The Herald misses a big story

The Herald has been trying to write a conspiracy story about the 2015 elections for Assembly and Freeholder.  Last week they even reported that the new candidates  haven't filed campaign finance reports showing that they have any money. Why would they?  They have all just started their campaigns and the law doesn't require them to file a report with this information until 29 days before the primary election on June 2nd.

Yet the Herald dedicated a whole story to report, well, nothing.

Anyway, there is an important story with a local connection that you would have had to read about in the New York Times.  It involves the rich and powerful Mulvihill corporate family in Vernon.  We read about it two weeks ago and have been waiting ever since for someone at the Herald to pick it up.  Do they read the NY Times at the Herald? 

The story appeared on January 14th and it concerns a lawsuit filed that week in federal court by Anthony P. Miele III of Manhattan, whose deceased father left him stock worth $16,000. Mr. Miele contends he did not know for years about the stock, now worth $130 million, because his late father's business partners concealed its existence from him.   The Times writes:

At a meeting of Mr. Miele, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Mulvihill and Robert E. Brennan — a rising star at Mayflower who was later sentenced to nine years in prison for money laundering and bankruptcy fraud at First Jersey Securities — Mr. Miele agreed to lend Mr. Johnson $100,000. The money was to be used “to solidify the Winfield acquisition,” according to the complaint, which goes on to explain that although “no documentation of that loan appears to exist,” Mr. Johnson claimed it “was documented with a promissory note and listed on the public books and records of Franklin as part of its capital structure.”

Mr. Johnson also contends, according to the complaint, that 4,000 shares of Franklin stock were given to Mr. Miele as a bonus for providing the loan. According to the complaint, the stock certificate was issued to a trust that Mr. Miele established for his son, the plaintiff. A little more than a year later, Franklin’s records show that the 4,000 shares were voted at the annual shareholders’ meeting on March 21, 1974. Then on Nov. 8, 1974, while having dinner at Stash’s, Mr. Miele died “suddenly and unexpectedly,” apparently of a heart attack. Mr. Miele was 39; his son was 3.

According to the complaint, Mr. Miele’s son was never informed, until years later, of the existence of the trust with the 4,000 Franklin shares. At the time of Mr. Miele’s death, the shares were worth $4 each, for a total of $16,000.

The original 4,000 Franklin shares have turned into 2,531,250 shares, with a value of about $130 million, with an additional $20 million in uncashed dividends, according to the complaint. But through “a variety of acts including breaches of fiduciary duty, forgery, theft, diversion and a cover-up,” neither the shares nor the dividends have ever been delivered to Mr. Miele, it contends.

The complaint, drafted by Mr. Miele’s lawyers at Liddle & Robinson, contends that Richard Hanrahan, at the Bank of New York, offered to find Mr. Miele in the early 1990s, using the Social Security number it had on file, but Mr. Johnson and Franklin declined the offer. Instead, according to the complaint, when Mr. Johnson learned that New Jersey was about to take control of the trust because its owner appeared to have abandoned it, he asked Mr. Mulvihill to find Anthony Miele Jr. By then, Mr. Johnson, who was chairman of the National Association of Securities Dealers at the time, was most likely aware that Mr. Mulvihill had been convicted of numerous crimes, including forgery, and had been barred from the securities industry.

In any event, that is when Mr. Johnson says he learned of Anthony Miele Jr.’s death nearly 20 years earlier. Mr. Johnson then “delegated to Mulvihill” the responsibility of making sure the Franklin stock was delivered to his son, according to the complaint.

Mr. Mulvihill told Mr. Johnson “he would take care of it,” according to the complaint. At that point, Mr. Johnson recalled seeing that the stock had been transferred to a “street name” — meaning that a brokerage firm held the stock in its name — and the Bank of New York records show that the account address was changed to F.N. Wolf & Company, a successor company to Mayflower and First Jersey, run by a friend of both Mr. Mulvilhill and Mr. Brennan’s. F.N. Wolf ceased operating in December 1994 and filed for bankruptcy under regulatory scrutiny.

During the second half of 2012, before his death on Oct. 27, Mr. Mulvihill had a series of increasingly strange conversations with Mr. Miele about the Franklin stock, according to the complaint. On Aug. 21, Mr. Miele called Mr. Mulvihill on his cellphone, but Mr. Mulvihill told him he could not talk and that he was with Mr. Brennan. Three days later, Mr. Miele again called Mr. Mulvihill, who told him he was at the airport in Nantucket and couldn’t talk but was going to meet Mr. Johnson about the Franklin stock.

