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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact Tina Renna, President
Union County Watchdog Association
Phone: 908-709-0530
Email: tinarenna@unioncountywatchdog.org

Walter Lauers, esq.
Phone: 908.453.2147
Email: wluers@luerslaw.com

UNIOIN COUNTY WATCHDOG ASSOCIATION FILES RECORDS COMPLAINT SEEKING TO VIEW $64,624.96 IN IMPROVEMENT AUTHORITY’S LEGAL BILLS

The Union County Watchdog (“UCWA”) announced today that it has retained attorney Walter Lauers, to file a complaint with the states Government Records Council against the Union County Improvement Authority (“UCIA”).

This action has been brought because the Records Custodian of the UCIA, Charlotte DeFilippo who is the Executive Director of the UCIA as well as the Chairman of the Union County Democratic Committee, has violated the Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”) by redacting nearly all of the information in law firm invoices totaling $64,624.96 for UCIA’s legal work and by not providing a specific, legal basis for doing so.

The Union County Watchdog Association routinely obtains the UCIA’s bills lists and posts them on their website for free public access. “We ordinarily don’t ask to review legal bills, there are so many of them, but these two submitted at the end of the year caught my eye” said Tina Renna, president of the UCWA. “The amounts $28,529.66 and $36,095.30 respectively for a total of $64,624.96 seemed rather high to be marked “general file” and not assigned to a specific UCIA project.”

“Given the knowledge that the taxpayers are footing the bill for DeFilippo’s lawsuit, which was brought by a county employee who alleges DeFilippo routinely intermingles her political business as the Union County Democratic Chairman (She prefers to be called Chairman) with the management of county government, I thought a closer look at these legal bills was in order” Renna explained.

Records obtained from the UCIA through the Open Public Records Act show that the law firm DeCotiis, FiztPatrick, Cole & Wisler was paid $1,306,634.35 in 2007 and $1,085,552.68 in 2006. This includes $41,879.40 to defend Charlotte DeFilippo in the employee lawsuit which is ongoing.

Complaint:

On March 10, 2008, the Union County Watchdog Association, acting through its President Tina Renna, requested certain legal bills from a UCIA law firm, DeCotiis, FiztPatrick, Cole & Wisler. On March 17, 2008, the UCIA records custodian responded to the request, and provided two heavily redacted invoices. Specifically, the “Date,” “Description,” and “Hours” fields were completely blotted out. Other information may have been blotted out too, but that is impossible to determine. In a rather obvious violation of OPRA, the Records Custodian did not say why the records were redacted, she merely stated that “You will note that information has been redacted.”

Presumably, if the UCIA had given a specific, legal reason for its redactions, it would claim that such information was redacted pursuant to the attorney-client privilege exception in OPRA.

Only communications between a lawyer and client “in the course of the relationship and in professional confidence, are privileged[.]” N.J.S.A. 2A:84A-20. The privilege is limited to “those situations in which lawful legal advice is the object of the relationship.” In re Gonnella, 283 N.J. Super. 509, 512, 570 A.2d 53, 54 (Law Div. 1989). Therefore, not every communication between a lawyer and her client is privileged; rather, only those communications that are in confidence and where lawful legal advice is given.

Under New Jersey law, “the attorney-client privilege . . . does not apply to insulate billings from disclosure.” Hunterdon County Policeman’s Benevolent Association Local 188 v. Township of Franklin, 286 N.J. Super. 389, 394, 669 A.2d 299, 302 (App. Div. 1996) (affirming trial court’s holding that billing records are not privileged and are, therefore, accessible under former Right-to-Know law). Rather, legal fee invoices are only privileged if they reveal client secrets or would reveal strategy. Mundane statements that appear in typical invoices, such as “conference call with client” or “review and digest Smith deposition” are not privileged. “In the experience of this court, [attorney billings] will contain a few word description of the general category of the work performed, the number of hours required to perform the work, the date of the performance, and the total cost to the client.” Id. (quoting lower court). In addition, no privilege would attach to the dates on which work occurred, who performed them, or the time spent on those tasks.

