Services Suffer When Funds Are Misused
It seems that the funds of every worthwhile program that the County of Union facilitates is looted by the Democratic Freeholders and used for political campaigning and kickbacks to contributors in the form of pay-to-play, no-bid contracts and patronage jobs. The Republican candidates for Freeholder are making issue of this waste of taxpayers money. Criticizing the waste should not be misconstrued as criticism of the programs.
For instance, the county has just closed the STAR Center in Elizabeth. This was a very admirable federal program that was created for those in the airline and related industries who lost their jobs due to the terrorist attacks on 9/11. The County of Union received federal grants totaling $4.7 million to facilitate the state wide program. The center was used for job fairs, assessments and training. About 300 people who completed the training were able to secure jobs. This is what the program was intended for and the success stories are commendable. What isn't commendable is the how funds were diverted from the program for other use.
One of the most common misuse of funds is in the form of campaign literature. Promoting a program has more to do with promoting the incumbent candidates than it has to do with informing the public of the service. The Freeholders up for reelection are prominently displayed on literature paid for by the program funds. The mailings and T.V. commercials are only done prior to the election and only to targeted voters. The STAR program was ment to be state wide, yet television spots and mailings concentrated on Union County voters. Over $250,000 was spent the three weeks leading into the general election in November alone.
If this does not seem outrageous, consider the story of Peter Zanetti, as reported in a Star Ledger article of June 30, 2004. Zanetti, who lost a job with American Airlines, went to the STAR Center in June of last year when, as reported in the article, "the program was close to exhausting its supply of money". The article went on to say that the county "cobbled together" $4,000 for Zanetti to enroll in a training program in Ohio. Zanetti paid the $2,000 balance for the three day program.
The Democratic Freeholders and the county manager hide behind the virtues of programs designed to help people in need while raiding the funding of those programs for political gain. The incumbent Freeholders are running on their record and pointing to the accomplishments of programs like the STAR Center. The accomplishments they point to are only a fraction of what could have been accomplished if funds were used for their intended purpose.
The county spends $1 million a day. The Republican Freeholder candidates, Joe Renna, Patricia Quattrocchi, Frank Arena and Bruce Paterson are united in bringing a balance to the all Democratic Freeholder board and to stop the siphoning of tax dollars and establish accountability.
Thank you,
Joe Renna