We are watching with delight how the Gray-Gorman campaign is using past Watchdog columns to run a very hard-hitting campaign against incumbent Freeholder George Graham and his running mate, Hopatcong Mayor Sylvia Petillo. Watchdog's insights, often missed by corporate media, have provided nearly all of the hits used by Freeholder challengers David Gray and Kathleen Gorman.
This is the most curious campaign on record in Sussex County, not least because of the changing merry-go-round of alliances. In 2012, George Graham started his rise in Republican politics in Sussex County as the manager of Dennis Mudrick's campaign for Freeholder and the ally of Glen Vetrano and Wendy Molner. With Graham's help, Mudrick won that election, but the following year saw Graham side with Gary Chiusano in the race for Surrogate and against Alicia Ferrante, the candidate recruited by Glen Vetrano. Chiusano won and Vetrano subsequently developed some ethical problems as a Trustee for the Sussex County Community College. In 2014, Graham helped Molner with Freeholder Phil Crabb's successful bid for re-election. Then in 2015, Graham backed fellow Freeholder Gail Phoebus in her successful bid for State Assembly against Molner-recruited candidate Marie Bilik.
George Graham was elected to the Freeholder Board in 2013, with the strong support of the county's local elected officials. In 2015, Graham split with fellow Freeholders Phil Crabb and Richard Vohden over the solar issue -- specifically rejecting their plan to place the entire blame for the 2011 solar project on the shoulders of Parker Space, who was a Freeholder in 2011, but who had subsequently been elected to the State Assembly in 2013. Graham's support for Space led to his falling out with Crabb and Vohden. This is curious, because this year Space has been somewhat loose in his support for the man who came to his aid last year. But that's politics for you.
Poor candidate for freeholder Dave Gray. He and his running mate need to work on their inter-candidate communication skills. First, Gray reached out to Bill Winkler, long time consultant to the Littell family and to Bob Littell's successor, Senator Steve Oroho. Gray asked Winkler to run his campaign. While Gray and Winkler were discussing it, Gray's running mate -- the bodacious and ever flavorful Mz. Kathleen Gorman -- started doing a very public dump on Winkler. Gray was too late in restraining his teammate (she had already started). End of discussion.
But it didn't end there. Gorman recruited the ridiculous Annie Sprinkle and together they made war on old Wee Willy Winkler. This prompted Wee Willy to write a letter to the New Jersey Herald, causing further attacks. Here's that letter:
In a comment posted under Sunday's column by Rob Jennings, candidate for freeholder Kathleen Gorman warned readers against "well paid political advisors" (the emphasis is hers). I wonder if she realizes that her own running mate, David Gray, personally contacted me on several occasions by telephone (I still have a voice mail he left me, if anyone cares to listen) with a view to hiring me to manage their campaign for freeholder.
We spoke, and I found David to be a pleasant and interesting young man. David told me that in the event that I could not accept his offer, he had planned to meet with the Philadelphia political consulting firm of Jamestown & Associates. Having worked with Jamestown's owner, Larry Weitzner, for more than 20 years, I highly recommended Jamestown to David.
The fact is I simply don't have the time to devote to the Sussex County freeholder race this year. Since 1993, I have fought a number of successful campaigns in Sussex County, but have learned to minimalize my local involvement during a presidential year, when there is so much to do that I cannot give Sussex County the full attention it deserves.
I wish all the candidates well and I am sure that Ms. Gorman will find, in Jamestown, the well-paid political adviser that she and her running mate require.
Bill Winkler
New Hope, Pa.
It also prompted candidate Dave Gray to send his own message of support and praise to Winkler:
From: David Gray <dgray@foremangray.com>
To: "baseline@sprynet.com" <baseline@sprynet.com>
Subject: herald comments
Date: Apr 5, 2016 4:48 PM
Bill,
I just wanted to send you a quick note to say that I have never met, nor have I ever spoken with Ms. Smulewicz – who commented in the Herald on your well-written letter.
Frankly, I have a lot of respect for you and thought we had a good conversation. You are known in Sussex County to be one of the best political consultants around. That is why I called you and I thank you for your time discussing issues concerning Sussex County with me. I hope to meet you in person in the future.
Best,
-Dave
David E. Gray, Esq.
--
Foreman & Gray, LLC
Attorneys at Law
760 Rt. 10 West
Suite 204
Whippany, NJ 07981
Ph (973) 240-7313
Fax: (973) 240-7316
ForemanGray.com
We got our hands on this directly from Winkler, who emailed Watchdog, and who doesn't seem to be too happy about being attacked and not being paid for it. "I don't even have a candidate in the race," he wrote, adding, "Do you think they have a fetish concerning me? It's like I'm being stalked! Could I be the focus of their bizarre fantasy?"