Therefore, the Records Custodian violated OPRA because she did not give a specific, legal basis for redacting the records she produced. In addition, assuming that the basis for the redaction is the attorney-client privilege, that privilege does not apply to legal billings unless they reveal client secrets or reveal legal advice or strategy. Therefore, we request that the GRC review the redacted documents in camera to determine whether the redactions were proper.

Redacted Bills HERE

Travisano lawsuit HERE

Very interesting inside view of the players in the Union County Courthouse View Travisano change of venue request HERE

On January 31, 2007 the Union County Watchdog Association announced that it will be posting complete video coverage of Union County Freeholder’s meetings on its website. A press release stated: “Union County government accounts for 1/4 of our property tax bills and constituents have a right to see and hear what goes on during local government meetings,” said Tina Renna, president of Union County Watchdog Association.

In January 2008 we announced that we would be lobbying towns to show freeholder meetings on their local cable access channels. The freeholders stopped distributing meetings to towns a few years ago. We have been very successful and most cable viewers can now access freeholder meetings on at least one channel.

Our website has always been a model of which we would hope that county government would want to emulate. When we started obtaining public records and posting them on the Internet the county did not post any public documents on their taxpayer funded site. The county now posts their meeting minutes and past meeting agendas on their site.

Big whop-de-do and I’ll tell you and show you why I believe that.

The county controls what is recorded in their meeting minutes. The last meeting I tagged for our Veotag account, a video enhancement service, was a good example of how the county twists words made by residents who are critical of them. As with everything we post on our website, it is hoped that the county would get the message and use their million dollar public information department and post this information themselves. This will never happen because even if they spent a hundred million dollars on public information they can never spin a live performance.

Here is two examples how the county is dis-informing the public with their meeting minutes.

Union County Freeholder meeting March 13, 2008:
The official meeting minutes state: Tina Renna, Cranford, New Jersey, does not support the idea of the Board sponsoring and attending the African Heritage Parade and other Parades. She also commented on the Presentation to Mr. Lynch and said that although he is a great guy, he should not be honored at Freeholder Meetings.

THIS IS WHAT I REALLY SAID

The official meeting minutes state: Tina Renna, Cranford, stated that she is the President of the Union County Watchdog Association and commented about the audio equipment for Freeholder Meetings, she spoke about the proposed budget and quoted County Manager Devanney who stated that the increased budget is due to mandated expenses, such as health insurance, pensions and increase in salaries for the Union County Sheriff and Police Departments.

THIS IS WHAT I REALLY SAID

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact: Tina Renna, President
Union County Watchdog Association
908-709-0530 Email: tinarenna@unioncountywatchdog.org

Walter M. Luers, Esq.
Law Offices of Walter M. Luers, LLC
105 Belvidere Ave., Oxford, New Jersey 07863
Phone: 908.453.2147 Email: wluers@luerslaw.com

Union County - Attorney Walter Luers has filed a complaint with the state’s Government Records Council on behalf of the Union County Watchdog Association in response to the county’s refusal to turn over documents responsive to the UCWA’s request seeking records that would show what individuals donated to a county sponsored fund-raiser in which the county manager was personally involved in and profited from and politicians used as a campaign whistle stop free from Election Law Enforcement reporting guidelines.

(l-r) Assemblywoman Linda Stender, Governor Jon Corzine, Assemblyman Joseph Cryan, Freeholder Chester Holmes, Sheriff Ralph Froehlich, Freeholders Daniel Sullivan and Angel Estrada

Background:
• Senator Raymond Lesniak’s nephew, who is the appointed Union County manager, used the 2007 Musicfest as a backdrop to raise money for his friend’s organization. “Over a couple of beers in Wales, we put together a structure to make Musicfest ’07 a pilot music festival in which the Love Hope Strength Foundation would be a part.” Stated George Devanney in a blog on the LHSF website.

(l-r) Freeholder Chairwoman Bette Jane Kowalski, Senator Raymond Lesniak’s newphew-Appointed Union County Manager George Devanney, Freeholder Alexander Mirabella

• The Co-Chairs of the event were Assemblyman Neil Cohen, Assemblywoman Linda Stender and Freeholder Chairwoman Bette Jean Kowalski.

• The county manager’s wife listed on her website that she was the treasurer of the Love, Hope Strength Organization.

• County resources, including the website and employees, were used to organize, facilitate and raise the money for the event.