In mid-October, Mr. Mulvihill met with Mr. Miele and told him that because the mail related to Mr. Miele’s Franklin stock kept getting returned to Franklin — and Mr. Johnson had asked Mr. Mulvihill to take care of it — Mr. Mulvihill contacted John Steinbach, a business partner and the stepson of Abner Zwillman, known as the Al Capone of New Jersey. Mr. Mulvihill told Mr. Miele that Mr. Steinbach had “signed something” at Mr. Mulvihill’s request for Mr. Miele.

When Mr. Miele contacted Mr. Steinbach, according to the complaint, Mr. Steinbach admitted to “signing a document” in Mr. Miele’s name.

Mr. Mulvihill told Mr. Miele that if he “ever investigated this matter, Robert Brennan would hire a Russian hit man to kill [Miele III] and your family,” according the complaint. 

Ten days later, according to a Forbes story about the lawsuit, Mulvihill suffered a heart attack and died.

Now we should stress at this point that all this is what has been alleged in federal court.  The case hasn't gone to trial and the veracity of these allegations have not been tested in a courtroom.  To read the whole story in the New York Times, please go here:

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2015/01/14/suit-accuses-franklin-resources-billionaire-of-defrauding-investors-heir/

You can also read the Forbes magazine story here:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2015/01/14/mutual-fund-billionaire-charles-johnson-faces-lawsuit-over-millions-in-missing-stock/

The comments on both are worth reading.

Our Readers Speak

On the nasty tone of some anonymous comments on the NJ Herald website:

Those of us who live in Sussex County South do so for the weather, the sane gun laws, and particularly for the lower property taxes. There are a lot of us who were involved in politics moved down here to form a colony. I know it is insane but believe it or not when you move south you don't leave your hate up north. I had two friends up north and we all opposed the Littells. Circumstances changed and one of my friends changed his opinion. He's lives up north and is still my friend but my other friend moved down here and now hates my guts because I stayed friends with the one who changed his mind. It is crazy hate and the hate travels.

On the NJ Herald's involvement in the GOP primary:

The Herald isn't even from New Jersey. It is an out of state corporation run by a very rich family with its own agenda. They make money off Sussex County. I'm sick of this.

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http://www.whig.com/

Look familiar?

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OMG pinch me I must be dreaming! How is it that finally there is Anti-Heraldism! Yes! 

WENDY - PLEASE ELABORATE or tell me where to find out this information - I have for long time now had suspicions about those behind the scenes at the Herald.

On the politics of contracts and the Sussex Borough water utility:

Your statements are totally accurate, but I ran against two parties and the newspapers, who wrote press statements for a bad, truly bad water company! Please keep your voice of truth! You kept me going! (Bill Weightman, former Democrat candidate)

On the Scandal at the Sussex County Community College:

Thank you for sending this.  I have been watching this story every day as it unfolds. I guess more tax payer money was wasted hiring this law firm.  They, I am sure will be paid a good sum for this dribble. Their answer is really out there for a top law firm.  I sure would not hire them for anything.

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We don't know each other. But I think we have similar perspectives on our county and the way it has been run.

The college needs your help. Shine a light in those dark corners. The Herald won't cover SCCC anymore apart from planted PR pieces. Witness the Herald's refusal to cover Perez's letters to Parker and the trustees illegal actions, but pictures of Mazur and Elvidge planting trees on the campus and announcements on Halloween dances being published. I am told that Gavan, Parker and Mazur decided to go to the bosses at Quincy and threaten to pull the college's ads if the Herald didn't back off. Look at annie's comment here:

Freeholders OK funds for SCCC building work

		Freeholders OK funds for SCCC building work NEWTON — The last piece of financing for the Building D upgrades on the campus of Sussex County Community College was put in place Wednesday with the county's Board of Chosen Freeholders 4-1 vote to allow yet-to-be-used funds from a 4-year-old bond issue to be moved to the...
		View on www.njherald.com	Preview by Yahoo

RIP, Fourth Estate.

SCCC Board meets on 10/27 at 5:00. Go. Listen. Report back on your website, which everyone reads. We need you.

