When it came time to the freeholders to vote on the agenda items last night John Bury noticed that Freeholder Richard Proctor, who is running for Mayor of Rahway, got up and left and then came right back after the votes were taken. Bury further noted that this wasn’t just a bathroom brake because the clerk didn’t call his name for the vote, therefore she knew he wouldn’t be there.

Freeholder Debra Scanlon did this in 2004. When it came time to vote for a $1,907,739 no-bid contract awarded to Consultedge in which her sister, Diane Papst, was reported to have been the sales rep, she left the room when the vote was taken and she was marked not present.

We can only wonder why Proctor pulled a Scanlon. Here’s the agenda.

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

Previously reported: Freeholder Scanlon’s sister profited from $2M phone system

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.

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* 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.

Years ago we took our young kids to Philadelphia’s Please Touch museum where we spent most of a fun-filled day. I remember thinking that this would be a great place to have closer to home and I wished that I had the money to finance it.

Of course that was a pipe dream for me but these days, if you see something that grabs your fancy and you are a Union County freeholder, all things may be possible. In fact a freeholder might have even made a similar trip to the Please Touch since Union County recently spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in Open Space Trust Fund money on exploring such a museum at Kean. Though the project fell through, at the last freeholder meeting it was mentioned that Cory Booker had picked up on the idea and the seed money spent by Union County might earn the freeholders a plaque in Newark some day.

Then there is the $6 million-plus spent on renovating the Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC), a former adult-movie theater that was supposed to be the centerpiece of a Rahway renaissance as a cultural hub. It’s unlikely that any freeholder hatched this idea with an eye on replicating the Ritz Theater experience in Rahway so I’ll just assume one of them vacationed in Branson once.

But the ultimate vanity project is the Musicfest. It’s easy to see the inspiration behind a two-day festival of popular music where these Woodstock-generation freeholders get to pretend to be Wavy Gravy as Nomahegan Park fills in for Yasgur’s farm. The Who or Hendrix won’t be there but we will have Cracker, Danielia Cotton, and the What Cheer? Brigade confirmed so far.

The justification for having this event two months before an election is to provide a high-visibility forum for Democratic political candidates at taxpayer expense though the official explanations range from providing county residents with quality entertainment to attracting tourism.

But in these dire economic times it is the entertainment budget that usually feels the ax first. If I can’t pay my mortgage, I’m not going to that Springsteen show. But in Union County where budget increases are on automatic pilot and only a few concerned citizens ever come out to push back, there’s no sense of urgency that the freeholders need to adopt.

And what suburb has as a goal to attract tourists? You move into a bedroom community like Cranford to get away from the tourist trap. Otherwise you would live in New York City, or Branson, or maybe Rahway some day.

But if musicfest is inevitable we might as well make the best of it. Let’s hope they get Bob Dylan and just be grateful that no freeholder ever wanted to be an astronaut or has seen the movie ‘Mission to Mars.’ Otherwise Union County might be contacting NASA to volunteer Warinanco Park as a launch site. Money would be no object.

Although an agreement to establish a children’s museum in Union County was entered into with much fanfare in 2003, recently the county very quietly terminated their agreement with the Children’s Museum of Central New Jersey (CMCNJ) after blowing through $377,499.

Of what was to be a $1,00,000 grant the CMCNJ had received an initial payment of $500,000 for seed money to better their fund raising capabilities. They spent $377,499 during the period of August 2003 through March 2007 on efforts to locate the museum in Union County with $181,052 spent to locate the museum at a Liberty Hall Museum site. The balance of the money $196,4456 was spent trying to locate the museum elsewhere in Union County. The CMCNJ has returned the unspent $122,501 of the $500,000 grant money.

The county and the CMCNJ have agreed that the Children’s Museum will return approximately $200,000 under terms and conditions that might as well state “When Pigs Fly”. The $377,499 is gone for good.

Although the county wasn’t recognized for blowing through $377,499 tax dollars, with little to no accountability, the termimation agreement incredulously states that if the CMCNJ “continues as an ongoing entity and should it succeed in locating and operating a children’s museum anywhere else in New Jersey, the CMCNJ has agreed to recognize the Union County Freeholders as a founding donor and to undertake appropriate commemorative and programming recognition for the county’s contribution.”

