First I will apologize for a mistake I made assuming that the unwavering support of Freeholder Betty Kowalski by letter to the editor was from Edwin the husband, but Edwin is actually her father. Odd though that in the correcting letter from Edwin to the Suburban News, he only objected to the familial connection and not to the points I had brought up regarding his freeholder daughter insulting a resident at a freeholder meeting. Should the readers assume that he couldn’t refute those major points?

And I commend Edwin as a true parent being always supportive of actions of their child whether questionable or not. My mother at 90 years old thinks I was an exemplary son way back. A parent can only teach the values of life that are required, but whether they are instilled or practiced by that child are itself only by the child’s volition.

One way our children are judged is by those they hang out with. You should inquire exactly where Betty goes every other Thursday night. We find those Thursdays, she is hanging out in Elizabeth with some dubious gang that call themselves “the chosen freeholders”. If one paid attention during the times they hold their gang meetings they are wantonly spending nearly half a billion of our tax money every year without care, question nor expertise. Many taxpayers consider this close to extortion. To back up this feeling, the freeholder gang’s threats are written on signs throughout the county: “We are connected to you”. The residents should be afraid. Their schemes and agendas dissipate that huge amount of money and there is nothing to show for it. Look around the local towns throughout the the county. Do you see where any of this half a billion dollars goes every year?

A while ago Edwin, they actually made your daughter gang leader for a year and it appears that it may have been then she started the abuse of residents. Back then when members of the public confronted her with questions about where nearly half a billion dollars disappears to every year she denied them saying that this is not a Q&A session and they could only comment. Accountability, she has none. Maybe you weren’t aware of her egregious actions until just now when she verbally abused that Cranford resident and it appeared in newsprint. Yet you still disavow what she apparently has become. Pay attention when she comes home those Thursday nights. Ask her what she ate, and just as that gang noted in the past to the public, she may say just “a pizza and a sandwich”. However, her clothes may divulge the aroma of roasted chickens, beef ribs, cakes, pies and 15 types of cappuccino; a sumptuous feast for each gang meeting for such little work, all costing 10’s and 10’s of thousands of extracted taxpayer dollars over the years. They dine on our dime like the kings that they wish they were.

Make no mistake; she has become a gang member with blind allegiance to “the chosen freeholder” gang. Their gang mantra seems to be- Arrogance, disrespect, abuse, waste, answering to no one. We have all seen it.

As a good father we are sure you tried. But your daughter has become a sworn member of that gang and you can’t miss the signals. Possible intervention toward her would be the only resolution to return her to becoming a productive, honest and respectful person in the community. I am there if you need me to help. Good luck, Dad.

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.

a·buse: 3. improper practice: an illegal, improper, or harmful practice.

That is exactly what governments, at all levels, are doing to our children and last night I witnessed another example.

One of the duties government bodies have appropriated for themselves is the dispensation of accolades to photo-op-friendly groups for some purpose deemed worthy of recognition.  Last night at the Union County freeholder meeting it was plaques (and $50) to pre-teens for writing poems about trees.

Three first-place winners read their poems as the freeholder most into trees* emceed.  Pictures were taken with family members and runners-up and a good time was had by all.  Immediately after the presentation the board chairman** jokingly invited the poets and their entourages to stay if they cared to which everyone realized was an invitation to go.  They all left and the freeholders returned to regular business which this night including bonding $9 million to build a clubhouse at Galloping Hill Golf Course.

It bothered me what the kids were taking away from this evening - not the plaques (and $50) but another chunk of a monstrous debt their elders again foisted upon them - without the slightest idea of how badly they had been abused.

I said so and a freeholder*** took exception citing the benefits of such rituals.

These kids may in fact have enjoyed the pomp and may sleep better not having stayed to see what was done to them after they left.  They’ll find out soon enough.

To comment.

.
.

* Deborah Scanlon.  Every report she comes up with is either about car seats or trees, the shadier the better.  When the presentations to the winners of the car-seat-poem competition are made she’ll likely do the honors.

** Daniel Sullivan who was later that evening to ambush Tina Renna about her party affiliation leading to roughly five minutes of quasi-shouting where I remember the word ‘hell’ being used quite a bit.

