2009 General - Union County Results

Star-Ledger, Wednesday, 11/04/2009

Union County election results

By New Jersey Local News Service

November 04, 2009, 12:07AM

Union County elections
Here are the unofficial results of local elections held Tuesday in Union County. Check marks indicate winners, and stars (*) denote incumbents. Vote totals are not included in uncontested races.

UNION COUNTY FREEHOLDERS

THREE 3-YEAR TERMS
√Deborah P. Scanlon (D)* 57,359
√Alexander Mirabella (D)* 57,193
√Mohamed S. Jalloh (D) 53,866
Nicole D. Cole (R) 49,097
Anthony Sytko (R) 47,842
Hope A. Thompson (I) 3,958
Karen Gielen (I) 3,389

UNION COUNTY SURROGATE

ONE 5-YEAR TERM
√James S. LaCorte (D)* 58,239
Arthur P. Zapolski (R) 46,891

BERKELEY HEIGHTS

TWO 3-YEAR COUNCIL TERMS
√Craig S. Pastore (R) 2,708
√Kevin J. Hall (R) 2,667
Alexandra Chirinos (I) 1,404
Thomas A. Battaglia (D)* 997
Murray Robbins (D) 899

CLARK

No municipal elections this year

CRANFORD

ONE 3-YEAR COMMITTEE TERM
√David W. Robinson (R)* 4,421
Kevin Illing (D) 3,448

ELIZABETH

No municipal elections this year

FANWOOD

TWO 3-YEAR COUNCIL TERMS
√Mike L. Szuch (R) 1,338
√Robert Manduca (R) 1,330
Donna M. Dolce (D)* 1,252
David R. Valian (D)* 1,201

GARWOOD

TWO 3-YEAR COUNCIL TERMS
√Timothy O. Hak (R) 658
√Keith Sluka (D)* 651
Kathleen M. Villaggio (D)* 640

James Matheson (R) 636

HILLSIDE

No municipal elections in November

KENILWORTH

TWO 3-YEAR COUNCIL TERMS
√Fred M. Pugliese (R)* 1,276
√Salvatore Candarella (R)* 1,268
Darrin McMahon (D) 743
Ronald Knecht (D) 726

LINDEN

ONE 3-YEAR WARD 1 COUNCIL TERM
√Christopher Kolibas (D)*
No Republicans filed

ONE 3-YEAR WARD 9 COUNCIL TERM
√Robert Frazier (I)* 736
Bryan Tomko (D) 576
No Republicans filed

MOUNTAINSIDE

TWO 3-YEAR COUNCIL TERMS
√William R. Lane (R)*
√Robert W. Messler (R)*
No Democrats filed

NEW PROVIDENCE

TWO 3-YEAR COUNCIL TERMS
√James Cucco (R)*
√J. Brooke Hern (R)*
No Democrats filed

PLAINFIELD

ONE 4-YEAR MAYORAL TERM
√Sharon Robinson-Briggs (D)* 4,906
James V. Pivnichny (R) 2,103
Deborah Joyce Dowe (I) 391

ONE 3-YEAR WARD 4 COUNCIL TERM
√Bridget B. Rivers (D)
No Republicans filed

RAHWAY

No local elections this year

ROSELLE

ONE 3-YEAR WARD 2 COUNCIL TERM
√Sylvia Turnage (D)*
No Republicans filed

ONE 3-YEAR WARD 5 COUNCIL TERM
√Christine Dansereau (D)*
No Republicans filed

ROSELLE PARK

ONE 3-YEAR WARD 2 COUNCIL TERM
√Joseph Accardi (R) 539
Michael Peterson (D) 287

ONE 3-YEAR WARD 5 COUNCIL TERM
√Michael Yakubov (R)* 519
David Jacobs (D) 193

SCOTCH PLAINS

ONE 1-YEAR COUNCIL TERM
√Dominick Bratti (R)* 3,950
Theresa E. Mullen (D) 3,349

SPRINGFIELD

TWO 3-YEAR COMMITTEE TERMS
√Jerry Fernandez (R) 2,651
√Marc A. Krauss (R) 2,480
Richard Huber (D) 2,062
David Barnett (D) 2,004

PUBLIC QUESTION
Should Springfield spend up to $4.5 million to renovate and upgrade the municipal pool complex?
Yes 1,246
√No 2,083

SUMMIT

ONE 3-YEAR WARD 1 COUNCIL TERM
√Nuris Portuondo (R)
No Democrats filed

ONE 3-YEAR WARD 2 COUNCIL TERM
√Richard J. Madden (R) 1,805
Laura Graff Coburn (D) 1,520

ONE 2-YEAR AT-LARGE COUNCIL TERM
√Stephen P. Murphy (D) 3,473
J. Andrew Lark (R)* 2,878

PUBLIC QUESTION
Should the city of Summit increase the term of the Councilman-at-Large from two years to four years, effective Jan. 1, 2014?
Yes 1,812
√No 2,062

UNION

TWO 3-YEAR COMMITTEE TERMS
√Anthony L. Terrezza (D)* 6,098
√Manuel T. Figueiredo (D) 6,042
Paul M. Verzosa (R) 5,553
Charles T. Donnelly (R) 5,487

WESTFIELD

ONE 4-YEAR MAYORAL TERM
√Andrew K. Skibitsky (R)* 6,714
William L. Brennan (D) 3,927

ONE WARD 1 COUNCIL TERM
√Sam Della Fera Jr. (R) 1,605
Janice Siegel (D) 1,146

ONE WARD 2 COUNCIL TERM
√Vicki Kimmins (R)*
No Democrats filed

ONE WARD 3 COUNCIL TERM
√Dave Haas (D)* 1,357
Tom Delaney (R) 1,088

ONE WARD 4 COUNCIL TERM
√Keith Loughlin (R) 1,412
Thomas Bigosinski (D)* 1,270

WINFIELD

ONE 3-YEAR COMMITTEE TERM
√David P. Wright Sr. (D)* 285
Tracey Welch (R) 184

Union County election results | Local New Jersey News - - NJ.com (4 November 2009)
http://www.nj.com/news/local/index.ssf/2009/11/union_county_election_results.html

http://snipurl.com/t2aqp
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Fraud - Courier - Cop faces insurance fraud charges

Published in the Courier News, Friday, June 12, 2009 (A-1)

Cop faces insurance fraud charges
20-year division veteran suspended

By MARK SPIVEY
STAFF WRITER

PLAINFIELD -- A 20-year veteran with the city's police division has been suspended without pay after being charged with insurance fraud, Public Safety Director Martin Hellwig said Thursday.

Officer David Thomas was charged with second-degree insurance fraud in connection with a homeowner's claim involving a computer, according to Hellwig.

A Union County Prosecutor's Office spokesman confirmed the charge Thursday but said no additional information was immediately available.

Thomas is entitled to a hearing within 30 days, said Hellwig, who added that the division plans to terminate him in the case of a conviction.

Calling Thomas a "good officer," Hellwig said the veteran cop worked in a "very critical area" of the division, helping compile Uniform Crime Reports, gather intelligence and issue daily reports.

The suspension may further strain the division's administrative ranks, Hellwig added, because of the recent retirement of two lieutenants and a captain.

Mark Spivey: 908-243-6607; mspivey@mycentraljersey.com.

This story did not appear online.

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or CLIPS endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

Jerry Green: Blog post on McWilliams family taken down

Jerry Green's Page

This post was taken down by the Assemblyman sometime before 8 AM, Friday, May 29, 2009.

Why?

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Give the late Al McWilliams the Respect He Deserves

I hope that with these remaining 8 days in the primary, we can discuss issues that are of concern to residents. Unfortunately, my opponents and the candidates running against the Mayor have yet to discuss what I and the public consider as solutions and moving ahead in the right directions.

I have not only developed a working relationship with Senator Bob Menendez, who I served with in the Legislature early in my career, but also with just about every Congressman that represents New Jersey. These sorts of relationships are very reassuring when I am able to reach out personally and get answers and solutions for my District.

