Edison BoE elections - No longer Non-Partisan?!?

Well, it didn't take long for us to pay the price for moving the Board of Mythomania school board candidate elections to November. They took away our right to Vote on Bloated and Out-of-Control School $pending Budgets which now exceed $230 million - and for what??

To save the $50k it costs to hold the election? Not really, the Board of Mythomania saves nothing. If they underspend one -line of their budget, they just re-purpose it to another line. There is no savings that comes back to You, the resident/taxpayer who funds 90% of their operations.

So, here's what you get. An infiltration of the Edison Dem-Party Oligarchy that now rules the Municipal side of town. You get the Chairman of the EDO offering his personal choices of Araujo, Brescher and Ward in the local papers to fill the three open seats on November 8th - and Brescher is a Dem-Party Committeeman from the 54th District.

And here's some of what you get after looking at the Araujo, Brescher and Ward website and FaceBook pages where they show support for the Dem candidates in this cycle:

1. Pages you may like on Brescher's public FaceBook page, Karabinchak for Assembly, The Edison Democratic Organization and Joe Coyle for Edison Council along with their marking-up the BoE's sign.

2. An Endorsement they received from AFSCME.

3. And this picture they put up of a few Dem-Party faces you'll recognize.

And finally, remember this guy with the longest title in Edison thanks to Mayor Tom 'Now 13.7%' ChoiLankey (CampaignManagerLawsuitSettlementRecipientConstituentRelationsAdministratorPlanningBoardMemberAssistantDirectorDPW)

Seems EDO Chair wannabe Anthony Russomanno likes Brescher, Araujo and PENG. And that's fine, he can support whomever he wants but take it he likes PENG more since he capitalized her name. Kind of makes you wonder though what the guy with all those Dem-party political titles is doing supporting someone who claims to be independent and with no political ties in local articles and her campaign material.

Hmm..if she wants to claim independence with no political ties, then the last guy she should want supporting her is this guy.

Anyhoo, at least we're comforted in the knowledge that the EDO doesn't take sides in School Board elections here in the 'DemBadLands' of Downtown Edison!

Edison Board of Mythomania's 2016 Lease vs. Purchase Lalapalooza?!?

Well, here they go again. Edison's Board of Mythomania is going behind your back again with these lease vs. purchase agreements to incur debt without voter approval!

Said it before and will say it again, this district has been in dire need to correct the overcrowding for a long-long time and this board has yet to put together a well thought-out, cohesive and practical plan for all the stakeholders to address the issues. 

All they do is piecemeal projects with ridiculously expensive capital projects and go around voter approval to fund them by using lease vs. purchase agreements. 

These lease vs. purchase agreements allow the board to incur debt for capital additions without voter approval. 

According to the agenda below, up for vote Monday night are 3 separate Lease Purchase Agreements:

1. Woodbrook School - $11,500,000.00 (less $6,500,000.00 capital outlay) - $5,000,000

2. Transportation Equipment - $780,236.77

3. Copier Equipment - $484,830.00




Geez, they're literally piece-mealing us into debt.

Anyhoo, not to worry, it's only Your money they're $pending to plug holes in a losing cause.

Vote Rob 'Mr. Temper-a-Ment' Karabinchak for 18th District Assembly - he puts the 'Me' in Team?!?

Ah.. what I consider the EDO's greatest failure is up for election on the Dem-party line come November 8th, after being anointed to fill the vacant 18th District Assembly seat.

Perhaps the only time or way he could ever win an election is to be on the Dem-Party ticket in a Dem-controlled environment. Oh wait, I'm wrong. there was a time he was running for a single seat on the Edison Council for a single year against a Rep who only spent a max $3,000 against his $100,000. Guess he was a little worried about losing after finally switching to the winning side and getting anointed in or simply forgot he said he was supposed to be pinching pennies for us here in Downtown Edison.

So, if you followed his self-serving journey through the internal power struggles of the EDO over the years, switching sides to try and get on the winning side, admired his charming personality and his ability to keep an open mind to ideas as long as their his own and let's not forget - his less than noteworthy or meaningful performance on the Edison Council when he did get anointed in - you'd really have to ask yourself why anyone would ever vote for this guy, even in this one-party dominated town and county.

So, here's my thoughts - for all the reasons in all the posts in this blog about Rob 'Mr. Temper-a-Ment' Karabinchak, the best way to sum up why I never have or ever would vote for him for any elected office - here's a repeat of the Top 10 Reasons why You Should Vote for Rob "Mr. Temper-a-Ment' Karabinchak for 18th District Assembly on November 8, 2016:

10. Because You want Your Voice to be a Race to the Bottom.

9. Because You want Edison's Mistakes to be Highlighted at the State Level.

8. Because Charlie 'I Abstain' Tomaro endorses him and You don't see anything wrong with that.

7. Because You like Supporting Someone who Didn't Support the Chairman of his Own Local Party.

6. Because You want to Confirm that it's Okay for the Least qualified of Candidates for Anointment to this position to be Selected.

5. Because You like Helping Someone who is Only Looking to Help Himself.

4. Because Appearances are Deceiving and You Like Being Deceived.

3. Because You like Politics when it takes advantage of the People - Not Helping them.

2. Because You prefer Form over Substance in Your Political representation.

1. Because You Like someone Who has Switched Sides So Often and So Fast that He's Now Made Himself Permanently Dizzy.

And just to be fair to Señor Karabinchak, here's a list of people who do support him for Assembly from his 29 Day Pre-Election Report:





Kind of feel for all the other towns in the 18th District - you know not what your getting.

