Whereas county employees, vendors, and unions provided a large part of the $447,651 donated to the Union County Democratic Committee since 2008, the UC Republican Committee got most of their $63,473 from themselves.

No county vendors getting no-bid contracts.  No county employees as far as I can tell.  One union (Laborers UL 472) which supports mostly Democrats, threw the UC Republicans $500, possibly by mistake.  Only one big-time contribution, $10,000 from Mark Gerson, who seems to be spreading money around, Corzine-style, to get into the discussion for top ballot spots.

The bulk of the contributions, typically in the $350 range, came from Republican candidates and officeholders presumably out of a sense of obligation.

Why wouldn’t some enterprising lawyer, contractor, or county employee hedge their bets by giving the Republicans a little something in case they won the next election?  Three reasons:

1) Republicans are not likely to win as long as Plainfield and Elizabeth return 90% pluralities to the Democrats;

2) These lists are public.  Even if a county employee is worried that the current administration is endangering their pensions while frittering money away they must keep their names off any contribution lists to the opposition party.*

3) Even if the Republicans pull the unlikely upset they’re still down 6 - 3 at best and the Democratic machine continues to divide the spoils for at least the next year.

How does this cycle get broken?  The Democrats must raise taxes through the roof, throw away money on useless vanity projects while closing down potential profit centers, abuse taxpayers, repay their campaign contributors at a rate of 50 to 1 and…one more thing.  Their automaton constituencies in Plainfield and Elizabeth must notice.  There’s the rub.
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* Nice democracy we have here isn’t it?  Who speaks to power around here?  Who even speaks so anyone else will hear?  Saddam’s Iraq was more tolerant of dissenters.

$447,541 is what the Union County Democratic Committee received in campaign contributions since 2008 from four primary sources:

E- Employees of the county, most with six-figure salaries, chipped in $27,350.

V - County Vendors, mostly law firms, donated $108,450.

U - Unions through PACs paid $113,825.

P - Other Political campaigns or committees transferred $172,024.

I can’t account for another $25,167 though it might be from those looking to break into one of the groups above.

What did they get for their money?  Less than they think.

County employees get good-paying jobs with great benefits on paper but those benefits are not being paid for.  The type of officials corrupted by the system into accepting these kickbacks show no compunction about letting the state pension go bust or having no trust fund at all for OPEBs.

Vendors get picked for contracts not so much for how well they do the work but for how much they kick back.  Eventually all private sector work dries up as nobody else is going to hire a law firm that charge $85,000 to represent one defendant in a disgruntled-employee lawsuit.

Unions get to force governments to bond to continue building projects with prevailing wage rates so some of their members remain employed.  But what about all the projects foregone as the private sector abandons the state in droves because it doesn’t make economic sense to stay?  How many businesses or people are attracted to the state with the highest property taxes and worst business climate in the nation?

Electing corrupted officials comfortable with taking kickbacks leads to a situation where you govern for the special interests.   Initiatives are undertaken not because they are best for the community but because they bring in the most campaign cash to woo a dumbed-down electorate into propagating the disease of bad government.

Next: Who donates to those out of power (i.e. the Union County Republican Committee).  Hint: Almost no county employees or vendors or unions.

At the Union County reorgainzation meeting outside counsel who made in total at least*  $13,900 in campaign contributions in 2009 were awarded in total up to $362,500 in contracts for 2010 with more likely to come.  Why does the county which spends around $2 million on inside counsel need so much outside counsel?  In part because politicians need so much money to run campaigns so they make work.

This money, and it’s only a fraction of what Union County spends to defend lawsuits, need not be spent.

Planning Board Counsel: My one government appointment was a year I spent on the Kenilworth Planning Board after which I became convinced that we don’t need planning boards any more.  We’re not laying track through indian country to settle the west.  We’re developed here and if major projects come along they should fall within the purview of the governing body.  People moved here because they like it.  Planning boards can only muck that up.  If a master plan has to be made up then it should consist of two words: “Lower Taxes”.  With that we can do away with the planning board attorney.  In Union County that was Neil Cohen, at $27,500 per year, until that thing.

Open Space Counsel: A fund to reward political backers needs an attorney presumably to draw up contracts and check with the NJDEP because it would overburden the county counsel’s office or the freeholders to do it.