• For raising in excess of $25,000 the county manager got to go on the organizations free trip to Mt. Everest in Nepal.

• For donating certain amounts of money contributors, including county employee’s and county vendors, got to rub elbows with elected officials while attending a private party at the county manager’s home in which county vendors performed.

• Politicians connected to the Union County Democrat machine got to use the fund raiser as a campaign whistle stop free from Election Law Enforcement Commission rules on campaign spending and contribution reporting.

“The fact that Senator Raymond Lesniak’s nephew is now trying to keep the details of this publicly funded and facilitated event out of public view after being so intimately involved and had personally gained from is despicable beyond words,” stated Tina Renna, president of the Union County Watchdog Association.

“This was a shameless exploitation of what may very well be a worthy cause, for personal gain and political grandstanding,” continued Renna. “County concerts have been used as campaign whistle stops for the one-party ruled county government since their inception. Vendors have been donating to these supposed “free concerts” in which campaigning pols are given top billing over the acts who are paid by the taxpayers to perform. The addition of a fund raiser at this year’s Musicfest was turned into more backroom dealings that cross the line between public resources and the practice of Union County Democrat Committee politicians campaigning at the taxpayer’s expense. The UCWA has vowed to shine a light on this abuse of the public trust wherever it rears its ugly head.”

The complaint and exhibits can be viewed in its entirety HERE.

“It’s all about getting elected baby!” Senator Raymond Lesniak’s nephew, appointed Union County Manager, George Devanney - 2007 MusicFest

500 and 99 yesterdays ago …..

On July 7, 2006 Senator Raymond Lesniak’s nephew, who is the appointed Union County Manager, was quoted in a Star-Ledger article headlined “Board Heads back to TV” …. “This investment in our sound system, PA and taping system will ensure that the public, our constituents and all entities that do business with the county will continue to receive information about our meetings in a timely and accurate manner,” County Manager George Devanney said yesterday….

The article went on to quote me as the President of the Union County Watchdog Association “…$78,000 seemed like an extraordinary amount to pay for new equipment …. “For 80,000 she said, “I would hope they would be Webcasting meetings too.” …. “Actually, the county is looking into that” said Delia (county public information officer).

The county replaced their equipment in 2006 but they never distributed the meetings to the local cable stations, nor did they ever Webcast their meetings. The bills the UCWA eventually obtained through OPRA show the county spent $110,000 for the new equipment.

The UCWA has been Webcasting freeholder meetings as well as county budget hearings since January 2007.

One 2008 Union County Watchdog Association initiative is to have freeholder meetings broadcast on the local cable channels. Many towns have already moved to request these meetings and will begin to air them shortly.

Channel 26 programming is controlled by Comcast and is broadcast to most Union County towns. The UCWA will routinely request the meeting tape from the county through OPRA (pay $15.00 for it) and drop it to Comcast. The Dec. 20 meeting will be the first (the one the county claimed didn’t exist until the UCWA asked the Prosecutor’s office to investigate) it will be aired on February 28th @ 9:30 pm.

Things that make you go Hmmm…..

In response to the UCWA’s recent efforts to return freeholder meetings to the public cable viewing audiences throughout Union County the county’s extensive office of public information has revamped their efforts to distribute the freeholders taxpayer funded infomercial and have begun dropping off their ½ hour “Freeholder Forum” shows to cable stations – BUT not their meeting recordings.

The county has been promoting this show, which usually features a freeholder who is up for re-election, steadily on their website since approximately a million yesterdays ago.

____________

Freeholder meetings are avialalbe on the UCWA Veotag account

Board heads back to TV - Star Ledger 7/7/06

Freeholder Forum Show county website promotion

County Watchers “What were they trying to keep from you?”

Earlier we reported that after the county claimed that the Dec. 20th freeholder meeting wasn’t recorded, despite the camera’s visibly rolling, the UCWA issued a press release and asked the prosecutor’s office to investigate. The county then changed their script and the Clerk emailed “Please be advised that the response form I faxed to you on December 28, 2007 stating “No recording to provide”, was inaccurate. A VHS tape is in fact available ….”

What were they trying to keep from you?

See for yourself at our Veotag account HERE.

