when they their accountants stay within the state limits on tax hikes. Reducing costs is effectively discouraged since the same percentage limit would apply next year to a lower base.

If, for example, the county freeholders decided to do away with the musicfest and lower taxes in one year then their budget for the subsequent year would be constrained since the percentage increase would be applied to a smaller number. So the tax spiral continues.

Besides the annual increases, property taxes in future years will be much higher for three main reasons: sewerage costs, pension payments, and worker and retiree health care costs.

The Rahway Valley Sewerage Authority (RVSA) provides water to eleven communities in Union County and, because of court-mandated improvements required to the system, $300 million in upgrades are now being paid off. These hikes were so onerous that Clark had them taken out of the property tax bill so that their elected officials could distance themselves from the big cost increases to come. Kenilworth was also considering doing the same, but wisely demurred.

The state pension system covering about a quarter of a million retirees and another half-a-million workers at all levels of government has an overall deficit that will be coming in at $50 billion this year. This is money promised to participants that the state has not seen it prudent to bill the towns, school boards, or other government entities for just yet. Through a series of games going back to the Florio administration the plan is on target to be bankrupt within seven years at a time when annual payout promises will be in the $15 billion range. If even a semblance of actuarial soundness is reintroduced pension costs that taxpayers will have to pick up could easily double next year.

Finally, government employees retain some of the best and most expensive health care benefits anywhere. These used to be provided to make up for below-market salaries back in the day but even as salaries have caught up, benefits remained generous – and costly. The number that the state puts on the total cost of these benefits is $58 billion with an additional $10 billion estimated at the local level, with no money set aside to prefund. The double-digit increases in health care costs will directly translate onto the property tax bill.

These problems are not insurmountable if faced squarely. Unfortunately, it seems to be the insurmountable problems, like abortion and gay marriage, that are deemed worthy of discourse. Issues that affect us all are left to fester as mayors and councils elected in popularity contests are either ill-prepared or ill-motivated to confront them.

In the next part of this series I will lay out what they could be doing.

As another election season approaches the problems confronting us at all levels of government promise to again be given little more than lip service as a process originally designed to select the most qualified representatives instead yields the most compliant political operatives. In this three-part series I’ll try to make sense of, first, the process, then the problems resulting, and finally offer possible solutions.

Our first contact with the electora l process often comes in high school where the popular kids vie to be class president. Posters are hung, hands are shaken, and maybe even a mock debate conducted if a classroom is open. There are really no issues since the position is largely ceremonial. If you win you go to a few meetings after school and discuss things that you have no practical influence upon.

Fast forward to adulthood where most of the elections I’ve witnessed have pretty much adopted the high school playbook. But instead of handmade posters there are lawn signs and billboards. Instead of standing outside some student center handing out buttons you stand outside the A&P handing out brochures. Instead of engaging in awkward conversations with the electorate in the halls you knock on their doors.

Unfortunately, what seems to remain constant, in small-town New Jersey anyway, is the largely ceremonia l nature of the job. With budget caps and state aid pretty much dictating how money is spent and what services are to be provided most local officials have little to do but rubber stamp decisions handed down by the state or the courts as filtered through accountants and lawyers. Towns have as much say about their futures as that high school class president has about curriculum. Sure they can complain to the principal about concerns their classmates have but, outside of transferring, they have little practical option but to go along with what they are told to do.

This is a direct result of having too many governing bodies staffed by part-timers elected in popularity contests without any pertinent experience that would prepare them to govern confidently. So how do they get elected? Mostly by luck.

There will be a presidential election this year so in Kenilworth we’ll probably have about 3,500 voters as compared to 2,200 in an off-year. What this means is that at least 1,300 votes will be cast ignorantly by people who feel an obligation to vote for somebody but will have no clue as to the identity, much less the qualifications, of the candidates at the local level. These are to ss-up votes that usually track the top of the ticket and have as much business being cast as a barber has of doing angioplasty, and usually with similar result.

Of those who vote every year there is a core group, possibly 7 0%, who vote party line regardless of the candidate. They vote based on how they were brought up, either adopting or rebelling against family preferences. That leaves a small percentage up for grabs who gravitate towards whomever they hope or believe will be the likely winners, either because they know them personally or have some familiarity with the name. It is to lure this swing group that party committees seek the popular kids to fill out their tickets.

This system has been around for years now and everybody could have a good time with their campaign breakfasts and meet-and-greets with higher-level politicians where you pay $50 to eat ham and eggs in the same room with someone who might have appeared on local access cable once. Except these days we have a complication. We are in deep trouble. People are losing their homes, their pensions, and even their lives because problems have been allowed to fester as elected figureheads apply palliatives to cankerous s ores, not possessing the requisite tools to operate.

Next week, a look at the problems.