*** BJ Kowalski who is all about the photo-op.  Never mind that Union County is siphoning off money meant for the care of the mentally retarded - though, to be fair, she likely is unaware of it since you’d have to read the budget audit report ($593,660.56 for an item labeled “DDD Institutional Develop Disabled” noted with an arrow here) to find out.

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?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Union County Watchdog Association has requested an investigation by the Union County Prosecutor’s Office into the malfunctioning of the recording equipment during the December 20, 2007 freeholder meeting. The county recently spent $110,000 on updating and installing new video equipment.

The UCWA routinely requests a copy of the meeting recordings and then has them converted to be available to the public on the Internet. An Open Public Records Act request for a copy of this meeting was returned “no document to provide”. Also not available to the public is a written statement which was read by the County Manager regarding the county’s response to the recent prisoner escapes.

During this meeting there was input from the public on many important subjects both on and off the agenda. It is the county’s habit of taking care of messy business such as retroactive pay raises at their end-of-the-year meeting. This meeting was held 5 days before Christmas.

Although the announcement hadn’t been made yet regarding the done deal of Richard Childs becoming the new County Public Safety Director the freeholders were asked repeatedly what qualifications Childs had for this position considering he was currently a part-time investigator in the County Counsel’s office and why a national search wasn’t performed to fill this position as was being done to fill the Jail Director position. The new Jail Director will be reporting to Childs.

No explanation was given or public statements made regarding this all-important position of public safety. There is no record of this position being discussed during public or closed session meetings of the freeholders.

Consider that Childs will now be in charge of a department with about 400 employees, including 74 County Police. The Public Safety Department also includes the operations of the county’s Divisions of Correctional Services, Emergency Management, Medical Examiner, Weights and Measures, and Health. Childs will also be responsible for the supervision of the Bureaus of Domestic Preparedness, Hazardous Materials, the Fire Training Academy and Fire Investigations Task Force, and the Office of Consumer Affairs.

The UCWA is requesting an investigation because we believe there may have been statements made during this meeting that could aid the current investigation into county management’s role in the prisoner escapes as well as past practices in the jail. Namely, prisoner health care, politically connected prisoners being given preferential treatment and the lack of cameras inside the facility.

Other important business during this meeting was the creation of 6 new captain positions in the Sheriff’s Department. This will bring the total number of captains to 11 and will allow for 6 Sergeants to be promoted to Lieutenant including the Union County Democrat Chairman, Charlotte DeFilipo’s daughter-in-law. Sheriff Ralph Froehlic’s step-son will be promoted to Sergeant. There are also 7 Lieutenants and 10Sergeants under 1 Sheriff and 3 Undersherriffs (one undersheriff is an assemblyman and another is the son of an assemblyman).

The main function of the Sheriff’s department is to guard the Courthouse which doesn’t include the prison. The freeholders were asked why six new Captains were needed. No explanation was given. These new captain positions and the other promotions will cost approximately $300,000 annually. Also created were 3 new lieutenant positions in the County Police Department.

Raises for the County Manager, who is appointed by the freeholders and is Senator Raymond Lesniak’s nephew, and the freeholders were also on the agenda and voted on as well as raises for all constitutional officers - including the prosecutor and sheriff.

The county allows citizens 5 minutes to speak. Freeholder Chairwoman Bette Jean Kowalski repeatedly tried to keep me from speaking on all of the above, and I repeatedly asked her why I wasn’t allowed to speak the truth. Kowalski eventually had me escorted from the meeting by a county police officer. Now the recording of the meeting isn’t available. hmmmm

Union County government takes approximately ¼ of our property taxes and can not be held accountable to the public. Citizens of Union County should be very concerned about their public safety as well as their Democratic freedoms as dictated by the county freeholders.

View OPRA response HERE

It was brought to the Union County Watchdog Association’s attention this week that another prisoner held in the Union County jail was near death after possible medical mis-treatment. Allegedly several members of the medical staff have been released from their duties. The staff work for Correctional Health Services, the contractor in charge of medical treatment at the jail. The firm is a heavy democrat party contributor and has also contributed upwards of $10,000 to Union County concerts.

The County of Union uses it’s website as a campaign tool. Only fluff stories that mostly feature freeholders that are up for re-election are posted, negative press releases are only sent to insistent media.

