Crabb ally who wanted to give Freeholders a raise now threatens newspaper for exposing solar scam

Ann Smulewicz, an ardent and often loud supporter of Freeholder Phil Crabb, is at it again. 

Speaking at the Freeholder's meeting on April 8th, Smulewicz suggested to the Freeholders that they take economic retribution against the New Jersey Herald by no longer posting public notices in the newspaper.  The reason for this outrageous suggestion:  The NJ Herald's coverage of the Freeholder Board's handling of the solar project that is costing Sussex taxpayers millions and of the bailout that will cost taxpayers more.

Smulewicz made her remarks in front of members of the press, including the NJ Herald, as Freeholders Crabb and Vohden smiled, and the county's chief bureaucrat John Eskilson joined them.  Who dumped that thought in her brain? 

So the attempt at covering up the solar scam continues.  Now threats are being made. 

And instead of following the example of Morris County and demanding the resignations of those responsible, Sussex County continues paying them and smiles as their political supporters threaten the members of the media who have exposed them.

At last year's June 27th meeting of the Sussex County Board of Freeholders Smulewicz told the Freeholders that they do not make enough money. 

According to the Alternative Press, Smulewicz said that the "freeholders deserve $100,000 a year."  That's more than four times what they are currently receiving from the taxpayers.  A Sussex County Freeholder currently receives $23,000 a year, with an additional $1,000 for the director.  Freeholder Crabb is the only Board member who receives benefits and a pension, so a salary increase could be especially beneficial to him.

The plan to increase the Freeholders salaries would make Sussex County's Freeholders the most expensive in New Jersey.  Smulewicz defended the idea, telling the Press:  "It's not a part-time job."  In fact, it is a part-time job.  No Freeholder works a 40 hour or even a 20 hour week.  All that is required is attendance at two meetings a month and an occasional additional meeting or two.

Oddly enough, while wanting part-time elected officials to be paid more, Smulewicz wants full-time elected officials to be paid less.  Smulewicz objected to paying the County Clerk and County Surrogate more than $107,000 a year, even though they work documented 40-hour weeks, plus attending meetings after hours.  

One thing is certain, Ann Smulewicz is an enormous fan of Freeholder Phil Crabb.  During this year's February 26th meeting of the Sussex County Board of Freeholders, Smulewicz spoke up and loudly proclaimed her support for Crabb, as the official minutes of the Board attest:  "Ann Smulewicz of Wantage came forward, she said she was pleased that Freeholder Crabb is running for his Freeholder seat again and will work to make sure that he retains the seat."

Should public meetings be turned into venues for campaign endorsement? 

Should Sussex County Freeholders get a $77,000 pay raise each?

Should paying the Sussex County Board of Freeholders go from costing county taxpayers $116,000 a year to $501,000 a year?  Freeholders serve 3-year terms, that's $348,000 vs. over $1.5 million!

Feel free to let us know what you think.

Minutes of Freeholder meetings not posted since Jan.2nd

County Administrator John Eskilson also holds the job of Clerk of the Freeholder Board.  It is an unusual arrangement, but one that will no doubt benefit him when he goes to collect his pension.  It certainly benefits him now, as it consolidates his choke hold over Sussex County. 

John Eskilson runs Sussex County like an elected County Executive, even though he is only an appointed County Administrator.  Of course, this is the political philosophy of two-time Freeholder Director Richard Vohden, who maintains that the elected Freeholder Board is only there to ratify the decisions of the county's unelected bureaucracy, led by Eskilson.  Yes, it is a very Central European theory of government, favoring a bureaucratic authoritarianism over representative democracy.     

