February 11, 2003: Former "Mayor" Paul Wnek Fails In Try To Waste Big Money

Ocean County Politics .com

Paul Wnek

Former "Mayor" Paul Wnek Fails In Try To Waste Big Money - Second Time In Three Weeks

Credibility Of DMUA Chairman-Designate Is Shattered Again As Wnek's Plan To Hand Costly But Unnecessary "Engineering Study" To Political Crony Is Foiled By DMUA Commissioners

Official Who Tried To Conceal Use Of Facilities And Employees Of Burlington County Highway Department To Launch Political Attacks On Dover MUA Employees Wanted To Waste $200,000 On Unnecessary "Study"

Will Boss Clement Still Make Wnek, An Embarrassment To The Local GOP, DMUA Chairman When Agency Reorganizes?

Dover Township - For the second time in three weeks, Chairman-Designate Paul Wnek has been rejected in his efforts to pay off a political crony with an open ended "engineering study" that could cost Dover Municipal Authority ratepayers $200,000 or more.

GOP Boss
R.C. Clement

Rejection came after an executive session meeting of the authority prior to which Wnek said "action would be taken" on the proposed study during a public portion of the meeting covered by OceanCountyPolitics 56K video coverage.

Wnek called a special meeting of the DMUA. One of the items on the agenda was a proposed "study" by the engineering firm of O'Brien and Gere, the same firm Wnek tried to hand the "study" to at the last authority meeting in January.

Generous Political Contributor To Numerous Campaigns

O'Brien and Gere is a generous political contributor to numerous campaigns. The "study" was proposed by Scott Bundy, former "Executive Director" of the Jackson Municipal Utilities Authority where DMUA attorney Richard Meinders is also the politically appointed lawyer.

Bundy is currently a resident of Dover Township and now a part of the local Republican operation run by Boss R. C. Clement.

OCP Editor
Rich Schiff

Bundy left the Jackson MUA under inadequately explained circumstances a few months ago, and turned up as "Marketing Representative" for O'Brien and Gere.

Bundy Tried To Intimidate
OceanCountyPolitics Advertiser

A few weeks before the big Bundy payoff was promised by Wnek and GOP Boss R. C. Clement, Bundy wrote a letter to one of OceanCountyPolitics' advertisers in an obvious attempt to intimidate the WebSite which had published several articles with information on the political activities of Clement and Wnek - and a Jackson article back in July 2002 that obliquely mentioned Bundy.

OceanCountyPolitics editor Rich Schiff noted Bundy made several false statements in his letter to the OCP advertiser and hinted that additional action might be pursued to secure a retraction of the false statements and a public apology.

Clement's Wife Helped Shoot Down Wnek-Bundy Payoff

Ironically, one of the commissioners who helped shoot down the Wnek-Bundy payoff was Clement's wife, Debbie, who Clement picked to be Vice-Chairman of the agency when he designated Wnek as Chairman.

Former "mayor" Wnek is well known as one of the architects of the 1992 fiscal crisis where a $30 million deficit as a result of years of mismanagement resulted in the largest tax increase ever in Dover Township in addition to a $17 million bond obligation which was necessary to balance the only "temporary" budget in township history.

Wnek Helped Doctor DMUA Records
To Accommodate Aldrich Job Switch

Wnek was also one of the commissioners who helped doctor DMUA records to accommodate the Aldrich-Haines job switch last Spring when Former "mayor" Clarence Aldrich resigned his township committee seat to become a superintendent at the DMUA, and DMUA Chairman Virginia Haines was appointed to fill Aldrich's committee vacancy.

Click below for previous OceanCountyPolitics•Com articles on the misadventures of Wnek and Clement.