“Rather than vehemently attacking every individual or organization that supports us, Republicans Bruce Garganio and Mary Ann O'Brien can help County government by calling on their own party to clean up their act,” said Bernard.  “Did they lose Freeholder-Director Donnelly’s phone number? They can walk across the street from their campaign office to the County building, where many of their high-priced GOP cronies also work, and join us in calling for a reduction to political patronage salaries.

The Burlington County Times’ farewell to retiring State Senator Martha Bark wasn’t entirely fond.

Fair enough.

BCT has been consistently thorough in its coverage of Sen. Bark’s pension-padding shenanigans with the Burlington County Bridge Commission and the county vo-tech school system. No special treatment here for the county’s favorite son – er, daughter.

State Senator Martha Bark is expected to resign her seat on Monday so she can qualify for benefits on January 1. If Bark, who did not seek re-election this year, were to wait until her term expires on January 8, she would not begin receiving benefits until February 1.

Bark’s eighth district seat will remain vacant for the final week of her term – a time when several key issues will be posted for votes during the lame duck session of the Senate. New Jersey law permits Special Election Conventions between 7 and 35 days of the vacancy – so Bark’s term will expire before Burlington County Republicans could legally meet to fill her seat.

Republican-turned-Democrat Francis Bodine won just 39% of the vote in his bid for a State Senate seat -- not much better than the 33% that Democrat Thomas Price won against Martha Bark in 2003, without the benefit of campaign funds and staff. Bodine won the same percentage as Gary Haman did against Bark in 2001, and ran six points behind Democratic Senate candidate Marie Hall in 1997.

The most creative press release of the week, so far, comes from the Burlington County Democrats -- with a David Letterman-style Top 10 list:

Francis Bodine may have switched parties, but he hasn't moved out of the legislative office he shares with State Senator Martha Bark and Assemblyman Larry Chatzidakis. Republican legislators in the eighth district have split an office for years and that didn't change when Bodine left the GOP to become the Democratic candidate for State Senate.

Glen Beebe, a Republican who served as Deputy Executive Director of the Assembly when the Republicans were in the majority, has been Bodine's top staffer since 2001 -- his entire $95,000-a-year salary is paid out of Bodine's staff budget -- yet he continues to divide his time between the three legislators. Bark and Chatzidakis are not seeking re-election.

While Burlington County Republicans have not yet made final decision about the eighth district, it appears that County Clerk Philip Haines will run for the State Senate. He would replace Martha Bark, who announced last week that she would not seek re-election.

Republicans are expected to dump Assemblyman Larry Chatzidakis from their ticket and replace him with Scott Rudder, the former Mayor of Medford. Incumbent Francis Bodine, who had also been in danger of being replaced, will get at least one more term.

Five Repubican State Senators have announced their retirements this year -- the largest group of Senators to leave the Senate without running for another office since 1971 -- and there are likely to be more departures on the horizon. Martha Bark will not be seeking re-election, but Burlington County Republicans are waiting to decide who their eighth district candidates will be before Bark makes her formal announcement. Bernard Kenny, the Senate Majority Leader, is also likely to drop his bid for re-election, rather than face Assemblyman/Union City Mayor Brian Stack in the Democratic primary.

Two Democratic Senators from Newark, Ronald Rice and Sharpe James, could retire, instead of facing challenges for renomination. And in Camden County, where Wayne Bryant is expected to seek re-election, circumstances could alter his plans. Insiders say that Republican Senator Peter Inverso has not made a final decision on his 2007 plans.

BURLINGTON COUNTY DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE
7000 Atrium Way, Suite 7
Mt. Laurel, New Jersey 08054
www.burlcodems.com

For Immediate Release
Contact: Chris Fifis (609) 206-1678
January 17, 2007

GROUNDHOG DAY COMES EARLY

Diane Allen Sees Ethics Committee Shadow and Remains Silent for Six More Weeks

(Mt. Laurel, NJ) - Legislative ethics violators breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday when Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance appointed Burlington County State Senator Diane Allen (R-7) to the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Ethical Standards. The reason for such joy from potential scofflaws is that Diane Allen has remained silent while her own Burlington County Republican Party has been embroiled in ethical scandal, corruption and illegal conduct.

For the past two years, the Burlington County Republican Party has been a standard bearer for corruption in the State of New Jersey. Yet, Diane Allen has not issued a single word of condemnation to the members of her own party. There is little evidence to suggest that she would now do so on the Ethics Committee.

Diane Allen’s abysmal record on ethics in Burlington County:

• State Senator Martha Bark (R-8) is under criminal investigation by the New Jersey Attorney General for two no-show, no-work-product, pension-padding jobs at the Burlington County Bridge Commission and the Burlington County Institute of Technology. Bark earned more than $330,000 for these jobs and doubled her pension. Representatives from these entities admit there is no tangible work-product to show Bark did anything for her salaries.

 Diane Allen has been silent.

• Burlington County Bridge Commission lobbyist, public relations consultant and spokesman Bob Stears pled guilty to bilking $2.7 million from the taxpayers and tollpayers of Burlington County. Stears, through The Strategy Group, whose partners included current State GOP Chair Tom Wilson, fraudulently billed the Bridge Commission approximately $40,000 per month for work that was not done.

 Despite the Bridge Commission being located in her District, Diane Allen has said nothing.

• The Strategy Group and its partners, including State GOP Chair Tom Wilson, benefited from Stears’ fraud by splitting the profits earned from Stears’ unlawful conduct. Assemblymen Jack Conners (D-7) and Michael Panter (D-12) have called on The Strategy Group to disgorge these illegal profits and return them to their rightful owners - the tollpayers and taxpayers of Burlington County.

 Diane Allen has not spoken.

• According to published reports, the state probe of Martha Bark has expanded to the Delaware River Port Authority, then-Burlington County Republican Chairman Glenn Paulsen and Carol Beske of ACT Engineers. Paulsen is Diane Allen’s chief benefactor, supporting her U.S Senate campaign and privately backing her campaign loans with the name and credit of the Burlington County Republican Party. Beske, a close advisor to former GOP candidate Doug Forrester, and her firm have donated more than $150,000 to Burlington County Republicans since 1998.

 Diane Allen has failed to speak out.

• GOP U.S. Senate and Gubernatorial candidate Doug Forrester and his company, Benecard, donated thousands of dollars to the Burlington County Republican Party and its candidates. During this time period, Benecard obtained pay-to-play contracts at the Burlington County Special Services School District even though it was not the lowest bidder. The deal also involved the son of Diane Allen’s Republican colleague, State Senator Bill Gormley of Atlantic County.

 Diane Allen has not said a word on the impropriety of this contract.

• Parsons Infrastructure and Technology Group was awarded a $488 million state contract by Republicans to design, build, and operate the Division of Motor Vehicles inspection stations and its "high-tech" emissions systems. Parsons had to be removed from the project due to its gross failure. Diane Allen and the Burlington County Republican Party received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Parsons.

 Diane Allen has been mum.

“Leonard Lance and the Republicans may believe that Diane Allen can sit in judgment of those accused of ethical violations, but her track record demonstrates that when faced with her own party’s lapses she has nothing to say," explained Burlington County Democratic Chairman Richard J. Perr.

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