Freeholder’s annual holiday gifts to taxpayers...

More patronage, nepotism and arrogance. Gee they shouldn’t have!

Word on the street is that the county is on the verge of creating 6 new Captain spots which will enable a politically connected Sergeant in the sheriff’s department, who scored the sixth highest on the Lieutenant's exam, be promoted.

It’s Christmas time, the county always has some kind of scam involving raises during the holiday season. It’s right after the Election and people won’t be paying attention, we’re all busy making cookies…..The UCWA is paying attention, and we’ll have more on the Sheriff’s Department shuffle soon.

Union County taxpayers will now be paying two superintendent salaries for one superintendent of weights and measures, the son of former Union Township Mayor Florio. Three law suits stemming from the promotion of the mayor’s son over 2 long-standing county employees who scored higher on a civil service exam cost in excess of $790,000. The prize? A lousy $8,000 pay raise all around.

The county recently settled a second lawsuit brought by employee Maria Todaro who was hired by the county Division of Weights and Measurers in 1993. Michael Florio joined the county 5 years later in 1998. The division is responsible for ensuring that gasoline pumps, supermarket scales, store scanners and other measurement devices are accurate.

Todaro who scored higher than Florio on a civil service exam, has a math degree, is bilingual, formerly worked for a law school dean and was a former packing manager for Proctor and Gamble. She has been secretary to the New Jersey Weights and Measures Association since 1997 and was employee of the month. Todero was able to prove that she was passed over for the county promotion because she is a registered Republican.

The only background information I was able to find on Michael Florio is that he is the son of former Union Township Mayor Florio.

In Maria Todero's first lawsuit a Union County Grand Jury, which found she was discriminated against, initially awarded Ms. Todaro $300,000. Ms. Todaro appealed the second part of the lawsuit, in which she argued she should be awarded the job because she was the most qualified candidate.

At the November 8th Freeholder meeting the county agreed to settle Todero’s second lawsuit for $200,000 and give her the Superintendents pay raise but they would not give Todaro the job.

Employee Joseph Freitas, who joined the county in 1987, 11 years prior to Mayor Florio’s son, also won $150,000 in a suit filed in Federal Court for being passed over for the same job. Freitas also scored higher than Florio on a civil service exam. The counties legal fees were $25,000.

Quote of the year:
"We were able to establish that Mike Florio had repeatedly bragged to several people that he was going to get the job because he was a Democrat, his father was a Democrat and that they had made connections to Sen. (Raymond) Lesniak," stated Todaro's attorney David Corrigan in a Star-Ledger article.

You can view the lattest settlement document HERE.

Next freeholder meetings are Thurs. Dec. 6th and Thurs. Dec. 20th. The Dec. 13th meeting has been cancelled.

Has the Boss Tweed of UC turned murderous?

Just weeks ago it was reported that a bullet was fired at Freeholder Adrian Mapp’s car. Mapp has fallen out of favor with the Union County Democrat machine (a.k.a. Lesniak/DeFalippo) for reasons only the insiders know of as of yet and won’t be given the line in November. Just following this report a campaign mailer featuring a scull and the house of a political rival was mailed to all Hillside residents by Union County Democrat Chairwoman Charlotte DeFalippo.

Hillside School Board member Nathalie Yafet has been standing her ground against the Democrat machine in Hillside for years. She managed to have Sen. Raymond Lesniak’s law firm taken off the Hillside taxpayers’ backs. Her and fellow school board member at the time Sergio Biacho reported that the Board’s legal bills were affected dramatically by getting rid of Uncle Ray. Hillside taxpayers owe a debt of gratitude to the Yafet’s dedication. Residents can only imagine the sacrafices one takes on to stand up to the machine.

The Star-Ledger reports in the Union County section today about last week’s school board elections. Nathalie’s husband Steve ran for a seat on the Board and as usual the politics got nasty in Hillside. Last year’s county politicking in Hillside resulted in a police report being filed against a county employee who Charlotte DeFalippo was quoted as saying “He is a friend that I sent to help with an election.” (See post HERE)

Here is the Yaffet’s side of the story:

Dear Editor: It's always fascinating when political machines put their own sins on other people. In your story, Election quarrel spills into school board meeting, Friday April 27, 2007, Charlotte DeFilippo, the Union County Democratic Party chairperson and power broker, tries to take the moral high ground. That in itself is amusing and sad, too.

She gives herself credit for having the unspeakable idea of putting a picture of our home on the front cover of thousands of vicious campaign mailers and claims that it is appropriate to do so. Would she be as enthralled for her residence to have similar treatment? Ms. DeFilippo's nasty literature full of lies and misinformation is her signature style. After all, if your candidates have no merit, then the only other tactic left in dirty politics is to make personal attacks on others.

Ms. DeFilippo further asserts that, "she keeps running her husband." This statement is insulting to my husband, Steven, who made his own decision. The Union Leader endorsed him, called him "a necessity" on the school board and pointed out that he would ensure "fiscal responsibility in a town where taxes are already spiraling out of control."

Another ludicrous claim is that she is merely a simple resident of the township with, as she calls it, "a moral obligation," rather than the Boss Tweed of Union County and Hillside. Her candidates are fully funded and get hundreds of signs, expensive full-color mailers, county employees on Election Day, sound trucks and more. All they have to give up in return is their independent judgment and their votes. Sounds like politics to me.Conveniently, Ms. DeFilippo also fails to explain why she attacks me even when I am not up for re-election. Rather she says that every word in her trash mailer can be found by "Google-ing" me. Hardly. The only place you will find citations regarding my supposed plans for a "multi-million dollar" theater and other nonsense are in her twisted mind.

Nathalie Yafet
Hillside, NJ