Maybe you heard this already? John Eskilson, the Sussex County Administrator, has gone into the opposition research business. This isn't so much a change as an expansion for the very political Eskilson. In 2012, Eskilson contacted the chairman of a campaign for Freeholder with the demand that the candidate for Freeholder not mention an issue Eskilson opposed: A ban on county government borrowing without voter approval.
That's right. The very reform that could have prevented the Sussex Solar scam in the first place, was the issue that Eskilson tried to deep-six through the back-door.
They have this reform in Warren County. It is the law there due to the efforts of Warren County Freeholder Director Ed Smith. But not in Sussex County. Because in Warren County the elected Freeholders run the show, not the unelected County Administrator. Warren County wouldn't stand for it because, for a start, it is unethical. Professional government administrators like John Eskilson are supposed to abide by a Code of Ethics. Part of that Code of Ethics reads:
Refrain from all political activities which undermine public confidence in professional administrators. Refrain from participation in the election of the members of the employing legislative body
So why is Sussex County Administrator John Eskilson gathering information on a sitting County Freeholder and using that information to undermine her campaign for public office? Eskilson has been pushing this information to local reporters and to those who oppose the election of this Freeholder to higher office.
Watchdog will be filing a complaint and naming names, so those involved should expect to be contacted. It is time to stop the politicization of county bureaucracy. It is unethical and may be a misuse of taxpayers' money.
If you want to know why things are so crooked in Sussex County, here is why. For months now, local politician Wendy Molner has been attacking Parker Space and Gail Phoebus for calling for an investigation of the Sussex solar mess -- despite the fact that 9 out of every 10 people in Sussex County want the investigation.
Molner has defended the county bureaucrats who sold the project to the Sussex County Freeholder Board -- despite the fact that the public blames the county bureaucrats, attorneys, and lobbyists two to one over blaming the Freeholders for the mess.
Molner, along with local politician Molly Whilesmith and political activist Ann Smulewicz, form a trio of apologists for the bailout deal supported by Freeholders Crabb, Vohden, and Mudrick -- despite the fact that residents oppose the bailout as much as they oppose raising the gas tax. Molner, Whilesmith, and Smulewicz cheered on Crabb, Vohden, and Mudrick when they embraced the "non-disparagement clause" (aka "gag order") and the bailout's "hold harmless clause" in opposition to the feelings and beliefs of nearly 90 percent of the residents of Sussex County.
Molner and Whilesmith even recruited someone who retired from a job in New Jersey, started collecting a state pension, moved to Virginia to start a new job as a Washington, DC-lobbyist, and talked this lobbyist into running for the New Jersey Assembly against Parker Space and Gail Phoebus. Why? Just as a way to get back at them for calling for an investigation of the county insiders behind the solar mess.
Molner has done all of this because she is one of the county insiders who look to profit from the county. County bureaucrats like John Eskilson and elected county officials like Phil Crabb are the levers of power an operator like Molner tries to work to get what she wants from county government.
Here is Molner excitedly lobbying Freeholders Crabb and Zeoli in the run-up to the vote on solar on February 23, 2011.
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: WENDY MOLNER <wmolner@embarqmail.com> Date: Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 12:01 PM Subject: Re: Local Govt Energy Audit Program (LGEA) Info To: Phillip Crabb <phillip.crabb@gmail.com>
The BPU grants of up to $l00k are available immediately to all schools, and government facilities. you can go online and download the application and get started. Why only offer $5k for solar feasibility. Audit the entire facility and see if solar is feasible as well. if solar is feasible have a meeting with Morris County consortium, and install your solar.
It just makes sense to apply for the free energy audit first that looks at the entire facility for energy upgrades, not just solar.
Unfortunately there are so many fragmented groups running around selling this piecemeal plans and it is very confusing. The state will be moving away from solar... New direction in the energy master plan coming in April via our Governor. Wendy
----- Original Message ----- From: "Phillip Crabb" <phillip.crabb@gmail.com> To: "WENDY MOLNER" <wmolner@embarqmail.com> Cc: "Richard Zeoli" <Rich@rzcimpact.com> Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 11:27:33 AM Subject: Re: Local Govt Energy Audit Program (LGEA) Info
Hello Wendy,
Thanks for this information...the first question that comes to mind is do we have time to wait for the BPU process..?