Winkler's email referenced a further attack on him by a website some say is run by Freeholder Rich Vohden and energy lobbyist Wendy Molner. The website uses various aliases when it blasts out its messages and has attempted to masquerade as Sussex Watchdog, Freeholder George Graham, and Mr. Winkler.
Things were going to be so boring without old Wee Willy. Now, thanks to the desert dry team, and to the delight of everyone who follows the Watchdog, it looks like we're in for a real shatstorm.
Maybe we shouldn't blame Marie Bilik for this one. On Friday, at the start of the Memorial Day weekend, Freeholder Richard Vohden asked his "followers" on social media to spread a lie for him. The lie Vohden wants to spread is that there are no Assembly debates between now and the June 2nd primary.
Vohden is a supporter of Marie Bilik for Assembly and a sometime spokesperson for her campaign. Bilik was recruited to run for Assembly by a lobbyist for Concord Energy after Freeholder Gail Phoebus refused to vote for a solar energy bailout that cost Sussex County taxpayers millions. Freeholder Vohden voted for the bailout and has been on a revenge tour ever since.
We don't think that Marie Bilik is behind the lie Vohden is asking people to spread because Bilik is well aware that she will be attending at least two debates next week -- a radio debate at WRNJ on Tuesday morning and a videotaped debate at the New Jersey Herald on Wednesday afternoon. There is a third debate, this one hosted by the Skylands Tea Party on Tuesday evening, that Marie Bilik has not yet confirmed she will be attending (Parker Space and Gail Phoebus are confirmed, we have leaned).
So, far from there being no debates next week, which is the lie that the "honorable" Mr. Vohden wants people to spread for him, there are three debates scheduled for next week, although Marie Bilik might miss one of them.
What's up with Vohden? Was it a lapse in memory or is he just predisposed to not telling the truth? We believe that Mr. Vohden is so filled with jealous rage over the fact that Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose and Senator Steve Oroho backed Gail Phoebus and didn't ask him to run that he can no longer think straight. We're worried about him and think he should cool it and get some anger management therapy, before he totally loses its one day.
Last evening, the Sussex County Freeholders voted 3 (Crabb, Vohden, and Mudrick) to 2 (Phoebus and Graham) to make Concord Energy/ Concord Engineering the provider of energy to Sussex County government. Concord is the for-profit corporation that has the contract to manage the Passaic County Government Energy Aggregation Program. Sussex is now a part of the Passaic system.
There was an attempt to obscure this on the part of Phil "the fibber" Crabb who tried to mislead both his fellow freeholders and the public about the relationship between the Passaic County program and Concord. He was supported in this by the manic presence of side-kick Richard Vohden. But it failed to work because even Crabb and Vohden can't hide the volumes of correspondence they have received from Concord representatives Vicki Molloy and Wendy Molner about the Passaic program. They know and they know too well.
One result of municipal aggregation is that, in effect, you are undoing the benefits of deregulation. The main benefit, of course, is achieving lower rates through competition. The price of electricity has been decreasing steadily since alternative suppliers came into the market. That's because individual buyers have been allowed to make individual choices. But when you re-concentrate large numbers of buyers into co-opts and establish corporate filters, you risk undoing that competition.
The full benefit of deregulation is yet to be seen and municipal aggregation might halt that progress entirely. Concord spreads a lot of money around and makes hundreds of direct political contributions. They have hired two Sussex County politicians -- Wendy Molner (a former Mayor of Hardyston) and Molly Whilesmith (a Sparta councilman) to lobby for them and sell their program. They even recruited a candidate for Assembly -- Marie Bilik. We should be careful not to allow our elected representatives to return us to a pre-deregulation monopoly through the back door. Our hindquarters are already sore from what they did to us over solar.
Wendy Kuser Molner
Vice President, Government Relations
Ms. Molner has over 15 years of experience in client relations, community outreach and governmental affairs. Prior to joining Concord, she held community and legislative relations management positions at NJ Transit and NJ Department of Transportation.
At Concord, Ms. Molner also serves in a business development capacity, bridging communications between the public and private sector regarding energy, legislative and public policy.
Ms. Molner holds a BS in Public Policy from Upsala College and attended the Harvard University Certificate Program for Public Involvement. She is also past mayor of Hardyston, NJ.
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.
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.
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 andending in May 31, 2017)
Concord Engineering is the Program Manager for Passaic County Government Energy Aggregation Program
Sussex County Watchdog