Last Friday the UCWA asked the Union County Prosecutor to investigate why a copy of the Dec. 20th freeholder meeting wasn’t available through the Open Public Records Act. We also sent a press release to local media.

The County Clerk’s office sent the following email yesterday:

Dear Mrs. Renna,
This e-mail is a follow-up relative to your OPRA request of December 21, 2007 for a DVD copy (VHS if DVD not available) of the 12/20/07 Freeholder meeting. Please be advised that the response form I faxed to you on December 28, 2007 stating “No recording to provide”, was inaccurate. A VHS tape is in fact available and the cost to purchase same is $15.00.
Please accept my apologies for the error. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Office of the County Manager
Union County Administration Building, 6th Fl.
10 Elizabethtown Plaza
Elizabeth, NJ 07207

ORIGINAL POST

Meeting can be viewed HERE

On December 31, 2006 Time Magazine announced their 2006 person of the year on their cover which consisted of a mylar computer screen with a title “Person of the Year” “You”.

“You control the information age”. Wrote time…. “for seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, TIME’s Person of the Year for 2006 is you”.

We here at the County Watchers blog graciously accepted the honor, and as we had been doing since June 2005, we spent the next 12 months proving TIME right. I keep a framed copy of the cover on the shelf above my computer to remind me if the Countywatchers didn’t report on Union County government, then who would?

The Westfield Leader/Scotch Plains Times is the only newspaper that maintains a presence at freeholder meetings. As of September 2007 the Star-Ledger officially abandoned Union County government coverage. Ledger reporter Brian Murray left and there are no plans to replace him. Ledger reporter Robert Missek’s coverage of Union County consists of doctored press releases which come directly from the county. Sensational stories, such as the recent jail break, are handled by seasoned reporters, but what little investigative reporting the Ledger did in the past regarding the day to day operations of Union County government is now non-existent.

Although the freeholders have over a 400-million dollar budget and commands approximately 1/4 of our property tax bills, and more importantly is largely in charge of over a half a million resident’s public safety, most of what you read in the printed media are positive stories which come directly from the county’s extensive office of public information. Union County is spending more on Public Information salaries than any other county in the state. The government is in control of the printed media but they will never have control over our digital democracy.

Since its formation the Union County Watchdog Association has maintained a presence at every regular meeting of the freeholders. In February 2007 we began to air freeholder meetings on the web. One of our initiatives for 2008 will be to encourage all 21 towns in the county to begin to air freeholder meetings on their local cable access stations. This is not to be confused with the ½ hour show called “”Freeholders Forum” which is produced by the county’s public information department and is pure propaganda featuring freeholders who are up for re-election. We will encourage the towns to abolish this show.

A Countywatchers Year in Review “2007″

January

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

ORIGINAL POST
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Bergen Record Reports: State investigating Union County’s voting machines

“Nobody can understand what it’s all about; we have no idea,” said Dennis Kobitz, deputy administrator of the Union County Board of Elections, who spoke with his counterparts in other counties.

ORIGINAL POST
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No discipline for freeholder in Farber traffic case

Freeholder Estrada doesn’t have to worry about his patronage state job and can be as happy as he was pictured here….

ORIGINAL POST
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Christmas in February

The Countywatchers reported that On December 22, 2006, the Friday before Christmas, a “staff meeting” was held for county Juvenile Detention Center employees.

ORIGINAL POST
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APRIL

The Courier News- a Gannet Newspaper, reports Freeholder Adrian Mapp’s car was hit by a bullet.

ORIGINAL POST
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Union County Superintendent of Schools Displays Questionable Behavior

Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage appears to have the inside tract when it comes to obtaining government records and reports even when those documents are not obtainable under the Federal Freedom of Information Act, it has been reported by the Star-Ledger.

ORIGINAL POST
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The UC “Virtual” Improvement Authority”

It has been about six years that the Union County Improvement Authority has been renting space in a shop worn office building on Cherry Street in Elizabeth; the current rent is $2,500 per month. The commercial building is a short sprint, about 2 blocks from the county administration building. The UC Freeholders are in the process of purchasing the structure for $1.275 million to house the Improvement Authority.

ORIGINAL POST
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MAY

Union County elected municipal compensation study

How does your municipality fare against others in compensating your elected officials? What mayors and council members are also holding other public employment? The Union County Watchdog Association compiled the answers to these questions.