That is why it is important that I make it very clear that I have the utmost respect for the late Al McWilliams and his family. Even when some people use his name for political reasons, I try very hard not to respond in a manner that would offend or slight the McWilliams name. If these people were true friends of the late mayor, they would make it their business to give the family the same respect and not misuse the McWilliams name. Any response from me to negative attacks from the opposition would be "spun" as an attack on the McWilliams family.

Politics can be a very tough business. As an elected official, I understand being in a position where sometimes you have to accept things being said that are not true, only for the greater good. I always try to remember that i will have a life after politics, so that I can always look people in their faces and know that I have been fair and honest. I hope these principles are adhered to within these final 8 days of the primary, especially in the use of the McWilliams name.

Whether the McWilliams’ decide to get in the campaign or stay out of it, the late Mayor deserves that respect. I for one have no feelings of negativity towards his family, especially since his daughter is an elected official within my District. The only relationship we have is a professional one. All I ask is that those involved in this local campaign give the late Mayor Al McWilliams the respect he deserves by keeping him out of political games within this primary season.

Posted by Assemblyman Jerry Green at 11:34 AM

Plainfield Schools - Courier - Guard suspended after strip search

Published in the Courier News, Saturday, May 16, 2009, page A-8

Guard who searched student suspended

By MARK SPIVEY
STAFF WRITER

PLAINFIELD -- A female security guard at the city high school has been suspended after she strip-searched a 15-year-old female student who was falsely accused of stealing a cell phone, school and police officials said.

Police launched an investigation into the incident shortly after it happened on May 8, according to Public Safety Director Martin Hellwig, who said authorities determined no touching or sexual gratification was involved and, therefore, no criminal charges are pending. But Hellwig said he supported the school district's decision to suspend the guard, callin the situation "an overstepping of her bounds."

"Although it's not criminal, it's certainly an intolerable action," Hellwig said.

Schools Superintendent Steve Gallon III said the guard said the guard was suspended with pay immediately after the incident being reported, and added that a final decision on further action will be takend after school officials have an opportunity to review reports from police and the state division of Youth and Family Services, which conducted its own review.

Gallon said that based on preliminary assessments of the matter, he is recommending that the guard, whom he declined to be identified, be terminated.

"This allegation is something we take very seriously," Gallon said. "These alleged actions were taken outside any current appropriate procedures employ in regard to student safety."

Gallon said school officials have offered the student their support.

This item appeared in the print edition ONLY on Friday, May 16. Archived here.

(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or CLIPS endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

Hackensack UMC - Record- Sanzari Involvement

Published on NorthJersey.com, Tuesday, April 28,2009

[HUMC, Coniglio, Sanzari, Bergen Dems, PMK, more]

Sanzari got years to pay his dumping bill

Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Last updated: Tuesday April 28, 2009, 10:07 AM

BY JEFF PILLETS
NorthJersey.com
STAFF WRITER

Firms owned by Joseph Sanzari, the prominent contractor with deep ties to Bergen County's ruling Democratic Party, dumped fill and construction debris at the Overpeck Park site for two years without being charged, while other haulers paid by the truckload.

The firms dumped well over 100,000 cubic yards of debris at the county-owned site before Bergen County officials even sent a bill, in October 2007.

Sanzari's trucks by that time had been coming to Overpeck since the spring of 2005 and had run up a $609,000 tab, delivering thousands of loads from publicly financed road and redevelopment jobs across North Jersey.

Scores of other haulers, by contrast, paid tipping fees as often as 10 times a month, records show, with most paying two or three times a month.

Even after Sanzari began to make payments, records show he maintained a significant balance. In fact, his companies still owed $320,000 in tipping fees when The Record first started to ask questions about the matter earlier this month. County officials said that Joseph M. Sanzari Inc. made payments of $150,000 and $18,000 the week of April 13. A second firm, Creamer-Sanzari, A Joint Venture, paid $152,000 last Friday.

Bergen County's failure to collect from Sanzari's companies came at a time when officials were struggling to finance skyrocketing expenses associated with the Overpeck project. More than $100 million in bond offerings and open-space tax reserves have already been dedicated to the project site in Leonia, Teaneck and Ridgefield Park, where a former garbage dump is being converted into what officials promise will be "Bergen County's Central Park."

Those officials are now declining to discuss details of their dealings with Sanzari, a leading Democratic contributor who is also the employer of state Sen. Paul A. Sarlo of Wood-Ridge.

The Bergen County Improvement Authority, which has responsibility for the project, said it was not equipped to keep tabs on such a large undertaking. The quasi-governmental agency outsourced oversight for the project to PMK Group, a politically connected project-management firm.

"There's basically a staff of three people over there," Keith Furlong, a BCIA spokesman, said last week. "They rely on hired professionals to do the oversight."

Furlong, in a prepared statement, said Overpeck truckers "occasionally" make late tipping-fee payments. "This is typical during such a large construction project," he said.

He added that the agency has full faith in the work of PMK of Cranford, which has received $6.7 million since being hired as project manager in 2005.

In a brief interview before issuing the statement, Furlong said he could not explain why the agency had waited more than two years to collect payments from one of Overpeck's major fill suppliers. He did not respond to further questions this week.

PMK officials also did not respond to requests for interviews last week. Discussing the issue earlier this month, PMK executive Bashar Assadi said the county, not PMK, made all decisions about the haulers who dumped at Overpeck.

"We aren't bill collectors," said Assadi, PMK's lead man at the Overpeck site. "We tell the county if someone owes, and after that it is up to them."

BCIA records show that all Overpeck documents, including billing invoices, are signed by Executive Director Edward Hynes. In addition to its $140,000-a-year chief, the BCIA has a board of directors that has approved a range of expensive add-ons that have pushed the project's price tag past $70 million, from a $45 million cost estimate just two years ago.

Neither Hynes nor BCIA Chairman Ronald O'Malley returned phone calls for this story.

Sanzari's office also declined to discuss their record at Overpeck. But in a statement released last Friday, a company official said the county sent Sanzari's firms only two tipping-fee bills in the past four years.

"As of today Joseph M. Sanzari Inc. and its affiliated companies does not owe any money to the BCIA," said Jo Ann M. Dellechiaie, the company's vice president. "At all times during the project, [Sanzari companies] followed all protocols regarding testing, sampling and invoicing as established by PMK Engineering."

She said that the Sanzari firms — which have supplied about 15 percent of all Overpeck fill — have paid as much per cubic yard as other haulers who dumped at Overpeck, and sometimes more.

Sanzari, of Ho-Ho-Kus, and his construction firms enjoy a reputation for timely completion of complex public projects, including the successful reconstruction of the once-snarled intersection of Routes 4 and 17.

He also is known as one of New Jersey's most visible pay-to-play contractors, one with deep ties to officials who set state policy and make key spending decisions. State records attribute more than $100,000 in contributions to New Jersey candidates and committees since 2006 to Joseph M. Sanzari Inc. and those associated with the firm.

Between 2006 and 2008, his companies were awarded more than $380 million in public contracts.

As the chief operating officer of Sanzari's construction firm, Sarlo has a direct role overseeing the firm's multimillion-dollar dealings with state and local public agencies. His work includes the endorsement of bid documents and the review of expenses in public projects.

Sarlo also had his Trenton aide, Chris Eilert, sign some Sanzari company documents as a witness. Eilert said he is a notary public and any signature for Sarlo's company was probably done "over dinner" with Sarlo, off government property.

Sarlo says his employment by Sanzari does not conflict with his part-time job in Trenton, where he sits as a majority member of key committees that control state spending on construction projects. He declined to speak about Sanzari's record at Overpeck.

"I'm not really allowed to say anything," Sarlo said.

Sarlo declined to respond when informed of data that show J. Fletcher Creamer of Hackensack, Sanzari's partner in the Joint Venture, made frequent and regular payments to the county for material trucked in by a firm he owns separate from Sanzari.