Personnel Counsel: As it was explained to me when I asked this is to represent county employees when they have grievances because inside counsel would have conflicts.  What wasn’t explained was why grieving employees need to be represented especially since many of them are in unions.  In the private sector this would be a laughable expense (”You have problems working here.  OK let me get you a lawyer to show you how you can sue me”).  In 2005 it looks like two law firms (Schenck, Price et al and Garrubbo, Capece et al) were allocated $100,000 each for this service but there was more lawyering required so Schecnck got $20,000 more (Res. 2006-95) and Garrubbo $55,888.32 more (Res. 1336-2005).^  Then in 2006 3 other law firms (DeCotiis, Fitzpatrick; Ruderman and Glickman; Roth, Horowitz) were added to the list with Schenck taking a little ($25,000) less and Garrubbo a lot ($75,000) less and those allocations have been consistent to date except the Garrubbo firm asked for and got $30,000 more in 2009 and hasn’t been awarded their money yet for 2010 (Though that might be on the agenda for the next meeting.  Could be some probationary thing or a little hardball).

What strikes me about taxpayers paying for all these lawyers, outside of how much the chosen lawyers have to pony up to make the list, is that elected officials are primarily lawmakers.  Lawyers interpret the laws they make.  If those officials are not qualified to interpret their own, or others’, laws then they should not be provided an expensive interpreter at taxpayer expense.  They should not accept a job they’re obviously not qualified to undertake on their own.
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* I excluded DeCotiis, Fitzpatrck from the campaign contribution spreadsheet since they would skew it.  The other firms contributed almost exclusively to the Union County Democratic Committee and Democratic candidates like Neil Cohen and Joseph Cryan.  Decotiis, Fitzpatrick is statewide and their contributions are in the millions to both parties.

^ A situation the county can’t blame on the Rennas who left their employment by then.

This week Union County freeholders recommended a freeze on “salaries for all directors, elected officials, and 640 non-contractual (exclusionary) employees, resulting in an anticipated savings of $1 million in the 2010 budget” yet they passed resolution 2009-1181 at their meeting authorizing the “County Manager to award a contract KemperSport, North Brook, Illinois pursuant to an RFP process for Galloping Hill Clubhouse Construction Management Services, in the amount not exceed 10% of the costs associated with the development, design and construction of the clubhouse in an amount of not to exceed $1,000,000.”
Why are they not giving money to their employees but giving money to contractors? Because contractors kick back a bigger percentage of the money they get from the pay-to-play game regardless of how silly the project.

As explained in the presentation before the vote, the idea is to build a banquet facility specializing in weddings at Galloping Hill golf course that, they admitted, would take up to five years to get going. I had three, what I thought to be fairly obvious, objections to the project:

We’re in a depression: Successful wedding mills that have been around for decades are cutting rates for even the high-end business* and VFW halls dominate the low-end. A start-up with no track record will get eaten up.

It’s a golf course: The wedding-hall business is seasonal with a large concentration of dates during summer weekend afternoons which coincides with the golf cycle. Will they close the course at 1 pm to accommodate cars and partiers or will they play through?

It’s still a golf course: Being a guy it wouldn’t bother me. I’d be OK with a wedding reception at Chuck E. Cheese’s if the DJ wasn’t a Macarena guy. However, for the single most important event to cherish in the lives of most women, I don’t see them jumping at the chance to gather their retinue for photos around a ball washer. It’s a golf course. Maybe one suggestive snap with the hole pole but generally more romances end than begin on a golf course.

All on deaf ears. The resolution passed unanimously, per usual. Galloping Hill golf course will get a banquet hall and a lot of contractors will get a lot of money, per usual.

* Except, from what I hear from a client in the field, the Manor which has the name to maintain their rates. Most everybody else can be bargained down these days. Galloping Hill is not exactly a ‘name’ when it comes to weddings.

Pay to Play, the practice of companies making monetary contributions to political parties, usually the one in power and being awarded lucrative professional contracts seemingly in return, is one of those outrageous situations that Gov. Jon Conzine promised he would tackle during his tenure.

Though legislation has been attempted on more than one occasion over the past couple of years what has resulted has been watered down and containing loopholes. Interestingly the principal players have managed to find some intriguing ways to discreetly continue to do what they always have been doing.

Reviewing the list of “sponsors”, obtained through OPRA, for the Freeholders so called free concert for county residents, MusicFest 2007 proved to be a veritable who’s who of the county’s vendor list.