All the freeholders contributed was the tax payer’s money. Their is no evidence that they, or any employee of the county was overseeing the CMCNJ’s efforts.

An Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request seeking all correspondence, including but not limited to reports, letters and emails for the period of January 2001 to present between the CMCNJ and any member of the Union County freeholder board, county manager, and Open Space Trust Fund administrators was returned NO DOCUMENTS TO PROVIDE.

According to the minutes of the monthly museum trustee meetings, no freeholder, nor the county manager ever attended a meeting. The meeting minutes show a one-time visit from the Open Space Trust Fund Administrator on January 23, 2006. The responsible parties for this $377,499 loss of tax dollars is the county manager George Devanney, his wife the former Open Space Trust Fund Administrator Angie Devanney, current administrator Victoria Drake Durbin and all nine Freeholders especially the ones that were named as trustees to the CMCNJ, namely freeholders Debora Scanlon, Alexander Mirabella, Angel Estrada and Daniel Sullivan.

History:

The county freeholders unanimously passed Resolution #650-03 on June 19, 2003. The reso authorized the county manager, George Devanney, to enter into an agreement with the Children’s Museum of Central NJ (CMCNJ) of Westfield, NJ, to provide grant funding in the amount of $1,000,000, from the Union County Open Space, Recreation and Historic Preservation Trust Fund. At the time the county manager’s wife, Angie Devanney, was the administrator of the trust fund. This was for preliminary support toward the development of a Children’s Museum. This $1,000,000 was seed money. In 2003, the project was projected to cost $12 million to complete.

Meeting minutes obtained through the OPRA shows the CMCNJ board of trustees met 9 times in 2004; 5 times in 2005 and 1 time in 2006. The minutes show that appeals were made to trustees to contribute to the cause. Excerpt from minutes: Only 9 trustees have made gifts this fiscal year…It is a requirement of the Trusteeship to contribute financially according to one’s ability to do so. If you haven’t contributed yet, please do so before the end of the fiscal year, June 30. It is very bad form to ask others to make contributions when our own Board does not do so…..

In a Worrall Community Newspaper article dated August 7, 2003 then editor Mark Hyrbna quoted Freeholder Mirabella, who was chairman of the trust fund committee, at the time said the county’s contribution will help the organization get started with serious fund-raising. “It’s not a concern because I don’t think they’ve rally started fund-raising,” Mirabella said of the group’s fund-raising to date. “I don’t think they got outta the blocks yet.” This is a group that has a good vision, it knows what it wants to do.”

At the time documents filed with the state, the CMCNJ had raised $17,615, with all but $4,000 in “direct public support,” while spending $11,958.80 for “management and general expenses, leaving a balance of $5,656.10. The CMCNJ was aiming to raise between $10 million and $12 million for the project, with an expected timeline of three to five years before a facility would be in operation.

“They seemed to have some pretty good ideas of where they’re getting money from,” Freeholder Mary Ruotolo, who was chairman of the Open Space Trust Fund Committee in 2002 said. “It’s much easier to fund-raise when you have seed money; then fund-raising becomes a better sell.” “It’s certainly not our intention to pay for the construction of a museum” Ruotolo said.

In a Worrall Community Newspaper article dated May 20, 2004, it was explained that representatives of the children’s museum report to the county on a quarterly basis. They must provide reports of what they spent so the county can see if the m money is being spent in a way that is consistent with the Open Space Trust fund. “If they haven’t totally pent the $250,000 yet, they’re not permitted to come back to us for the next round of funding,” said Open Space Trust Fund Administrator and wife of county manager Angie Devanney.

By early 2007 the CMCNJ exhausted its efforts to find a suitable location for the museum in Union County, event though its board and stakeholders remained committed to locating the museum somewhere in central or northern New Jersey. The CMCNJ notified the freeholders that it would discontinue its efforts to site the museum in Union County and provided the freeholders with an accounting of grant funds.

Design & Feasibility $358,599
Accounting Services $12,650
Legal Services $6,250
Total: $377,499 – not to be reimbursed to taxpayers

$196,466 was spent trying to locate the museum elsewhere in Union County. The CMCNJ has agreed to return the money under conditions that seem to be impossible. But rest assured if they do successfully open a museum our trusty freeholders will be on hand for a photo op. I don’t expect any public comment until the pigs fly.