Overpeck project records show that in the fall of 2007, Sarlo stepped in to stop the county from an attempt to collect some of the money owed by Sanzari's companies.

In a letter to the BCIA, PMK had recommended that the county withhold $200,000 it owed to another Sanzari-related firm, North Bergen Rock Products, for clean rocks used at the Overpeck site.

But in conversations with PMK, the records show, Sarlo successfully argued that the county could not withhold payment because North Bergen Rock, legally, is a separate company.

Asked if the county challenged Sarlo's interpretation or sought any further negotiation on the debt, a PMK official said he was uncertain what happened next, if anything.

"Sarlo told us we couldn't deduct the payment and, as far as I know, that was the end of the matter," said Assadi, the project manager.

North Bergen Rock Products lists its business address as 90 W. Franklin St., Hackensack. It is the same address as Joseph M. Sanzari Inc., and at least two other Sanzari companies.

Overpeck project invoices show that the county does not have records detailing how much material Sanzari's crews trucked in from the Carlstadt project. An Oct. 31, 2007, letter shows that the Overpeck project manager instead estimated the amount once it was already in place, noting that it was spread over 6 acres to a depth of about 4 feet.

E-mail: pillets@northjersey.com

Online story here. Archived here.

(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or CLIPS endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

Hackensack UMC - Record - Deep Dem Connections

Published on NorthJersey.com, Sunday, April 26,2009

Tangled web of power: Hospital's influence reaches far

Sunday, April 26, 2009
Last updated: Sunday April 26, 2009, 11:43 AM

BY MARY JO LAYTON
NorthJersey.com
STAFF WRITER

The trial of former state Sen. Joseph Coniglio, convicted in a bribery scandal involving Hackensack University Medical Center, exposed the hospital’s reach into the State House — and put a spotlight on the wealthy, influential men who serve as the hospital’s power brokers.

Hackensack’s board members have connections and political muscle that extend far beyond the hospital. At black-tie fund-raisers and dinners at board member Joseph Sanzari’s Stony Hill Inn, business — hospital and otherwise — is on the agenda.

Various board members help to underwrite Bergen County’s Democratic machine and powerful lawmakers in Trenton. They’re awarded many of the region’s public construction contracts. They have the network — and the money — to smooth over zoning issues for the hospital. Testimony at the trial this month showed they supported the hiring of Coniglio, who was convicted of steering millions in grants to Hackensack while on the hospital’s payroll.

"A political machine" is how Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas R. Calcagni described the hospital as he told jurors about Hackensack’s relationships with former acting governor and Senate President Richard Codey, state Sen. Paul Sarlo, Coniglio and others during the trial.

"There are board members who could pick up the phone and call the governor and say, ‘I need help on this,’ " Coniglio’s defense lawyer, Gerald Krovatin, said at the trial.

The hospital’s most powerful board members include major contractors Sanzari and J. Fletcher Creamer Jr., whose political roots run as deep as their wallets. Joseph Simunovich, who rose up through the Hudson County political arena to become chairman of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and a fund-raiser for Sen. Bob Menendez, is also a key member of the hospital’s inner circle of decision makers. With their help, John P. Ferguson, the hospital’s president and CEO, has taken what was once a community hospital and built it into a $1 billion enterprise — the busiest and, in many ways, the best hospital in the state.

But while Hackensack’s board members are generous donors — and prolific fund-raisers — some are also making money off the hospital. It’s a practice that is frowned upon by health care experts and outright banned at some hospitals in North Jersey, where officials say it crosses an ethical line.

A few examples from the hospital’s federal tax filings for 2007, the latest available:

* Companies owned by Sanzari and Creamer are building a 975-car garage as part of the $135 million cancer center now under construction. Creamer was paid more than $475,000 by the hospital for construction services.

* The hospital paid more than $2 million to Progenitor Cell Therapy, a private stem cell research company owned in part by Ferguson; Dr. Andrew Pecora, director of the cancer center; board members Peter C. Gerhard, George T. Croonquist and Samuel Toscano Jr.; and the hospital’s chief operating officer, Robert C. Garrett.

* The hospital paid $2.5 million to lease space from Sanzari 2001, where board member David Sanzari — Joseph’s cousin — is a managing member with an ownership stake. It also spent $68,000 at the Marriott at Glenpointe hotel, which is owned by David Sanzari’s family.

* The DeCotiis law firm, one of the most influential in the state, made more than $1 million from the hospital. It is representing the hospital in the Coniglio case and guiding its campaign to reopen Pascack Valley Hospital in Westwood. During that time, Frank Huttle III, a partner, served on the board. He said Friday that he resigned recently.

* Universal Health, which operates a retail pharmacy at the hospital, received $200,000. At the time, Toscano was the company’s chief executive officer.

‘Squeaky clean’ is the goal

These types of arrangements trouble expert Jamie Orlikoff, who said hospitals nationally are moving away from allowing trustees to serve if they do business with their hospital.

"It doesn’t pass the smell test," said Orlikoff, a national adviser on governance and leadership to the American Hospital Association.

"When you govern a hospital, you’re governing the most important asset in the community," he said. "You should be squeaky clean."

Englewood Hospital and Medical Center had its general counsel step down from the board to avoid any conflict, said Douglas Duchek, the hospital’s president. Other than doctors, no other board members are being paid by the institution, he said.

State Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck, is so concerned about the potential for abuse that she introduced a bill in October that requires boards to disclose any potential or perceived conflict of interest. The bill also would require hospitals to solicit bids in awarding any contract for more than $25,000.

"If board members themselves are also making a profit from their association, that information should be fully divulged,’’ she said. "We can actually look at what’s grown up to be cozy relationships and decide whether they’re appropriate."

Assemblywoman Valerie Huttle, D-Englewood, sponsored the bill in the Legislature. Her husband is Frank Huttle, who said he resigned from the board because of time constraints.

Screen of privacy

Despite all the public money that goes to the hospital, it’s considered a private institution. Board meetings are closed and contracts are not disclosed. That makes it difficult to paint a full picture of the business of running the hospital.

The hospital has offered little in the way of comment since the Coniglio trial began. On Friday afternoon, however, it released this statement:

"Community-based institutions throughout the nation rely on the support of local civic and business leaders who serve on their governing boards. Members of the Hackensack University Medical Center board of governors are generous with their time and their financial support, but more importantly have gained the skills to govern a complex institution such as ours. An independent, nationally recognized authority on not-for-profit governance has counseled HUMC for more than five years. The HUMC board’s best practices model includes a rigorous annual disclosure statement and ongoing education. This conflicts of interest policy is enforced by a dedicated committee of the board of governors."

The Record called Creamer, Sanzari, Ferguson, Toscano and other board members for this article, but only one, Simunovich, would speak.

Simunovich said he was "saddened" by the Coniglio verdict, but said board members were not involved in hiring the senator.

"We didn’t sign off on him," he said Thursday. "Board members don’t hire or fire."

He said he had been in Florida and hadn’t paid attention to the trial. "All I got was a phone call that he was found guilty," he said.

There are "no politicians that I know of [on the board]," Simunovich said. "You certainly do have corporate representation, and of course you have people we count on for their advice and guidance."

He did not respond to a question about the possible ethical tightrope walked by board members who do business with the hospital.

Big winners in grant race

The Coniglio trial served as a primer on the backroom politics of New Jersey, where certain grants, known as "Christmas tree items," were doled out based on who has "the juice." By all accounts, Hackensack mastered the game and loomed large in Trenton. From 2004 to 2006, the hospital received $17.4 million for its cancer center, an extra $9 million in charity care above the millions it was already getting and $250,000 for the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital. A $900,000 research grant was awarded to the private stem cell firm at the hospital and $70,000 went for a seat belt study.

Those awards dwarf the grants given to Hackensack’s competitors. The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, for instance, took in less than $1 million a year in both state and federal grants during that time, according to the hospital’s tax filings.

