Wednesday, February 13, 2008

And the beat goes on...la de da de da

Councilman Bunyon stated that the Recreation Dept will be searching for a part time Recreation Director, salary around $25,000.-30,000., no benefits, job description being reviewed by Council. Councilman Mullaney was prepared with a list of salaries from other municipalities (citing the Star Ledger as his source.) To our dismay, the salaries were all high. Mayor Buccellato inquired as to the job descriptions and whether they were full time or part time. You know comparing apples to apples. Councilman Mullaney did not have an answer. Although the Council were given job descriptions, it was then decided to discuss at the next week's workshop meeting. They had other fish to fry as following the farce, Councilman Malley interrupted the Agenda proceedings to start the ball rolling on getting Councilman Mendes voted onto the Planning & Zoning Board. By law, the job of Part time Recreation Director has to be published requesting candidates.....is this going to be another Mendes set up? Do they already have a person in mind? Jimmy the Greek, the famous bookmaker wouldn't even give odds on that question! For those that think we are hedging....we'd bet the farm they have the person and perhaps have tailored the job to fit. Keep in mind that last year, Mayor Aufseeser and the Council did away with the Recreation Director position in a feeble attempt to provide a savings to the Borough. What happened to the Matawan Alliance and Renatta Bonetta of Synergy Bank?

Another interesting item......it seems the majority Democratic Council wants to shop for a new Borough Attorney. Mystifying as the current Attorney Pat Menna, Esq. is a competent attorney, a Democrat and Mayor of Red Bank. He has done a professional, remarkable job showing no political favoritism. He has always protected the Borough and has kept the newly elected majority Council, last year alone, from stepping on their own feet. Can't think of a better attorney to represent the Borough, politics aside.

All of this political posturing reminds us of what followed the election of Mike Cannon when he ran for Council, despite the fact he was not legally eligible. Oh that's right, Bunyon was running then quit the race and the Democrats had no one but Mike Cannon to run so they took the matter to Court. Here's where it gets good, the Attorney who represented Cannon, provided by the Monmouth County Democratic Party whose Chairman is Vic Scudiery, last year was appointed as the Redevelopment Attorney. Payback....you decide! As for Bunyon well he was appointed to fill Meghan Mullaney's seat on the Council, right after Bunyon lost the election for a Council seat by getting the lowest amounts of votes. Of course Mullaney waited till after the election to resign. All of this took place after Bunyon lost the election to Linda Clifton, who received the most votes in that election year. The plot thickens....this year the majority Council want to replace attorney Pat Menna, Esq. with whom? Could it be some attorney hand picked by the Monmouth County Democratic Party Chairman, Vic Scudiery? The very same Monmouth Democratic Party who paid for flyers in the last special election in an attempt to get Mary Aufseeser re-elected. Ms Aufseeser's pay back was screwing Matawan by making all the appointments the first of the year while being the interim Mayor. After she stated that she would only make vital appts during a Council meeting. That was just in case she didn't get re-elected, nothing like hedging your bets. Aufseeser's word didn't matter once she lost the election so it was a win win situation for her. A win win for the Democratic majority and if that wasn't thumbing their noses at Matawan.....there is more to come.

Ask yourself, who is paying for Silver Oaks, the Aberdeen Developer, to keep litigation going on against Matawan. Then ask why? What is the benefit to a developer, who makes his money in developing, not litigation. Who or whom does it benefit to prevent Matawan, a small Borough, from going forward with a Transit Village and getting some tax relief for its residents. Why is the Monmouth County Democratic Party so involved in Matawan's politics and the Transit Village? This seems to be an intricate plot whose motive hasn't reared its ugly head yet. Don't let anyone misled you, something is going on.....

13 comments:

Truth In Matawan said...

MA, there are MANY things going on in our tiny little borough, we should have a prime time soap opera!

As for the Monmouth County Democratic Party helping in an election taking place in Monmouth County, isn't that what they're SUPPOSED to do? Just asking.

As for the new Rec Director position, we are happy to see it's without benefits, we pay too much for inept borough employees and their benefits. Perhaps MA and TiM can throw their hats in the ring for the job!