Sussex County Watchdog believes in reform and transparency on all levels of government. It is committed to citizen journalism with a local, independent-minded perspective. We seek to provide a layer of scrutiny of Sussex County politics and government that we find lacking in corporate journalism.

To contact the Sussex County Watchdog with a lead, question, or to submit a post for publication: 

info@sussexcountywatchdog.com 

The strange world of Herald comments

Could there be another Rick Meltz among them?

If you want to see the sick side of human behavior -- the jealousy, spite, and rage that lurks behind those Sussex County smiles -- you need go no further than the webpage of the New Jersey Herald.  A recent story about Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose accepting a job as the town manager in the town she was born, raised, resides, and is raising her three children in brought out those rage drunks who have made Littell-hating a sport since before old Sheriff Littell tried to close down that Nazi Bund camp near Newton.

Many of those posting were probably in attendance at the funeral of the late Senator Bob Littell, who died in November of last year.  They stood in line and swapped stories about how the old Senator had come to their town's rescue with needed money.  About how much their property taxes would have had to go up if the Senator had not come through for them.  They reminded each other about how he helped them all and they consoled his widow, embraced her, smiled.

Now two months later they were in a hot sweat posting anonymous hate-barbs against Bob Littell's widow, barely managing to suppress orgasms.  Calling her the "wicked witch" they even attacked the late Senator's son, who many of them had forgotten until seeing him again at his father's funeral.  One anonymous commenter dug up a lawsuit against the son -- someone with no connection to politics at all -- and the Herald left it on its website.  As if the Herald and its owners and employees had never had a lawsuit to contend with.

Deep into their orgasmic, head-thumping rage, the Herald web comment team even attacked County Clerk Jeff Parrott and Surrogate Gary Chiusano with a vicious old lie hatched during the 2013 primary between Chiusano and lawyer Alicia Ferrante.  When Gary Chiusano tried to politely correct them, they lost it, they popped their corks and released an ocean of hate-filled spew.

About the only person some of those commenting appear to like is former Freeholder Glen Vetrano, whose six-figure pension was defended on the grounds that he had been a public employee in Paterson. While there can be a reasonable difference of opinion on the state's pension laws, it is unreasonable to defend a six-figure pension for a state employee while attacking the much smaller pension of a soldier just returning from Afghanistan.  Paterson may not be the safest city in America, but it is not Afghanistan. 

There is a lot of dark, closeted rage out there.  We see it come out from time to time in forums such as that provided by the New Jersey Herald.  What other forms it takes may be less obvious but could be more serious.

Freeholder Crabb: Late again with ethics filing

The state's campaign finance laws are the primary means of transparency by which citizens can see who our elected officials are taking money from.  That doesn't matter to some elected officials in Sussex County who openly scoff at the law.  Freeholder Phil Crabb is Sussex County's poster boy when it comes to ignoring ethics rules.  He operated his campaign account for four years without filing timely reports in accordance with state campaign finance laws. 

Then in 2011, his GOP running mates put their foot down and wouldn't let him on the ballot with them until he straightened his act out and both filed his past due reports and started filing future reports on time.  Crabb got better, but still missed a lot of deadlines.  It looked like he had cleaned up his act for his re-election but now with the election behind him he missed his first filing deadline after the November election. 

In some counties, a wanton screw-up like Crabb would have been quietly asked to step aside.  Examples abound in other parts of the state.  Not in Sussex County.  Wantonly, purposefully, breaking the ethics rules doesn't matter.  Crabb's reward for breaking the law year in and year out was a fundraiser held in his honor at the wine cellar of the powerful Mulvihill corporate clan.

Speaking of fundraisers at the wine cellar, it looks like the secret is out.  A few weeks ago, the New Jersey Herald ran a story about the latest county incumbents to be feted at the wine cellar.  From the article, it looks like the vendors who made up the dormant Skylands Victory PAC now influence county officials by putting on fundraising events for them.  The way they do it is worth a look see, as the donations collected appear to fall under the reporting threshold.  Whether purposeful or not, the effect is the same, with voters left in the dark about who is underwriting the political campaigns of their elected county officials.  Too bad, because the voters should get to see who their elected officials are indebted to. 

Who said, "There are no Democrats or Republicans, only haves and have nots"?  While two dozen of the county's political and corporate elite were drinking fine wine and eating lobster and steak, the U.S. Census figures showed that New Jersey was one of just three states where both the number of people living in poverty and the poverty rate increased.  Who is advising these people? 