Robert L. Torre, a hospital vice president who was given immunity to serve as the government’s star witness, testified that Ferguson authorized Coniglio’s hiring. Torre, who testified that he didn’t need Coniglio, said that after a conference call with Simunovich, Joseph Sanzari and Ferguson, it was clear Coniglio would be hired.

Coniglio, a former plumber, was paid $103,900 between May 2004 and February 2006 for a low-show "community relations" job at Hackensack. "Hackensack’s personal senator," as he was called at the trial, got a $500-a-month raise after the hospital received checks for state grants, prosecutors said.

But the trial showed the hospital’s reach went further than one legislator. Coniglio’s defense attorney said that Torre had "played Joe Coniglio like a fiddle" to get to Codey. A Dec. 13, 2005, report from Torre to his board of trustees credited Codey, in his role as acting governor, for a $9 million award for the cancer center, and noted $3 million of that grant would be earmarked for The Maureen Fund, established in honor of Codey’s aide, to fight ovarian cancer.

Weight to throw around

The power Hackensack wields comes as no surprise to other hospital executives.

"The trial hasn’t showed us anything we didn’t know. It’s not a level playing field," Duchek said. Englewood and Valley are battling Hackensack’s plan — and its considerable P.R. machine — to open a 128-bed hospital in Westwood, which they say could significantly harm the finances of other hospitals in the region.

Besides its board and its members’ connections, Hackensack has weight to throw around because it is Bergen County’s biggest business and one of the state’s top 10 employers. It boasts marquee physicians providing care that rivals that of the nation’s best hospitals.

Hackensack University Medical Center ranks high in nearly every national and state assessment of patient care. Founded in 1888 with 12 beds and as Bergen County’s first hospital, it now has 775 beds and 7,200 employees.

Its fund raising is the envy of the other hospitals in the region. Benefactors include Don Imus and his wife, Deirdre. Even in these tough times, the Hackensack University Medical Foundation reported a staggering $25.3 million in donations last year.

Hackensack’s president, Ferguson, is ranked 12th — just behind House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — in Modern Healthcare’s list of the most influential health care leaders in the nation.

The 60-year-old Park Ridge resident’s name came up often at the trial as the omnipotent boss involved in every decision. He was never charged or called to testify.

But the case may not be over for the hospital. When asked why hospital executives weren’t charged, Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Brown said the investigation is continuing. "I think heads at HUMC should roll," jury foreman Walter Palkocki said. "Their culpability is significant."

Influential roles

At Hackensack, a few names — Simunovich, Ferguson, Sanzari, Creamer — keep showing up in influential roles on key boards. They serve as trustees of the Hackensack University Medical Center Foundation, the hospital’s fund-raising arm, as well as the hospital’s board of governors and Hillcrest Health Service System, the hospital’s parent corporation. Leading contractors and developers — Sanzari, Creamer and John C. Fowler — are on the building committee.

During the trial, a large photo of Simunovich seated next to Codey at a hospital fund-raiser was shown to jurors as an example of his access and influence.

In his closing statement, Coniglio’s attorney credited Simunovich and Sanzari with snaring a $500,000 state grant for the hospital without the help of lobbyists or legislators.

Simunovich is the former chairman of the board of governors and current chairman of the board of trustees for the Hackensack University Medical Center Foundation, the hospital’s fund-raising arm.

Simunovich, the former president of United Water Management and Services, was a Hudson County freeholder for 12 years, three as chairman. He served under three governors on the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and is the former chairman of the Bergen County Economic Development Corp., serving along with Ferguson and Creamer. The corporation was later part of a movement to create a bio-tech development area near the hospital.

Governor Corzine did not reappoint Simunovich to the Turnpike Authority in 2007 after he was investigated by the State Ethics Commission; as chairman, he had voted on millions in public contracts that were awarded to Sanzari while he accepted free rides on the contractor’s private jet. Simunovich paid a $50,000 fine, which was not an admission of guilt.

"Mr. Simunovich’s actions do not reflect the standards demanded by the governor for those who serve in his administration," Corzine’s then-spokesman Anthony Coley said.

During that probe, critics pointed out that a company run by Simunovich’s son-in-law landed a contract in 2005 to renovate a thrift shop run by the auxiliary of the hospital’s foundation. Torre said at the time that Simunovich had nothing to do with that decision.

Big contributor

Joseph Sanzari serves as first vice chairman, the No. 2 position on the hospital’s board of governors.

He’s a generous hospital contributor: He and his wife gave $10 million to the children’s and women’s hospital that bears their names. Just days before the trial began, Sanzari contributed an additional $1 million to Hackensack.

Sanzari, who started his business with two trucks and a backhoe, is a leader in highway construction. His companies have taken in more than $380 million in three years through contracts with public agencies, including the Turnpike Authority, Xanadu, and other entities, according to the pay-to-play databank prepared by the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission. The Ho-Ho-Kus resident is such a prominent contractor that he was once serenaded by Luciano Pavarotti at a builders’ event in his honor.

Sanzari is part owner of both the Stony Hill Inn in Hackensack and the New Bridge Inn in New Milford, popular hangouts for Bergen County’s political elite. Sanzari, his companies and employees have contributed more than $100,000 to political campaigns and political action committees in the past three years, according to data the company provided to state elections regulators.

Among his top employees is state Sen. Paul Sarlo, also the mayor of Wood-Ridge. Sarlo oversees billions in public spending as a lead member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he also controls key appointments to state agencies that have awarded millions in contracts to Sanzari’s firms.

Sarlo, chief operating officer for Sanzari’s construction company, testified at the trial that he was largely responsible for getting the $900,000 grant for the hospital’s cancer center. He said he also lobbied Codey for the $9 million cancer center grant and played a role in the $900,000 grant for stem cell research at the hospital.

Deep connections

J. Fletcher Creamer Jr., the chairman of the hospital’s board of governors and vice chairman of the foundation board, also has deep connections in Bergen County.

J. Fletcher Creamer & Son Inc. received more than $84 million in public contracts in Bergen County and elsewhere in New Jersey from 2006 to 2008. The company contributed $152,185 to candidates or committees last year, according to ELEC’s pay-to-play Web site.

Like the Sanzaris, Creamer family members are significant contributors to the hospital: Hackensack’s trauma center bears the name of Jeffrey M. Creamer, the late brother of the current board chairman.

Frank Huttle — who is running for mayor in Englewood — is a partner in the Teaneck-based DeCotiis law firm, whose senior management includes chief counsels to two former governors and has a client roster that ranges from EnCap Golf and Xanadu to scores of public entities. Two partners in the firm attended the Coniglio trial virtually every day to represent the hospital.

Federal tax filings for 2007 identify several other board members who work for companies that do business with the hospital. For instance, the hospital paid North Jersey Media Group, The Record’s parent company, $371,255 for advertising in 2007. Jennifer Borg, vice president and general counsel, serves on the hospital’s boards.

In tax filings, the hospital notes: "Any goods purchased or services performed are done so at fair market value rates pursuant to arms length negotiations." The hospital’s bylaws require members of the board to tell the hospital of potential conflicts of interest and to abstain from voting on such issues, but that information — and even the votes — are not public.

Power over local decisions

Hackensack’s power, its money and its vast web of connections isn’t just in Trenton. It also reaches into the local level and into Washington:

* When the hospital wanted to build a new cancer center over the objections of residents, it turned to Scarinci & Hollenbeck, the influential firm where then-Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero was a partner. Two of the city’s five council members at the time were members of the county Democratic committee, a third was once a member, and a fourth had a job with the county. A political action committee run by the medical center had once donated thousands to this political team. In addition to those connections, the hospital paid the city $1 million and promised to take over its daytime ambulance services. Ferriero, who is now under federal indictment for conspiracy to commit fraud, notarized the deal, which was witnessed by Sanzari.

