New York County Supreme Court building at 60 Centre Street

FACT: If Union County Democratic Chairman Charlotte DeFilippo were to become a Union County Superior Court judge she would be allowed to preside over cases brought against the party faithful and their family members from the bench.

Union County Superior Court Judges Katherine Brock and John Malone are former Union County Democratic Chairmen that directly preceded DeFilippo. This doesn’t keep them from presiding over cases against democratic powerbroker Sen. Raymond Lesniak’s nephew and other politically connected families.

Not that there is anything wrong with that in a legal sense. No where in the Code of Judicial Conduct does it say a Judge who is a former Union County Democratic Chair should not preside over lawsuits in which a Senator’s, family is concerned. Even if the Senator facilitated their appointment.

Although Judge Wortimer ruled on various motions somehow Judge Catherine Brock will decide this Friday weather a case brought against the Union County Manager, George Devanney by a former employee will be thrown out on a technicality. At issue is the lawsuit named the Union County Freeholders, and not Union County.

You have to wonder if the average citizen can shop around the Courthouse for a Judge until they get the ruling they want.

Catherine Brock was appointed to the bench when only one Democratic Senator was in office, Senator Raymond Lesniak – George Devanney’s uncle.

From what I could gather on the process, which isn’t in writing – even though the secret Mafia Ritual of Induction now is - prospective jurists contact the party chairman and/or state senators in their county, sometimes they go to their senators first, sometimes to the chair - it depends upon their relationships, who then ask the Governor to nominate them.

The process in which a would-be judge is nominated by the Governor is apparently paperless or it might as well be. The Open Public Records Act exempted lawmakers from revealing their letters. You might try the governor’s office for any letters, but chances are they will invoke executive privilege.

The incription in the above photo is a quote from George Washington - “The true administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good government”.

Tina Renna is president of the Union County Watchdog Association, she can be reached at tinarenna@unioncountywatchdog.org.

Submitted by: Anthony Gencarelli

There recently have been two Internet postings of the results of an extensive OPRA inquiry that was made concerning expenditures made by the Rahway Valley Sewerage Authority (RVSA). There has been a lot of recent scrutiny of the Authority’s expenditures that is justified because of a dramatic increase in sewer rates. However, the fact that is not being emphasized and publicized is that this rate increase is due wholly because of over $200 million in improvements that were mandated by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in a Joint Consent Order. The fact is that the operations and maintenance budget has seen virtually no increase in the past several years.

The Rahway Valley Sewerage Authority while under construction for its most recent upgrade. A very worthwhile investment in environmental protection and the protection of the beaches at the Jersey shore.

One of these articles was posted on www.politickernj.com: DeCROCE CRITICIZES RAHWAY VALLEY SEWERAGE AUTHORITY FOR PARTYING HEARTILY ON PUBLIC DIME | Politicker NJ

The other was posted on www.newjerseynewsroom.com

Both of these postings say basically the same thing.

First let me state up front that I am the Manager of Regulatory Compliance for the Rahway Valley Sewerage Authority with over 30 years of experience in this industry. It must also be noted that I am not writing in my capacity as an Authority employee or as an agent for the Authority. I am writing as a concerned citizen who is also a fellow taxpayer and ratepayer, although I do not live in or own any property in the RVSA service area. I do have many friends and relatives that do live in the RVSA service area so I am also writing to set the record straight while keeping their interests in mind, as well as the interests of all of the ratepayers.

The points made in the referenced postings are sensationalistic and in my opinion are intended to stir outrage by the ratepayers in the service area. Many of the points made in these posts actually detract from the worthwhile facts that were or should have been uncovered as a result of the extensive amount of time and effort that was expended in connection with this OPRA request.

The only outrageous spending that should have been the focus of these articles is the professional fees for State Senator Raymond Lesniak’s firm (Weiner Lesniak LLP). I believe it would have also been worthwhile to point out that his firm’s consulting services for the RVSA have every appearance of being a conflict of interest because RVSA is a public agency and Mr. Lesneak is an elected official. At least I believe it is a conflict of interest. I can also understand and appreciate the concern raised about money spent on engaging a lobbyist. Regardless, it is important to note that neither of these can be described as “partying” heartily or any other type of “partying”. Furthermore, with regard to the lobbyist, I’m not convinced that this was political patronage of any sort. I believe that at least several Commissioners generally believed that the lobbyist might be effective in getting Federal grant money for the Authority, which certainly would be in the best interest of the ratepayers.

