Andrew Tidd
Guest Column
After months of waiting for a hearing on an ethics complaint brought against Middlesex County 2005 incumbent freeholder candidates David B. Crabiel and Camille Fernicola, along with incumbent county clerk candidate Elaine Flynn, the proceedings’ outcome was already known before fellow complainants and Republican running mates Joe Sinagra, Jay Boxwell and I even took our seats.
It’s funny how body language speaks volumes. Not one of the six ethics panel members could make eye contact with us in a room the size of your living room. How awkward it must have been for all of them, especially for one particular member, whom I have known along with his family for years but whose good family name I won’t mention. It is ironic how people whose reputation you once thought above reproach, when backed into a precarious position, subsequently show their true colors. That said, evidently an ethics panel that is appointed by county officials (freeholders) should not preside over complaints against those same officials, as this presents an obvious conflict of interest.
A no-brainer, right? Not for this ethics board and its attorney, Jerome Convery. Oh, right, I should mention Mr. Convery is a donor to the Middlesex County Democratic Organization, which supplements the campaigns of these same county freeholders. These cozy, worry-free arrangements provide the freeholders with the arrogance to ignore the ethics rules they themselves put in place.
Accepting donations from professionals who have contractual agreements with the county have placed these officials in violation of this code. Their total take was far more than $400,000 this election year alone.
My running mates and I chose to shed light on this sham whether we won or lost the election, because this costs the county’s taxpayers millions of dollars. It is wrong for professionals to donate to these incumbents’ campaigns in order to receive lucrative no-bid contracts in return (pay-to-play), because lack of competitive bidding means these professionals will charge top dollar for their services, but the freeholders will still guarantee them the contracts. You the taxpayer pay the inflated cost. Now that the ethics board has ignored the facts to shield these officials from certain ridicule, expect more of the same when you open your next tax bill. This ethics board’s decision reminds me of the proverbial yes man in the corporate world, always telling the boss he’s right.
Wake up, you voting taxpayers. It’s not about who is a Democrat or who is a Republican. It is about which candidates have been picking your pocket year after year and which candidates had the gumption to make you aware of it.
As long as this one party rules, the professionals will continue to financially influence the freeholders’ decisions. As long as the freeholders’ hand-picked ethics board protects them, these officials will get away with accepting these donations,A and the party that’s out will continue to be outspent 40 to 1.
Ask yourself, “Are you getting the best candidate, or just the wealthiest?”
Andrew Tidd, a resident of Helmetta, is a former Republican candidate for Middlesex County freeholder