When we learned that a press release was sent to just a select group of media and not placed on the county website we placed an Open Public Records Act Request for all releases sent to media outlets and was sent the following release which was issued 10 days after the prisoner fell ill and fails to inform us of any details while strongly implying that the county had nothing to do with this prisoners illness and care. Notice the county makes sure they mention the prisoner’s crimes in case anyone should feel sympathy for a human life and forget that this isn’t a ‘law abiding citizen’.

The county to date also refuses to accept any responsibility for the death of a 17 year old held in their juvenile detention center despite a report released by the States Child Advocate which stated “the county set the stage for his suicide” and other strong evidence of neglect of the center and its inhabitants. This lawsuit is scheduled to be officially settled conveniently after this upcoming Election Day.

An email to Freeholder Chairwoman Bette Jean Kowalski asking for information regarding this prisoner’s health has gone unanswered. Because of the lack of public information and freeholder accessibility, the Union County Watchdog Association will now include asking for all press releases in our weekly routine OPRA requests. It is very tedious keeping an eye on Union County government, all the more reason for the need for government watchdogs.

Other recent prisoner deaths and abuses: In February 2006 The Star-Ledger reported that the county was facing its second lawsuit in five weeks for the death of an inmate who died in custody because of a lack of medical treatment. Aaron Pittman was convicted for drug possession. He died 18 days after he was detained and his medication for Crohn’s disease was confiscated. Another inmate, Donald Davis, died from an untreated stomach infection on Oct. 25, 2005. Davis was arrested and locked up at the Union County Jail for stealing an undershirt from a store in Elizabeth. Five days later, the 44-year-old man from Newark was found dead in his cell, from an untreated stomach infection — peritonitis. It was also found that a 22 year old prisoner had to have his voice box removed, and is currently fighting for his life, due to a cancer that went untreated. (Management in charge of the jail were given raises in December 2006.)

OPRA response:

From: Sebastian Delia
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 6:07 PM
To: Marlena Russo
Subject: This is the one not on the website

October 23, 2007
For immediate release
Contact: Sebastian D’Elia
Communications Director, Union County
908-527-4419

UNION COUNTY INMATE IN INTENSIVE CARE AT
UNIVERSITY MEDICAL HOSPITAL

ELIZABETH–Jonathan Dawkins, an inmate at the Union County Jail, is in intensive care at the University Medical Hospital in Newark.

On Saturday, October 13th Dawkins had to be removed from his cell after exhibiting behavior that posed a potential risk to himself and those around him. During the course of his removal by a specially trained team of corrections personnel, medical intervention became necessary. Dawkins was transported by Elizabeth Emergency Medical Services to University Hospital in Newark.

Dawkins, a 35-year old resident of Newark, was in jail on Union County warrants for aggravated assault and resisting arrest. He had been in the Union County Jail since October 1st, awaiting pre-trial processing.

This information has been released following the notification of Dawkins’ family members.

The Union County Prosecutor’s Office and the County Police Department are conducting a joint investigation of the matter.

–30–

Summit City Common Council president Diane Klaif is to be commended this week for not yielding to pressure to shut down residents who make inquiries at council meetings, even where decisions have already been made. She stated that, as long as she is council president, she “will not discourage discussion of issues that are concerns to citizens of Summit”. It is apparent that Ms Klaif not only is patient but is aware how rumors get started and that she is a proponent of transparency in government.

Freeholder Adrian Mapp is also to be given an A++. During freeholder reports/comments portion of this weeks meeting he recommended that the Freeholder Board adhere to a policy to answer any and all questions of all residents regardless of race, creed, color, political side of the fence or weather they prefer their ice cream with or without hot fudge sauce. In short, he made it clear that anyone who has a question should be answered. Board Chairwoman BJ Kowalski jumped in with “Freeholder Policy is to respond to all serious questions.”

Upon hearing that I instantly decided to check out just what is the policy and who decides which questions are serious enough to deserve answers. Generally the board announces that this portion of the meeting is for comments only and has been known to address questions with a response of “We don’t have to answer the public’s questions” but more often than not no response at all.

The Bylaws of the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders- Speaks of questions????

The Board of Chosen Freeholders has bylaws containing the rules of procedure for conducting meetings and functions as well as rules of conduct and the path to follow when the public is allowed to speak during certain portions of the meetings.

“Item 12 PUBLIC SESSION, At this time the public may address the board on any resolution on the agenda. A member of the public shall be limited to (1) appearance and shall speak for no more than five (5) minutes. All questions from the public shall be directed through the Chairman. …..Members (freeholders) will direct their questions or comments through the Chairman and shall limit their responses to the individual member of the public who is speaking to the board at that time.”

