Westfield Leader
Union County Freeholder Candidates
Interview Questions
Question 1. Please provide the names, towns of residence, and short bios for each of your Freeholder candidates for 2004. Please include relevant experience, as well.
Joe Renna was born and raised in the Peterstown section of Elizabeth, NJ. He now lives in Cranford with his wife and two daughters. Renna has operates his own graphic design and printing business for 20 years specializing in marketing for government and non-profit agencies. He was also employed by the County of Union as a public relations official. Renna is a State Certified Public Administrator and Economic Development Representative. He is a member of the American Association of Public Administrators and will receive his Masters in Public Administration from Kean University this Fall 2004. Renna ran for Freeholder as an Independent last year.
Mrs. Patricia Quattrocchi has served on the Garwood Borough Council. She chaired the Building and Grounds Committee and served on the Streets and Roads and the Recreation Committees. She also served as liaison to the Union County Transportation Advisory Board and the Board of Education. Mrs. Quattrocchi has been an executive search consultant since 1983, is a member of the PTA and is the President of the Lions International in Garwood. She is the mother of seven children and lives in Garwood with her husband John.
Frank Arena has been a resident of Westfield since 1994 where he resides with his wife and children. He graduated from Susquehanna University in 1980 with a BS in Economics and Marketing. Arena is a senior sales executive for a major metropolitan IT company where he is responsible for the marketing, sales and support services for major financial and government institutions including the City of New York.
Paterson lives in Garwood and is a mechanical engineer and a licensed master plumber . He received his degree in engineering from Rutgers University. He has worked in Union County in two engineering firms for over twenty years. Paterson is an active member of the Garwood community, having served on a number of committees.
Question 2. What are the top three issues on your campaign platform? Please describe your positions.
3. Neglect of services
The Union County Freeholders have neglected the services that
are definitive of the county's purpose. The health and safety
of the public has been compromised by ten years of mismanagement.
Funds have been diverted from essential services and squandered
on programs for political benefit. In stead of the Freeholders
offering a solution to the needs of the county they have done
more harm to the people and to the environment. By ignoring problems
for the past ten years, the county has created a crisis which
was avoidable through proper management of the situations. For
instance the Tragedy of the Juvenile Detention Center, the bumbling
of Miesle Park Toxic Clean up, the park system being overrun by
geese, the flaws in the new jail construction, the costly Galloping
Hill Golf Course debacle, the deception over the reactivation
of the rail road and the mishandling of the county budget.
2. Wasteful Spending
Wasteful spending has caused the county portion of our property
tax to increase over 40% over the past four years. This causes
problems not only for the homeowners, tenants and businesses who
must pay the increase but also for the municipalities and school
boards that use property tax as their source of revenue. The County
has been using the county budget for political means in the form
of no-bid, pay-to-play contracts to repay campaign contributors
and political operatives. The reserve fund has been drained and
the county debt has increased and will develop into a crisis if
not curtailed.
3. Unqualified leadership
Over the last three years, patronage jobs have increased in number
and now make up the highest levels of the County Administration.
The incompetence at the top of the county hierarchy renders the
rank and file workers unproductive. Administrators with no experience
or skills are overseeing projects that are costing the County
millions only to fail because of lack of oversight or proper planning.
These management practices are the cause of all the County's problems.
The nine member Freeholder board is comprised of all Democrats
and has been under one party control for ten years. There is no
checks and balance system in place. Every action taken by this
Freeholder Board has been made so the Democratic party may retain
power. No accountability has resulted in a County government that
is non productive, over charged and dangerously inept.
Question 3. What are the top three reasons the people of Union County should vote to elect you rather than the candidates of the other slate?
1. Balance
The republican candidates offer a balance to the all Democratic
Freeholder Board. There is no alternative voice on the board and
resolutions, no matter how outrageous, are approved without discussion
or debate. Back room wheeling and dealing will be difficult. The
tradition of the Democratic party has been to select candidates
who do the bidding of the party and not the people. Compliance
is handsomely rewarded, independence is punished. None of the
Republican candidates are beholden to special interests and we
will not receive pressure from the Republican Party Committee
to act against our wishes.
2. Open government
The public is unaware of what the county is doing. It is by design
that information is not shared with the public. This makes it
easy to push through questionable resolutions undetected. There
is no opportunity for public participation and public comment
is discouraged. To quote the county manager "We do not have
to answer your questions." The Republican candidates are
committed to an opening up government. Getting information out
to the people and responding to their concerns. Even with the
new Open Public Records Act (OPRA) in place the County is still
not forthcoming, and when they are, the information is too little
and too late. As Freeholders, we would have access to public
records first hand. and would make those records more accessible.
3. Experience
For the past few years the Republican candidates have been public
advocates for good government and have focused on the County of
Union in particular. The have researched and written extensively
on the issues. They regularly attend local county meetings and
express their concerns. As a vendor Mr. Renna has worked with
the county for almost 20 years. The Republican Candidates have
probably delved deeper into the issue than any of the sitting
Freeholders. Their Democrat opponents are a mystery to them. They
haven't heard of them or read anything about how they stand on
the county issues, except for Dan Sullivan. who is a sitting Freeholder
and we already know what he is guilty of.
4. What is the number one policy difference you have with the candidates from the other slate?
We haven't seen any comment concerning any policy from our opponents but we believe that our number one policy is to bring good management practices to the county. Right now the system is corrupted. If our opponents express the desire to continue present operating procedures, then we would have a huge difference of opinion. The County must put qualified administrators in the director and supervisory positions. A procurement system must be revised to ensure that the County is getting the best service for the lowest price, and contractors must be better supervised and held responsible for their performance.
5. Any other comments?
Over the past three years the county has spent over $1 BILLION. This does not include the hundreds of millions in grant money for things like bridges or the hundreds of millions in debt assumed for capital investments like construction projects. This $1 BILLION is just the general operating budget. After citing all the services that the County neglected over the years, we can only ask, "Where's the BILLIOn dollars?"