It should come as no surprise then that public access to the Minutes of the Freeholder Board meetings has been less than open.  Eskilson is in charge, so the people who pay for his salary, perks, and benefits with their taxes don't get to know.  A lot has been happening since the Freeholders were sworn in on January 2nd, but if you wanted to read about it on the county website designed for that purpose you would be shat out of luck.  Because it isn't there.  See for yourself.

http://www.sussex.nj.us/Cit-e-Access/TownCouncil/?TID=7

While Crabb makes excuses, Morris County gets resignations

Last evening we had the opportunity to watch Freeholder Director Phil Crabb try to pass the blame and make excuses for a solar project that he, Rich Vohden, and Dennis Mudrick voted to bail out with millions of taxpayers' money.  Crabb made his statement on Vernon Vibes, a public service cable program.  

To make matters worse, at about the same time in Frankford, Mayor Gary Larson was leading the charge against even investigating the solar mess -- that's like sending the police away after a bank has been robbed.  But isn't that just like Sussex County?

Meanwhile, over in Morris County, they were acting like grown-ups and making sure that their taxpayers wouldn't be robbed again.  The Star-Ledger reported that two consultants connected with the deal had been asked to resign and their resignations accepted. 

Morris County consultants resign, in wake of solar project bailout

A month after investing more millions on a three-county solar project that fizzled amid an industry downturn, the Morris County freeholders and the county's improvement authority have accepted the resignation of two experts who advised on both the initial deal - and the bailout.

Morris County is now "looking for a possible exit strategy from the solar business," the county said in a release.

Stephen Pearlman, the Morris County Improvement Authority's attorney, and Steve Gabel, the head of energy consultant Gabel Associates, both submitted letters of resignation on Wednesday, which were accepted.

Pearlman was the attorney who advised on the project's setup, according to public documents. As the attorney for the improvement authority, he helped convince Sussex County to join with Somerset and Morris counties in the project.

Gabel advised on solar-energy prices, which plummeted just as the project was being built, according to those documents.

The three-county project was based on the "Morris model," a public-private way of financing that intermingles tax subsidies, private investment, and taxpayer money. The electricity produced would help pay off the public debt. Sussex, Somerset and Morris counties collectively borrowed $88 million to finance the project, which began in 2011.

But tumbling solar subsidy prices and litigation between the contractor and developer derailed the project, leaving roughly half the work in Morris and Sussex counties unfinished. Arbitrators awarded $66.3 million to the contractor, Power Partners MasTec, against developer SunLight General Capital LLC, according to court documents. SunLight then hired a bankruptcy law firm, using some $700,000 of the public money.

The counties then borrowed an additional $21 million last month to end all the litigation and to try and get the projects back on track - and limit losses. Critics, most notably Assemblyman Parker Space and Sussex County freeholders Gail Phoebus and George Graham, have requested an outside investigation into where the money went. A series of Sussex County municipalities have also requested the resignations of multiple county officials.

Pearlman and Gabel both did not comment on the reason for their resignation in their letters. Pearlman, reached by phone, declined comment. Their resignations take effect June 1.

Seth Augenstein can be reached at saugenstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SethAugenstein. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

http://www.nj.com/morris/index.ssf/2015/04/morris_county_consultants_resign_in_wake_of_solar.html

Crabb, Vohden, Mudrick and the lawyer who got paid big time

That bang you heard yesterday afternoon was the sound of the Crabb-Vohden-Mudrick attack crashing into the woods and burning.  The three little pigs launched a media attack aimed at Freeholders Phoebus and Graham; Assemblyman Space; Senator Oroho; Morris County Freeholders Lyon, Krickus, Scapicchio, and Cesaro; as well as dozens of mayors and local elected officials in Sussex and Morris counties.

 Crabb, Vohden, and Mudrick got help from a strange place.  A lawyer named Michael Stein launched a similarly timed attack through a public relations firm hired for the occasion.  What makes it so strange is that Sussex County was battling lawyer Stein in court last September, trying to keep lawyers' hands off $920,000 of taxpayers' money.

In September 2014, attorneys for Sussex County went to court on an effort to stop a payment of $920,000 in legal fees that they said were "inappropriately drawn from monies designated for (the) solar project."  The legal bills came from the dispute between SunLight General and its subcontractor, Power Partners MasTec.  Somehow Sussex County ended up responsible for paying the legal bills for their dispute.