* Less than a week after the Bergen freeholders pledged not to take sides in the battle over whether Hackensack should be allowed to reopen Pascack Valley Hospital, they passed a unanimous resolution supporting Hackensack. That meeting was jammed with construction workers led by Richard "Buzzy" Dressel — a board member of Hackensack’s foundation who also is a leader of the county Democratic Party, the business manager of a local union itching for renovation work at Pascack and a partner in Sanzari’s New Bridge Inn. They grabbed all the seats before the session began, so that employees bused in from opposing hospitals were stuck in an overflow room.

* In Washington, Michael Hutton, a lobbyist who had done work for the hospital’s foundation, hosted a swanky reception to celebrate Menendez’s swearing in at the Senate in 2007. Hackensack hospital was among a handful of groups — including Verizon and AT&T — that funded the private celebration, where Simunovich and other partygoers feasted on shrimp and lobster pasta. When questioned later, Torre conceded that non-profit firms are barred from political activity. But this was not a political event, he said. "It was hosted by a third party," Torre said.

Union leader Ann Twomey said the trial "makes it clear there wasn’t enough oversight’’ at Hackensack.

"It’s a matter of making sure the scarce patient-care dollars are going to where they belong and that it’s not being influenced by those who are in the greatest position of power — the board of trustees," said Twomey, president of the Health Professional & Allied Employees, a union that represents employees at several area hospitals.

Twomey said Weinberg’s proposed legislation should outright ban trustees from doing any business with their hospital.

At The Valley Hospital, just one board member — its chairman, the president of a hospital supply company — does business with the hospital, said hospital President Audrey Meyers.

The chairman, Vincent Forlenza, who works at Becton, Dickinson and Co., does not participate in any decisions about purchasing supplies, she said.

The hospital directly bought $83,000 worth of supplies from the company and paid an additional $1.6 million as part of a group purchasing program, Meyers said.

"The Valley Hospital does not allow trustees to do business with the hospital unless a trustee works for a company where the value of our business is insignificant to that company," she said.

Others agree that hospitals need to stay away from mixing business with service on the board.

In the public’s mind, if a contractor who serves on the board is the successful bidder, there may be a perception of insider dealing, Orlikoff said.

"It’s exactly this sticky, one-hand-washes-the-other-hand mess you’re trying to avoid," he said.

Staff Writers Peter J. Sampson, Lindy Washburn, Mike Kelly, Jeff Pillets, Bob Groves and James M. O’Neill contributed to this article. E-mail: layton@northjersey.com

Online story here. Archived here.

(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or CLIPS endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

New Dems - PolitickerNJ - Mapp opens headquarters

Published on PolitickerNJ Monday, April 19,2009

April 19, 2009 - 3:43pm

In campaign HQ opener, Mapp appeals to 4th Ward,
emphasizes tough background

By Max Pizarro, PolitickerNJ.com Reporter

PLAINFIELD – Running as the New Democrat successor of the late Mayor Al McWilliams, 3rd Ward Councilman Adrian Mapp opened his campaign headquarters on Watchung Avenue Saturday and promised to end what he described as “a dictatorial form of government” in Union County’s Queen City, and to fairly represent all four wards.

“I will create an economic development plan that is not developer-driven, and develop an aggressive marketing plan to enhance Plainfield’s image,” said Mapp, standing at a podium in front of an American Flag hung from the ceiling. “With a transit village tax credit, the train station can be our linch pin for revitalization. I would also like to undertake a study of all brownfield structures and create retail store ratables where possible.”

A large concentration of those old structures stands in the 4th Ward, the city’s longtime poorest residential district and the epicenter of the 1967 Plainfield riots. When she first won election nearly four years ago with the establishment backing of Assemblyman Jerry Green (D-Plainfield) , Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs defeated then-incumbent Mayor Al McWilliams in the 4th, 868 to 698 votes.

As a candidate on the New Democrats’ ticket with Mapp last year, McWilliams’ daughter, At-Large Councilwoman Annie McWilliams, came back and crushed Robinson-Briggs ally Councilman Harold Gibson. But while she beat him decisively in the 4th Ward, (233 to 151 votes), voter turnout remained low there compared to Plainfield’s other three wards. In the more affluent, New Democrat-controlled 2nd Ward, where McWilliams lives, she buried Gibson, 738 to 270.

On Saturday, Mapp made a special appeal to the 4th.

“We cannot leave anybody behind,” said the former freeholder, a native of Barbados who along with his wife raised two daughters in this city. “We must move forward with all four wards.”

Touted by his allies as an egghead who will be able to make surgical decisions regarding the city’s budget, Mapp works as the chief financial officer for the City of Roselle. That town’s mayor, Garrett Smith, Mapp’s wife Emilia and New Democrat Assembly candidate Rick Smiley joined a crowd of about 50 people at the storefront-sized downtown HQ in support of Mapp, who’s challenging Mayor Robinson-Briggs in the June 2nd Democratic Primary.

“You have a great man here,” Smith told Mapp’s allies. “You don’t get MBAs and CPAs everyday in this line, because of the dirt in politics, quality people don’t want to run. But you’ve got a gem, and he will be an awesome mayor.”

Pat Politano, campaign strategist for Robinson-Briggs, said there's nothing wrong with the current mayor.

"During Sharon's tenure, she has cut the murder rate by 300% - from 15 to five - and stabilized taxes," Politano said. "Come on, this is a candidate (Mapp) who collects two public paychecks and wants to be somebody. He's going nowhere. When he was a councilman (during the McWilliams era), he didn't even know the 4th Ward existed. He wanted to make cuts to the police department as a so-called fiscal lconservative without considering the impact in the greatest areas of need."

There is a larger political context to the mayor's race here, as Green and Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) face a 22nd District general election challenge from Republicans former Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks and his running mate, Bo Vastine. In the meantime, they will have to get through Smiley, 49, who heads the ticket in Plainfield that includes Mapp.

Employed by the City of Plainfield for 23 years as director of community relations among other jobs, Smiley is on leave from his job coordinating the opening of Headstart facilities, to focus on the campaign.

“The closing of Muhlenberg Hospital transcends Plainfield,” said Smiley, speaking to his signature campaign issue. “My message will get around. I’ve got a little time now to get my message out there.”

The New Democrats’ decision to not field a second assembly candidate indicates their focus on the mayor’s race. “I’m comfortable having Rick on the ticket,” said Mapp. “There is such a level of dissatisfaction in Plainfield and in the 22nd District. Every town in the legislative district was affected by the closing of the hospital.”

In the speech he gave on Saturday following a shorter address delivered by Smiley, Mapp invoked the idealism of Lincoln and Obama, and committed to embracing renewable energy, building the police department to a complement of 160 officers, and ensuring the federal census properly records Plainfield’s population over the 50,000 mark in order to land a coveted category to qualify for more inner city funding.

“Most importantly,” he said, “I will listen to you.”

On the battlefield of ward politics, the knock on Mapp is he’s too cerebral, but his allies repeatedly plugged his intellect and detail-oriented approach as irrefutable strengths. The well-spoken candidate himself referred to his hard background lest anyone confuse him with a silver spoon transplant.

“I was raised in a one-parent household in extreme poverty,” he said.

As the challenger reached the emotional high point of his speech, a car alarm went off in the adjoining alleyway. Undeterred, Mapp’s vocal chords competed momentarily before outlasting the distraction.

While the New Democrats possess the advantage of having just vaulted Mapp and McWilliams onto the council last year, they still face the money and machine edge enjoyed by the establishment, and a formidable opponent in the mayor.

New Democrat School Board Member Christian Estevez told the crowd, “That tired machine will recruit teenagers to work for them and those teenagers will take their money and dump their pamphlets in the gutter. But we’ll be out there working for every vote.”

Max Pizarro is a PolitickerNJ.com Reporter and can be reached via email at max@politicsnj.com.

Online story here. Archived here.

