Township Committee Violates Open Public Meeting Act!

In what amounts to a clear violation of New Jersey's Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA), the Washington Township Committee (as a whole) is discussing official business via email. Here is one of several emails where "business affecting the public is discussed" involving all five committeeman. Making matters worse, they are using private email addresses, as opposed to their official "@wtmorris.net" accounts, to hide their activities from the township's email backup system, which is intended to record email transactions of all township personnel. Why are they NOT using their Township provided email accounts?

With this understand of the Township Committee’s actions that are in clear violation of the OPMA, one has to wonder what else they are illrgally deciding outside of the public’s view?

In case you're wondering, the email was obtained via an Open Public Records Act request filed in May 2010.

Jeff Koch = Hypocrite

I recently asked former WTBOE Finance Chair Jeff Koch to comment on the record $2.2 million (8.4%) school tax increase his budget imposed on Washington Township taxpayers in 2005. Here is what he had to say:

"Kevin, I think the voters "raised our property taxes by a record amount when I served as Finance Chair for the 2004-2005 ". Call them what you want. Civics 101. BOE members do not pass budget the voters do."

So now BOE members should not be held accountable for the budgets they put before voters? Isn't this a major paradigm shift for Jeff and his Darkside buddies? Does Jeff really expect anyone to believe this? For all the signs (Defeat the Mauro/D'Angelo Budget), websites (kevinneddsaid.com), and campaign flyers Jeff helped create to castrate other elected officials for their budgets, this has to be the most hypocritical position Jeff has taken; and there are many to choose from.

The bottom line is simple. As Finance Chair for the 2004-2005 school budget, Jeff Koch was, in essence, the “architect” for the LARGEST PROPERTY TAX INCREASE OF ANY KIND IN THE HISTORY OF WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP. This is a hard, cold fact Jeff can’t hide from; no matter how hard he tries!

More GOP embarrassment...

In my prior posting, I commented on Tom Lotitio's bogus claim with respect to my dealings with the Mendham Township Committee.  Here's all you need to know about whether or not to trust anything that comes from the mouth of a Mendham Township GOP politician.

NJ Senate vote positions property tax cap for passage Monday

While I would have preferred a 2% cap with no exceptions, this is a step in the right direction in terms of containing future property tax growth. But this does NOTHING with regards to Christie delivering on his campaign promise of "LOWERING" property taxes. Where is this plan? Does the Governor think we are stupid and will just forget what he promised? Maybe he should ask Howard Popper what happens to officials who promise LOWER taxes and don’t deliver!

How a typical Darksider sees the world...

Tom Lotito’s latest diatribe proves how dangerous a thesaurus can be in the hands of the ignorant.

Observer Tribune COMMENTARY

By Thomas Lotito
Published: Jul 2nd, 7:09 AM

Are the meanings of words today being manipulated in our society in order to win someone over to one political view point or another?

And, are most people victims like innocent bystanders at a train wreck, when they hear a political argument, not sure of who’s right or wrong?

Etymology is the study of the origins of words. As languages have evolved over time, the meanings of many words have changed, causing confusion amongst people when communicating. Could the change in the meaning of words be a contributing factor for a person as they form their world view? The use of words has consequences.

It is my opinion, the most widely misused words today are “pro-choice,” when it comes to being “for-abortion.” The term really should be “pro-baby murder” because terminating a pregnancy has many far reaching consequences that are not connotative in the term “pro-choice.”

Furthermore, the term “gay rights” is also a term that is widely misused in order to get people into thinking that homosexuals somehow do not have equal rights because they can not openly marry.

The term “gay” means happy, and was used for generations with out the “homosexual” connotation. Homosexuals have civil rights because they are Americans, it’s only when they want to be identified by their behavior that the confusion and misuse of words ensues. “Gay rights” should really be called “homosexual rights.” And “gay marriage” should be called, “marriage equality for homosexuals.”

You can’t say a prayer at a graduation ceremony without someone invoking the words “separation of church and state,” which is often used today to limit Christian participation in schools and public activities.

The term “separation of church and state” was first used by Thomas Jefferson, which originally meant that the government could not intrude into the religious practices of Americans. What’s really happening is your constitutional rights are being trampled upon. It’s not “freedom from religion,” “it’s freedom of religion.”

Less controversial words like “I appreciate how you feel” have an air of condescension and are often used in an argument to de-legitimize another person’s point of view. What really should be said is, “I think you’re wrong” or “I strongly disagree.”