Case in point:

• In 1998 the Westfield Leader reported that the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders awarded a $3.4 million contract to Correctional Health Services, Inc. of Verona, to provide health services to inmates at the County Jail and detainees at the county’s juvenile detention center, they would be helping the county switch from public to private management of the two facilities.
• Citing reports of other counties utilizing CHS then County Manager Michael Lapolla predicted the savings would be at least $350,000 over the following two years. Union County has awarded contracts to CHS since that time to provide medical/health care services at the jail, detention center and also the children’s shelter, for the term of January 2004 thru December 2006 at a cost not to exceed $3.6mil for yr. 1, $3.7mil for yr. 2 and $3,968,940 for 2006.
• According to reports filed with NJ Elec., Correctional Health Services, Inc. of Verona had awarded contributions to the Union County Democratic Committee in excess of $60,000 for the period from Sept. ’98 thru October’04.
• Double checking the NJ Elec website showed that indeed, the last contribution to the UCDC was in October of 2004 however lo and behold Correctional Health Services pops up as a MusicFest sponsor to the tune of $5,500.
• Coincidentally just this month the all Democratic Freeholder board authorized the County Manager to enter into a month-to-month contract with Correctional Health Services, Inc., Verona, New Jersey, to provide medical/health care services for inmates and residents of the Union County Jail and the Juvenile Detention Center for the period of January 1, 2008 through June 30, 2008 in the amount of $2,249,373.

Some other MusicFest sponsors doing business/having done business with the county include: Schoor DePalma Engineers, Pennoni Engineers, 4 Connections, Maser Engineers, Waste Management, Ricci Green Architects, Access Systems and Spruce Industries who contributed a combined $35,500 to the event thus giving the incumbents an actual stage to appear on before thousands of county residents without them having to spend a single campaign dollar.

The following are Garwood resident, Bruce Paterson’s comments during the Union County Budget commentary session held on May 24, 2007.

Last year Union County finally got a dubious distinction of being in the top 10 of American counties with the highest taxes on its residents. And what did the freeholders do? They increased the budget 3.4% and raised county taxes 5.9%.

I went to a budget meeting back in February. Certain freeholders asked questions. The public could not. Any financial concerns that were brought up and odd it was minimal, was answered by department heads with a “next year we will do this” or next year we will do that”.

Next year is NOW! Over 5 years the taxes skyrocketed putting us in the 10 worst counties for taxes.

Freeholder Adrian Mapp, when he ran 3 years ago said in a publicized debate that he wanted to be part of the budget process. Mapp has a degree and is strong in accounting. He is the only one with accounting and financial experience. But you wouldn’t let him on the budget committee for the 3 cycles he has been on the Board. And now you are dumping him from this next election.

The taxpayers are now on life support! For 5 years we have faced financial disaster and fiscal mismanagement. Now we are in the top 10 worst taxed counties in the nation!

I’m not going into depth in the budget since I only have 5 minutes to comment, but some items that would start us on the road to fiscal integrity:

1) Dump the taxpayer funded booze at the freeholder VIP tent during county events. You’re already drunk with power.

2) Cut down the county car fleet. We had a freeholder who put 30 thousand miles on his vehicle in one year and he lives 4 miles from this Administration Building. A county director uses his to go to exercise class. (This is where Chairwoman BJK leaned to Attorney Barry and BJK said that I am getting “close to the line”.) (After this comment it was reported in the Star-Ledger that photos were taken of a Linden Councilman, who is also a county employee, using his county vehicle on the campaign trail.)

3) Make sure part-time jobs are part-time jobs. Your Union County improvement director sits at home making $140,000 a year for nothing. Stop mailing her the check. She’ll get the message.

4) Make sure the full-time jobs are full-time jobs. You finance director works also as finance officer of Linden. This is disgraceful. And many financial errors have been made since he’s had these 2 jobs.

5) Pay to play- Pass a resolution to stop the millions of dollars that go to professionals who donate money to your political pockets. Since the contracts are non-competitive, it’s easy to fatten up with extra dollars in order for the professionals to donate to your political campaigns. No more dealing with these types of people.

6) Get rid of the retroactive raises and 4-5% raises. For a 400-million dollar budget, I have a hard time seeing any county employee results that are stellar and deserve raises like that.

7) Stop giving out “health benefits for life”. You offered early retirement and about 150 people took it, with “health benefits for life.” You have lost control of benefit costs with this type of mismanagement.

The taxpayers of Union county got big problems and you created them. There is no more future; the future is here and now.

You just can’t make hard financial decisions. Everything’s a mess. The only accountant on the Freeholder Board you are throwing off the Board.

The only choice now is to vote down the budget and vote down the tax increase. Then start again with a zero increase.

Thank you.

Notes: The budget that evening was voted on unanimously with the exception of Freeholder Adrian Mapp who abstained from voting.

The 2007 Budget Hearing’s can be viewed on-line at the Union County Watchdog Association’s Veotag account HERE.