(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or CLIPS endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

PMUA - Courier - Watson defends conferences, travel

Published in the Courier News print edition Sunday, May 10,2009

May 9, 2009 [online]

PMUA chief defends cost of training conferences,
travel for Plainfield agency's employees

By MARK SPIVEY
STAFF WRITER

Having fallen under fire earlier this year for introducing drastic rate hikes and laying off more than a dozen employees, the city's waste management organization is on the defensive again after it spent thousands of dollars to send more than a dozen top officials to a conference in California two weeks ago.

Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority Executive Director Eric Watson confirmed that 13 members of the organization's board of commissioners and other executives attended the 2009 National Forum for Black Public Administrators conference in Oakland, Calif., from April 25 to 29. The trip cost approximately $25,000, Watson said, with that amount covering hotel stays of up to six nights at the Oakland Marriott plus airline tickets and conference registration fees. Watson also said he was allotted a $140 daily per diem for the trip, with other staffers receiving daily per diems of $100 or $75 depending on their seniority.

The trip came less than four months after the authority raised its solid waste fees by 20 percent and its sanitary sewer fees by 14 percent for 2009, costing the city's average single-family household nearly $200 more per year. Officials cited falling revenues and rising costs as necessitating those moves, adding that 20 of the authority's 170 workers were laid off and the remainder asked to take unpaid furloughs to help offset deficits.

The California trip resulted in a flood of complaints from residents and authors of some of the city's popular blogs, and drew near-universal criticism from both sides of the city's sharply defined political fence that separates two powerful Democratic camps.

"I think it's ridiculous, it's an outrage, to have the PMUA — in light of the challenges taxpayers are facing lately, and the fact that people are being laid off — pay money to take (13) people out to California," said City Councilman Adrian Mapp, the mayoral candidate for the city's self-labeled "New Democrats." "I think it shows that the leadership of the PMUA is totally out of touch."

"This is the final straw, because the public is crying out that this has to stop," agreed Assemblyman Jerry Green, D-Plainfield, longtime leader of the city's traditional Democratic organization. "I'm looking at the bigger picture when I say some of the city's agencies ... run by commissioner appointment by the mayor and council almost feel that they're not accountable to anyone. Well, that's not true."

BETTER SERVICE

Authority officials vigorously defended the trip last week, claiming it was intended to help improve business practices and efficiency within the organization. Watson, who sits on the National Forum for Black Public Administrators board of directors, said classes and seminars at the conference centered on various topics including improving morale in the workplace, coping with stress associated with downsizing and applying for federal stimulus funding.

"I think it makes us better employees, and the more knowledgeable you are, the better. And if you have disgruntled and unhappy employees, that's pretty tough on your business," Watson said. "Conferences and training are part of your job, and we want our employees to be the best trained as they can be."

Authority Chairwoman Carol Ann Brokaw Boles, whose participation as a panelist during a conference seminar titled "A Three-Way Affair: Tightening the Bonds Between Local Government, Immigrants and Established Residents" is touted on the front page of the PMUA's Web site, agreed. Brokaw labeled recent criticism directed toward the authority as representing political posturing, not legitimate grievances.

"I'm not saying the PMUA is perfect, but nothing about any entity is perfect. And we certainly try everything we can to make our operation as efficient and intelligent as possible," said Brokaw, who recently announced her candidacy for mayor. "PMUA has just become political football this year, and some people have decided to make that the mantra of their entire political campaigns."

Watson further defended the trip by pointing out the authority's annual travel and training budget, which he estimated to have approached $175,000 in recent years, recently was slashed to $100,000 "because of the economy." He said the authority does not intend to curtail plans to send from four to six officials to two additional conferences in Las Vegas and Long Beach, Calif., later this year.

"To suggest a person shouldn't be able to go learn something and train is ridiculous," Watson said. "As long as I am executive director here, I will allow people to grow."

PUBLIC OUTCRY

Explanations fell on deaf ears among many city residents.

"What are they doing? At a time like this, when the economy's bad and people are suffering, why would you do things that would create greater expenses for people and have to raise (rates) to pay for them?" asked Bill Pyfer, a 63-year-old retired federal agent who lives on Cedarbrook Road.

"It was a weekend vacation for these people," agreed Carol Pyfer, his wife. "I see very little being done for the good of the people here."

Philip Charles, who has spearheaded a residents' campaign against the PMUA by founding the Web site www.dumppmua.com and filing a lawsuit against the authority that features multiple charges and plaintiffs, said he and other fellow residents were "deeply saddened" by the news.

"The fact that they would continue to send this number of people to these, I'm going to say quote-unquote, "workshops,' ... I find it hard to believe," Charles said. "Even after they increased rates and let people go ... their spending doesn't look like it's changed."

Both Green and Mapp pledged action on the matter, with the assemblyman recently asking the Office of the State Comptroller to "examine the entire operation of the PMUA ... because of the high rate of dissatisfaction with this agency," as he wrote on his blog.

"I feel we should put all our different agencies on notice, the school board, the housing authority, everyone, that the city cannot tolerate this any longer," Green said. "These are all agencies that really govern themselves, but it's time now that the mayor and council sit down and come up with a city-wide policy dealing with travel."

Mapp, who earlier this year pledged if elected to disband the PMUA and bring waste management under the auspices of City Hall, said he feels one of the only ways the authority can reverse damage to its reputation is by taking matters into its own hands.

"I would go as far as to say that the leadership of the PMUA should reimburse the authority for all of the expenses that were incurred (during the trip) in order to show they understand in simple terms the hardships that taxpayers are facing," Mapp said. "I challenge the leadership of the PMUA to do the right thing."

Additional Facts

ON THE WEB
• For more on the Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority, visit www.pmua.info, or call 908-226-2518.

Online story here. Archived here.

(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or CLIPS endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

New Dems - PolitickerNJ - Mapp gets in game against Robinson-Briggs

PolitickerNJ

January 26, 2009 - 6:16pm

In Plainfield, Mapp gets in the game against Mayor Robinson-Briggs

By Max Pizarro, PolitickerNJ.com Reporter

[Image: Councilman Adrian Mapp]

PLAINFIELD - Pledging transparency in government, better city services and better advocacy for residents, Ward Three Councilman Adrian Mapp today formally announced his intention to challenge one-term Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs.

A former two-term member of the Plainfield City Council and former Union County Freeholder, Mapp won re-election to the council last year on a ticket with Annie McWIlliams, daughter of the late former Mayor Al McWilliams, whom Robinson-Briggs defeated four years ago.

"I had planned as far back as 2007 on running for Mayor," said Mapp, "but put that thought on the back burner after I was approached by residents about running for the Ward 3 seat. Folks were concerned that with the issues the country and the City were facing, a more experienced and pro-active presence was needed from the Third Ward.

“Like the rest of the country, Plainfield is facing an extremely difficult future for at least the next two years,” added Mapp, a chief financial officer for the City of Roselle. “People are losing their jobs and their homes, the likelihood that our tax receipts will be negatively impacted is very high, and we must come to grips with the realities of the situation. Plainfield simply cannot afford four more years of a mayor who rushes to hug people but seems incapable of actually helping them.”

Max Pizarro is a PolitickerNJ.com Reporter and can be reached via email at max@politicsnj.com.

Related topics: Sharon Robinson-Briggs, Rick Smiley, Jerry Green, Annie McWilliams, Al McWIlliams, Adrian Mapp

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or CLIPS endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

2009 Primary - PolitickerNJ - Robinson-Briggs vs. Mapp's New Dems

PolitickerNJ

December 21, 2008 - 6:05pm

In Plainfield, Mayor Robinson-Briggs
will try to withstand Mapp's New Democrats

By Max Pizarro, PolitickerNJ.com Reporter

[image: Plainfield Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs]

PLAINFIELD – Get it right in four years or you’re gone.

That’s the message the voters consistently deliver in the Union County city of Plainfield, and looking at past results, most of their elected leaders get it wrong.

In 125 years of political wrangling, only one mayor won reelection here.

That was the late Al McWilliams, a self-professed New Democrat who in 2005 failed to get over a rising crime wave and lost his bid for a third term to machine Democrat Sharon Robinson-Briggs by 325 votes, 2,713 to 2,388.