The other spending that was criticized for the most part as being unjustified was in my opinion pure sensationalism. Furthermore those costs have virtually no impact on the average ratepayer.

For example, let’s look at about $7,000 to send two employees to the Water Environment Federation (WEF) National Conference in Washington, D.C. RVSA has a population of about 200,000 in its service area (based on the 2000 census), even though the number has in the past been stated as 300,000. Assuming that the average household has three residents there are about 66,000 households that are RVSA ratepayers. This is not including the industries, businesses and other commercial establishments that are significant (for example Merck in Rahway). That means the cost of attending that conference per household was about $0.11 for the year or literally $0.01 per month for that billing year. Now bear in mind that the WEF National Conference is the main conference for wastewater professionals, provides tremendous opportunities for networking, full scale displays of the latest equipment and technologies and provides some of the best seminars relevant to the wastewater industry including tours of state of the art facilities. Over 10,000 people from all over the country attend this conference. In short this is a forum that should benefit the ratepayers in the long run by providing continuing education to the RVSA professionals responsible for the operation and maintenance of a very significant capital investment (Probably on the order of $0.5 billion or more when considering the existing facilities in conjunction with the recent upgrade.)

Compare the $7,000 for attendance at a national conference to $500,000 per year for State Senator Lesniak’s firm. Billings from Weiner Lesniak LLC equate to about $7.58 per household per year, or $0.63 per month. The outrage should not be so much about the impact on the typical ratepayer, it should be about what is being provided for that fee. While I would agree that Weiner Lesniak LLP’s fees are excessive, in my opinion even these fees are insignificant in the context of today’s economy when you look at the cost per ratepayer. People will spend $80 per month for cable, $40 per month or more for a cell phone, $30 per month or more for bottled water, $30 per month for Internet service, and $150 per month for some vice like cigarettes, a night out a week at the local watering hole, cigars, lottery tickets or whatever, but tell them they have to spend $58 per month for wastewater treatment (that would be a bill of $700 per year) and they are incensed, especially if the fee was $29 per month last year. When you think of the overall improvement in water quality and the protection that RVSA’s treatment facilities provide to our waterways and to the Jersey beaches (a significant and precious State resource that accounts for much of New Jersey’s tourism), the convenience of indoor plumbing and the fact that you don’t have to deal with periodic pumping out of a septic system, or worse yet a failed system, in my opinion this service fee is a bargain.

Back to the postings. Some of the other expenses mentioned can realistically be criticized such as $3,767 for a holiday party and $736 for beverages, but even that criticism is extreme. The cost impact per ratepayer is minuscule. The Commissioners get a stipend of about $2,000 per year and a computer. For the amount of time they put in, I don’t begrudge them a holiday party at the reported cost. I certainly wouldn’t be a Commissioner for that “perk”. I may choose to serve on an Authority or a Municipal Board in the interest of giving back to the community, but I certainly wouldn’t be doing it for that compensation.

Also, $2007 for a retirement party for an employee with 35 years of service and a framed tribute resolution in my opinion is not an abuse. They want to criticize a framed resolution? Give me a break. How much could have that cost? $50? $100?

In summary, it’s my opinion that Alex DeCroce’s aides really didn’t find much of anything and discredited themselves by highlighting picayune expenditures. They should have focused on the professional fees for legal services and the fact that the construction management services associated with the recent plant upgrades was awarded to Consolidated Construction Management Services (CCMS), a firm that in my opinion is much less qualified then another firm that proposed on these services at a significantly lower cost. The connection between State Senator Raymond Lesniak and the firm’s owner Lino DeAlmeida might have been worth investigating as well. Oh, how about the fact the Mr. DeAlmeida is not a licensed professional engineer in New Jersey or any other State for that matter? Or, how about the fact the firm’s sole professional engineer just recently became licensed and is a relatively recent engineering graduate. (The two prior professional engineers that worked on this project both resigned before the project was completed and it is my understanding that this firm never employed more then one professional engineer while working on the Authority’s $150 million construction project. The other professional engineers involved in the construction management work for subcontractors to CCMS.) Go look at their web site and check out the key personnel (http://www.ccmscorp.com). Note that they only list one individual as a key person, Lino DeAlmeida, their founder and CEO who by the way is not a licensed professional engineer.

I should also mention that I’m one of the employees that went to Washington D.C. I took Amtrak if I recall correctly. Our current Executive Director has not approved anyone going to the WEF National Convention for that past few years, which in my opinion is a mistake. At least let me say that we disagree on this point. Also, by the way, a number of authorities send their commissioners to that conference and that is a waste of money because they aren’t bringing anything back of value to their ratepayers, at least that I’m aware of. (I am unaware of any RVSA Commissioners ever attending the WEF National Conference.)