ORIGINAL POST
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Another bloated Union County Powerbroker-Controlled Budget is adopted

The Westfield Leader reported that a $414.4-million budget that called for taxes to be increased in 18 of the 21 municipalities as part of a $238.6-million tax levy. County taxes would jump 5.27 percent, or $11.6 million – about $66 per household countywide, according to county officials.

ORIGINAL POST
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County taxpayers have nothing to celebrate on 150th anniversary

ORIGINAL POST
_________________________________________________________________ June

Bills are still adding up for harassment lawsuit against Sheriff Ralph Frohlich, Inc.

ORIGINAL POST
_________________________________________________________________ July

Union County’s Early Retirement Offering - Is It Really Voluntary??

The county now finds itself embroiled in not one but at least two law suits stemming from their so called early retirement offerings and layoffs.

ORIGINAL POST
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August

Union County Watchdog Association wins OPRA lawsuit

ORIGINAL POST
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Recommended Labor Day weekend reading
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.

ORIGINAL POST
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September

Musicfest VIP compound

After being caught on film last year feasting and drinking in their exclusive tax-payer funded VIP tent, fit with celebrity port-a-potties, the county made sure they didn’t do it again - get caught on film that is.

ORIGINAL POST
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County owned Runnell’s Specialized Hospital is being run by a contractor

ORIGINAL POST
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Freeholders caught voting on something they knew nothing about

At tonight’s freeholder meeting confusion ensued over the freeholders second reading of a Bond Ordinance which provided their consent to the issuance by the Union County Improvement Authority of up to $7-mill in bonds to fund an organization that the freeholder’s knew nothing about, the Black United Fund-Plainfield Project. They also didn’t know who would be responsible for the bonds should the 501(c)3 organization default on their payments.

ORIGINAL POST
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October

County public information spin is as negligent and twisted as their prisoner care
ORIGINAL POST
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November

Union County served with subpoenas

ORIGINAL POST
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Peek into Union County machine politics

The Westfield Leader taped an interview with Freeholder Mapp. Mapp was thrown off the Democrat party line and is running as an independent.
ORIGINAL POST

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We get the government we deserve

The County of Union has recently settled a wrongful death lawsuit in the matter of Edward Sinclair, Jr., the 17 year old who died in their Juvenile Detention Center on May 10, 2003.

ORIGINAL POST
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County Manager goes to kathmandu
ORIGINAL POST
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December

Title Insurance Agency under investigation was to benefit from legislation

It is certainly interesting that other high ranking Union County Dems just happen to own shares in a title insurance company, “Camelot Title Agency LLC” in Woodbridge, NJ. They are said to be Union County Democrat Committee Chairwoman/Director Union County Improvement Authority/Legislative Aide to Neal Cohen - Charlotte DeFilippo who has had personal and business records subpoenaed by the State of NJ and Assemblyman/ NJ Democratic State Chairman/Union County Undersheriff - Joe Cryan, both appear to hold shares in the company and both are also Union County employees.

ORIGINAL POST
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Employee nepotism lawsuit settled

“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.

ORIGINAL POST
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Christmas bonuses for Lesniak’s nephew and the freeholders

ORIGINAL POST
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Got Out of Jail - What an Embarassment!!! Unseen by corrections officers, inmates Jose Espinosa and Otis Blunt apparently spent days - if not weeks - boring through their cells’ cement walls. They broke free, leaping some 30 feet over razor wire sometime last weekend. Their escape was not discovered until Saturday evening, when the men failed to rouse from their bunks for dinner.

ORIGINAL POST
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County’s new recording equipment malfunctions “again”

The Union County Watchdog Association has requested an investigation by the Union County Prosecutor’s Office into the malfunctioning of the recording equipment during the December 20, 2007 freeholder meeting. “I believe there may have been statements made during this meeting that could aid the current investigation into county management’s role in the prisoner escapes as well as past practices in the jail. Namely, prisoner health care, politically connected prisoners being given preferential treatment and the lack of cameras inside the facility” said Tina Renna, President of the UCWA.