Now Robinson-Briggs, 49, Plainfield’s first woman to serve as mayor, readies for her reelection campaign next year in what will likely be a hard fought Plainfield contest with once and future councilman Adrian Mapp, a McWilliams ally and now leader of the New Democrats, who’s energized by his successful return to local politics.

Mapp already filed to run for mayor – a $35,000-per year part-time job - with the state’s Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC), but insists he’s not yet made a final decision.

“If more and more people approach me I will consider running,” says the 52-year old former county freeholder and at-large city councilman, who earlier this year defeated Robinson-Briggs ally Don Davis by a 10 percent margin to become the 3rd Ward councilman.

“If there’s a groundswell of support for me, I would give it very serious consideration. I would be guided by the desires of the people.”

Should he run, Mapp, a CPA and chief financial officer in Roselle, is likely to make competence the issue as Plainfield’s nearly 48,000 residents this year lost Muhlenberg Hospital – the city’s biggest employer of 1,000 jobs; while homeowners fear the prospect of a local tax increase of 9.5 percent.

“The roads are in a state of disrepair, people are paying high taxes, and we have a shrinking commercial tax base,” says Mapp. “Residents don’t feel their tax dollars are offering a return on investment. They want to know their elected officials are capable of leading. Clearly, the city needs someone to get out front.”

In defense of her administration, Robinson-Briggs says the 9.5 percent figure reflects on a working $78 million budget that has not yet received state extraordinary aid. She continues to examine every option in difficult economic times, she says, including renegotiating contracts and implementing a four-day work week for city employees.

As for the hospital, Robinson-Briggs with pain in her voice argues that she did everything she could to avert what was ultimately a private sector decision made by the suits at Solaris Health Systems.

Her administration lobbied the hospital itself, and failing that, “We sent an overabundance of letters to Gov. Corzine,” says the mayor. “We proposed a statewide lottery with money to be divided among (urban) hospitals (like Muhlenberg). That was an idea that didn’t pan out. We started to work on the issue at the end of last year. We wrote over 2,000 letters. I understand the governor is in a tight spot and looking at things equitably in the State of New Jersey.

“But I told them, if you close the hospital, people will die.”

While the mayor refrains from listing her accomplishments days before her New Year state of the city speech, observers of Robinson-Briggs’ administration say positives during her four-year watch include crime reduction, fewer workers on the city payroll than when she took office, and construction of a senior citizen complex on Front Street for under $1 million.

People like her. What she lacks comparatively in schooling, she makes up for as a ceremonial force whose positive energy fills a room.

“The mayor is very warm can and can connect with people in an emotional way,” says At-Large Councilman Rashid Burney. “Adrian Mapp’s base is more affluent and educated.”

“No, Adrian’s not Bill Clinton,” admits 2nd Ward Councilman Cory Storch. “But he’s really good with constituent relations. I saw that when he first served on the council. Then there’s his financial background. He’s going to run on fiscal management and delivering overall quality of services.”

If the mayor’s poise and interpersonal skills – “Let me give you a Plainfield hug,” she tells a newcomer - and Mapp’s numbers-crunching prowess jump out as arguably the political antagonists’ most obvious strengths, both the councilman-elect and Robinson-Briggs also have important allies on their respective sides who underscore the city’s political divide between the regular Dems and the New Dems.

Robinson-Briggs boasts the political muscle of Assemblyman Jerry Green (D-Plainfield), speaker pro tempore in the state legislature, who championed her early in her career on the school board and who has ready access to Democratic Party campaign cash. Green’s own PAC dropped $8,200 on Shannon-Briggs’ massive $200,000 campaign effort in 2005, while the assemblyman generated significant campaign contributions from Statehouse allies like Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Sayreville) and Assemblywoman Nellie Pou (D-Paterson).

Mapp, meanwhile, enjoys the alliance of the New Democrats’ symbol of polished poetic justice in the person of Annie McWilliams, 24-year old eldest daughter of the late and – in some quarters – beloved – mayor, who died of kidney cancer in April of 2007.

As Mapp’s running mate, the young McWilliams crushed the organization’s at-large candidate in the June primary by a 3-1 margin.

A Wharton School of Business graduate who will serve as the city’s at-large councilwoman when she gets sworn-in with Mapp come January, McWilliams comes out of the ward that contains the Sleepy Hollow neighborhood, Plainfield’s own ivy covered homage to Victorian grandeur. She supports a Mapp mayoral candidacy, and at the very least makes it clear, “I will be disappointed if we see this mayor back in office.”

Coming off their win, the Mapp-McWilliams duo can make a compelling case that the New Democrats have momentum as they consider a citywide contest in Plainfield’s four wards.

Mapp in November seized control of the council seat in the mayor’s home ward, officially dealing her some disrespect in her own neighborhood. In addition to his base support in the 3rd ward, where presumably he would have to fight the mayor house to house for votes, Mapp can count on the old McWilliams support in the 2nd ward, reanimated by his daughter and reinforced by Storch. The 2nd remains the New Democrats’ strongest ward, where Al McWilliams built his own base of operations.

In their 2005 face-off, McWilliams won the 2nd over Robinson-Briggs by 273 votes: 924 to 651.

The late mayor lost in the city’s three other wards, by 224 votes in the 1st, 170 in the 3rd, and 204 in the 4th.

Already in possession of a political structure in Robinson-Briggs’ home ward and anchored in the 2nd by McWilliams, Mapp faces the challenge of reaching out to those two wards where the sitting mayor has an advantage over the New Democrats, the regular Democrats’ bread and butter districts: the 1st and 4th wards.

Predicting the usual political conflagration here next year, politicos like Burney are staying uncommitted for the moment.

“If I pick a side now and that side loses, I’m out,” says the at-large councilman, who ran and won as a New Democrat but has since tried to be more independent, in his words.

“I respect and like Adrian Mapp a lot, as I do the current mayor,” says state Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union). “I will say that any attacks on elected officials regarding the hospital closing are absolutely unfair. From the get-go, market factors made it impossible for the hospital to remain open.

“The two main issues in Plainfield are education and crime,” adds the senator. “It’s no longer an Abbott School district. Crime is reduced. Usually in an economic downturn you see an escalation of crime but that’s not happening.”

Eighteen miles southwest of Newark, Plainfield resembles a smaller version of New Jersey’s biggest city – at least demographically: 62 percent African American, 21 percent white, 25 percent Latinos of any race. Its downtown looks like some headlong train trestle melding of Union City, Orange, and Passaic, heavily textured from the neon-lit windows to the curbs.

“The Queen City,” says native son, Assemblyman Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield), who served on the city council representing the 2nd ward from 1985 to 1991 before he moved to Westfield, the second to last Republican to serve on the council.

On Friday, the city mobilizes to confront a snow and ice storm.

The mayor’s on duty in City Hall.

A fire truck slaps slush in the windshields of oncoming traffic as it heads downtown, through a blur of African hair braiding studios, Mexican restaurants, grocery, private detective and bail bonds stores, tattoo parlors, donut shops, past the Religious Society of Friends- Quakers, they settled the town - under train tracks and past Central Americans in front of diners trying to make eye contact with drivers of passing cars, and public works employees in yellow vests on foot in the falling snow, shoveling.

A gray public building, one of New Jersey’s blue collar pyramids - in this case a post office - emblemizes the older era, when some WPA architect dreamed Greek columns could as appropriately adorn Watchung Avenue as the Parthenon between the liquor stores and a passing beef-pork-poultry truck out of Elizabeth.

It’s been over 40 years since the 1967 Plainfield riots, an era when Mayor George Hetfield conducted city business from the auspices of a local country club and the hard luck 4th Ward went up in flames and a mob killed Officer John Vincent Gleason, Jr.

And Hetfield – guilty or not, those who were there judged – was voted out of office, carrying on the one and done mayoral cycle that Al McWilliams finally broke and that Robinson-Briggs wants to break again.