Mr. DeCroce, with all due respect, you are looking under the wrong rock.

Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Union) was the board’s vice chairman

The FDIC has reported that on Friday, July 31, 2009, First BankAmericano, Elizabeth, NJ was closed by the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was named Receiver. No advance notice is given to the public when a financial institution is closed.

The Star-Ledger reported that among First Bank Americano’s numerous problems listed by regulators, the order noted the bank was operating without adequate supervision and direction by the board of directors.

Last Tuesday The Star-Ledger reported that Senator Raymond Lesniak and Nicholas Scaturi (both D-Union) questioned Attorney General’s Milligram’s nomination for N.J. civil rights chief. This gem of a quote was within the article:
“(Milgram is) choosing her personal friends for this position and not even considering New Jersey lawyers,” Lesniak said. “It’s worse than patronage. She’s practicing cronyism.”

Web definition of cronyism:
Favoritism shown to friends and associates (as by appointing them to positions without regard for their qualifications)

Definition in context:
The Union County Republican Committee questioned Salena Carroll’s qualifications to the post of Union County’s Emergency Management Planer; in a short time she was promoted from the title of “Community organization specialist” to “special assistant to the deputy county manager”. According to her Linkeden Page she is a Bureau Chief in charge of over 200 employees. There was no job posting or candidate search done for this position whose job duties include having to evacuate Union County residents if there should be a terrorist attack. Lesniak referred to Carroll as his girlfriend in a blog post.

Definition of nepotism: Favoritism shown to relatives or close friends by those in power (as by giving them jobs)
Definition in context:
Senator Raymond Lesniak’s nephew was appointed to the position of Union County manager, after having had two part-time positions created for him at the county. No candidate search was done for any of these positions.

Lesniak must be a bit cranky with the Attorney General, why else would he be embarrassing a Democratic Governor whose in the heat of a tough re-election campaign?

Politickernj.com reported that Lesniak has taken up a collection for the Union County Democratic Chair, Charlotte DeFilippo’s defense fund. The attorney general has been investigating DeFilippo. Her close associate Rosemary McClave’s trial is set to start next week. Attorney General Anne Milgram charged the 66-year old McClave, former Assemblyman Neil Cohen’s campaign treasurer, with stealing money from his election fund to use for personal expenses.

If there is to be an indictment of DeFilippo it will happen before September 10th, which is the Thursday after Labor Day. This is unofficially the cut off date for indicting political figures before Election Day.

It would be a priceless piece of campaign front page news if Corzine can stand alongside his AG and announce the indictment of a major Democratic power broker. Especially in light of the F.B.I.’s stunning performance on this front last week. Corzine’s press conference where he stood alongside Milgram denouncing corruption, seemingly to take credit for the F.B.I. sting, was just a reminder of what a poor job Corzine has done in the fight against corruption.

The heat is on and Ray lesniak let us see him sweat.

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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Apparently the Elizabeth campus of the Union County Vo-Tech school will be closing at the end of this term. I would link to an article on the closing but I can’t find one. I only learned about it at the Union County freeholder meeting this week when about 40 students attended to protest and wound up getting a lesson in real-world civics.

The state seems to have reduced funding and the school is not high enough on the list of county priorities to merit saving. The students and one teacher made their points very well. The freeholders appeared sympathetic and invited all to a second-floor meeting to discuss it. I hope that made them feel better because that’s all they can hope for with this strategy. Ask Oak Ridge golfers who’ve seen this same dance.

The decision to close Oak Ridge golf course was finalized at a Wednesday night freeholder finance committee meeting. Earlier that same day a group of people interested in preserving the course were granted an audience at the UC Administration building hosted by Parks Director Alfred Faella. Despite some valid points they accomplished nothing.

County manager George Devanney recommended closing the course as part of his 2009 proposed budget based partially on some guidance from the National Golf Course Owners Association. But, as the golfers noted, the NGCOA is an organization of private golf courses that is actively looking to quell competition from public courses. If you have a public course you want closed, they’ve got a study for you.

The golfers also made suggestions at comment time of freeholder meetings. But though their appeals were convincing I couldn’t help but think (even before freeholder Estrada told them flat out that the closing was a ‘done deal’) that they were at the wrong time and months too late. That decisions had already been elsewhere. But where and when?