The words “Full Monte” were coined by the customers of Sir Montague Burton’s tailor shop of Sheffield, England in 1904. Burton’s complete three piece suit with a waistcoat was called the “Full Monty.” Today the term refers to being naked in public. The 1997 movie “The Full Monty” is a story about six unemployed men who decide to form a male striptease act.

The term “hate” is often used by liberals when someone points out a flaw or legitimately disagrees with Barack Obama’s policies or point of view. The person who says, “why do you hate Barack Obama?” in a political argument is really saying “I don’t want to hear your point of view, shut up.”

The word “hate” is also often used by liberals to describe financially successful and very popular conservative talk radio show hosts.

Recently, Janet Murguia, President and CEO of National Council of LaRaza, cautioned and chastised a number of television and radio talk show hosts. She said “words have consequences, and hateful words have hateful consequences.” Even though her partisan rhetoric was aimed more at talk radio, she did say that cable news shows like Chris Mathews, Rachael Maddow and Keith Obermann, parroted the vitriolic rhetoric spoken by their more unsavory guests.

If you look at politics as an advertising campaign, clarity of message is paramount. The Tea Party movement grows more and more popular. Liberals seeking to grow the size of government don’t like the Tea Party movement because they have been an effective voice in their advocacy to return to the principals set forth by the Constitution with a smaller limited Federal government.

Slang like “tea-bagger” and “wing-nut “ are used as a pejorative by liberals to describe people who participate in the Tea Party movement. If you are hearing the term “tea-bagger” or “wing-nut” for the first time of course your first reaction would be to disassociate yourself from it.

The meaning of the words “freedom of speech” has changed in our current political climate.

Is political correctness limiting free speech by the way we view policy, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation and institutional discrimination? In other words, are people afraid to speak out against behaviors that a generation ago were considered mental health issues because their definitions were changed?

The other emotionally charged misused phrase in the liberal class warrior playbook is “tax cuts are for the rich?” Today a family of four with two incomes totaling just over $100,000 is considered rich. But, they still pay the alternative minimum tax, which was put in place in the 1960’s and was not meant for middle class income people. Are you a two income family in N.J. making just over $ 100,000? Do you consider yourself “rich”?

Are you making up your mind based on campaign slogans and sound bites from the television? Does your political world view match your work ethic? Do you spend more money at the end of the month than you take in? Are you supporting politicians that spend more money than the government takes in?

When it comes to politics we shouldn’t take everything we hear at face value. Questioning the words that politicians use is prudent in determining what side of the issues we want to be on. Changing the meanings of words does have consequences.

The writer, Thomas Lotito, an independent piano tuner, is a resident of Washington Township and a frequent observer of township politics.

Move over Dan Quayle...

The following comment was recently submitted by former WTBOE member Jeff Koch in response to a letter appearing on the Observer Tribune website:

jeffreyskoch wrote on Jul 3, 2010 9:58 AM:

" First, I will start by saying to whom it may concern, Yes theses guys raised Taxes by 2,345 %, we know they are developing a nuclear weapons in secret. With that out of the way I think the committee has done an excellent job in some tough times. With a new, maybe more conservative republican running, with Mr. Liabraaten, maybe they can do better. It will be time to watch Mr. Welch and his proposal on lowering taxes and keeping services the same or better. There are important issues, if the school budget fails next year, contracts, flea market and others. If Mr. Welch takes a stand on these issues we will know what to think. "

Jeff, were you drunk when you wrote this or what? You now qualify as a contestant on the FOX TV show, "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader"!

Remember this?

Here's what Long Valley's newest Darksider, David X. Johnson, had to say BEFORE Howard Popper was CRUSHED by Dave Kennedy:

June 03, 2010 - By David X Johnson
Nedd endorses Kennedy !

I've been reading the various endorsements in the Observer-Tribune in support of David Kennedy. It strikes me as odd (at first) that the arguments in these endorsements are remarkably similar to Kevin Nedd's talking points. Nedd openly supports Kennedy with the zeal he supported Obama and he attacks Kennedy's opponents for him. What's up with that? Why in the world would a registered Republican, David Kennedy, have a Democrat, Kevin Nedd, supporting him in a Republican primary? It seems obvious to me that Democrat Nedd and Republican Kennedy are in the same political bed together.