ORIGINAL POST
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A county watchers year in review “2006″

ORIGINAL POST

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

View OPRA response HERE

At a September 27, 2007 freeholder meeting, that can now be viewed on the UCWA Veotag video meeting minutes account, confusion ensued when freeholder Adrian Mapp moved to table a 7-million dollar bond ordinance put forward by the Union County Improvement Authority for a non-profit organization located in Plainfield. “We still don’t know who is behind the project, or who is responsible from the Union County Improvement Authority” said Mapp who resides in Plainfield. The board couldn’t answer to what the project was or who the people involved were, but this didn’t stop them from voting 8-0 to push the borrowing forward.

Depending on how you look at the new information the Union County Watchdog Association has gathered regarding this bond issue, the plot either thickens or the fog is lifted on the workings of and between the Union County Improvement Authority and the freeholder board who usually unanimously votes 9-0 on every ordinance and resolution without public discussion. One thing is crystal clear – the freeholders follow their boss lady blindly and vote on ordinances they have no knowledge of.

The Improvement Authority is headed by Charlotte DeFilippo who is also the Union County Democrat Chairman. The Freeholder board is made up of 9 democrats who, because of a myriad of reasons for which people vote down the Democrat line, are quite literally appointed and fired by DeFilippo and her machine.

In defense of his vote, Freeholder Sullivan, who works for the State Motor Vehicle Commission stated “Based on the county rules of governance, we have to approve any and all projects that the Improvement Authority puts forward,” said Sullivan. “Based on their track record and my faith in the Improvement Authority, they have done their due diligence and understand what the risks are with all projects. That’s why they have my support.”

But who is doing the Authority’s due diligence? A copy of the following letter was obtained through the Open Public Records Act. It was addressed to the Clerk of the Board of Freeholders and shows how a vendor of the Improvement Authority wrote the ordinance the freeholders approved without having any knowledge about it:

Dear Ms. Tedeschi:

Enclosed herein for consideration by the Freeholders for their next regular meeting is an ordinance requesting the County’s consent to issuance by the Union County Improvement Authority of its bonds in the amount of not to exceed $7,000,0000 to finance African American Fund of New Jersey Plainfield Project, a pre-school facility.

Should the freeholders approve this financing, I ask that you kindly forward a certified copy of the Ordinance as introduced, and as adopted to my office.

If you have any questions or comments, please do no hesitate to contact me.

Very truly yours,

John G. Hudak, Esq. (Not Charlotte DeFilippo, the Director of the Union County Improvement Authority)

The above letter, which can be viewed in its entirety HERE, included an attachment with the language for the ordinance that the clerk placed on the freeholders September 27, 2007 agenda and was approved 8-1. The one abstention being from Freeholder Adrian Mapp, who has fallen out of favor with the machine and was not given the party line during his bid for reelection.

An OPRA request to the Improvement Authority seeking to find out how the Black United Fund went about requesting funding from the Improvement Authority was responded to via email:

Dear Mrs. Renna:
During your OPRA review of the Black United Fund materials from the law office of John Hudak you asked if we had any preliminary documentation to how the Black United Fund was bonded. I have found that the Black United Fund went directly to our bond council, Mr. John Hudak, Esq. office.

If further information is requested, please let me know.

Thank you,
Jennifer Erdos
Union County Improvement Authority
10 Cherry Street
Elizabeth, NJ 07207
908-820-9710

So, you see, Sullivan and the other Freeholders admittedly blindly voted to approve the ordinance without any knowledge of what it contained. And even though he said he did so because the ordinance was presented by the Improvement Authority, records show that it wasn’t. This has been the motus operendi of the Freeholder Board for the past ten years and has put the County government in financial crisis.

I was tossed out of the meeting because I reminded Sullivan that DeFilippo gave him his state job and that she could take it away. Before I left the mike, I asked if the meeting was being video taped because besides having spent $110,000 on new video equipment the Freeholders had stopped tapping meetings.

They taped the meeting.

Is this all just for an opportunity to reward ‘friends”? Plainfield Today: Friday, September 28, 2007 $7M bond for nonprofit may leave Plainfield on the hook..

Miscellaneous Documents obtained through OPRA:

Draft Summary & Terms of Purchase

Black United Fund Plan of Finance

Union County Improvement Authority Resolution

Hudak Letter & Ordinance

Miscellaneous Correspondence