Years ago in Kenilworth I heard there used to be Saturday morning meetings at Charlie Vitale’s house to set policy. I can’t confirm what happened there since it conflicted (and still does) with my Saturday morning basketball games* but it leaves me with this persistent feeling, whenever I see a resolution or ordinance appear on the agenda which nobody at the ‘official’ meetings ever suggested, that the germination process is off-site.

Maybe the freeholders make choices, beyond steak or chicken, at the dinners before their meetings where they are assured of privacy. More likely the decisions are made for them. But where?

From my outsider perspective of Union County politics it’s either by Democratic Committee Chair Charlotte DeFilippo or state senator Raymond Lesniak (county manager George Devanney’s uncle). If I wanted action on some issue of importance to me I would go to them first just as I would have skipped a Saturday game and invited myself to those Kenilworth meetings.

It’s too late for the golfers but I would encourage those Vo-Tech students to take their case to those who have the real power to do something about it. Hillside is not that far away and Tribeca is worth visiting since DeNiro got that film festival going.
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* We’re playing at 10 at Sports University in Fairfield for the winter (which these days means all year except July and August) and we could some players who still have a few years left (i.e. not too good but not Obama/bowling bad either) to get it back to $10.

The title is not a cheap ploy to up google hits but rather refers to the term I applied at the last freeholder meeting to New Jersey state senators Stephen Sweeney and Raymond Lesniak (Union County Manager George Devanney’s uncle) who were one of 63 legislators voting for the pension deferral scheme this week. This piece of lazy legislating allowed Union County to defer (or more likely never have to pay) $9.4 million in contributions that would otherwise have been due April 1 though at the expense of further jeopardizing the system and insulting me both personally as a taxpayer and professionally as an actuary (imagine being a pension actuary; coming up with a contribution amount; and then having the client say I’ll put in half - it shouldn’t work that way).

Freeholder Charrman Mirabella warned me to watch my language and I agree with him to a certain extent. Boobs was what immediately came to mind within the strictures of the moment. Which got me to thinking.

Boobs is not a particularly profane word. It’s primary definition is a stupid or foolish person; a dolt. In the context of their vote to irresponsibly bankrupt the state pension I believe both warrant the appellation.

The meeting was not televised and there were no children in the audience. Just 40 students from the Union County Vo-Tech who were told Monday that their school would be closing at the end of this term. I believe they were all familiar with the term boobs.

But there was more precise language that I could have used which is the point of this piece. Bowing to social norms I’ll cleverly substitute the ‘offensive’ word in the following theory regarding how we are restricted from showing honest outrage when describing our current financial meltdown that I first expounded on cranfordtalk.org (in its original version so don’t link if you’re under 18).

The financial system is mucked up. Government, at all levels, is mucked up. People have been so cowed and anesthetized that they’ve mucked themselves up.

‘Mucked up’ is a phrase that has entered the vernacular (mostly through movies) to mean the worst possible situation but it can’t be used in public conversation. What this gets people to believe is that it’s not all mucked up because nobody is saying it is. They believe we’re going through a bad patch or are in a down cycle.

But you don’t get trillions of dollars in debt with no manufacturing base and no plan for the future if you are not mucked up. It’s disingenuous to believe otherwise and unless that’s admitted we can’t get un-mucked up.

Until the day when we can all speak freely, Sweeney and Lesniak, for their ignorant votes for pension deferrals, will remain boobs to me, at least in public.

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.

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.

For Immediate Release

Union County Republican Chairman Phil Morin issued the following statement in response to former Assemblyman Neil Cohen’s resignation in the wake of allegations that pornography involving underage children was found on his legislative office computer:

As the investigation of child pornography allegations apparently continues against former Assemblyman Neil Cohen and election laws mandate that a special election be held this November as a result of the legislative vacancy, the Union County Republicans are calling for both his individual and joint legislative campaign accounts with Assemblyman Cryan to be frozen until the investigation is complete.

No campaign funds should be used for Mr. Cohen’s personal legal defense or doled out as campaign contributions in the interim.

If the allegations are true, we call upon Mr. Cohen to donate all funds in his campaign accounts to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to help in the fight against child pornography and to assist the only true victims of such a heinous crime. According to their website, financial donations to the NCMEC “help advance their mission to prevent child abduction and sexual exploitation” and “assist victims of abduction and sexual exploitation, their families and the professionals who serve them.”

Election Law Enforcement Commission advisory opinion AO-01-2008 limits the use of campaign funds for criminal legal defense.

Charitable donations are specifically authorized at N.J.S.A. 19:44A-11.2 and N.J.A.C. 9:25-6.5