New Jersey Employment Agencies must be registered with the Dept. of Law and Public Safety this applies to Executive Search Firms, Temp Agencies and Talent Booking firms among others. Under the heading of Temp Agencies falls many health care providers who supply nursing staff members and sometimes physicians and other therapists, as well as nurses aides who work temporarily in private homes and institutions.

Once a very tightly regulated industry the business was deregulated somewhat back in the 90’s which allowed headhunters such as me to legally work from the comfort of their own homes. However, there are still large fines levied against those businesses who try to circumvent the remaining existing regulations, such as becoming legally licensed or properly advertising.

Another Contract
On March 8th the UC Board of Chosen Freeholders unanimously approved a resolution entering into a one year contract with Correctional Health Services of Verona, in an amount not to exceed $4,228,368 which was a 9 percent increase of what had been paid the same company previously. They would continue to provide medical services to the inmates and residents of the county jail and JV center.

At the appropriate time I voiced my concerns about this vendor, I asked the freeholders if any of them ever, on their own, just out of curiosity Google any of their vendors, just to check them out. Of course the response was the typical “deer in the headlights” stare, which I had expected, and I knew that the answer was no. I went on that regardless of what I had to tell them about this company that they would approve the contract anyway, and of course they did.

Even after sharing the abysmal track record that this company has including the deaths of two inmates in Essex County facilities, for the same reason on the exact same day (Star Ledger 8/04), and in NY of withholding necessary medication, understaffing and unqualified personnel leading to inmate deaths(NY Times 2/05). And of Morris county taking back the medical care in their facilities and hence saving tax dollars and still providing quality care.

Correctional Health Services, Verona is listed in McRae’s blue book as having a temporary agency providing medical staffing services, however a search of the NJ state website did not turn up a trace of them in the latest agency listings, so are they licensed?

Complaints
A subsidiary of Prison Health Services out of Tennessee, a company who has numerous complaints filed against them in facilities around the country, CHS appears to have been awarded their first UC contract in excess of $4 million in early 1999, for the period 10/1/98 thru 12/31/99.

They made their first political contribution to the UC Dem Committee on 10/25/98, followed by another $2500 on 11/5/98 and have given in the neighborhood of $20K in Union County alone with thousands more spread around the state.

It should be pointed out that here in UC we have had three deaths in three years in our correctional facilities which could be attributed to a lack of medical attention under CHS’s watch, and that the families are in the process of suing the taxpayers for millions.

Closing remarks

During their closing comments at the meeting County Manager George Devanney reported that CHS received the contract because they were the lowest bidder, and Chairwoman BJ Kowalski related that with regard to the medical services “we do the best we can”.

People are not paper clips

Well it seems to me that this contract is not about the purchase of paper clips and rubber bands, and since the freeholders defend the no bid contracts which they award for roads and bridges as going to the most qualified companies with good track records certainly they can do the same when they are dealing with human life. I am sorry to say Madam Chairwoman that the best you can is definitely not good enough for the taxpayers of UC and especially for the families who lost their loved ones all too soon.

