"I'm just disappointed by all their actions on all the professional appointments," Councilwoman Debbie Sarcone said. "They were obviously rewards for money given, campaign contributions."
Demonstrating hypocrisy at its worst, pay-to-play veteran Evesham Councilwoman Debbie Sarcone accepted a $2000 gift from Evesham engineering applicant Churchill, P.C. Consulting Engineers on Wednesday, August 15. Sarcone was Churchill's guest at the Gloucester County Democratic Party's $2000 a person fundraiser held at Philadelphia's Prime Rib.
Evesham's new township council is on the right track when it comes to stopping the corrupting practice of pay to play. Other local governments in South Jersey should follow Evesham's lead and not wait for citizens to force the issue through petition drives when it comes to getting tough on pay to play.
Councilman Chris Brown gave me a good laugh with his quotes...
"Perhaps Debbie believes that pay-to-play is not an issue if you accept the gift in Pennsylvania," remarked Evesham Councilman Christopher J. Brown. "This is exactly the type of conduct that will be illegal under the ethics ordinance we've introduced."
"It looks like Debbie is trying to take a few last bites at the apple before the loopholes are closed," said Brown. "She owes it to the residents of Evesham to not only return the money for the gift she took, but to pledge that she will stop accepting these outlandish gifts."
It looks like Councilwoman Sarcone will have to find a new issue.
Here's my question: Does it matter if the work you have done is better than it has been done in the past if people perceive the way you got that work to be bad? The Republicans have been seizing over recent reports of the hiring of engineering firms to do a portion of Evesham Township, Burlington County's work saying that it is an example of pay to play because Assemblyman Fran Bodine works for one of the companies which received a contract. Bodine for his part has denied any connection besides his help as a sitting official trying to elect candidates during the campaign.
"I had no input into this," Bodine said. "I didn't talk to anyone on the transition team (that awarded contracts). My participation in this whole thing was zero."
So the cynic will say how could this man not try to get his employer a contract. The hardcore supporter will say he did nothing wrong without questioning. Some will ask to see how he influenced the contract and how he will benefit from the work. I have to say that I'm really not trying to pass judgment on that because until we have a full time legislature, we are going to have situations where people involved in their profession end up having the appearance of a conflict regardless of whether one exists unless their employer does not seek any public business. Reading the article further however, I find this nugget of information that the new firm, despite the way they got the contract, actually saved the town almost $200,000 just on that one deal.
The firm has already proved to be cheaper than competitors, Brown said. For a parking lot project at Evesboro Downs, the company bid $172,000. The former township engineer, Alaimo Associates of Mount Holly, bid $350,000.
On just one contract, the town saved 178k and last time I checked, that's a good thing. Also, lets note that this is the same Alaimo Associates who when the Republicans controlled the town received contracts such as this one while contributing through every branch of the Republican apparatus in the county.
So back to my question: does the fact that they allege an appearance of a conflict negate the savings to the town? Isn't pay to play where there isn't a competitive bidding process and the company charges the town whatever they want because they can? It seems to me like Evesham taxpayers made out regardless of whether you believe the claims of a conflict. Your thoughts?
Democrat Randy Brown defeated Evesham Mayor Gus Tamburro by 3,690 to 3,463 to become mayor of the largest municipality in Burlington County. Brown's running mates Chris Brown and John McKenna defeated Republicans Bonnie Olt and Cliff Richards by roughly 3,500 to 2,800 to pick up two seats on the town council.
Democrats used an innovative real-time voter data Blackberry system to help pull off the victory. Poll workers checked off voters as they arrived and those in the field were able to instantly receive the updated information and better target voters. "Maybe we'll have to call them 'Blueberries' instead of Blackberries since they were an effective tool for Democrats," said Democratic party Chairman Joe Cryan.
(If anyone can help out, please lend a few hours of your time to make a change - promoted by njdem)
This Saturday April 28, Democrats in 5 different locations in NJ will be going door to door to spread the Democratic message as part of the DNC 50 State Canvass. In two of those places the walk is taking place just days before an important election.
In Evesham, there is a slate of candidates for Mayor and Council against the Republicans who run the town and serve as a base of GOP power in Burlington County. That non-partisan election is on May 8th.
In Morris Township, the walk will help support Democrat Jeff Grayzel in his quest to break the 30 year 5-0 Republican rule on town government. That election is May 1st, just 3 days after the walk.
I will be in Morris Township on Saturday and I greatly appreciate those on this board and at DFA who have committed to help in these special elections. Hopefully local Democratic victories in these traditionally Republican areas will be a sign of good things to come for a Blue(r) Jersey. If you're interested in helping out on these two races outside of Saturday, please call the Democratic State Committee at 609-392-3367.
Breaking news late Friday afternoon -- hi, all. We at Garden State Equality have just learned that the Evesham School District in Marlton has reversed itself and has now decided to "suspend" from its curriculum the nationally praised film on the family diversity called "That's a Family." As you know, a group of parents objected to their children seeing - yes, just SEEING - children raised by same-sex couples. The school district held firm until now.
Please join Garden State Equality and many other allies at the Evesham School Board meeting this Tuesday, February 13th at 8:00 pm at the DeMasi Middle School, 199 Evesboro-Medford Road in Marlton.
The Evesham school district in Marlton has a curriculum on diversity that includes a film about children and their families. Some vocal parents are incensed that the film - "That's a Family!" - includes children and their same-sex parents. The film, which was designed for K-8 students, has one particularly horrifying part showing a child saying "They adopted us and they love us."
Can you imagine our children being exposed to THAT?
Garden State Equality has posted a video of a news segment that ran yesterday morning on NBC 10 Philadelphia:
The coverage of the story is pretty irresponsible and shoddy. The NBC 10 anchor ends with an unsubstantiated assumption: "Apparently we assume that the kids came home with even more questions."
It's possible. I suppose it's possible they went home and asked why their parents are bigots. Or maybe they wanted their parents to explain how it's possible to have one black and one white parent. If I had to guess, they just gained a better appreciation for the diversity of their classmates, but NBC 10 would rather scare parents with thoughts of kids going home and asking about sex because otherwise, would this even be a story?
Some parents seem to be projecting their own predjudices onto their children, confident that like them, their children will also find the concept of same-sex couples outrageous. I tend to think we give children too little credit. They already have friends who live in married, divorced, and single parent families, interracial and mixed-religion familes, adoptive parents, grandparents as guardians, and yes, same-sex families. Teaching them that all their classmates are loved by their parents is not difficult for them to understand, though the same can't be said for some of their parents.
Take Action
The school board is under attack for teaching children about diversity. There are two things you can do to help.
2. Join Garden State Equality at the next school board meeting of the Evesham School District on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 8:00 pm, 25 South Maple Avenue, Marlton.
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