Have some common sense.  Economic hard times demand a show of humility.  Instead of rubbing voters faces in it by having a meal with a price tag most of them can't afford, why not hold a hot dog supper at a price everyone could afford?  In a democracy middle-class voters and fat cats all get just one vote each.  More is better.

Glen Vetrano: Man of the Year???

If anyone wonders why Sussex County is getting a reputation as a corrupt backwater, look no further than who was named "man of the year" by the Branchville Businessmen's Club.  No, it's not the 1970's.  Yes, it is a businessMEN's club.  Sussex County still has them. 

For some reason, the Sussex County Municipal Utilities Authority (SCMUA) promoted the event, which was held last week.  So who did they name? 

The Branchville Businessmen’s Club announces the recognition of Glen Vetrano as its Man-of-the-year, 2014. He will be honored at the open meeting of the organization to be held at the Walpack Inn on November 20, 2014.  A 6:00 PM cocktail hour will be followed by a brief meeting and sit down dinner with recognition activities to honor Glen specifically citing his many contributions to the club and Sussex County Community.  Glen is a long term member of the club and has served actively on the executive committee with special attention to the Membership function of the Club.  He is a past President of the BBMC, serving back to back during 2012 and 2013.  Glen is a retired Firefighter with the rank of Lieutenant for the Paterson Fired Department. Glen will be recognized for his contributions to the our club and to Sussex County including: past freeholder, Board Member to Sussex County Community College, The Sussex County Farm and Horse Show/NJ State Fair and many other contributions to other organizations.  We invite friends and associates to join us to recognize Glen.  The cost is $30 for dinner, reservations are recommended.

Shouldn't that be former "Board Member to Sussex County Community College"?  Isn't he the guy who had to resign after he got caught breaking ethics rules, voting on a contract for a vendor he took money from, not reporting it on his official financial disclosure, and then not telling the truth about it?  After finally admitting to it, he had to resign.  How does that sort of behavior merit an award or the title "Man of the Year"? 

Maybe Sussex County can't help itself?  Maybe it is stuck in a kind of small town mentality that won't let it grow up and recognize that people can be capable of both good and bad?

The Republican Mayor of Sparta gets in trouble, the former Democratic County Committee Chairman is sentenced to six months in prison, a former Sussex County newspaper editor is convicted of abusing two girls, a Franklin Councilman has to resign over juvenile Facebook posts, and everyone uniformly expresses shock and cannot understand why such a "nice guy" suddenly turned bad.  Maybe the bad was there all along but they couldn't get past the small town smile?

Take the case of former Sussex County Undersheriff and Byram Councilman Rick Meltz.  He was the quintessential "nice guy" and small town "goodfella".  Everybody liked the guy -- until he was arrested in 2013 for his involvement with New York's infamous "cannibal cop", the NYPD's Gilberto Valle, who planned to stalk, kill, and eat his female victims. 

In January 2014, the Honorable Councilman Meltz pleaded guilty to planning to kidnap, rape, and murder women.  According to the New Jersey Herald, Meltz and his co-conspirators planned to "attack and kill multiple victims, including the wife, children and other family members of a co-conspirator."  Meltz and his co-conspirators also discussed what they referred to as the "snuffing" of "women, children, and infants."  With the FBI's tapes rolling, the former Undersheriff dispensed tips on how to kill without getting caught, such as "removing a victim’s teeth to avoid dental identification, taking off the fingers to avoid fingerprint identification, and chopping off and disposing of the head."

This is an extreme case for sure and nobody is trying to equate the crimes of Councilman Meltz with ethics violations.  The example is used because even in this extreme case those interviewed by the Herald expressed complete shock that this "nice guy" was capable of anything improper.  Take the poor Mayor of Byram for example.  He told the Herald:  "I was shocked when he was arrested and now equally shocked that he pleaded guilty. . . I took over Rick’s spot on the council and lived in the same neighborhood as he did."  The Mayor added that Meltz was always a "nice guy" and that "his house was the one in the neighborhood that one would consider safe."  The Byram Mayor told the Herald, "His was the house that you told the kids to go to if something bad happened."

On June 2, 1998, Rick Meltz nearly won the Republican nomination for Sussex County Sheriff.  Meltz lost to incumbent Bob Untig 4,406 to 4,752.  A close call.