1010 WINS - ALL NEWS. ALL THE TIME. 1010wins.com
Third Death In 2 Weeks At Essex County Jail
Apr 3, 2004 6:55 pm US/EasternAn Essex County Jail inmate died of an apparent heart atack Friday, the third death of a prisoner in the county correctional system in the last two weeks. Harold Hardy, 55, had a history of heart problems and hypertension before he arrived at the jail March 15 after being arrested for wandering around Newark. He was receiving medication, according to Essex County Counsel Francis Giantomasi. On March 20, 50-year-old Stanley Washington was beaten to death in his cell. Last Monday, 44-year-old Debra Brown died after suffering an aneurysm. There were 13 deaths in the county correctional system last year, more than three times the yearly average for years before 2003. The recent deaths have occurred at a time when the county has opened a new, $416 million county jail that officials say provides improved security and better medical facilities than in the past. Inmates were transferred to the facility on Doremus Avenue last weekend. But many people have complained of problems at the new jail. T. Gary Mitchell, an attorney and advocate for county inmates, said he found leaking pipes and toilets during a tour of the jail Friday. “For a brand new facility, the physical plant is extremely disappointing,” he said. Giantomasi said the problems have been minor and that some have been caused by inmates and by a work slowdown by a small number of corrections officers. He said 15 to 20 percent of the staff has not been coming in to work. “That sort of activity has got to stop,” he said. Representatives of the unions that represent the corrections officers said the officers have not received enough training to run the new jail.© MMIV Infinity Broadcasting Corp
Families file suit in deaths of 2 inmates Diabetic Essex prisoners did not receive insulin, complaint states Thursday, August 19, 2004BY NIKITA STEWART Star-Ledger Staff The relatives of two inmates who died in Essex County correctional facilities last August have filed a joint wrongful death lawsuit in federal court against the county and a private health care firm that provides jail medical services. Henry Sipp, 43, and Mary Barber, 50, died within hours of each other on Aug. 27, 2003, of diabetic ketoacidosis, an emergency medical condition caused by a severe lack of insulin, according to the lawsuit. Thomas Howard, the relatives’ attorney, said they are still trying to find out what happened to Sipp and Barber, but they know the county and Correctional Health Services failed to properly treat the inmates. “I can’t think of any legitimate reason why they were denied insulin,” he said. Assistant County Counsel Harry Del Plato said he could confirm only that Sipp and Barber died in county custody. He would not disclose whether the man and woman were given insulin or if the county knew they were diabetic. “Because this is a potential matter that is going to be litigated … I can’t give you any more information than that,” Del Plato said. Correctional Health Services, the private firm that has furnished medical services to the county jail system for nearly 15 years, did not return phone calls for comment. The lawsuit comes at a time when Essex County is re-examining its $9 million contract with CHS, which is based in Verona and was founded by Robert Detore, that town’s mayor . CHS was hired to improve medical services since the county employed only a part-time physician to care for 2,000 inmates in the 1980s. This month, the county did not renew its annual contract with the firm, opting instead for a two- month extension of its current contract through Oct. 31. Five firms, including CHS, are reviewing the county’s needs and are expected to submit bids to the county in about two weeks, said Paul Hopkins, the county treasurer. In March, the county opened its new $416 million jail in Newark. The medical facilities, which include equipment for on-site dialysis, have been hyped by the county as contributing to better health care of inmates. The “state-of-the-art” infirmary has attracted more bidders than in the past, when private firms worried about working in the poor conditions of the medical wards at the county’s former jails in Newark and North Caldwell, Hopkins said. County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo said the county also is searching for a medical director who would oversee medical care. “I want to have someone here who is watching the shop to hold these people accountable,” he said. The medical director would also monitor the actions of corrections officers, DiVincenzo said. The lawsuit filed by Tamika Barber, Barber’s daughter, and Aletha Luckey, Sipp’s mother, names a physician, nurses and corrections officers as the people responsible for the deaths through negligence. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court last week. Barber was found dead shortly after 6 a.m. on Aug. 27, 2003, on the floor of her cell at the county jail annex in North Caldwell, county officials said at the time. Barber, who had been arrested on drug charges in a sweep of Seth Boyden housing complex on Aug. 21, 2003, “pleaded for insulin but defendant denied her that medication,” according to the lawsuit. Barber was in pain, suffering from headaches, vomiting and other ailments, according to the lawsuit. “Defendants were adequately informed of Mary Barber’s condition and treatment information was available but displayed deliberate indifference toward providing treatment,” the lawsuit reads. Sipp, of Newark, was arrested on Aug. 25, 2003, and taken into county custody about 9 p.m. that day and taken to the county jail on Market Street in Newark, according to the lawsuit. County officials said last year that Sipp had been picked up on a 1996 arrest warrant for simple assault. He was later taken to Raritan Bay Medical Center to be examined and was determined to be “an insulin-dependent diabetic,” according to the lawsuit. “While in defendants’ custody, Henry Sipp pleaded for insulin but was denied such medication.” The nursing staff at the jail said Sipp was found unresponsive and in cardiac arrest at 5:30 p.m. and that the last contact with him was two hours earlier, according to the lawsuit. The final report of the Regional Medical Examiner’s Office listed the cause of death to be diabetic ketoacidosis, the same cause of death as Barber.

NJ Elec.
CORRECTIONAL HEALTH FACILITY
25 POMPTON AVE STE 305VERONA, NJ 07044
04-MAR-2003
$1,000.00
UNION COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CMTEPOLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, 2003

CORRECTIONAL HEALTH SERVICE
25 POMPTON AVE STE 305VERONA, NJ 07044
20-OCT-2001
$2,500.00
UNION COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CMTEPOLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, 2001

CORRECTIONAL HEALTH SERVICES
25 POMPTON AVE STE 305VERONA, NJ 07044
23-OCT-2002
$1,750.00
UNION COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CMTEPOLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, 2002

CORRECTIONAL HEALTH SERVICES INC
25 POMPTON AVE STE 305VERONA, NJ 07044
18-SEP-2000
$1,000.00
UNION COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CMTEPOLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, 2000