Once again, Kevin gets it wrong. A big part of the Committeeman's job is negotiating with organized labor. The irony is that Nedd, of all people, is insisting that Kennedy would have no conflict of interest by being both a committeeman and a 25 year veteran of the police union. Nedd has first-hand experience "rendering himself an ineffective committeeman" by creating a conflict of interest and disqualifying himself from labor negotiations. All the more so, David Kennedy, who would also be disqualified from participating in labor negotiations because of his union background.

Nobody is raising a legal challenge. That's a false issue. It's just common sense that a lot of tax payers are uncomfortable with a union man on both sides of the negotiating table. It's an executive committee, not a labor committee! One of the first questions out of Kennedy's mouth at a town budget meeting was whether or not open space funds could be used to pay police salaries. Right then and there you get a good idea where his loyalties lie. Forget the tax payers and the rest of the town employees ... pay the union people first.

Why would we want to take a chance knowing that he's a lame horse right out of the shoot? Worse yet, why would Republicans want to vote for someone that garners the support the of Fabian Socialist, Kevin Nedd? No thanks. I'll stick with the two proven fiscally conservative Republican candidates, Howard Popper and James LiaBraaten. We might live in a rural community, but I didn't just fall off a turnip truck.

By David X Johnson

LOL!  To borrow a phrase from Don Imus, "is there a dumber man on the planet?"

For the record, I count my self as a Kennedy supporter; but as a Democrat, I did not "endorse" him in the GOP primary.  As for the General Election, assuming the field does not change, Kennedy will however get one of my votes in the fall.

Ouch!

Imagine if Richard Merkt were a Democrat!

Bottom Line: Despite his campaign promise, Governor Christie has done NOTHING that will result in a LOWERING of our property tax bill! In fact, Washington Township residents just got a skyrocketing increase in their estimated 2010 property tax bills. Go Chris!

...somebody step on a duck?

Having lost the GOP nomination to retain his WT Committeemen seat, it seems Howard "lame duck" Popper couldn't bring himself to writing the traditional OT letter thanking his supporters. Instead, Howard opted for a entry on his Facebook page. How big of him.

Please pass the tissues...

Yesterday's OT confirms my earlier prediction of the Township Committee (and Tom Lotito) acting like a bunch of children when the WTBOE chose a different path to meet the committee's $1M mandated reduction in the school tax levy. Perhaps some of the current Township Committee members should have stayed on the BOE if they wanted to continue to dictate education policy. Kudo's to the WTBOE for exercising its independence, while at the same time living up to its statutory obligations.

I think she is talking about you Howard!

WASHINGTON TWP. - The Washington Township Democratic Committee on June 14n unanimously election an expanded leadership team, with Rich Welch as vice-chairman, Neil Szigethy as secretary and Linda Bonk as sergeant -at-arms.

Sally Hudson and Don Barcan were unanimously re-elected as chairman and treasurer, respectively.

“The results from the June primary demonstrate that the voters of Washington Township demand accountability from the Township Committee members,” states Sally Hudson, “and they demand leadership that will proactively and responsibly address the fiscal problems facing the community. The Democratic Party and our candidate and new Vice Chairman, Rich Welch, offer voters a constructive and economically sound path forward.”

Who's Your Daddy?

If anyone has any doubt who is "Commander-and-Chief" of the armed forces, just ask Gen. McChrystal.

The President's appointment of Gen. Petraeus as McChrystal's replacement was brilliant as well!

Where's Howard?

Last week's OT contained a letter from John Krickus thanking Darkside voters who supported his failed 6th place finish for the GOP nomination for a seat on the Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders. For the record, I was happy to see John lose, as his lack of ethics is of great concern. The that both his running mates won, made it just that more enjoyable.

I was also surprised with the absence of a similar letter from Howard Popper. Maybe Howard was too busy trying to figure out who to investigate for his loss? A few PIs must be anxiously waiting his call!

S.T.F.U.

Here is an excellent example of a GOPer having to eat crow.  Rep. Barton would feel right at home with some of the Darksiders in Washington Township!


Rep. Barton Retracts Apology To BP
June 17, 2010

By Kyle Trygstad

Facing mounting pressure from his own party, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) retracted his apology to BP CEO Tony Hayward, which he offered to the oil executive this morning in his opening statement as ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

"I am ashamed of what happened at the White House yesterday," Barton said this morning. "It is a tragedy in the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown - in this case a $20 billion shakedown."

Hayward testified today and answered the panel's questions late into the afternoon. As he testified, the White House and Democrats from both chambers of Congress blasted the congressman for apologizing to the oil company.