CMCNJ By Laws

Worrall Article 2003

Worrall Article 2005

Memo of Understanding

CMCNJ Termination of Memo of Understanding

CMCNJ Trustee and Committee names

CMCNJ 2004 Minutes

CMCNJ 2005 Minutes

CMCNJ 2006 Minutes

New Jersey Policy Perspective released a report in July titled: How Much is Enough? Drawing the Lines on Multiple Public Job Holding in New Jersey. And this being New Jersey, the media didn’t pay any attention to this important work, no wonder that media disenfranchisement is mentioned in the report as a key problem.

I began my watchdog activities with a huge respect for the media. I now find myself bitterly disappointed and can still be shocked by what the Star-Ledger chooses to ignore. Unless it is sensational, the Star-Ledger backs off from exposing power brokers and their machines. When the self proclaimed “Voice of New Jersey” is afraid of the powerbrokers, it makes it that much harder for the local weekly papers to stand up to them. Lesniak, Cryan and the Chairwoman of the Union County Democratic Committee Charlotte DeFilippo, pull the strings of all 9 freeholders in Union County. Freeholders are hired and fired by the powerbrokers and exhibit no individuality. They are elected, but they have no power, they are simply replaced when they don’t please the bosses.

Along with dual office holding, we have found that nepotism is rampant in Union County government. A study which compared elected democrat officials with county employees found that 542 employees, out of nearly 3,000, had the same surnames of elected Democrat officials. We included the elected Democrat municipal committee people in our study; we believe that these positions are central to the party bosses to hold on to their power.

Of course we can not prove that all 542 employees are actually related to the elected officials, but consider that we have no way of knowing how many employees/relatives with different surnames as elected officials, such as in-laws and cousins, are on the payroll!

For instance, our appointed county manager, George Devanney, is the nephew of State Senator Raymond Lesniak. Devanney’s mother in-law is a county employee, her surname is Bowen. Another example is Freeholder Angel Estrada’s son-in-law who is the U.C. tax administrator, Christopher Duryee. He started in 2003 with a salary of $65,000.— 2007 his salary is $98,399. I don’t know of anyone, outside of public employment, who gets $10,000 annual salary increases.

We also have no way of knowing what relatives are working directly for, or are involved with, contractors and vendors. Following an anonymous tip we received, we investigated and found that Freeholder Debra Scanlon’s sister, who goes by her married name, was given a 2-million dollar no bid contract in 2005 which was awarded in a business deal that was not conducted in public view. Scanlon simply left the freeholder dais when the contract was voted on, therefore she did not have to explain herself. There is nothing illegal about this.

Unethical? Forgetaboutit. It isn’t an issue in this state.

The report also analyzes the legal background of an Undersheriff serving in elective office. We have Assemblyman Joe Cryan as an Undersheriff which is considered a full-time position here in Union County. It pays $109,582 and comes with a take home car. Assembly people are required to spend 2 days a week in Trenton, yet along with this Cryan is also the Union Municipal Democrat Chair and the State Chairman of the Democrat party. The hours necessary to complete all these commitments aren’t humanly possible. Yet here in New Jersey it isn’t illegal.

You can see our research into what Union County municipal officials are compensated and what other public jobs they hold HERE.

You can read the NJ Policy Perspective Report HERE. Since you labor so hard all year to pay your property taxes, it would be appropriate to print it out and read it this Labor Day weekend.

SUMMARY
How Much is Enough? Drawing the Lines on Multiple Public Job Holding in New Jersey examines the more than 700 elected state, county, and municipal officials who hold another, non-elected position in the public sector. The report is one of several NJPP research projects funded by a grant from The Schumann Fund for New Jersey. The series of reports will examine key aspects of the state’s political and governmental systems.

Among the report’s findings:600 men and women elected to municipal office have at least one other job on a public payroll besides their elected positions-more than 30 percent are employed in public education either as teachers or administrators; 20 percent work in county government; 14 percent for public authorities.

In the state’s 10 most populous municipalities, just over half of council members have their day jobs in the public sector.

At least 56, or more than 40 percent, of the state’s 137 county freeholders hold at least one other public sector job. Some 23 freeholders hold another elected office.

