Prince Charlie Finds Entourage Essential

by: Thurman Hart

Wed May 24, 2006 at 06:48:22 AM EDT

By JARRETT RENSHAWJOURNAL STAFF WRITER
An associate superintendent and her husband joined Jersey City Schools Superintendent Charles T. Epps Jr. on his expensive trip to England that has become a lightning rod for critics of spending in the state's Abbott districts.

Adele Macula, who heads up the district's curriculum and instruction, and her husband Joe Macula, a vice president with United Water in Jersey City, wined and dined with Epps at two of London's finest restaurants during the 2004 trip.

They went across the pond, at the district's expense, to attend a five-day education conference at prestigious Oxford University.
But Epps and his companions arrived in London four days before the conference began, according to receipts and other documents obtained by The Jersey Journal through state Republicans and interviews with conference organizers, and they spent hundreds of dollars eating $80 entrees and $25 soups and staying at a $481-a-night hotel before trekking the 50 miles to Oxford.

Once at the conference, Epps and the Maculas apparently turned down the campus lodging - included in the cost of attendance - and instead stayed at the nearly $300-a-night Old Parsonage Hotel.

The evidence keeps piling up that Prince Charlie has approached his job as Superintendant as nothing more than a life of luxury on our dime.  It's way past time to throw the bum out.

A school board member who has seen receipts submitted by Adele Macula says that she did not charge taxpayers for her husband's meals, though he did stay with his wife in the hotels.

Epps, on the other hand, was apparently reimbursed by taxpayers for Joe Macula's expensive meals when he picked up the tab, despite the fact that the United Water veep was not a district employee.

"The taxpayers did not pay for me," said Joe Macula when reached at his work yesterday. "I did not hand in those receipts."
He would not comment any further on the trip yesterday.

Epps also refused to comment about the trip, but officials said a statement from him is expected today.

Ah, the plot thickens.  Prince Charlie played the Big Man and impressed his entourage with his generosity - then crammed the bill down the throat of the taxpayers.

Throw Him Out!

Cross-posted from NJ Tammany