The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Montville NJ, With dead mammals washing up on New Jersey beaches and with a lack of financial details on the state’s offshore wind farm program, the Ocean First project should be halted until there is legislative oversight of the project said Morris County Commissioner and State Senate candidate Thomas Mastrangelo.
October 11,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
NEWARK NJ, The Attorney General is proposing new rules concerning limitations on and obligations associated with the acceptance of compensation from pharmaceutical manufacturers. The public may submit written comments to this proposal through December 1, 2017.
The proposed rules establish principled standards to minimize the potential for conflicts of interest between prescribers and pharmaceutical manufacturers to ensure that patient care is guided by the unbiased, best judgment of the treating prescriber.
The proposed rules strengthen and clarify existing limitations for licensees of the Boards of Medical Examiners, Dentistry and Optometry, and extends those standards to Advanced Practice Nurses, the only Board of Nursing licensees with prescribing authority.
In connection with this notice of proposal, the Attorney General will hold a public hearing to take testimony from interested parties to gather facts to inform the proposed rulemaking and to afford ample opportunity for the receipt of public comment from the regulated communities, industry representatives, and the public at large.
The public hearing will be held on Thursday, October 19, 2017.
CAREN CHESLER | MAY 9, 2017
Stripped of its tax-exempt status and plagued with apparent conflicts of interest, the NJSPCA spends far more money on legal fees than on animal care, according to its own tax records
This is the first in a two-part series investigating the NJSPCA, the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which has come under scrutiny in recent years for not filing income taxes and for loss of its status as a charitable organization. Follow this link to read the second story.
The New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NJSPCA), a private organization with a 100-plus-year-old charter from the state, has been the focus of controversy for almost 20 years. Charged with protecting animals, the group’s senior members are given the power of arrest, carry guns, and have little state oversight. Now, the society is in trouble, losing its charity designation after not filing tax returns for three years. Despite this, it accepted public donations without informing donors that their contributions were no longer tax-deductible.
BY STEVE JANOSKI
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — A Superior Court judge will decide Wednesday the future of a lawsuit claiming several conflicts of interest tainted both the Planning Board’s and Village Council’s review and approval of several contentious master plan changes this year.
The suit, filed in May by attorney Kevin Mattessich on behalf of the grassroots group Ridgewood Citizens for Reasonable Development, seeks an order from Superior Court Judge William Meehan voiding four ordinances.
September 26,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, once again a group of residents is gathering signatures , “Please add my name to the Motion of Complaint against the Planning Board”. October 4th the Planning Board will be reviewing the resident complaint that could challenge the prior vote for high density regarding several serious conflicts of interest.
We need your help once again with protecting our Village from high density developers.
On Tuesday, October 4th the Planning Board will be reviewing the resident complaint that could challenge the prior vote for high density regarding several serious conflicts of interest and we need to keep the pressure on.
If you haven’t already, it is important to take the time to read the complaint and add your name to the petition. You can do so by:
1) Using the below dropbox link to open up the complaint.
2) Print out the signing page of the attached petition letter and sign it.
3) Either scan or take a jpeg snapshot of the autographed signing page with your phone and email it to: myself, Mayor Knudsen, Planning Board Secretary Cafarelli and Planning Board Attorney Christopher Martin:
leeda325@gmail.com
sknudsen@ridgewoodnj.net
mcafarelli@ridgewoodnj.net
CMartin@morrisonmahoney.com
4) In the subject heading write “Please add my name to the Motion of Complaint against the Planning Board”
5) Forward this email/attachments to everyone you know in town.
While not necessarily improper, administrators and board members might be forced to choose between what’s best for the hospital and what’s best for their private interests.
By
ANDREA FULLER and
MELANIE EVANS
Aug. 21, 2016 12:31 p.m. ET
Nonprofit hospitals have extensive business ties that can pose conflicts of interests for their administrators and board members, a Wall Street Journal analysis of newly released Internal Revenue Service data shows.
While having relationships with companies doing business with a nonprofit hospital isn’t necessarily improper—as long as the deals are disclosed and at market rate—administrators and board members sometimes may be forced to choose between what’s best for the hospital and what’s best for their private interests.
“Just because something is legal doesn’t mean that it’s appropriate,” said James Orlikoff,a Chicago-based hospital governance consultant. “You run the real risk of violating the public trust.”
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Tony Damiano is the owner of Mango Jam , When the train station was renovated a lot of parking spots were taken away and because of his business’ location it is difficult to park near his business.Tony Damiano is also the President of the Ridgewood Guild .
Tony was recently appointed a member of HPC. There was a vote at HPC for design D. He could not attend and send a letter saying since the new design ‘fits the lot’ he was voting for it. Another member who owns a building right next to the garage voted for this design. When this vote was later questioned, they just said it was a ‘poll’ not a ‘vote’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOCBptQJMcs
Published on Mar 10, 2016 this is all the footage Dana Glazer recorded at the Historical Preservation Meeting in Ridgewood. This is typical of how public meetings are currently in our town. We look forward to a time when ‘civility’ is more than just a political catchphrase and commissions like this do more than just green stamp massively inappropriate changes to our village.