As for the Silver Oaks legislation, the developer is suing because he WASN'T picked after being given the job at first. Instead, corrupt Republican campaign contributor Jack Morris and his Columbia group were granted the contract, this despite it being MORE housing units, this despite in being AGAINST the borough's own redevelopment plan. If you want to sniff out a real mystery, try to figure out why former mayor Clifton and former mayor Buccellato awarded that contract to Columbia/Morris--this despite the fact they had to foresee the borough being tied up in legislation because of their decision for the better part of a decade. Ah well, at least Mr. Buccellato is mayor now himself, so maybe he can "negotiate" on the borough's behalf in a little better faith!

For more research on this, feel free to peruse our post on our blog. The election stuff is dated, but the rest is relevant: Link about Development Lawsuit

matawan advocate said...

Truth in Matawan, Once again you use words like "corrupt" with no thought of the consequences.

Can't answer your question regarding the Monmouth County Democratic Party contributions to Aufseeser's campaign. As Vic Scudiery is the Chairman of that Group and owns property in Matawan, it does pose some questions.

The Rec Director position, we stand by our previous observation. We are not qualified for the Rec Director's position, don't know about you.

As to your comments on the Transit Village project, there were no signed contracts. From what we understand K. Hovananian was selected. To refresh your memory the Courts decided in Matawan's favor, then Silver Oaks at the eleventh hour filed an appeal. Keep in mind Silver Oaks does not have to give a cause until it goes before the Judges for a decision. This begs the question what's in it for Silver Oaks?

Why are you so concerned with the past when Matawan is trying to move into the future?

If we were to investigate matters we would check into why the Democratic majority does not renew contracts of competent professionals only to attempt to replace them with "in our opinion" other attorneys whom we question as to who is really chosing for Matawan. Case in point, Pat Menna, Esq. Could promises been made for those funds given by the Democratic County to Aufseeser's campaign? You can go back to when the Democratic majority selected another Redevelopment attorney, who just happened to represent the Democratic Party in the case for Mike Cannon? What was the urgency when the entire matter was held up in litigation? We have to wonder if you get it at all or are you intentionally playing naive?

These are revelent questions for right now.

Anonymous said...

On October 25, 2001, Dean Development Co., Inc., of Monroe Township gave $5,000 to the Monmouth County Democrats. Less than two weeks later, the Monmouth County Democrats gave $5,000 to the Aberdeen Democrats 2001 Campaign.

William Bocra, President of Dean Development, is also President of Silver Oak Properties, which is Aberdeen’s developer of choice for the train station area.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and the chairman of the Monmouth County Democrats is...

Vic Scudiery!!!

Kinda circular here, isn't it?

Anonymous said...

Part-time Rec. Director for $30,000? Didn't the Dem. mayor abolish that paid position to save money? Who does Mary Mullaney have in mind for the position?
The salary is way too high. Other part time positions in the Borough start at $15 per hour. Since when are we comparing salaries with other towns? If we start doing that, they should do the same for the other employees.

matawan advocate said...

Silver Oaks Info, Where did you research, ELEC reports? Good to hear someone else is questioning the goings on in Matawan.

As we have stated previously all you have to do is connect the dots.

Aberdeener said...

Copied from the
Momount County Republican Blog

The Aberdeen Republicans' website says, "In 2003, (The Aberdeen Democrats) accepted contributions of $4,000 from JPI, developer of Jefferson apartments, now Versailles, and $5,000 from Kara Homes, developer of Aspen Woods on Route 34 and Aberdeen Forge in Freneau."

An article in the Independent back in December exposes a 2001 contribution of $5,000.00 from "Dean Development Co. Inc., a Monroe Township development firm linked to Silver Oak Properties."
Silver Oak is the developer chosen by Aberdeen for the redevelopment project.
The vast editorial staff here at the Monmouth County Republican Blog researched this at ELEC and found it all to be true.

Dean Development, Monroe Twp., contributed $5,000.00 to the Monmouth County Democrats on October 25, 2001. On November 6, 2001, $5,000.00 was contributed by the Monmouth County Democrats to the Aberdeen Democratic Campaign 2001.