Republicans joined as well, with Florida Rep. Jeff Miller the first to call on Barton to step down as ranking member of the committee. Miller represents the western-most district in Florida's panhandle. House GOP leaders John Boehner, Eric Cantor and Mike Pence issued a joint statement calling Barton's initial comments about a White House shakedown "wrong," adding that BP acknowledged repsonsibility and "offered an initial pledge of $20 billion."

Here is Barton's full statement of regret, apologizing for his earlier statement:

"I apologize for using the term 'shakedown' with regard to yesterday's actions at the White House in my opening statement this morning, and I retract my apology to BP. As I told my colleagues yesterday and said again this morning, BP should bear the full financial responsibility for the accident on their lease in the Gulf of Mexico. BP should fully compensate those families and businesses that have been hurt by this accident. BP and the federal government need to stop the leak, clean up the damage, and take whatever steps necessary to prevent a similar accident in the future.

"I regret the impact that my statement this morning implied that BP should not pay for the consequences of their decisions and actions in this incident."

David X. Johnson - WRONG AGAIN!

David X. Johnson, who has yet to publicly acknowledge his defeat in last week's primary election, states the following on his blog: "The local council did reasonably well in dealing with the massive 560K reduction in state aid, which amounts to 3.5% of the total budget."

The following FACTS refute David's statement.

1. In 2010, state aid was cut was $362K verses the prior year, representing 2.2% of the budget.
2. We have a Township Committee form of government, not a Township Council.

Former New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan once observed, “you are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.”

Update #1: Once again David X. Johnson has changed his blog to better represent the truth after being called out on this website.  Keep reading David, you just might learn something!

Tom Lotito's ranting isn't a solution...

Here is a recent rant sent by Tom Lotito to a local resident:

"Don't know the answer to your question, But I would speculate and say, yes. I would like to see every budget fail every year in order to see what's in it. The issue as I see it: Does the cost per pupil spent equal the amount of taxes we pay? In other words, what are we getting in terms of value compared to what we are paying? Is the quality of education worth what we are paying for it?"

"Having said this, it is my suspicion that administrator, janitors salaries at the HS school need to be looked at before we cut these needed classroom programs. It is my opinion, like the K-8 school , WMCHS BOE administration is in a survival mode. Outsourcing janitors must be seriously looked at the HS and the K-8 schools in order to save these programs."

"Having looked at the way the WMCHS BOE handled the construction project, the addition that took five years, which by the way, was riddled with very expensive change orders, and was 2 million dollars over budget and scaled down. I have my doubts that WMCHS BOE is looking into this in a cost effective manor."

"far as I'm concerned, it is foolish to constantly throw money at our schools, that winds up, not in the class room, but in administrators pockets. Current teachers salaries with a shrinking demographic and a shrinking piece of the pie are unsustainable."

"As we move forward into 2011, higher federal tax increases and shrinking income will effect all of us, these issues will force us to make even tougher decision next year. I am not for cutting programs in the classroom, I am for cutting our BOE administration to a lighter smaller cost efficient model and return to the mission of educating our children in the classroom."

Tom Lotito

While Tom is certainly entitiled to his opinion, let's put a little perspective on how much he is contributing to the cost of his own children's education in the contex of where he says "what are we getting in terms of value compared to what we are paying?". Tom currently has one child in the middle school and one child in the high school. By conservative estimates, the cost to educate his children is in the neighborhood of about $22K give or take a grand or so. That's what Tom is "getting". Now let's look at what Tom is "paying". According to Morris County tax records, Tom paid less than $7,000 in property taxes last year. To put it bluntly Tom put $7K in the kitty, but took at least $22K out. Sounds like a good deal, huh? Why isn't Tom happy? Things could be much worse. He could have paid over $15,000 in property taxes and have no children in our public schools (like I do). But then again you don't hear me complaining, because unlike Tom, I understand how a good K-12 education; can lead to a good college; which leads to a respectable job; which leads to a standard of living above the norm.

If Tom Lotito were anything but the "angry white male" that he is, he would stop all his pathetic whining and simply run for a seat on the BOE and try and influence the change he so desperately seeks in a constructive manner as opposed to vowing to "defeat" school budgets out of spite. If the whole town agrees with him to the degree he always claims, he should have no problem getting elected, right?

Back in 2005, I had a problem with the Township Committee's imposition of an 11% municipal tax increase. I ran for office and brought about the structural changes in our budget to ensure this would never happen again. The chart on the upper left speaks volumes as to how things turned out. Tom Lotito should consider a more constructive approach.

Harlin lays it out!