On the hill overlooking the rest of the city, above the factories and abandoned factories and projects of the 4th Ward - “There used to be a Mack Truck factory there, a great big factory,” remembers Bramnick – stand the 2nd Ward Wall Street millionaires’ massive summertime mansions of all styles - Colonial Revival and Jacobethan Victorian, Queen Anne’s, Tudor, Second Empire, after a while you can start inventing names that evoke elegance but still not get to the architectural finery that is only, of course, part of the city’s legacy; as Robinson-Briggs and Mapp and McWilliams and Green, and everyone, gets ready for yet another season of politics in Plainfield.

Max Pizarro is a PolitickerNJ.com Reporter and can be reached via email at max@politicsnj.com.

Related topics: Sharon Robinson-Briggs, Rashid Burney, Nicholas Scutari, JON CORZINE, Jon Bramnick, Jerry Green, George Hetfield, Cory Storch, Annie McWilliams, Al McWIlliams, Adrian Mapp

[Link]

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or CLIPS endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

New Dems - PolitickerNJ - McWilliams resigns from Board

PolitickerNJ (Then known as PoliticsNJ)

September 24, 2005 - 6:34pm
Press Release

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New Democrats for Plainfield

By desnuda

Mayor Albert McWilliams Resigns from Executive Board
of the New Democrats for Plainfield

Plainfield Mayor Albert T. McWilliams submitted his resignation from the executive board of the New Democrats for Plainfield today. Mayor McWilliams served as Immediate Past President of the organization since July of this year. In accepting his resignation current president, Union County Freeholder Adrian Mapp thanked the mayor for his service and wished him well on his future endeavors. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 24, 2005

Contact:
Adrian Mapp at (908) 577-0630
Shep D. Brown at (908) 405-5755

Mayor Albert McWilliams Resigns from Executive Board of the New Democrats for Plainfield

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 24, 2005

PLAINFIELD - Plainfield Mayor Albert T. McWilliams submitted his resignation from the executive board of the New Democrats for Plainfield today. Mayor McWilliams served as Immediate Past President of the organization since July of this year. In accepting his resignation current president, Union County Freeholder Adrian Mapp thanked the mayor for his service and wished him well on his future endeavors.

Mr. Mapp announced the Mayor's resignation in a statement to members today reminding them that according to the by-laws of the organization the New Democrats for Plainfield could only endorse registered Democrats.

“Although the organization will not be making any endorsement in this race, we will seek to play a positive role in the upcoming elections by hosting a candidate's forum where all candidates for local office will be invited to share their views with the members of the New Democrats and the general public, said Mr. Mapp in his statement. “I believe that it is in the best interest of all the citizens of Plainfield to have a comprehensive issues based debate for all mayoral candidates."

Shep Brown, spokesperson for the New Democrats said that no date or location has been set for the candidates forum. He went on to state: “In keeping with our mission to increase the civic involvement and participation of residents in all segments of Plainfield community life, we encourage other organizations and neighborhood associations in Plainfield to keep up their tradition of hosting their own candidate forums so that they can hear where all of the candidates stand on the issues that are important to them."

For further information contact Shep D. Brown at Walliedog1@nycboe.net

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Address : <http://www.politickernj.com/new-democrats-plainfield>

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or CLIPS endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

2009 Primary - PolitickerNJ - New Dems field challenger in LD 22

PolitickerNJ

April 9, 2009 - 6:08pm

News

With eye on mayoral line, New Democrats field
Plainfield challenger in LD 22

By Max Pizarro, PolitickerNJ.com Reporter

Jim McGreevey’s residential status in Plainfield sends Union County Democratic Party operatives into off-the-record spin mode characterizing the disgraced former governor as a fixture of the local rebel camp of self-styled New Democrats, a charge that today made mayoral candidate Councilman Adrian Mapp chuckle just before he shot it down.

“Jim McGreevey is a neighbor of the McWilliams’s (family of the late Mayor Al McWilliams and Councilwoman Annie McWilliams),” said Mapp, who’s challenging incumbent Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs in the Democratic Primary. “He’s not affiliated with the New Democrats in any shape, or fashion. There’s no affiliation.”

Running for her second term, the party establishment-backed Robinson-Briggs is allied with Assemblyman Jerry Green (D-Plainfield) and Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood), who face a 22nd District general election challenge from Republicans former Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks and his running mate, newcomer Bo Vastine.

In the meantime, Green and Stender will have to get through Rick Smiley, 49, the New Democrat Assembly candidate who heads a ticket in Plainfield that includes mayoral candidate Mapp, an ally of Councilwoman McWilliams’s and leader of the organization.

Employed by the City of Plainfield for 23 years as director of community relations among other jobs, Smiley is on leave from his job coordinating the opening of Headstart facilities, to focus on the campaign.

“The closing of Muhlenberg Hospital transcends Plainfield,” said Smiley. “My message will get around. I’ve got a little time now to get my message out there.”

The New Democrats’ decision not to field a second assembly candidate who does not hail from Plainfield indicates their focus on the mayor’s race.

“I’m comfortable having Rick on the ticket,” said Mapp, Roselle’s chief financial officer by profession. “There is such a level of dissatisfaction in Plainfield and in the 22nd District. Every town in the legislative district was affected by the closing of the hospital.”

Max Pizarro is a PolitickerNJ.com Reporter and can be reached via email at max@politicsnj.com.

Related topics: Sharon Robinson-Briggs, Rick Smiley, Martin Marks, Linda Stender, Jim McGreevey, Jerry Green, Bo Vastine, Annie McWilliams, Al McWIlliams, Adrian Mapp

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or CLIPS endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

North Plainfield - Ledger - Yeshiva seeks approval for 50 new students

Published in the Star-Ledger, Sunday, February 15, 2009

Yeshiva seeks approval for 50 new students

NORTH PLAINFIELD:  An Orthodox yeshiva that has been operating for about a year on a two-acre Rockview Avenue property wants to increase its student capacity.

Yeshiva Tiferes Boruch wants to allow an additional 50 students to study at its campus, said Ted Gast, the applicant's attorney. As a condition of the previous approval, the school's occupancy was limited to 115 people. However, the yeshiva believes the state building code permits the increased capacity and that the municipality does not have jurisdiction, Gast said. Currently, there are 85 students and 20 staff members at the site.

The school operates out of the 15,000 square-foot 19th-century McCutchen mansion in the borough's historic Washington Park district.

The board of adjustment will review the application Wednesday at its 7:30 p.m. meeting, which will be held in the community center, 614 Greenbrook Road.

Item appear in print only; transcribed by DD. Archived here.

(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or CLIPS endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

Obama Stimulus Plan - Ledger - Table: How NJ would be stimulated

The following table is transcribed from the print edition of the Star-Ledger for Sunday, February 1, 2009. It accompanied a story on New Jersey and Obama's economic stimulus plan: "NJ stands to get vast boost"

The Stimulus Plan: How Jersey would be stimulated
Under the House version of the economic stimulus bill, New Jersey would get roughly $4.3 billion. Experts said that figure probably would not be appreciably different in the Senate version. This is a rough breakdown of what New Jersey could expect to get in various programs.
State budget stabilization aid (includes some school funding)	$1.7 billion
Highways and bridge projects	$777 million
Mass transit projects	$500 million
Individuals with Disabilities Act	$397 million
Funding for poor children, special education	$252 million
Public schools modernization, renovation and repair	$289.9 million
Modernization, renovation and repair of college buildings	$129.7 million
Employment and training programs	$64 million
Upgrade law enforcement drug courts and gang prevention	$52.3 million
Low-income  home energy assistance	$37.8 million
Child Care and Development Block Grants	$34 million
Community Service Block Grants	$27 million
Educational technology grants	$18.2 million
Head Start programs for pre-school children	$12.5 million
Preventive health services	$9 million
Elderly nutrition services	$5.2 million
Source: House Appropriations Committee	THE STAR-LEDGER