Two years later we have the JPI Good Government Fund, Austin, TX, contributing $4,000.00 to the Monmouth County Democrats on October 20, 2003.That same day, Kara Services Co. LLC, East Brunswick, contributed $5,000.00 to the Monmouth County Democrats. On October 27, The Monmouth County Democrats contributed $9,000.00 to Aberdeen Democratic Campaign 2003.

matawan advocate said...

Anonymous, Yes, Aufseeser did away with the position last year saying it was to save money. However, when the Matawan Alliance held those events, they didn't have to pay any fee, nor did they have to cover the cost of the Police, Public Works Dept, etc who worked the events. More taxpayer money. Other municipalities charge for services and so should Matawan.

Let's wait and see just who applies for the Recreation Dir. position. Our gut feeling is that they have tailored the job to fit someone of their chosing. If that is the case, in our opinion, volunteers will have a tough time breaking into the "clique." Sure hope we are wrong.

Till then we will wait and see....

Anonymous said...

The recreation director should be an hourly rate position. What really goes on in recreation in this town that calls for a $30,000.00 a year position? Is Mary Mullaney going for the position? Maybe Mr. Mullaney is trying to get his money back that he has spent throughout the last few years buying votes. Can you live out of town to take this position? Maybe the other Mullaney is on her way back. How much time does a recreation director possibly take? It sounds like about the same amount of money as a first year teacher. Money that can be used toward the ever depleting parks. Must be nice to still be working in this time and day. Ridiculous!

matawan advocate said...

Main St Manny, your asking the question re Councilman Mullaney and the insinuation that he was buying votes is improper. Anyone can ask questions, BUT, do you have proof or is it just heresay. Heresay is dangerous without solid proof. Keep in mind that people can gossip and it is just gossip. We should not malaign the character of an elected official without proof.

Your choice, without proof is to vote them out.

Thanks for your comments.

Anonymous said...

You know what Matawan Advocate you are right. My apologies to Mr. Mullaney and his family. Lets wait and see. If another relative of Bud Mullaney gets this position I believe I will be partially right. It just seems like all the information I get and what I see is that he runs this entire Democratic Council and it makes me sick. This town is entirely to small for this behavior. The members of this council have a voice and should be using it, not being puppets. They are complaining about a lack of funds in this town and yet they bring back another useless position. I am sure someone who does not have a full time job and has the time would volunteer for this position. For many years there was an all volunteer recreation commission and they got things done. I still don't understand what a paid recreation director does to improve the town. $30,000.00 would make great improvements to the parks in this town. I would be the first to volunteer again but my age and health would never allow me to do so. I was a very active volunteer for years in emergency services so I am not a stranger to this way of life. Volunteering is a great thing but I find it to be sad that the members of this council believe the town will not make it without volunteers. We as former, present, or future volunteers should be an added bonus in this town not our only hope. Again I apologize to Mr. Mullaney and his family for assumptions .

matawan advocate said...

Main St Manny, We understand your passion and applaud your acknowledging our position. Assuming that Councilman Mullaney runs the Council and the Matawan Democratic Party is no stretch of the imagination. Observe him at meetings, it is worth a trip to watch a manipulator in action. Do you think Councilman Malley thought to remove Councilwoman Linda Clifton from the P&Z Board on his own? Why would he interupt the Agenda of the meeting if this wasn't a planned statement? Malley reminded us of "Horseshack" from the old TV show, Welcome Back Cotter."

When Debra Buragina ran for re-election to Council, wasn't it one of the members of the Council who went around telling people she would not stay on the Council if she won? Debra Buragina, who is one of the most knowledgeable, dedicated people regarding the Transit Village. She has a true passion for this project and would have never deserted Matawan had she been re-elected. Whom we might add didn't slither away, but addressed the Council and gave parting comments.

matawan advocate said...

Just had to add this last comment on Debra Buragina"

Debra Buragina, who has the Class that neither Meghan Mullaney nor Mary Aufseeser exhibited on their departure.