There is a lot of finger pointing going around between the the Monmouth County Freeholders and Brookdale's Board of Trustees as to who was responsible for overseeing the reimbursement of Burnham college expenses and his generous perks.
Freeholder Lillian Burry before Tuesday was quite on Burnham's plight, until she was quoted as saying, "He disgraced himself in the eyes of his students, in the eyes of his peers, in the eyes of everyone who believed in his vision for Brookdale and every Monmouth County taxpayer, he has to be held accountable for his actions.''
And Freeholder John Curley, who's job it is as a Freeholder to oversee the goings on at the college and who exposed Burnham's contract to the public after Burnham called out the Freeholders for being responsible for a proposed 8% hike in tuition and fees last month, chimed in as well according to the Asbury Park Press:
...Freeholder John P. Curley said he was pleased that Burnham resigned. Now it's time for the college board and its attorney to step down as well, he said, adding that the public does not have faith in the college leadership anymore.
"They are policing themselves at this point and that's unacceptable,'' Curley said....
What I find unacceptable in that quote is that fact that it has been Curley's job and others, who have been the liaison between the the college board and the Freeholders, to police and oversee what the college board does on behalf of tax payers. Curley and others should have been acting as the police, watching over and policing the college's board of trustees instead of maintaining a hands off policy expecting the board of trustees to do what was right for students and county tax payers.
The only Freeholder that has come out of this situation unscathed seems to be Freeholder Amy Mallet, who when she heard of Burnham's extravagant contract and perks called for the immediate resignation of the college board's President Howard Birdsall.
13 comments:
The only reason Birdsall continues to serve is his POLITICAL connections. GET RID of him and all the rest who serve themselves not the people on Monmouth County.
This group refused to remove Larrison's name from that building. What does that tell you ?
Time for a clean new slate of trustees !
Time also for sending the "good ole boys" on the Freeholder Board to the showers and that is Burry and Clifton.
We certainly owe Amy Mallet re-election this year. She was right on it and she also uncovered financial abuse on the Monmouth County Library Board saving a lot of money there last year.
Mike,
This is Curley's second year on the Freeholder Board. It is not like he sat on this for years. Before he was elected, which Freeholder had oversight over Brookdale? I think this is a better question.
aNON
aNON,
I agree. Freeholders other than Curley are also responsible for what has been allowed to happen over the years at Brookdale. They should also be held accountable whether they were democrats or republicans.
John D'Amico and William Barham are among those freeholders who served in recent years.Politically connected for sure and both good ole boys.
Yes they were, but did they act as liaisons between the Freeholder board and Brookdale?
I'm not sure.
Don't know ,Mike, but you can be sure what goes on at Brookdale is no secret to any of them and politics seems to run over the welfare of the citizenry of the County and the towns in the County. The Freeholders and the Trustees,and Burnham and Brookdale got caught with "their asses " hanging out.
Just look back to when Anna Little was rattling cages in the County. They were desperate to "shut her up".
What do you think ??
Anon 1:35,
It's hard to argue with you.
I believe there is more here than meets the eye, but after the window dressings are changed no one will care about this issue any longer, which is a real shame.
Mike,
It's up to the taxpayers in this County to demand accountability.
Apathy solves NO PROBLEMS and just continues to cost us all money! Lot's of money !!
My main point was that Curly did point this out in only 1 year of having oversight of Brookdale. That is pretty good! You can't say he perpetuated the cycle of corruption over there. Nobody before him (rep or dem) EVER brought this to light.
Also, it is election year so of course Mallet & Burry (& now Byrnes who it seems will be Mallet's running mate?) would want to jump on the PR bandwagon blasting this disgrace.
aNON
aNON,
First off - You put to credence into what you read on other blogs that don't have a clue about what goes on in Democratic circles. Sean Byres will not be anyone's running mate this year, let alone Amy Mallets'. You can bet the farm on that.
Second - Why did Curley expose Burnham's contract? He didn't expose it because he was being a watchdog over tax payers money. He exposed the contract out of vengeance for Burnham speaking out against the Freeholders for cutting aid to the school and blaming them for a proposed 8% tuition hike.
To me that is not noble or something that Curley deserves credit for. If you ask me, I think Burnham's contract had been a "dirty little secret" for some time but know won wanted to say anything about it because Brookdale was seen as being very successful in it's mission to provide a highly thought of education at a reasonable cost. Brookdale's enrollment doubled durning Burnham's tenure, that says something about the institution and Burnham's vision for the school.
Did you find out yet which Freeholder was assigned to Brookdale before Curley? I sincerely would like to know that.
Saying he exposed it out of "vengence" is your opinion. If it was a "dirty little secret" that everyone knew ... then why didn't the dems expose this when they had control of the Board?
aNON
aNON,
I haven't been able to talk to anyone yet about which Freeholders in the past acted as the Brookdale liaison, when I do I'll let you know.
My opinion, is not far from the facts as reported and what did I say in the last response about the dirty little secret?
"No one wanted to say anything about it because Brookdale was seen as being very successful in it's mission to provide a highly thought of education at a reasonable cost. Brookdale's enrollment doubled durning Burnham's tenure, that says something about the institution and Burnham's vision for the school."
Freeholders whether D's or R's didn't want to rock the boat so they looked the other way. Was that the right thing to do? No of course not, but it goes on every day in all walks of life. If something works you stick with it regardless of the costs unless someone has a better way of doing it.
Of course this way of doing things lead to stagnation and complacency, which in this case leads to possible corruption.
Whatever happens,one thing is for sure and that is that HOWARD BIRDSALL HAS TO GO! THE SOONER the BETTER !!
This is politics at it's WORST.
Good business practices would CAN a CEO for far less than the incompetence or malfeasance he has been responsible for. RESIGN Mr. Birdsall or be TERMINATED !!
Another question... just where do Clifton, Arnone and the QUEEN of Monmouth County Politics really stand on these capers ? CAN'T ride the fence on this,this time. The outrageous cost of Peter Burnham is absolutely without conscience ??
Action speak louder than words. Get rid of everyone complicit in this scandalous behavior !
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