Historic Preservation Commission Members:
Vincent N. Parrillo – Chairman
Joe Suplicki – Vice Chairman
Lynne Brady
Barbara Ferrante
Tess Giuliani
James Schimmel
Tony Damiano
Isabella Altano – Alt
Staff:
Michael Cafarelli – Secretary
Readers point even more conflicts of interest in Village Hall .”Wait , so planning board approved the high density housing they were advised by Gail Price. Then when council conducted the studies – they were conducted through Village Manager’s office. Village Manager’s assistant, who was coordinating all those studies and providing data to the external firms is spouse of a counsel at Gail Price’s office.
NJ Law states that a conflict of interest need not be financial in nature but merely a perception of partiality to the issue in question.
Gail Price is the planning board attorney and has her own law firm. Her husband wants to be Ridgewood Councilman. Well lets see who else is connected. Richard M. Fricke works for Gail Price’s firm and his wife Janet is the assistant to our Village Manager .
Finally, the dots are connected! Janet Fricke is connected to the Library cabal. She is a political appointee, not civil service.”
Anyone pointing fingers at past Councils about conflicts of interest is clearly trying to divert attention away from the several conflicts with the current Council. Mr. Killion is long gone folks. We have several critical issues before this Council and the 3 majority members all seem to have cozy relationships with the parties that have a lot to gain from their “YES” vote. Money has already changed hands from Mr. Saraceno to our Council majority in the form of $1,000 fundraiser tickets for them and their dates. Mr. Pucciarelli and Mrs. Hauck have clear conflicts on the Valley Hospital lawsuit.
Apologists for the Council majority cry “old news” when these conflicts come up yet they point fingers at past Councils as a convenient way to deflect any blame that comes their way.
Officials must steer clear of conflicts
OCTOBER 22, 2015 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2015, 12:31 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Village officials must steer clear of conflicts
To the Editor:
On July 3, 2013, Paul Aronsohn and his wife, Gwenn Hauck, and Albert Puciarelli and a guest, attended a fundraiser for Chris Christie at the Bank of America building. Each was comped at least $1,000/person (an item of value) by an event host, John Saraceno, who also happened to have an application before the Planning Board — The Enclave — now being voted on by the council as part of B-3-R rezoning.
Chapter 3; Section 53 of the Village Code, entitled conflicts of interest and penalties, states:
An elected official:
Shall not: Accept or solicit anything of value as consideration for or in connection with the discharge of his official duties.
Shall not: Accept any gift or gratuity, whether in the form of service, loan or promise or in any other form, from any person, firm or corporation which would tend to influence them in the discharge of their official duties.
Penalties for violating the ordinance include: suspension, removal from office, jail, fine or community service.
At a meeting on July 10, 2013 (per the minutes), Mayor Aronsohn asked Village Attorney Matt Rogers to look into the gift law related to the comped tickets. On July 11, 2013, Rogers was quoted in The Ridgewood News: Attending the fundraiser “falls outside the village’s gift ordinance” and was “completely appropriate” for the elected officials to attend. “It would have been a disservice if they did not attend.” There appears to have been no further discussion in the public record thereafter.
In his Ridgewood News reply, Rogers did not address the conflict of interest ordinance, which is Chapter 3, choosing only to focus on the appropriateness of attending the fundraiser (attending the event and accepting an item of value are separate issues). He is correct that it would have been a disservice for the council not to attend – provided they paid for it. Since it appears they did not pay, “accepting an item of value” becomes the issue; falling under the conflict of interest ordinance. Prima facie this looks to be a conflict of interest.
Of further concern is there may be other “business relationships” which may affect council member’s impartiality. These include a working relationship that Mayor Aronsohn and Pucciarelli have with Saraceno — as members of the Ridgewood Library Board of Trustees.
At a July 2015 council meeting, Aronsohn, Pucciarelli and Hauck voted in favor of introducing an ordinance for the B-3-R zone (where the Enclave is situated).
As a member of the zoning board, in order to steer clear of any conflicts of interest, we are requested by legal counsel to recuse ourselves from any personal or business relationships we might have with applicants. The council should be held to the same standards that other village sanctioned boards are held to.
The people of Ridgewood deserve an answer from the village attorney as to whether council members have a conflict of interest in this important issue facing us. If the attorney is unwilling to examine this, have an independent third party do so.
Jeff Voigt
Ridgewood
file photo Boyd Loving
Reader says why not a word from Mrs. Hauck or Mr. Pucciarelli to defend their constituents from the Hospital’s lawsuit
I wonder when the Council members with close ties to Valley are going to have a comment on plans to defend their constituents from the Hospital’s lawsuit against us. Not a word from Mrs. Hauck or Mr. Pucciarelli. Not even the usual “We plan to vigorously defend the Village against this lawsuit” type of rhetoric. Makes me wonder if there is any defense planned at all or if some sort of back room deal is in the works to give Valley what it wants.
This is such a classic conflict of interest and nobody has said a word about it. Even our Chief Civility Officer Mr. Aronsohn has been silent. Hmmm.