CORRECTIONAL HEALTH SERVICES INC
25 POMPTON AVE STE 305VERONA, NJ 07044
25-JUN-2003
$500.00
UNION COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CMTEPOLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, 2003

CORRECTIONAL HEALTH SERVICES INC
25 POMPTON AVE STE 305VERONA, NJ 07044
08-MAR-2004
$1,500.00
UNION CTY DEMOCRATIC CMTEPOLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, 2004

CORRECTIONAL HEALTH SERVICES INC
25 POMPTON AVE STE 305VERONA, NJ 07044
23-OCT-2003
$200.00
UNION COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CMTEPOLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, 2003

CORRECTIONAL HEALTH SERVICES INC
25 POMPTON AVE STE 305VERONA, NJ 07044
30-SEP-2003
$1,000.00
UNION COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CMTEPOLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, 2003

CORRECTIONAL HEALTH SERVICES INC
25 POMPTON AVE STE 305VERONA, NJ 07044
16-JUN-2003
$500.00
UNION COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CMTEPOLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, 2003

CORRECTIONAL HEALTH SERVICES INC
25 POMPTON AVE STE 305VERONA, NJ 07044
02-MAR-2001
$500.00
UNION COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CMTEPOLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, 2001

CORRECTIONAL HEALTH SERVICES INC
25 POMPTON AVE STE 305VERONA, NJ 07044
02-NOV-1998
$2,500.00
UNION CTY DEMOCRATIC CMTEPOLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, 1998

CORRECTIONAL HEALTH SERVICES INC
25 POMPTON AVE STE 305VERONA, NJ 07044
25-OCT-1998
$2,500.00
UNION CTY DEMOCRATIC CMTEPOLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, 1998

CORRECTIONAL HEALTH SERVICES INC
25 POMPTON AVE STE 305VERONA, NJ 07044
30-SEP-1999
$5,000.00
UNION COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CMTEPOLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, 1999

CORRECTIONAL HEALTH SERVICES INC
25 POMPTON AVE STE 305VERONA, NJ 07044
07-MAR-2000
$2,500.00
UNION COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CMTEPOLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, 2000

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.

The Democrats don’t win because of “their services”; they surely don’t win because of their charming personalities, or good looks for that matter. They win because all nine freeholder seats are at-large and Union County is overwhelmingly Democratic. 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.

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 & 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 & independent; 41 percent Democrat and a paltry 10 percent are Republican. With a combined total of 142,600 registered voters.

It’s not just the numbers that are stacked against the chance of ever having a watchdog on the nine-member freeholder board. There’s the pay-to-play money and misappropriation of tax dollars for freeholder campaigns. There’s also the county employees being used to work on campaigns. These campaign abuses are what make Union County a banana republic.

This year it was politics as usual around the county with the Democrat machine getting out the vote in the urban areas. They rent white passenger vans and stick Column ‘B’ posters in the window and drive people directly to the polls. They probably give them lunch or a light snack on the way.

In many places like School Nos. 1 and 3 in Elizabeth there were election board workers who steadfastly marched voters into the booths and told them to vote the Democrat line. In spite of a large Republican poll challenger presence. The workers were written up and we’ll soon find out if it was worth all the bother. Nothing less than these workers being bared from working the polls ever again would be an acceptable outcome. Including Freeholder Dan Sullivan’s beastly mother-in-law who relentlessly harassed the poll challenger assigned to her booth. Sullivan family gatherings must be a delight with that cast of characters.

There were the usual literature hand outs outside of the polls. Most likely if you approach a polling place in one of the urban areas you will be approached by some greasy looking goon trying to hand you a card with the local Democrat candidates’ names on it. The goon will say something to the effect of “Don’t vote for George Bush - Vote the Democrat B Line”.

George W. Bush has been a favorite campaign tool for the Democrats these past two years. Apparently New Jerseans aren’t taught in school that there are several layers of government with the federal government having all but nothing to do with freeholders or local municipal governments.

In Union County, the dead people apparently have suffrage.

Its been reported that 325 dead people voted in Union County last year. At this writing there is no count on how many rose from the grave to cast their votes this year. People being marched into voting booths and told how to vote might as well be considered dead voters.

This year’s election has convinced me that people aren’t reading newspapers much. However, the apathetic media always takes its toll on Union County elections. The Star-Ledger’s county coverage has been awesome as of just recently, but Worrall’s has slipped way down with its endorsement of powerbroker/Linden Mayor John Greggorio’s appointment of Nancy Ward for freeholder.

