Fri Nov 02, 2007 at 06:39:56 PM EDT
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The insanity that has characterized the Somerset County Parks Commission continues. The Parks Commission's finance director, Peng Chen, basically had to have his arm twisted to give testimony in the case against Joe Lucas. He was informed that he could not use his fifth amendment rights to refuse to answer questions he had already given as sworn statements. Here's a few maddening details:
The queries ranged from his job description to identifying who approved agency purchases.
Rogers and Hawkes argued Chen had no grounds to plead the Fifth because he had already provided those details in sworn interviews with investigators from the prosecutor's office. But Chen had no idea his statements could ultimately be used against him, Pasquale said. He never waived his right to avoid incriminating himself, and he was never advised of his rights, Pasquale said.
Talk about a hole big enough to drive a truck through! He gives sworn statements to the prosecutor and then claims that he didn't know they could be used in court - what did he think they were for?
And what's the deal with not wanting to give your job description?
"He's being put on the stand while there is a state investigation going on," Pasquale said, adding, "Mr. Chen would be happy to testify if he had immunity. That's not being offered to him." Yeah - he'll admit he's a crook just as long as there are no consequences to doing so.
Chen, a father of three who has a master's degree in public administration from American University in Washington, D.C., and a undergraduate degree in economics from Northeastern University in China, has been the commission's finance administrator since 1998.
He is also the purchasing agent and penned the park commission purchasing manual in 2004, which includes rules for hiring vendors for projects or goods that cost between $3,750 and $25,000. He included a special memo urging managers to pay particular attention to the requirement to obtain three price quotes directly from vendors for each job.
Hawkes also asked Chen to note the page in the manual indicating commission employees are "expressly prohibited" from accepting gratuities or other perks from any person or company to which an order for service might be awarded.
This guy, quite literally, wrote the book on the right way to do things. How can he claim with anything resembling a straight face that he doesn't have to testify about the rules he wrote?
This is just the latest evidence that the problems at the Parks Commission go far beyond a "few bad apples". The whole freaking tree here is rotten to the core and the only way to fix things is to take an axe to it - and in this case, that means electing Melonie Marano to shake things up. I only wish she were running in Hudson County... |
| Thurman Hart :: No Immunity for Somerset County Parks Finance Administrator |
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