Rob "March on Trenton" Karabinchak

Well, I made the unfortunate mistake of going to last night's Edison Council Meeting. Haven't been there in a while and just wanted to get the status of one of the Council's 2012 budget amendments. Further, I made another mistake by actually reading the agenda for the meeting. And some things stuck out in the resolutions.

The first was R. 355-062012 - Resolution authorizing a conflict Tax Assessor and Attorney for any tax appeal before the Middlesex County Board of Taxation.  Now, what could that possibly be? There was no indication given of who the tax appeal was for that created the need for a conflict tax assessor and attorney - no block & lot number, no address or nothing to indicate who it was for. But, it obviously had to be someone on the Council.

So, I asked Council Presidente Rob "March on Trenton" Karabinchak. You remember him. He's the guy that sat there last year and told you that there was no Muni Tax Hike even after you received your tax bills and already paid half the 2011 muni tax increase.

He's the guy that actually spent $100,000 in a prior campaign for a single seat on the Council for a single year against an opponent who only spent to the max $3,000.

He's the guy who promised to pinch pennies for us but didn't even recognize the 2.9 Cent Muni Tax Hike in 2011.

He's the guy who actually was part of $6.5 million Council cut to a prior defeated school budget but didn't see the irony of sponsoring a resolution to Trenton demanding we get our fair share of state aid.

Well, that's enough for now.

So, turns out that that he is the one filing a tax appeal necessitating the need for a conflict tax assessor and attorney. Now, there's no problem with him filing a tax appeal - every taxpayer has that right and should if they believe their taxes are excessive.


Problem here is that he tried to hide it.

Funny, but here's a guy who pretends to carry torch for the property tax appeal battered residents of Downtown Edison yet files one himself and tries to hide it. What does that say about someone who sponsors a resolution for himself at the last minute, dumps some more costs on us for a conflict tax assessor & attorney and forgets to tell us in the resolution it's for him?

But wait, it gets better with Karabinchak at the helm. Turns out the Council hired a replacement for retiring Township Clerk. They hired the wife of their campaign manager in the last Council cycle. The same guy who worked in the administration, no longer does and still has some outstanding issues pending. When Karabinchak was asked if the person was a RMC or had any experience in the field at all - with a straight face, he said No! And this is even better. When asked how much they were paying this person, he said he didn't know.

So, let's see what we have here. They actually hire the wife of their campaign manager (who still has some outstanding issues with the administration) who has no experience in the field and they won't tell us how much she is making and going to cost us.

Great answers to the residents of Downtown Edison by Senor Karabinchak.

Finally, here's a guy that shouldn't even be on the Council - much less Council President.

Anyhoo, what do I know? I still can't figure out why they continue to treat the residents of Downtown Edison with such disrespect and lack of openness & transparency.