Tom Bader 
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Thu Oct 25, 2007 at 05:40:00 PM EDT
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Well, today was a day when Rich Dennison's campaign to defeat out-of-touch incumbent Diane Allen received a shot in the arm: Former governor and current state senate president Dick Codey was kind enough to come down to Burlington for a press conference and rally for Dennison. Upon arriving in Burlington, I noted probably hundreds of Dennison/Anti-Allen signs everywhere, a most welcome sight.
On a cold, rainy day in New Jersey, a relatively large crowd assembled at the Burlington Township Municipal Center to hear Dennison and Codey speak, and few members of the press, including The Burlington County Times, were also there. Codey, who I was able to meet personally (and who commented favorably on my John Edwards button), spoke first at the press conference and mentioned how he'd like to have a fellow funeral director in the state senate and that Dennison would support increasing the minimum wage and other Democratic initiatives. Dennison spoke next and was thoughtful as always; he mentioned that the current budget mess could be traced back to the Whitman administration's raiding of pension funds and that Diane Allen refused to fund the recent property tax relief included in the state budget.
Several other local officials and candidates were in attendance, including Dr. Tom Bader, the person who we hope will be the first Democratic freeholder in BurlCo in years, as well as last year's shining star from the surrogate race, George Kotch. Afterwards, Kotch treated everyone to lunch at the Burlington Count Country Club, which was a very kind gesture, and Codey stayed to have lunch, too.
In short, the Dennison campaign is looking for an upset on election night, and this may very well happen, especially with the internal bickering between the Allen and her benefactors in the BurlCo GOP machine.
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Mon Oct 08, 2007 at 10:58:00 PM EDT
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Welcome to how not to run a government, brought to you by the Burlington County Republican Party. A few weeks ago, I posted about a scheme to create a slush fund under the control of the GOP Freeholder board with the help of their appointees at the bridge commission. At the time, the Burlington County Times called them on it and Freeholder Candidate Tom Bader kept the heat on. Today, the Burlington County Times recaps some of the highlights of the GOP run county government's fleecing of the taxpayers and calls them on their crap again with this editorial. A scheme to expand the powers of the Burlington County Bridge Commission has collapsed, which is the fate it should have met from Day One......The scandal-plagued commission needs to get its own house in order before it starts funneling money through a loan program that uses the county's good credit rating to keep interest rates reasonable.
This week, sentencing was delayed a third time for a commission lobbyist and spokesman who admitted in federal court that he deliberately over billed the commission for several years beginning in 1997.
By most accounts, the activities of Robert Stears resulted in up to $1 million in losses.
The state Attorney General's Office has also subpoenaed the commission to determine what work - if any - state Sen. Martha Bark, R-8th of Medford, performed as a consultant to the Palmyra Cove Nature Park project, this to the tune of $233,101.
The park is under the bridge commission's jurisdiction.
Equally troubling, the Tacony-Palmyra and Burlington-Bristol bridges came up short this summer when federal inspectors found them "structurally deficient" in the aftermath of the collapse of a highway bridge in Minneapolis.
With its less-than-stellar reputation, the commission has a way to go to regain public trust... ...Still, it's hard not to see this loan initiative as an opportunity for more pockets to be lined, more money to be doled out and more power to be wielded by commissioners who were never elected by the people they serve. This has all occurred under the watchful eyes of the GOP controlling nearly all levels of county government for years. A GOP freeholder board, who made appointments to the bridge commission while GOP boss Glenn Paulsen pulled the strings and awarded contracts through the family business. Stears, who is awaiting sentencing has been thrown overboard by his former employer, the Strategy Group, which is the firm of none other than GOP State Chair Tom Wilson. If you're confused, that's the point. They're hoping you won't notice that they're robbing you blind.
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Thu Sep 27, 2007 at 10:33:49 PM EDT
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It's nice to see the Democrats taking the fight to their Republican opponents in Burlington County because for a long time, that didn't happen. Now you have Democrats trying continue on their recent gains in Marlton, Mount Laurel and at the County level by attempting to pick up a Freeholder Seat, a Sherriff seat and the Legislative races in the 7th and 8th districts. Today we have action in the 8th district and with the Freeholder campaign. In the 8th district, we have Assembly Candidate Dawn Addiego who gains a nickname: "Deadbeat Dawn". Apparently this "fiscally responsible" candidate who will solve the state's financial woes can't handle her own bills and finances... Assembly candidates Tracy Riley and Chris Fifis renewed their declaration that career politician and perennial tax-raiser Dawn Addiego lacks the qualities necessary to be a legislator, noting her recent failure to pay her professional fees as an attorney which has resulted in her ineligibility to practice law (Source: www.judiciary.state.nj.us/cpf/ineliglist09242007.pdf)."This is not the first time that my opponent has shirked her financial responsibilities," said Fifis.
Addiego was delinquent on $3,776.71 for tax payments on her home, and only satisfied this debt in May of 2007 (Source: Evesham Tax Collector). Will this decide the campaign, of course not but it does undercut the argument that she will be a sound watchdog for the taxpayer's dollars. Let Dawn answer questions about her own finances rather than talking about her message.Follow me below the fold to see what payback is being alleged in the Freeholder campaign...
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There's More...
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Thu Aug 09, 2007 at 06:08:03 PM EDT
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( - promoted by njdem)
Yesterday the Burlco Times reported that the Burlington County Bridge Commission, which has been under GOP control for the last 20 years, has hired engineers from Drexel for an emergency review to examine the bridges they have apparently failed at maintaining...The two spans operated by the Burlington County Bridge Commission both scored lower than the Minnesota bridge on the federal scale. The Burlington Bristol Bridge, built in 1931, received a 30.1 rating and is listed as "structurally deficient" in the national bridges inventory of the Federal Highway Administration.
The Tacony-Palmyra Bridge, built in 1929, received a 34.1 rating, but bridge commission officials noted that, despite its rating, it was not included on the federal inventory list of structurally deficient bridges in New Jersey. So the Tacony bridge isn't bad enough to make the list yet, but still not a ringing endorsement of the commission's oversight which was pointed out by Freeholder Candidate Tom Bader..."The Bridge Commission's failure to maintain these bridges is the cost of corruption," said Bader, a Democrat from Moorestown. "This threat to the publics safety is the result of two plus decades of GOP waste." The corruption he references was the indictment of its former spokesman and further suspicions of billing for work that was not performed. Funny he should talk about GOP waste though, because today comes a story that rather than preparing to bond to repair the bridges they are supposed to be fixing, the GOP freeholder board has voted to bond for a $20 million program to fund a "lease bank" and assist local governments with low interest loans...The ordinance would create the Burlington County Lease Bank, which would provide a maximum loan of $1 million for items such as vehicle and equipment purchases.
The bridge commission approached the freeholders last month with the idea. The commission, using its powers as an improvement authority, operates a bond program intended for major capital programs like roads and buildings. The Lease Bank, however, would provide money for smaller purchases and, for the first time, would include school boards. While I like the idea of helping local towns, shouldn't they focus on their primary charge which is maintaining the roads and bridges? Especially after all of the news recently and the fact that the state says it will cost between 5 and 7 billion to repair the infrastructure. Is this really the time for this concept? They are charged with major capital improvements, not buying a vehicle or equipment for local towns. To me this just looks like more of the shell game to continue accumulating debt at all levels while telling the taxpayers you are not raising taxes. And here is a question: Who decides the towns that will get approved for these loans? Doesn't this have the potential to turn into a $20 million taxpayer funded slush fund where the freeholders can buy political support during a very tough election year? If this plan does go forward, I would hope there are some well spelled out controls and guidelines to govern it.
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