A dozen men and women in the 40-member State Senate in 2006 held at least one non-elected public job, and 26 of the 80-member State Assembly earn at least part of their living from public sector employment.

When the same people hold multiple elected and non-elected jobs the system suffers from less accountability, fewer checks and balances and less competition. Those who hold these dual offices may skimp on their duties in one of the positions. Their independence may be constrained by the need to keep the favor of the political leaders whose approval is needed to keep not just their elected position but also the job that provides their principal source of income.

The supervisor of an elected official may well be deferential when it comes to attendance and performance.

The checks and balances built into the system by the doctrine of separation of powers can be violated when, for instance, a law enforcement officer serves as a legislator.

An elected official who enjoys the perquisites of a low-show job in a public agency is shielded from competition that could open up the system to competitors.

When a Jersey City school superintendent spends part of the week in Trenton as an Assemblyman it is clear that he is spending less time as superintendent than his $210,520 salary should require.

Clearly New Jersey needs some general rules to be used in guiding the way through the wide range of incompatibilities and conflicts created by combining elected and non-elected positions.

New Jersey has chosen for years to deal with this problem by ignoring it. Such a policy is no longer tolerable. The first step forward is for the public and political leaders to recognize the threat the current system poses to government accountability, performance and perception. The study includes a detailed analysis of the problems created by legislators who are employed as undersheriffs, as 3 have been in recent years.

Now is the time for New Jersey to make combined elected and non-elected job holding the exception rather than the rule. Some states, such as Louisiana, explicitly forbid holding many dual offices that place officials in an unresolveable conflict of obligations. New Jersey should follow that course.

Recently the Westfield Leader editorialized about a 2005 change in county government policy which currently bans county department directors from speaking directly with the press and dictates whether or not elected county officials should personally return phone calls or direct them to public information employees.

Could this be why there has been a dearth of direct quotes from the freeholders regarding the county budget and other matters of public interest? And could this change in policy be linked to some “Quotable Quotes” by Freeholders and County Managers past and present? Digging back just a few years in local newspaper archives produced some genuine gems that beg to be shared.

In January of ‘02, then County Manager Michael Lapolla told the Westfield Leader: “There will be drastic improvements to the UC Police building”. Lapolla certainly wasn’t kidding as the county increased the burden of debt on the taxpayers by bonding for and erecting a brand new building on North Ave, which could be called the Darth Vader’s Fortress and wins the prize for the ugliest building in the county.

Recently reelected to a third term, Freeholder Deborah Scanlon was quoted on Oct. 28, ‘03 in the Cranford Eagle: “We achieved an unmatched record of providing tax relief to our residents”. One has to wonder what county this freeholder was in then, since U C taxes had already increased during her tenure 48% and have continued to climb. But we shouldn’t have been surprised because she gave us a warning in 2001 in the same paper when she said: “Paying taxes is part of living in America.”

Will Save a cool Million, no make that $3Million, or could it be $4Million???

Early retirement programs are often touted as being money savers at budget time and in ‘02 a county press release quoted in the Cranford Eagle in January predicted that “early retirement will save $1 million per year,” County Manager Devanney followed up in April ‘02 stating to the same paper: “The County hopes to save $1million annually with early retirement. Initially we hoped for $3 million.” appears that there was a $2million miscommunication someplace.

The next year, 2003, the Eagle quoted county press releases on the same topic with the following results: 1/4/03 – “Early retirement will save $1million per yr”. 4/24/03 – “Early retirement will save $500,000 per year” and finally 5 weeks later on 6/5/03 – “Early retirement will save $1million per year”. T

The following year Freeholder Mirabella told that Eagle when referring to the benefit of early retirement on the 2003 budget, “We saved $4 million per year on early retirement”.

Well what was it?

Hopefully it didn’t shake out like last year’s early retirement package which when reviewed by the state accountants was predicted to actually cost the county money.

The Open Space Trust Fund approved by the voters in 2000 became the topic of conversation in July of 2003.