“Item 15 SECOND PUBLIC SESSION. At this time the public may address the board on any subject over which the Board has the power to exercise its authority. The same rules for the first public session shall apply with regard to public participation.” The bylaws also indicate that if a situation arises not covered in the Freeholder document that Roberts Rules of Order, Revised, shall prevail.

Our all democrat freeholder board has interrupted these bylaws to suit themselves while not protecting the residents ability to have their concerns addressed. Clearly illustrated at the last meeting when the inquiries of only one out of three residents were addressed. Freeholder Mapp’s request speaks volumes when he referred to individuals on the opposite side of the political fence, are they not contributing to the “county pot of gold”?

What constitutes a serious question?

And as for serious questions are not those regarding the county jail and detention center or the use of county vehicles or the budget not serious? Perhaps Chairwoman Kowalski can expand on what she believes to be a “serious question” or comment. Does she not believe that the taxpayers’ finances are serious? Has there been a concerted effort to avoid the really hard questions as not only the opposition party but residents are now starting to hold their feet to the fire as well.

Who’s questions get answered?

Did Mapp let the cat out of the proverbial bag and is willing to be a proponent of transparency in county government since up for reelection he has been denied the support of the UC Democratic Committee and replaced on the line by a “good soldier”? Has he been stifled since taking office and now has nothing to loose? Only time will tell but for now he deserves encouragement to continue on the path on which he seems to have embarked.

Submitted by: George DeCarlo
Board Secretary of the Union County Watchdog Association & State Chair of the Green Party of New Jersey

The Union County Watchdog Association puts considerable time, energy and funds into shining a light on Union County government.

Our newest endeavor is making freeholder meetings available on our website www.unioncountywatchdog.org. According to a study conducted by the UCWA, the county of Union is spending more on public information than any other county in the state, outside of Ocean County, who maintains a booth in the Ocean County Mall.

Taxpayers need to demand to know why it takes a volunteer citizen group to offer state-of-the-art public information. For much less than the cost of one taxpayer-funded glossy mailing featuring freeholders at election time, the County of Union could be providing citizens with web-access video meeting minutes as the Union County Watchdog Association is doing.

In a Worrall Newspaper editorial this week the county complained that we present the meetings with a partisan slant, I’ll let their examples speak for themselves. One example was “The $110,000 new video equipment malfunctions”. This was tagged because the video equipment cost $110,000, and it did malfunction during their February 15, 2007 meeting (see for yourself by clicking HERE).

Another example was “chairwoman says you can comment but we will not answer questions.” This was tagged because Chairwoman Kowalski actually stated this during the meeting. This statement by freeholders has been made countless times through the years. In fact, during the February 15 meeting a Linden resident asked a question and was told this; and what was tagged were the Freeholder Chairwoman’s exact words, “There is a misunderstanding this is for public comments if you want to raise questions we have a procedure for that which you can discuss with the clerk afterwards. But if you have something you’d like to comment on we’d be happy to listen”. The citizen then just sat down without commenting. (See for yourself by clicking HERE.)

Mrs. Renna then approached the microphone and explained the procedure to the Linden resident, “The procedure is that you place an Open Public Records Act request with the Clerk and if the answer to your question isn’t in a document than you don’t get an answer.” (See for yourself by clicking HERE.)

Worrall’s editorial was correct stating that videotaping public meetings is only one tiny step toward truly open government because most county decisions seem to be made behind the scenes. The UCWA is striving to expose the lack of public information at the county level of government which spends well over 1-million of our tax dollars a day and is in charge of our public safety. What better way than making freeholder meeting videos conveniently accessible and allowing the freeholders to speak for themselves without the expensive taxpayer-funded ad campaigns and press releases they call public information?

These meetings show residents more of what isn’t happening at public meetings than what is happening.

Note: I would have liked to have put a photo of Freeholder Adrian Mapp in this spot, but the county no longer alows you to download photos of freeholders from their taxpayer funded website.

Although it hasn’t been officially announced or reported outside of blogs, rumors have been circulating for weeks that Freeholder Adrian Mapp of Plainfield will not be getting the Democrat line this Primary Election Day.