The highlight of the debate this year was Nancy Ward responding to the question, “What is a freeholder’s salary?”, she replied in that little blonde way of hers, “I don’t know, I have direct deposit.” This little cutie replaced John Wohlrab after his arrest for domestic violence, almost a year ago to the date, and has supposedly been making decisions about the $390 million county budget ever since.

Worrall endorsed Daniel Sullivan last year. I don’t know what criteria they use for endorsements but if they are going to continue to endorse these empty-heads (Ward), who have utter contempt for the public (Sullivan), who are the powerbrokers’ puppets - I’d like to see Worrall ask and then publish the response to the question “Which powerbroker anointed you and what will you be expected to do for them in return?”

County employees, including the million-dollar taxpayer-funded public information department, were seen out and about on Election Day as well as on the campaign trail. I counted at least ten county employees at the Cranford freeholder debate where they behaved like the low-class baboons that they are.

The room was packed with spectators and several reporters, yet this didn’t cause the county employee/campaign workers to act like they deserve their blotted taxpayer funded salaries. For my entertainment, they placed a stooge right behind me to make comments and cough throughout the debate. I easily ignored him, after all I have teenagers and can block out juvenile girlish banter. Afterwards he was seen running to his car and locking the door behind him.

I considered it an honor when the Public Information Department took souvenir photos posing behind me. Next debate I’m going to wear my F.B.I. hat for their photo shoot.

I was amused at all the attention I received, so I was a good sport about it. I even wanted to join in the fun. I thought a swift knee in Seb D’Elia balls in a crowded room full of people would be hilarious. This isn’t cruel or violent on my part, because I don’t think it would hurt him much as apparently he doesn’t have any balls, seeing as he sent his underlings to harass me while he kept himself clear across the room from me. Funny, but I didn’t see him leave the building. He must have been hiding in the ladies’ room ’till the coast was clear.

Then there was the pay-to-play (extortion) money - Republicans were outspent 42 to 1 according to a recent Star-Ledger article.

The taxpayer-funded commercial and mailers kept pace with what the Democrats spent of our dollars on their campaigns in past years. They’ve spent upwards of $327,769.85 to date this year. This year, the Republican County committee has filed ELEC complaints. Good for them - and me. They saved me all the paper work of having to file a complaint for the Watchdog Association.

The Democrat freeholders win in landslides in the banana republic towns. No wonder between the sheer number of registered Democrats and the way they are manipulated by the machine.

This was my second year working as a poll challenger in Elizabeth. Elizabeth’s polls are lawless in many spots. Without the poll challenger presence it would have been much worse. No doubt Plainfield, Union, Rahway, Linden, Hillside and Roselle were just as lawless.

Of course it’s illegal to use taxpayer’s money to promote campaigning freeholders; county workers working on campaigns during working hours; marching people into voting booths and telling them how to vote; pay-to-play is a nice term for extortion which is highly illegal in the business community; and the rest of the shenanigans that go on Election Day. But this is New Jersey and our tolerance for corruption hasn’t changed much in the past 100 years since the days of Frank Hague.

Despite all of the major newspapers and talk show radio hosts warning about Corzine, we now have another governor who is a friend of the powerbrokers and, barring a scandal, he’ll be in office for the next four years. Don’t expect a thing to change in the banana republic fiefdom of State Sen. Raymond Lesniak under Corzine. In fact, if the county follows the same course as previous years, they will up it another notch and be even more arrogant than ever.

They’ll be upping our taxes another notch too. Somebody’s got to keep feeding the baboons their bananas.

The Marcus Group is a political consulting firm in Northern NJ. Founder Alan Marcus was quoted in a New York magazine article about James McGreevey and his financial backers. His quote has been appearing on the website, www.politicsnj.com, for months, a subliminal message tucked over to the right serving as a constant reminder of what is wrong with the political system here in NJ. Marcus said “In New Jersey, you contribute money not for access but results. Anybody who doesn’t admit that is lying.”

It appears that one firm, Schoor DePalma of Manalapan, has decided to stop lying, according to an editorial in The Times of Trenton this week. Considered to be one of the “big boys” in the pay-to-play arena, Schoor DePalma is said to have notified its clients, which include municipalities and counties, that they would immediately stop making corporate political contributions and that employees were forbidden to provide or receive meals or entertainment with public officials or public employees.

Pay-to-play is the practice of making sizable monetary contributions to political organizations expecting to be awarded equally sizable contracts for services without the benefit to the taxpayers of competitive bidding. By informing their clients that they would stop making political contributions they have in effect shined a light in the pay-to-play closet.