When discussing a recent land purchase by the trust fund Freeholder Scanlon told the Westfield Leader “this is open space. We are proud to be protecting it from development”. Well it seems someone forgot to tell the other freeholders who one week later were also discussing the fund as well as a children’s museum. On 8/3/03 in the same issue of the Cranford Eagle Former Freeholder Mary Ruotolo is quoted: “It’s not our intention to pay for the construction of a museum”, followed up by Al Mirabella: “As for where such a museum could be built, the 5 acre property we bought in Union is an option.” Coincidently the 5 acre property was Freeholder Scanlon’s open space and the board gave $1million seed money to an unproven charity who wanted to build a museum, where did that money go?

And last but not least, Al Mirabella, quoted in the Oct. 28th 2003 Cranford Eagle just before Election Day “We reconnected county government with the people it serves.” Too bad that less than a year later at a Freeholder meeting in June of 2004 Chairman Angel Estrada’s remark: “We don’t have to answer the public’s questions.” shows just how unconnected they prefer to be. It’s no wonder that these public officials and the high ranking employees are no longer allowed to speak with the press or the taxpayers personally, because who knows what they might say.

The New Year is here and along with it come our resolutions which we hope, and I do mean hope, we will keep for at least the next 3-4 weeks.

There is one thing that my current employer, an Army Major Retired, did for me when I first started in his employ, and that was to provide me with a Franklin Planner, much to my objection as I thought I was one of the most organized people going. . I must say that 13 years later my Franklin contains my entire day to day life.

Three different binders and styles have come and gone, but my trusty handwritten planner is never very far from my side, though I am not quite as anal as some who carry a “satellite” where ever they go, my planner has come to be a dependable friend and traveling companion and admittedly at times my memory.

Franklin Covey has many programs that one can buy into intended to make people more productive and goal oriented thus, the marketing program goes, more successful. I am not so sure about the successful part, but, many major companies subscribe to the theory and have installed the Franklin Planner on their firm’s PC’s and purchase Franklin PDAs complete with seminars for their executives.

One of the Franklin tenets is that if humans write tasks and goals down then they are more committed to completing those tasks necessary to reach the goal. Also they espouse the belief that we will remember over 80% of what we write.

Personally I enjoy seeing the little checks rather than X’s or an arrow next to my daily planner entries, so there appears to be some validity in what they say. I should point out that 4 out of 5 of my fellow employees also use company supplied Franklin Planners and one, the retired major, is called by some, in our highly competitive industry, an Executive Search Superstar.

As I updated my planner for 2007 I pondered weather or not the Union County Freeholders were spending the day updating theirs for the New Year as well, that thought lasted all of about ½ a second, what was I thinking?

Though I no longer use all of the tools provided by my planner as my “personal goal” is to get through the day in one piece with my sanity in tact, I do assign my planned activities, both business and personal are intertwined, an A, B or C and an order of importance 1-2-3 and so on.

Planning for the day is akin to making resolutions daily and I am not suggesting that the Freeholders run out and buy Franklins, I am suggesting that perhaps they take a few minutes and make some resolutions for the upcoming year that they can stick to.

May I suggest the following?

Chairwoman Kowalski – please resolve to refrain from calling citizen speakers at the podium by their first names, as your predecessor Mr. Mirabella was in the habit of doing.

Freeholder Holmes – please resolve not to attempt to intimidate the citizens into silence by reminding them that county counsel is sitting on the dais and that their personal attorney’s are not present.

Freeholder Mapp – please resolve to lean on maintenance to get you a microphone that works, as you appear to have a lot to say and those in the back of the room would like to hear you.

Freeholder Sullivan – please resolve to curb your sarcasm as it is most unbecoming for a professional such as your self.

Freeholder Scanlon – please resolve to recuse yourself or to abstain from votes in witch you may have a personal interest, such as the upcoming approval of financial institutions which will be used by the county in 2007.

Freeholder Ward – please resolve to come to a meeting at least giving the appearance of being fully prepared.

Freeholder Estrada – please resolve to do what you know to be the right thing ethically this year, (enough said).

Freeholder Proctor – please resolve to review suggested resolution for Freeholder Estrada bearing in mind.that if the shoe fits etc.

Freeholder Mirabella – please resolve to remember that the citizens are indeed your equal and treat them accordingly; after all they put you where you are.

Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders As the Whole– please resolve to take whatever steps are necessary and not raise taxes this year.

As for me you may be asking just what is she resolving for 2007?

The answer is quite simple really, I publicly resolve to continue to do what I do which is to watch and comment on the activities of county government in Union County. I have already made it an A1 task in my Franklin Planner and intend to see a lot of little check marks this year.