The Plainfield Plaintalker reported this week that Mapp will be replaced by Plainfield Councilman Rayland Van Blake. The only questions to be answered are will Mapp put up a fight and how soon will Van Blake replace Mapp on the Board?

Mapp is up for election this year and the Union County Democrat machine runs their freeholder candidates as incumbents taking full advantage of the tax-payer funded county Public Information Department press releases; upwards of $250,000 of county publicity from a commercial that runs right before election season kicks off, and mailers that arrive in the weeks before Election Day; and the supposed ‘free’ concerts in the park which showcase the incumbent freeholders.

During the 2004 campaign I remember Mapp stating during a freeholder debate, “with my financial skills I can’t wait to get my hands on the budget and go over it with a fine tooth comb.” There is no doubt in my watchdog mind that the clock started ticking at that moment and Mapp’s freeholder days were numbered before he was even officially elected. Mapp never appeared to be accepted by the freeholder board. He rarely appeared in photo ops.

When Mapp packs up his belongings from his county office he will have to wipe off the dust that has collected on his ‘fine tooth comb’. If Mapp ever got to examine a financial record he didn’t reveal his findings to the public. I doubt the county let him near a financial document during his tenure as freeholder. Although Mapp has accounting skills he has never served on the Budget Committee.

Mapp joins a long line of freeholders who were recently replaced after falling out of favor with the Union County Democrat machine. Freeholder Mapp replaced Freeholder Louis Mingo in 2004. Mingo fell out of favor when he backed Plainfield Mayor Al McWilliams for Mayor that year. McWilliams had begun a new political party in which Mapp became a member of called ‘The New Democrats’. Mingo didn’t put up a fight. He left office quietly, so quietly that it wasn’t found out until months later that the county created a job for him and he was allowed to keep his county car and cell phone.

2004 was a big year for replacement freeholders. Freeholder Nicholas Scutari was nominated for the Senate after Senator Joseph Suliga announced that he would not seek re-election after a drunken casino incident in Atlantic City.

When Freeholder Scaturi was promoted to Senator he was then replaced briefly by Freeholder John Wohlrab of Linden who served until he was arrested and charged in an alleged domestic violence incident two months before the 2004 election. Wohlrab was then replaced by Freeholder Nancy Ward of Linden. It was so close to the election that Wohlrab’s name remained on the ballot even though Ward was the candidate. Despite his recent arrest over 70,000 people voted for Wohlrab but it was Ward who was sworn into office. This election proved that anyone on the County Democrat line will be elected.

It was widely rumored that the real reason Wohlrab was forced out was because he wasn’t getting along with Union County Democrat Chairwoman Charlotte DeFilippo. But, like Mingo, Wohlrab chose to go away quietly. He is still involved with the Democrat machine in Linden and was Mayor John T. Greggorio’s campaign treasure in 2006.

Freeholder Bette Jane Kowalski of Cranford came to the board in September 2004, she replaced Freeholder Mary Ruotolo on the ballot. Ruotolo was aligned with the former county manager, Michael LaPolla, who had been recently unwillingly replaced by Senator Raymond Lesniak’s nephew. Rutolo had been appointed to the freeholder board shortly after her husband; the late Union County Prosecutor Andrew Rutolo’s passing. Rutolo also chose not to go public with her political career demise. She stated the old “I want to spend more time with my family” and accepted a position at the Turnpike Authority.

Mapp recently accepted a position with the town of Roselle where two fractions of Democrats are currently fighting a hand to hand combat of sorts. It would be a breath of fresh air in county politics if Mapp would honestly tell the public what his experiences were as a freeholder and why he never got to review the budget and report what he had found as was promised during his campaign.

I truly would like to believe that there are organized ‘New Democrats’ in Union County that are willing to do something about the machine politics running their party and destroying residents quality of life. They can’t reform their party by quietly accepting banishment. This allows them to keep their public employment and protects the machine and affords them a chance to remain somewhat a part of it with hopes of being an insider again one day. If the new democrats don’t expose the system, they won’t be able to fix it.

Freeholder Mapp is the fourth freeholder in three years to be tossed to the political graveyard heap by the Union County Democrat machine. What more proof is needed that Union County Freeholders have to answer to the powerbrokers who appoint them to office and not the people who elected them?

A clueless public, dominated by registered Democrats, elects freeholders to serve “They the powerbrokers” and not “We the people”.