Vohden, Mudrick appoint former Essex Democrat to top job

On Sunday, Herald reporter Rob Jennings wrote a very interesting column about Sussex County's new top dog -- County Administrator Stephen Gruchacz. 

At last week's meeting of the county's Freeholder Board, Gruchacz -- who had been the county's Human Services Administrator -- was appointed County Administrator on a 3-2 vote (Crabb, Vohden, Mudrick voted yes; Phoebus and Graham voted no).  Along with the promotion, Gruchacz picked up a 22% salary increase worth $30,000 a year and the opportunity to boost his taxpayer-funded pension with a three-year contract. 

Not bad for someone who has never lived in Sussex County.  Crabb, Vohden, and Mudrick waived the county's residency requirement to allow Gruchacz, a resident of Somerset County, to take Sussex County's top job. 

We don't know about Crabb, but what Vohden and Mudrick should have known as they made these decisions was that Stephen Gruchacz had once been a very active Democrat Party politician in Essex County.  In fact, Gruchacz was the Democrat Municipal Chairman in Maplewood -- part of the particularly repugnant party machine in Essex County/Newark.  

When Gruchacz was a Democrat candidate for local office, the campaign he ran was too rough even for Essex County.  The Republicans actually sued Gruchasz and his Democrat running mate for making "false and defamatory statements" against the Republicans.  Gruchasz and the Democrats dismissed the charges as "political grandstanding."  The accusations were over an alleged "no bid contract."  Are you experiencing deja vu? 

Hey, politics isn't bean bag and we're sure Gruchasz got as good as he gave.  In fact, he's risen in our estimation -- but did any one of these Republicans stop and think about it before waiving the rules, giving a raise, and promoting this one-time machine Democrat to the top job in the state's most Republican County? 

This is a vote that only a R.I.N.O. would make.  That's R.I.N.O. -- as in Republican In Name Only. 

As Democrat Chairman of Maplewood, Stephen Gruchasz also held an appointed county position with Essex County, as that county's Director of the Division of Community Health Services.  Jennings notes that he was Essex County's Director the Department of Health & Rehabilitation.  Gruchasz left Essex County for Somerset County in April 2002 -- about the same time he started working for Sussex County. 

In contrast with Sussex County and its unelected County Administrator, Essex County has an elected County Executive.  In April 2002, a two-year investigation culminated in the Essex County offices being raided by the FBI.  That October, indictments were announced against the County Executive and others.  The County Executive pleaded guilty to two of twenty counts filed against him -- admitting that he had solicited an illegal $15,000 campaign contribution in exchange for a county contract.   He was sentenced to 13 months in prison. 

Gruchasz' time at Essex County had its controversies -- particularly when he tried to mastermind the sale of that county's geriatric center.  As reported in the Star-Ledger (August 17, 1995) residents and labor union leaders demanded that Gruchacz be fired.  Deja vu, all over again?

Bilik operatives in line for County Contract

On Sunday, May 10th, the New Jersey Herald reported that the solar bailout was in danger of unraveling with a cost to Sussex County taxpayers of further millions. 

http://www.njherald.com/story/29037774/2015/05/12/solar-rescue-could-face-more-delays-as-schools-uncertain-of-project-progress

The bailout -- which was engineered by the County's top bureaucrats and supported in a 3 to 2 vote by Freeholders Vohden, Crabb, and Mudrick -- split Sussex County Republicans.  Prior to the vote, the three had supported Parker Space for re-election and Gail Phoebus for election to the Assembly.  After the vote, Vohden and Crabb supported the candidacy of Marie Bilik.

Since the fallout from the vote, the County's top bureaucrats have all announced their resignations.  Now it looks like they are preparing to hand their allies a no-bid contract as they get ready to head out the door. 

According to the official Agenda for the Sussex County Freeholder Board for tomorrow night, May 13th, an ordinance will be voted on that makes Concord Energy Services (an affiliate of Concord Engineering) the provider through which Sussex County will purchase energy.  The contract covers the period June 1, 2015 to May 31, 2017.