Happy New Year to all of You and Yours!!!

As previously posted, this years freeholder campaign saw the incumbent one-party ruled county government spending upwards of $250,000 tax-dollars promoting incumbent freeholders in the weeks leading up to the election.

I attended the freeholder meeting the Thursday following the election. I knew the freeholders and their in-house campaign staff would be puffed up like Tom Turkey’s gobbling on about their victory; this is exactly why I wanted to be there. I wanted to pluck some of their feathers and laugh in their faces as they grandiosely congratulated themselves.

I wanted to remind them of why they win elections and ask them to ponder what an organization like the Elizabeth Coalition to House the Homeless could do with $250,000, and would they please consider using this money to help people in the future?

I wasn’t surprised at their win. Statistically it is almost impossible to change the course of a freeholder election in Union County. Whoever Charlotte DeFalippo puts on the Democrat line will be elected.

“The people have spoken” freeholder Sullivan pontificated. He claimed that there was a 60% voter turnout in the county and that “this was a landslide victory”. Subsequently, it’s been reported that there was a 49.5% turnout. Democrats outnumber Republicans in Union County 2-1; most registered voters in the county are unaffiliated. What really keeps the Democrats in power is that most registered voters don’t bother to vote. All 9 freeholder seats are at large therefore the Democrats don’t have to do much to turn out the votes in the cities in order to win. They have 3,000 county employees to squeeze into volunteering and unlimited pay to play money to add to the tax-dollars that they spend on their campaigns.

Sullivan also bragged about how they “get out the vote”. If you’re around places like Elizabeth on Election Day you will see county employees getting out the vote.

Whenever I venture into the County Administration building, the county’s public information officer always makes an attempt to harass me before I leave. Waiting for the elevator at the end of the meeting Seb D’Elia, who doubles as an in-house campaign manager, passed by and hissed “It’s good to win”.

It is illegal to have public employees working on campaigns while they are on the clock.

Freeholder Scanlon thanked these employees “I want to thank all the Department Heads and employees; I know that you were pulling for us”.

Strangely enough, on Election Day the County Manager, who is Senator Ray Lesniak’s nephew, was seen pulling for Republican Mayoral Candidate David Cohen in Berkeley Heights. Voter fraud is being alleged there, but I’ll save that for another post.

Freeholder Mirabella bellowed “I will continue to be proud of our record, personally and collectively, I am only humbled by the trust and support the people have put in us.” Mirabella, who was the chairman of the board this year, has consistently refused to answer the public’s questions regarding a host of topics.

The county is planning on building an animal shelter, during the freeholder debates Mirabella spoke about how the “municipalities have been doing a terrible job of taking care of the animals” and that many “are needlessly euthanized”.

Mirabella, nor any other freeholder, has ever publicly acknowledged their responsibility in regards to the two prisoners who were needlessly euthanized in their jail cells. In two separate recent incidents prisoners died very preventable and agonizing deaths. Another 22 year old prisoner had to have his voice box removed because his cancer went untreated. A 17 year old hanged himself on an exposed sprinkler head which the county left unrepaired for 17 months.

The voters that cast a ballot for Mirabella obviously have no idea that he shouldn’t be trusted, even with their dogs.

Mirabella delivered the biggest laugh of the evening with this closing act “I’d like to congratulate all the winners of this years election” he then blabbered on about only Democrats that won and finished his segment with Linda Stender “She is a terrific lady who worked very hard…, she was up against a machine…., she was outspend by a million dollars…”. Mirabella did not offer similar condolences to his opponents on the Republican line.

Freeholder Sullivan stated “The voters are very smart in this county and very discerning”.

I questioned the intelligence of the people who blindly vote down the democrat line. I will back this up with the freeholders own campaign literature of which I am an avid collector of. No one could insult their voter’s intelligence any more than the county democrats. If they truly believed that the voters who keep them in power are smart and discerning then they wouldn’t send their voter base literature that suggests that they are running for the office of President of the United States of America: Click HERE

Sheriff Ralph Froehlich signed two letters endorsing the Democrat freeholders. What makes his letters noteworthy is that they were on phony official Sheriff’s Department letterhead. The longest serving law enforcement official in the nation sent his constituents a flim flam campaign piece worthy of Boss Hog: Click HERE

Freeholder Holmes, who doesn’t quite get the concept of the First Amendment, stated “I don’t believe anyone has the right to criticize the voters”.