1603 (30% ITC) grant money goes away if winning bidder doesn’t earmark 5% by 12/31/11.
Right now, if County approves this tonight, and we hold outreach meetings in March, we’re talking about a funding date in October, which barely gives the developer sufficient time to make that safe harbor, and leaves little time for slippage.
> Please think about combining these and making it a "hybrid". It is the > right thinkg to do for Sussex County. > > Call me if you have questions > > Wendy Molner xxx-xxx-xxxx
Just whose idea was the Solar scheme that has gone spectacularly bust and had to be bailed out by borrowing taxpayers' money?
Under considerable heat for being one of three county bureaucrats on the committee that sold the project to the entire Board, County Administrator John Eskilson is telling anyone who will listen that it was Rich Zeoli and Phil Crabb -- both Directors of the Freeholder Board at key points in the process -- who brought the project to Sussex County, courtesy of Zeoli's political connections in Morris County.
That sounds about right, but then we came across this.
It is April 2011. Two of the Freeholders have been on the Board for less than four months. Freeholder Phil Crabb is a senior member of the Board and the others look to him for direction. This is Freeholder Crabb, talking about the Solar scheme:
"This appropriation is a small sum when you consider the long term energy savings that could result from the program."
"The solar developers that take on the projects will own the equipment and sell the power generated to the town or school at a reduced rate while reaping the benefits of state and federal sustainable energy incentives."
"Participating municipalities and school districts do not invest any money in the installation. Rather, the (Morris County) Improvement Authority provides low-cost loans to the developer through its public authority to sell bonds. These loans are then used by the developer to install the solar facilities."
What is left out is the part about the taxpayers of Sussex County being on the hook for the bonds that funded the "low-cost loans" to developers. Oh, and also the fact that a lot of politically connected lawyers and consultants got paid millions of taxpayers' money. So Phil Crabb -- an experienced member on the Freeholder Board -- was also its biggest cheerleader for the Solar scheme.
Instead of leading the newcomers on the Board and asking tough questions, Crabb was too busy being a pop-pom boy for the solar scammers.
Three years ago, Sussex County Freeholders were asked to agree to a settlement with the creditors of the AmeriPay corporation, another too-good-to-be-true idea that was sold to the Freeholder Board. It turned out to be part of a Ponzi scheme that according to the FBI ripped-off 14 school districts, seven houses of worship, five schools, more than 300 other private and public entities, and one county -- Sussex County. We got done for $2.3 million of the total $10.2 million defrauded.
That scandal was uncovered in 2009, through the efforts of the FBI, the United States Attorney's Office, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The guilty were sent to prison and Sussex County's settlement was reduced to $38,464. According to today's Herald editorial, the latest scandal to rock Sussex County isn't going to turn out so well.
It deals with a solar energy scam that was sold to the Freeholder Board by a group, including representatives of the corrupt and convicted Birdsall Services Corporation, that was led by none other than Sussex County's Administrator, John Eskilson. It leaves Sussex County taxpayers on the hook for between $6 million and $29 million or maybe more, because the public isn't allowed to know the details, so we have to take the word of the critters who screwed us in the first place. It's like being raped and then finding out that your rapist is also your gynecologist.
Two details of the settlement that was discussed in "executive session" were leaked to the Herald by the same county officials who are ethically bound to keep them confidential. Of course, these officials don't know the first thing about ethics, so while they bleat like sheep about the public not having the right to know what is in the settlement they will pay millions for, they go behind the public's backs and release bits and pieces smothered in their spin. But at least the Herald was good enough to pass it along to its readers:
Of concern are provisions in the settlement that hold the principals and their agents, officers, etc., harmless from all claims, actions, suits, etc., stemming from the beginning of the solar program.
Additionally, the documentation includes the standard non-disparagement provision stopping any negative comments against any of the involved parties.
Those provisions should not preclude a full accounting of what happened, though if wrongdoing is discovered, they may prevent holding parties accountable.
And get a load at what happened at the Somerset County Freeholder Board last night. Rob Jennings of the Herald probably couldn't believe his ears when he heard this exercise in democracy emanate from the bowels of that all-Republican board:
Full details of the settlement were not provided at the meeting. Instead, officials passed out a 13-paragraph press release offering some details and a history of the project.