Concord Engineering's Vice President of Government Relations is Wendy Molner.  It was Molner who recruited Marie Bilik to run for Assembly.  Bilik's campaign chairman, Molly Whilesmith, is a lobbyist for Concord Engineering.  Both Molner and Whilesmith are paid to convince county and municipal governments to use the services of Concord Engineering and its affiliates.  

Both Molner and Whilesmith are former Mayors.  Molner was Freeholder Crabb's campaign manager in 2014.  Whilesmith, a Democrat turned Republican is still a member of Sparta Council.

Concord Engineering is a very political South Jersey firm that has made hundreds of monetary contributions to elected officials.  The firm is located in Voorhees, New Jersey, where it maintains a close relationship with the political machine of Camden County Democrat boss George Norcross.

Concerned citizens of Sussex County should attend tomorrow night's meeting of the Freeholder Board.  The meeting begins at 5:00 PM and is held at the Sussex County Administrative Center, 1 Spring Street, in Newton.

Update on Tuesday, May 12, 2015 at 7:30PM by Sussex County Watchdog

Update

The Agenda of the Sussex County Freeholder Board reads:

K. RESOLUTION RE:  AUTHORIZATION TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT FOR ELECTRICITY GENERATION SUPPLY SERVICE UNDER THE PASSAIC COUNTY ENERGY COOPERATIVE PRICING SYSTEM TO VARIOUS BUILDINGS WITHIN

SUSSEX COUNTY (Pricing for this agreement is $.0869 per kilowatt for a 24 month period beginning June 1, 2015 and ending in May 31, 2017)

Concord Engineering is  the Program Manager for Passaic County Government Energy Aggregation Program

http://www.concord-engineering.com/

PASSAIC COUNTY ENERGY COOPERATIVE PRICING SYSTEM

http://www.northjersey.com/story-archives/questions-over-fees-stall-paterson-s-plan-to-reduce-residents-electric-bills-1.593334

Solar scams are happening all over America

If Freeholders Richard Vohden and Phil Crabb were not such stubborn old men, they would realize that they are only a small part of a nationwide group of victims of taxpayer-supported solar programs -- "a no brainer" as Crabb called it -- that turned out to be an old fashioned scam.  It is happening all over. 

What is it about Vohden and Crabb that leads them to want to own the solar scam?  Too proud to admit they made a mistake?  Or are they protecting someone?

Freeholder takes to Facebook

Elected officials hate scrutiny.  But elected officials on government bodies made up of only one political party deserve extra scrutiny.  Especially when they have governing philosophies like those of Freeholder Richard Vohden, who has told many people on many occasions he believes that the elected representatives of the people on the county freeholder board should follow the direction of the appointed county administrator and his bureaucrats.

What we have here is a philosophical difference.  Apparently, Richard Vohden isn't much of a political philosopher because he has chosen to approach this disagreement in a juvenile way.  Vohden has taken to calling Watchdog names on Facebook.

It is not a particularly literate effort.  Short sentences and a lack of punctuation are its hallmarks.  Surely the Freeholder can string a paragraph together.  And this from a man who complains about others being "stupid". 

Freeholder Vohden appears perplexed over Watchdog's anonymity.  He claims to not understand why when, in fact, he knows perfectly well why.

The New Jersey Herald isn't anonymous.  That leaves them open to blackmail.  Ever notice how the newspaper stops coverage of a big story mid-scandal?  It happened with the coverage of the ethics scandal involving the trustees of the Sussex County Community College.  It happened again with the coverage of the solar bailout.  Coverage suddenly stopped.

In the case of the solar bailout, maybe we got a hint of the reason why.  The week before the coverage abruptly ended, an ally of Freeholders Crabb and Vohden stood up at a board meeting and threatened the Herald with a financial boycott.  The Herald, which depends on advertising revenues to pay its bills, must be ever mindful of such threats -- especially when they come from a source close to the politicians who control such a large share of its advertising revenue.

Watchdog is out of reach of such threats.  This loss of control irks some people.

Of course, Freeholder Vohden could man-up and join the conversation.  We invite him to explain his philosophy of government here.  We will publish it.  Instead of petulant name-calling, explain why you believe the way you do.  Tell us your side of it.

Alternative Energy scam reported on American Greed

To give our readers an idea of just how easy it is for an "alternative" energy scam to cheat taxpayers, take a look at this episode of American Greed.