Patricia Quattrocchi's blog

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.

This week former Assemblyman Neil Cohen was indicted for viewing child pornography on state owned computers located in the legislative office he had shared with State Senator Raymond J. Lesniak and Assemblyman, Union County Undersheriff, Democratic State Committee Chairman, Union Township Municipal Chairman Joseph Cryan. It has been six months since Cohen was spirited away to commit himself to a psychiatric facility to the time that the Attorney General announced that a Grand Jury had handed up an indictment. There have been many here in Union County who had given up on ever hearing anything more about the case certain that Cohen had been given special treatment because of his station in life or politics depending how you look at it.

A rained out MusicFest this past September has provided Union County with $275,000 in insurance monies. The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders has authorized the County Manager to allocate the cash to the Union County Arts Center for the purpose of contracting talent for MusicFest 2009. The 2008 event was to be for a day and a half with an additional stage which exceeded the county’s usual one day event not only by its physical scope but it’s cost as well. County residents are questioning the expenditure of this money as the new contract with the UCAC for MusicFest ’09 is $175,000 over what was contracted for the ’08 event. What are we to expect this year; four stages instead of three? A three night event instead of the recent aborted two nighter?

Former State Senator Wayne Bryant got a smack on the back of the head from a jury of his peers today when they found him guilty of all eleven charges against him. On the third day of deliberations the jury delivered their verdict with a very sound, “Hey…..what the heck did you think you were doing?” Bryant will be back in court in March to hear what his sentence will be; it would seem that he will have four months to disburse his accumulated ill gotten gains or what is left of them after his defense attorney takes his cut.

There are those who have been frustrated of late because as fans of Bryant, they were not able to sing his praises in court. They wanted to espouse the good things that he has done, as if those deeds should carry weight in the jury’s decision-making process when trying to decide beyond a shadow of a doubt if he committed any criminal acts. Perhaps Bryant’s most egregious crime was his betrayal of the voters' trust in a district that encompasses what can only be considered New Jersey’s very own “war zone” and home to some of the poorest in the USA. The city of Camden, the county seat of Camden County -- Bryant’s stomping grounds -- has an unemployment rate of 16.3 percent, compared to the national average of 6.9 percent, according to Federal figures on the employment website simplyhired.com.

A press release on the official Union County web site admittedly made me snicker just a bit today because it brought back to mind something my late father said to me on several occasions when we spoke about employment, careers and the future.

My dad was a very ordinary type of a guy, a factory worker actually, who didn't understand that his daughter was interested in enjoying a job and not just marking time till Mr. Right came along. He was the first generation born here in the US to Polish/German immigrants and even though he was a Republican he was a union man, which was unusual back in the day. He possessed a phenomenal work ethic that appears to have been the calling card of his generation. I remember back in the early 60’s a series of snow storms that kept us kids home from school had paralyzed even the snow plows according to my uncle who worked for the DPW.  My dad donned boots and walked from Clark Township to the Lower Road in Linden to his job at GAF, I don't ever remember his “calling out” as the young ones do these days at the first signs of a flurry. His sister was the recognized artist in the family, she had done an occasional oil portrait or landscape in her time, we believe for money however no one is quite sure, so when it was discovered I might have some ability in the arts I was pushed in her direction. Dad threw up his hands in utter disgust and ranted, “you will be like your Aunt Nellie, you cannot make any money as an artist until you are dead.”  He was correct to a point, I did earn a living in the arts but not as an artist. I ended up doing department store windows for a time, employed by Teppers in Plainfield, and later by recruiting for about 25 years to include a stint placing graphic artists and writers within the printing and publishing industries and packaging designers and engineers for the beauty industry.

There were many running around the country last night claiming that Americans voted for “change”. Well perhaps they did in some spots, but here in Union County they voted for the same old thing by reelecting the incumbent freeholder candidates once again to the board.

I just cannot figure it out; the residents crab and complain about how their hard-earned tax dollars are being wasted and yet, just like a relationship with an abusive partner, they go running back for more of the same. Do they honestly believe that the so called “change” that they are seeking will trickle down from the top, or that by some miracle there will be a rebirth of conscience from the board members who by magic will be spurred to change their spending habits? Or is it that they are experiencing disbelief in what they are seeing on their tax bills and are buying into the belief that things will be different this time around. One can only speculate as to what is going on in their minds.

Over the past couple of weeks the Union County freeholders have made their annual pre-Election Day rounds bearing huge worthless cardboard checks representing grants or giant scissors for ribbon cuttings at new or renovated parks and recreational facilities around the county. I find myself smacking the side of my own head in amazement at the photo opportunity which took place at the official opening of the Esposito Farm Park on Madison Hill Road in Clark recently. Participating in cutting the yellow ribbon were four freeholders, three of whom were up for reelection, alongside the incumbent mayoral candidate and four Clark council persons, of which three were also seeking reelection. In total, eight of the ten in the photo were on this week's ballot. Is it a coincidence that the photo and accompanying press release were issued by the county information officer barely two weeks before Election Day? And what a coup for the Democratic freeholders to be seen getting cozy with Clark’s Republican council; from the freeholders' perspective it probably can’t get much better than that. A new $2.9 million park certainly can nail down a few bonus votes.

The saying that there is “a time and a place for everything” is one of those open-ended pronouncements that can serve any number of purposes. It can be a rebuttal, it can be a reprimand or it can even be a signal that the discussion will not precede any further than the point it is at right then and there with the speaker commandeering control of the situation. The tone of voice used is a sure indicator of the speaker's intended meaning, so those on the receiving end, especially spouses, are advised to keep their hearing finely tuned to avoid ill-fated discussions upon arrival home.

Though I have been following the escapades of the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders for a number of years, I was totally unaware that a seat on the board came complete with its very own “Bully Pulpit.” Now not to be misunderstood -- I do believe that there are those public offices, such as the American presidency, or perhaps U.S. Senate which are of a high enough rank as to provide the office holder with an opportunity to speak out and be listened to on any matter, within the parameters of good taste and sportsmanship. However holding the office of freeholder does not automatically award that public official the license to publicly malign and criticize the opposition political party and candidates. Nor is it acceptable to use the public’s time to extol the self-perceived virtues of one’s own party candidates. But this is exactly what happened during the last Union County Freeholder meeting when sitting Freeholder Dan Sullivan engaged in blatant electioneering which has absolutely no place in a forum that is intended to carry out the “public’s business” -- to govern the county.