Patricia Quattrocchi's blog

Word on the "internet street" has it that all the "King Street Men" supposedly are busy gathering cash for Union County Democratic Committee Chairwoman Charlotte DeFilippo's legal defense fund. Served with subpoenas in October 2007 to produce documents pertaining to both her personal business dealings and those of the Union County Improvement Authority; Charlotte the Director, crowed that in no time flat everyone would be apologizing to her for the inconvenience of the investigation.. "I've been involved in politics for 35 years, and I do it in the most aboveboard and transparent manner," she was quoted in the Star Ledger as having said. "I just want to know who's going to say, 'Sorry, Charlotte' when this is all over."

There is something terribly wrong going on here in Union County. When did it become acceptable for county employees to be abusive toward the public? Just when did the county manager, who in actuality is nothing more than a hired hand like any other CEO or COO of a corporation, become endowed with the right to publicly malign share holders, in his case taxpayers, and get away with it?

Friday, May 1st was the day that the first installment, $5,000, was due from those who are planning to participate in the Love Hope and Strength Foundation's latest musical journey.  This year, 2009, the 30 "trekkers" will be climbing to the roof of Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro. The total minimum amount required for participation in what is being billed as Kilimanjaro Rocks is $14,000 and does not include the cost of air travel or the climber's personal equipment. It is probably pretty safe to assume that barring any unknown circumstances County Manager George Devanney managed to get his money in to reserve his spot once again with his teen music idol Mike Peters of the band The Alarm. To review the entire 13 day itinerary and financial requirements to participate please visit the official website at www.lovehopestrength.org

A few weeks back a letter from a Cranford resident appeared in the Sunday Star Ledger critical of the Union County Freeholders and what was than still a proposal to close the county owned Oak Ridge Golf Course in Clark.  Since than the course has been "officially" closed, "officially" renamed and is now being "officially" torn up to render it impossible to ever "officially" reclaim for golf.  It appears that it is being readied to meet my prediction from a couple of months ago that George Devanney's Music Fest will find a new home at what is now called Oak Ridge Park, situated smack in the middle of an otherwise quiet neighborhood. Columnist Paul Mulshine has chimed in questioning the speed and the wisdom of the course's closing or was that the wisdom of the freeholders in general?

Friday, in the pouring rain, my friend was laid in his eternal resting place. His life, seemed to have come to an untimely end in the minds of many, but it had been rich and full of accomplishments both large and small, no one can deny that. It was almost as though he deliberately crammed as much as he could into everyday because he was afraid he would miss out on experiencing something.  He was one of those rare people that the sun seemed to shine through every pore of his entire body even when the sun was actually no where to be found. He had the kind of a happy disposition that as parents we want to see in our children from the time that they are infants because we know that pleasant people just do better in personal relationships than those who are contrary individuals. And he seemed to have come to terms with what is really important in life and was able to go through his days striving to share his zest for living and his special talents effortlessly with those who had not yet made that discovery in the hope that they too could bask in and appreciate life’s goodness as he did.

When New Jersey receives its share of the Federal Stimulus Spending that was approved by Washington in February the office of the state comptroller will be overseeing how $17 Billion will be spent. Matthew Boxer's office has been quite busy recently, for those who don't know, Boxer is the "Independent" New Jersey State Comptroller. His office, according to the website www.state.nj.us/comptroller.gov,  is an independent office created to bring greater efficiency and transparency to the operation of all levels of NJ's government.  Actually his office does audits, performance reviews and examinations of government contracts. Heaven knows we could certainly use more transparency around these parts.

The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders has announced, thru the County Manager, that there will be 28 employees laid off shortly. Many of those employees who will be effected by the job cuts converged on the freeholder meeting last evening and it has been reported that they were joined by about 35 or so fellow workers, all members of union Council 8.  Council 8 represents approximately 875 county workers the largest bargaining unit and includes practical nurses, mechanics, secretaries and inspectors. County Manager Devanney sites a $24million county shortfall and a crippled US economy as the reasons for the layoffs which would be effective in early April.

When someone referred to my dad as a "sweet old duffer" I was slightly taken aback because obviously that person really did not know my father very well or what he loved most in life besides my mother. Far from being a duffer, which is by definition  a bad golfer, my late father known to many by a variety of nick names, to include Nick, Joe, Ace and even Farmer was perhaps for many years one of the best home grown golfers that Union County had ever seen. Shooting his last hole-in-one when he was in his mid-seventies while suffering the ravages of a debilitating bone disease he worked almost daily as a ranger at the UC Country Club he loved when he could no longer caddy.

The owner of Pavel Construction, Ray Vella of Elizabeth, is on trial for bribery. According to newspaper reports the contractor is one of several who are being accused of bribing a public official in exchange for contracts to repair homes through the City of Linden's federally-funded neighborhood preservation program.  Vella is charged with mail fraud, providing corrupt payments and obtaining property by fraud. Three other contractors and a former public official have already pleaded guilty and are giving testimony in Vella's trial; his story though interesting is for another day.

Many columnists write a "year in review" or a "predictions" piece for the New Year, however I decided to refrain from going down either of those paths and instead decided to revisit two topics which though relatively low profile at this point in time do have the potential to pack a significant wallop in the not too distant future.