Can a voter be smart and discerning yet not care about domestic violence? During my comments I did poke fun at the voters who keep this regime in office, scandal after scandal, although most of their scandals are only reported on this blog and don’t make the local main stream media, therefore voter ignorance is justified to some extent. I brought up the fact that in 2004 70,000 people cast a vote for Freeholder John Wholrab despite the fact that he was arrested and charged with allegedly beating his live-in-girlfriend just 6 weeks prior to the election.

Despite it all….Let us give thanks

I sat down at my computer today with the intention of writing about being thankful as well as hopeful for a better future.

A few days ago I sent out an email to our watchdog list asking for donations. The immediate response I received has been overwhelming and inspiring. I am thankful that there are intelligent Union County residents that care where ¼ of their property tax bill is going and how it is being misspent and misused. Even though we are in the minority, together we can make a difference by shining a light on government. Despite the statistical fact that the Union County Democrat machine will not be out of power any time soon, I am still confident that change is in the air and it is attainable.

I’m also grateful to know that there are good people at a higher level who are committed to changing the culture of corruption in this State. The abuses the freeholders so freely get away with stems from the lack of law and the lack of commitment to enforce the ineffectual laws that are in place. I’ve had the honor and pleasure of meeting Paula Franzese who heads the State Ethics Commission. She is pushing for a complete overhaul of the state’s ethics system. Among the priorities of the Commission are to enact a uniformed and meaningful ethics code for not only the State, but the county and local governments as well.

As a member of the Board of the New Jersey Foundation for Open Government I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside passionate open government activists from across the state. We are working towards increasing government transparency by putting some teeth into the Open Public Records Act and will push for legislation to overhaul the antiquated Open Public Meetings Act.

One day last week I helped out at my favorite charity. It is quite humbling to see people lined up for a free bag of food; seeing these seniors, young people with children and the disabled all needing assistance for their daily basic needs left me inspired to rage on against the machine. Property taxes are a regressive form of taxation; therefore we all suffer from government waste and corruption.

As I watched these people standing in line I wished the freeholders were there to experience the desperate need for help that is all around us. Maybe then they wouldn’t misuse over $250,000 tax-dollars on their campaigns as well as the other misspent and misguided millions. If they wanted to, they could use their absolute power and unlimited resources to literally put a turkey in the pot of every Union County family and so much more.

For Immediate Release:

Today the Union County Watchdog Association has submitted three separate requests to the State Attorney General’s Office, asking for investigations.

1) Freeholders relative profited from 2-million dollar no-bid contract
Union County Freeholder Deborah Scanlon’s sister, Diane Papst, was allegedly involved in a 2-million dollar no-bid contract awarded in a business deal that was not conducted in public view. View complaint by clicking here.

2) Open Public Meetings Act Enforcement
Although the Union County Prosecutor’s office was diligent in quickly enforcing the OPMA on four occasions, that we are aware of, the UCWA complaint against the power-broker backed Union County freeholders appears to be dragging along. View complaint by clicking here.

3) Union County Prisoners being inappropriately sent home on wristlet monitoring devises
This request, which involved a county employee who is alleged to be a close friend of the County Manager, was originally submitted to Attorney General Farber in May 2006. A response was never received from Farber’s office. In light of recent revelations which have shown Farber’s close relationship to Union County Freeholder Angel Estrada, the UCWA has resubmitted our request for an investigation to the new Attorney General Stuart Rabner. View complaint by clicking here.

In other UCWA complaint news:
1) The New Jersey Alcoholic Beverage Commission acknowledged receipt of our complaint regarding the Music Fest today; Click HERE to view video footage of the illegal drinking that went on in the V.I.P. tent.

2) An ELEC complaint is pending. The county has recently spent $163,938.75 tax-dollars airing a commercial which stars a freeholder who is up for re-election. They have also spent approximately $60,000 on a mailer sent to every county postal patron last week. Because we are sure that there will be more tax-payer funded campaigning featuring fat cat Al Mirabella, we will hold off and file one fat ELEC complaint after Election Day.