Between October of 1999 and March of 2004 Schoor DePalma forked over in excess of $2.1 million to campaigns in New Jersey with $95,400 of it going to the Union County Democratic Committee. NJ Elec records indicate that this figure does not include what they have contributed to the campaign coffers of individual UC Democratic candidates for the state senate and assembly. Political contributions made by Schoor DePalma during that five year period fills 110 pages on the Elec Website! It should be noted that DePalma were able to reap over $4.1 million in no bid contracts from the Union County Freeholder board - the reward Alan Marcus was talking about.

Has Schoor DePalma decided to take the high road and rely on their excellent work reputation to secure work? Or perhaps it has just gotten all too confusing for the accounting staff. When one considers that they have to track where the contributions been made and what kind of return they have received on their investment, they may have just said, “enough is enough already!”

But perhaps there is something more going on here. Recently the firm was implicated in a scandal in Ocean County involving a former chairman of that sewage authority and an elected official whom the chairman did not identify. The chairman pleaded guilty to a single count of extortion for accepting a $15,000 kickback from the engineering firm and splitting it with the official. Federal guidelines call for at least a two-year prison term but he hopes that by cooperating with prosecutors he will win a lighter sentence.

DePalma denies any wrong doing and in a statement said that the firm will not allow its good name to be discredited. Truth be told, the damage has already been done and it is a sure bet that the feds will be looking at every move that DePalma makes from here to eternity.

It remains to be seen if other “professional services” companies will follow their lead and discontinue the practice of making contributions to political campaigns as it appears that these contributions can morph into something far more serious. A good look needs to be taken at the practice of awarding contracts without competitive bidding. Currently at the county government level there are no restrictions in place and the taxpayer is the one who ultimately bears the burden of funding political campaigns that perhaps they don’t support.

The Union County Board of Freeholders has a responsibility to the residents of Union County to see to it that their tax dollars are being spent wisely and that they are getting what they are paying for.

The following is an excerpt from an article which I wrote and that appeared in the Westfield Leader/Scotch Plains Times in August of 2004. More has developed on this company and how they did business. The scope has widened and now U.S. Attorney Chris Christie is looking into just how large the “web” really is and just who is involved.

We have all heard the expression that we are judged by the company that we keep. The board of Freeholders is no exception.

At the next meeting the Democrat Freeholder Board is expected to take action on a resolution authorizing the county manager to enter into a Professional Service contract with JCA Associates, Clark. The contract is in an amount not to exceed $113,876 for Construction Services associated with a bridge replacement in Summit. Sounds innocent enough, and good news for Summit, which has been long neglected. But is it really innocent or good news?

Based in Moorestown, JCA acquired their Clark office in 1999 and contributions to the UC Dem PAC started to increase. One year ago the company’s president and two corporate execs pleaded guilty to filing fraudulent tax returns in order to conceal $84,000 in illegal campaign contributions in Gloucester County made in return for Professional Services contracts.

In a rare move the courts have recently rejected the executives’ plea bargain deal, which included a $100,000 civil penalty, the ruling exposes these executives to further criminal prosecution.

In the world of pay to play this is certainly a step in the right direction.

Professional Services are defined as those provided by attorneys, engineers and architects and the regulations in NJ appear to apply to school districts, local governments, and the Turnpike Authority, as well as state educational institutions. County governments are merely urged to exercise fiscal responsibility when awarding contracts using the non-competitive bidding process or “No Bid Contracts”.

Surely this process wasn’t intended as a “reward” system for loyal contributors. But here in Union County it certainly appears that it does as this Professional Services contract would make a total of almost half a million dollars work awarded to JCA, an excellent return on a documented investment of about $20,000 to the UC Dem Political Action Committee.

JCA is only the tip of the iceberg as far as campaign contributions and no bid contracts are concerned, but it appears that they were just getting warmed up and judging by past performance bigger numbers would have soon followed.

JCA’s current legal difficulties and admitted illegal methods of doing business sends up warning flares that should not be ignored by the voters in Union County.

Do we really want to do business with operators of this type?

What else are they up to and can we really trust the caliber of their work?

Could they be taking shortcuts, which could endanger the safety of the residents?

How are their employees treated?

Since this board of Freeholders must be well aware of this situation how can they in good conscience continue to do business with this firm?

There is another old expression that says something about birds of a feather flocking together and we ask that the voters keep this in mind when they go to the polls in November.

To see more “news” about JCA, Susan Bass-Levin, George Norcross and the rest of the gang visit www.politicsnj.com