EDITOR (OT): The June 8 primary election offers Democratic and Republican party voters the chance to think about our town and how we’ll be best served by those who would be our local representatives.
As in the general election this coming November, this should be an opportunity for voters to learn about the individual candidates, especially the ideas and plans these candidates are offering to help move us into a better future.

Unfortunately, in many of the letters in the Observer-Tribune we see the usual suspects spewing forth the same old same old. It seems that the entrenched local Republican operatives submit the same letters each year, changing only the names and a word here or there.

And it isn’t pretty. In this primary campaign, as we are bound to see this fall, these guys continue their M.O. Run on slogans, not thoughtful policy. Don’t debate your opponents. Throw mud. And most of all, boast about your fiscal responsibility and “conservative” leadership even though the plain facts of history prove otherwise.

But this is a primary election. The Democratic candidate, Richard Welch, a respected and accomplished attorney, is running unopposed so it’s the Republican primary that will garner the headlines.

I appreciate that as a Democrat I must leave it to local Republicans to squabble amongst themselves in choosing their candidates, with their vacuous slogans, flimsy claims of accomplishments, even the “heated” rhetoric.

However, as an American, I am compelled to speak out against unpardonable character assassination masquerading as political speech. I do not know David Kennedy. Never met him. I have no comment on his ideas. But the assertion that because of his decades of service as a top police official he would be unable to ably serve as a Township Committeeman is an unabashed insult to every man and woman in law enforcement, and is blatantly untrue.

Our Mayor, Ken Short, was an insurance broker. Is he unable to vote about township insurance contracts? Committeeman Bill Roehrich was a farmer. Is he unable to vote on farm preservation issues? No, this won’t do. Political speech, no matter how intemperate, is our birthright in America. Character assassination is not. This despicable tactic has to end, in the general election and in the primary as well.

The many years of short term, reactionary “leadership” by fill-in-the-blank old guard committeemen, foisting upon us buckets of wasteful spending, imprudent borrowing and the never ending march of tax increases must finally come to an end.

Even this year, township spending is going up about 3 percent more than the rate of inflation. In what has become a yearly nightmare, this year, again, local taxpayers will be paying more and getting less. A lot less. And somebody’s taking a bow for that?

I urge everyone to vote, both in the primary election and the all important general election in November. I also urge everyone to look past the slogans, look past the empty, unfulfilled promises and to speak out against intolerable campaign tactics.

Keep in mind that continuing to push forward when we’re heading in the wrong direction is not a formula for success. It’s time to let other people take the helm.

HARLIN PARKER

Time for Krickus to come clean...

Now that the election is over, it's time for DEFEATED Republican Primary Freeholder Candidate John Krickus to answer the question as to why, according to the Township Administrator, he ordered a Township employee to provide a list of vendors whom the Township spent $10K or more. Was this list used to solicit campaign contributions when Krickus was running for reelction back in 2000?

The time has come for Krickus to answer these questions!

More Trash Talk from David X. Johnson!

Here is another example of the "trash talk" put out by Darkside newbie David X. Johnson in the days leading up to this past Tuesday's election.  Talk about having to eat crow!

"Kennedy's latest desperate attempt is another Kevin Nedd (Obama supporting Democrat endorser) type attack suggesting that Jim LiaBraaten is going to houses that have Kennedy signs.. :-) Considering a full 40% of those houses are not Republicans, that’s hardly likely."

"More fabrications from an x-cop with a penchant for stretching the truth. He lied twice in the Observer Tribune about not being in the PBA. He lied about what John Jansen really said to him about his conflict negotiating against his own unions. Now he lies about a fiscal conservative stopping at non-republican houses for votes! Ha, Ha, Ha.."

"Poor Dave Kennedy is a unwitting sacrificial lamb led to the slaughter by liberal spender BOE member Chance Healy, who will be undoubtedly be removed next year. Maybe Kennedy, who didn’t get a single vote the last time he tried to get on the BOE, will take his seat."

Bottom line #1: At this point it's probably a safe bet to say David isn't the most open minded person. So much so, one has to question the judgment of Mayor Ken Short for appointing him to the newly formed Flea Market Committee.

What say you David X. Johnson?

One has to wonder why David X. Johnson's blog doesn't mention how he fared in his bid to unseat Bill Leavens in the District 5 WT Republican County Committee race?  David's silence probably has a lot to do with the fact he LOST!

In addition, David has removed all of the "trash talk" blog postings he made in the run up to yesterday's election.

What a coward!