Anyhoo, as Mark Twain once said and Robin Williams brought to humorous heights -
 'Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason.'
Maybe it's me but that kind of reminds me of Señor Karabinchak whenever I hear or see that quote?!?

Edison's Board of Mythomania Scores themself a Perfect '10' and Super O'Malley gets $20,900?!?

Well, here we go again - just saw the payout for Goals du Mythomania for the 2015-16 School Year. Seems the Board of Mythomania gave themselves a perfect score in achieving every single District/Superintendent Merit Goal for 2015-16.

According to the safe-haven contract they gave Super Dr. Richard 'Looking for the Exit Ramp' O'Malley, his bonus eligibility went up to a Max of 10% for 2015-16 - and at his $209,000 salary, that's $20,900. Since they gave themselves a perfect score of 100% on every single goal and sub-set, he got all $20,900.

Now, having looked at these Goals over the years, it's disconcerting to see them continue to rise to the level of mediocrity. Always wondered why it's so hard for them to write a well thought out and comprehensive set of goals that address the immediate and long term needs of a school district our size - without all the silly content, ambiguity and hyperbole?

Clearly, these goals continue to be less than substantive and sophomoric, year after year, yet the $pending is spiriling Out-of-Control paying for them.

Here's the 2015-16 District/Superintendent Goals for the 2015-16 School Year:

Now, here's how the Board of Mythomania scored each Goal (from the June 20, 2016 Public Board Meeting). O'Malley's salary was $209,000 and the Max 10% Bonus is worth $20,900.

Goal 1 - quantitative, was worth 17% of the Max 10% or 1.7% of his salary - $3.553.

Goal 2 - qualitative, was worth 25% of the Max 10% or 2.5% of his salary - $5,225.

Goal 3 - qualitative, was worth 25% of the Max 10% or 2.5% of his salary - $5,225.

Goal 4 - quantitative, was worth 33% of the Max 10% or 3.3% of his salary - $6,897.

So, as you can see - they gave themselves a Perfect Score and Super O'Malley $20,900! Amazing, isn't it?

Of course you have to wonder how much of their Misdirected and Out-of-Control $pending relates to their achieving this perfect score on these imperfect goals.

And, seriously, how much did it cost us to wallpaper the school buildings in laptops and other time sensitive technology for Super O'Malley to earn that $6,897. We'll see.

But hey, the last time I looked at these goals and payouts, which was the 2013-14 school year - they only achieved 25% of them. Now they're at 100% - amazing how much more money gets $pent on the wrong things when there's no Oversight and a Board that Leads from Behind.

Anyhoo, Spending money is an activity not an accomplishment, except when it comes to the Board of Mythomania and Your tax dollars.

Feel the Need to say Thank You to all those who take the time to read this blog!

You know, I just noticed that this blog is approaching 100,000 hits. That kind of surprised me since this blog isn't about me, I don't try and advertise it nor do I tell people that I even write a blog. It's written to try and help and inform the People of Downtown Edison about things that catch my eye.

For the most part, I write these posts about our Local Politicians and Board of Ed Members using sarcastic humor but there's always a point being made. As serious as some of these things are for the resident/taxpayer, you can't lose sight of the humor in what they say, don't say - do and don't do.

Now, most of these politicians and board members I consider friends although there's probably a few who won't quite reciprocate the same sentiment (that's for you Charlie after somebody tells you to read this). But those who know me know that none of this stuff is personal with me - I tell you what I think and, more importantly, Why I feel that way. I respect everyone's opinion and take no umbrage with anyone who doesn't agree with me.

Learned a long-time ago that the best decisions come from differing opinions as long as everyone is dealing off the same facts.

Also learned that Nobody died and Left Me in Charge of Being Right so I'm open to discussing anything with anybody.

Let's face it though, we live in a town where the Muni-side is Ruled by a Dem Party Oligarchy where the Perils of One-Party Government have long gone past the Perils and are an actual Reality - and a Board of Ed that Leads from Behind and has long relinquished the Oversight over the Outrageous and Misdirected and Out-of-Control $pending with well over $230 million School Budgets.

Hey, where else can you have a Mayor who campaigns on $tabilizing Taxes and as soon as gets elected, raises the Muni-tax by 8% and Sewer-Tax by 35% and 50% on Residents and Commercials?

Where else can you find a Board of Ed that has a fixation with protecting their favorite Superintendents? We had a prior Superintendent who was paid $500,000 or so to Sit at Home and the the current one given a 5-Year Safe-Haven contract after he was out Publicly interviewing for another Super-Gig in another State!?!

So, thank you for taking the time to read this stuff - albeit, not the most exciting stuff in the world, especially when it comes to numbers. Hope you find something in here that's helpful or informative.

And if you're the person who hits the 100,000 mark, take a screen-shot and send it to me. That would be Cool!

Anyhoo, putting a twist on an old Dennis Miller Line:

It's just my opinion, I could be Right!'

State Audit of the Dept. of Education, State Aid for the period July 1, 2014 to May 31, 2016

Just saw this and thought you might want to give it a read. There are some four recommendations along with the DoE's response. Looks like the DoE agrees with three of the four recommendations and that two of the recommendations require legislative action.

Here's the conclusion:
'We found state aid payments to local school districts were calculated in compliance with the applicable Appropriations Acts, and were reported properly in the accounting system. However, since the Appropriations Acts superseded the SFRA, the funding was not calculated in compliance with the SFRA. In making these determinations, we noted K-12 formula aid and Preschool Education Aid were not always commensurate with the districts’ student populations and demographics. We also found the department has not resolved significant conditions noted in our prior report regarding Special Education Categorical Aid and Preschool Education Aid. These issues have been updated and restated in this report.'