In response to a question from Bill Eames, a resident of Hanover in Morris County, the county counsel said that while the settlement would preclude Somerset from initiating a legal action, it would not prevent the county from complying with any outside investigations.
That's right, the taxpayers don't get to know what they are paying for. "And this is what we think of you," say the GOP Freeloaders.
In answer to a question from the Tea Party's Bill Eames, they told him that "yes, the guilty -- those who screwed the taxpayers -- we signed an agreement to let them off the hook and richer for it." That's how bailouts work, right?
Poor Freeholder Director Phil Crabb, said that he wanted to let Sussex County taxpayers know about the settlement they'll be paying for -- but then some south Jersey Democrat hired as special counsel gave him a wedgie and now Phil is too scared to stand up for the people and do the right thing.
Phil really is going to have to learn to kick those out-of-town lawyers in the balls once in a while. Or just give up and let someone else do it.
Freeholders Gail Phoebus and George Graham are the only reliable voices on the Board for transparency and for guarding the taxpayers' interests. Freeholder Rich Vohden is Dr. Doom, glumly accepting anything Eskilson flushes his way, while Freeholder Dennis Mudrick seems to be somewhere else, occasionally waking to vote with the pack.
After the last scandal, John Eskilson asked everyone on the Freeholder Board to hold hands and join him in a chorus of "Always look on the bright side of life." Now it's a few years later and a bigger scandal, so maybe this time try what they do in the military when something goes wrong -- have a debriefing. Take a look at what you did to screw up so you don't do it again.
Or not. . . alright then, everybody hold hands, now follow me. . .
Yesterday morning a Watchdog post revealed how three county appointees, led by County Administrator John Eskilson, sold the Sussex solar scam to the Freeholder Board back in 2011. In what could be described as a reaction to that revelation, the County Administrator called a meeting of the press to sell the deal to settle the solar scam wearing the same rose-colored glasses he used to sell the scam in the first place.
In 2011, Eskilson used the old "we'll miss an opportunity of a lifetime" trick and now he's using "the sky is falling" if we don't. Always the same rush, rush, hurry, hurry, to roll the Board. If this was a corporation, there'd be a shareholders revolt. But this is a county and the taxpayers are easier to bend over.
Eskilson didn't invite any of the Freeholders to his press conference, which was clearly intended to roll the press and get them to put media pressure on elected Freeholders to pass the settlement deal. Since when did John Eskilson morph from an appointed County Administrator into an elected County Executive?
Since when does a county employee use his office to beat the elected representatives of the people into voting on a settlement the public hasn't had an opportunity to review? That's right, the settlement is on the table, Eskilson knows what it says, he has bullied the Freeholders into keeping quiet about it with threats (executive session), but the public isn't allowed to know what it says until after it is approved.
This situation is just like the vote on ObamaCare and Eskilson is Nancy Pelosi telling her members "you got to vote on it before you can read it."
Why does Eskilson oppose letting the taxpayers read the whole unabridged settlement before having to pay for it?
Eskilson is opposed on this by three of the five Freeholder Board members. Freeholder Director Phil Crabb said in the New Jersey Herald that he wanted the settlement made public so the taxpayers could read it before a vote was taken. Freeholders George Graham and Gail Phoebus have been working tirelessly on behalf of the taxpayers' right to know. They have called for full transparency before the vote and for investigations on how we got in this mess in the first place.
Eskilson's refusal to allow the public their right to know can be reversed by these three freeholders and we urge Freeholders Rich Vohden and Dennis Mudrick, who is up for re-election this year, to join them.
"Earlier this afternoon bids were received for the Sussex County/Morris County Improvement Authority Solar Initiative. A single bid was submitted by the partnership of Sunlight General Capital and Power Partners/Mastec. A second bidder arrived after bids were opened and was not accepted (Based upon the voluntary withdrawal by the second bidder, it is highly likely that their bid exceeded that of Sunlight General)."
It is from an email sent out in October 2011 by a top county official. A top appointed official.
Some people put down third world countries but we found one that has a high standard of ethics that some here in New Jersey could learn a thing or two or three from.
Sussex County Watchdog