The lawyers who had billed and were  due the money were Stein's firm, Pashman Stein PC, and Cole Schotz Meisel Forman & Leonard PA.  They had already been paid $180,000 so the $920,000 brought them up to a cool $1.1 million.

Sussex County made a strong argument:  "The money so raised was intended solely to construct certain solar energy projects on publicly-owned buildings and publicly-owned land for the ultimate benefit of the citizen taxpayer," the brief said. "As those projects are far from complete, particularly in Sussex County, preservation of the funds is essential. Depleting the funds to pay for attorneys' fees to be incurred in a contractual dispute between the contractor and its subcontractor would be a misuse of those public funds."

Of course,  the judge sided with the lawyers and against the taxpayers.  Another $1.1 million flushed away.

And Freeholder Director Phil Crabb still persists in saying that we shouldn't go back and look into how Sussex County screwed up so bad.  You know who he sounds like, don't you?

Transparency is basic good government

Here is what President John F. Kennedy had to say about transparency in government:

Morris said YES to transparency, Sussex said NO

Freeholders Phil Crabb, Rich Vohden, and Dennis Mudrick rejected the argument that the taxpayers have a right to know how the Freeholders were sold a solar scheme that "could not fail," how it went on to fail, and the details of the settlement that will leave the taxpayers on the hook, while "holding harmless" those responsible.

County Administrator John Eskilson, who led the team that sold the solar scheme, as well as others whose corporations made up part of that team, along with a Democrat politician from south Jersey they brought in as a "special counsel" all said that releasing the details of the settlement to the public whose taxes are going to pay for it would destroy the settlement.  We now know that this was a lie.

We know it was a lie because at about the same time Sussex County Freeholders were voting, the Freeholders of neighboring Morris County voted to delay voting on the settlement and to release the details of the settlement so that the public could review and comment on it in advance of the vote.  Morris Freeholders defended their taxpayers right to know what they're paying for.  Sussex County Freeholders protected the people who screwed their taxpayers.

This is what happens when your rapist is also your gynecologist.

What's with the anger?

Everyone who walked away from last night's meeting of the Sussex County Freeholder Board mentioned the bubbling anger that emerged deep from the bowels of Freeholders Vohden and Mudrick.  These are two profoundly authoritarian men who genuinely believe that the appointed County Administrator should have the power of an elected County Executive and that it is he -- not they, the elected Freeholder Board -- who runs the county. 

As Vohden once said to a startled room, the Freeholders' job is to "ratify" whatever it is that the County Administrator decides.  This is an invitation to corruption because an appointed County Administrator who isn't controlled by his elected Freeholder Board has no check -- no safeguard against abusing his office.  And the people suffer for it.

If Freeholder Vohden is really that intent on abrogating his responsibilities, he should propose changing Sussex County's form of government and have an elected County Executive like they do in Atlantic, Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Mercer counties.  Then at least the voters would have a part in it.

Freeholder Vohden is not doing his job. And it's worse than that, Freeholder Vohden doesn't appear to know what his job is.  Freeholder Mudrick goes along with Vohden because, sadly, he is a weak man who seeks the approval of stronger men.  Even when that "strength" is a kind of willful blindness bordering on stupidity.

Both clearly hated the fact that a woman had a better argument that they did.

Freeholder Director Phil Crabb started the week being for transparency and calling for a delay in the vote until the details of the settlement could be disclosed to the public.  But then he got slapped into line by Eskilson and the Democrat hired to be the "special counsel".  By the time of the vote he was calling for an investigation -- not of the perpetrators who ripped off the taxpayers of Sussex County -- but on those who have complained about it.

And the vote in Morris County made Crabb's chicken little routine look foolish.

Update on Thursday, February 26, 2015 at 7:11PM by Sussex County Watchdog

Was George Carlin thinking about SunLight General and the Sussex Solar scam when he wrote these lines?