Cross posted from Middletown Patch
Earlier this summer, Brookdale Community College President Peter Burnham pled guilty of stealing tens of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money. The web of corruption surrounding this case is just another example of Monmouth County Republican cronies profiting at the taxpayers’ expense.
Mr. Burnham, along with Brookdale Community College’s then-Board President Howard Birsdall and Brookdale’s Board Attorney John Cantalupo, were all close allies and major political supporters of the Republican Party establishment here in Monmouth County.
Mr. Cantalupo served as Freeholder Lillian Burry’s close confidant and official Campaign Treasurer in her 2005 and 2008 Freeholder campaigns.
In this same time period, Mr. Cantalupo negotiated the terms of Peter Burnham’s lavish Brookdale contracts.
This represents a clear conflict of interest, given that Mr. Cantalupo was Freeholder Burry’s right-hand man. Perhaps this is why Freeholder Burry sat silently on the sidelines as the truth about Mr. Burnham's theft was being exposed.
As a result of the Republican-controlled Freeholder Board’s lack of oversight, student tuition increased at Brookdale Community College -- while their college president profited immensely.
This is what happens when a chief advisor for the Republican Freeholders is negotiating salary contracts on behalf of a College President that is funded by these same Republican Freeholders.
It is time for Monmouth County taxpayers to unite against the Good Ol’ Boys Network here in Monmouth County.
2 comments:
This "lifestyle" is very prevalent in Middletown and probably many other towns that have been controlled by the GOP in Monmouth County. This is why it is such a bastion for this type of behavior. All of these people get free health benifits FOR LIFE plus a pension to boot. Just tow the Party line for a few years and your in, sitting pretty, all at the expense of the taxpayer.
Ms. Burry is also a member of the Board of School Estimate for both Brookdale Community College and the Monmouth County Vocational Schools. She must have been estimating how much they could all get away with playing this game of round robin, feeding each other with perks. There should be a rope waiting for people that abuse the people that pay thier way.
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