River City: To The Editor:

I support the reinstatement of Congressman Chris Smith as a member of the veterans committee of the congress.

The publicity and editorials supporting Congressman Smith may do some good, even though the decision to dump Mr. Smith was made in Washington D.C, not Toms River.

Reminder Of The Media Double Standard On Haelig Firing: OCUA Has The Highest County Sewer Rate On The Planet

But the media’s focus on the Smith firing is a reminder of a double standard at the Observer and the Press towards a similar situation three years ago where Dover MUA Commissioner Robert K. Haelig Jr. was involved in important negotiations on behalf of Dover ratepayers with the Ocean County Utilities Authority, the agency that provides sewerage treatment for local sewer authorities in Ocean County, and is possibly the biggest hemorrhage of public funds in the known universe, with one of the highest county sewer rates anywhere.

Haelig Represented DMUA Ratepayers Same As Smith Worked For Veterans - But Haines Fired Him From OCUA Talks

I have attended more DMUA meetings than some commissioners, and I can say from personal observation that Commissioner Haelig has represented DMUA ratepayers over the years in the same constructive way that Congressman Smith has represented the veterans of our country.

Firing By Haines Went To The Heart Of  Influence Peddling That Permeates GOP

Despite his comprehensive knowledge of the issues, and The large amount of research he conducted, Commissioner Haelig was summarily fired from his involvement in the OCUA negotiations concerning a dispute which went to the heart of the influence peddling, payroll padding and patronage crisis that is a way of life in the Republican party in Ocean County.

Reams Of Evidence Showed OCUA Owed
Dover Authority Up To $20 Million

Commissioner Haelig presented reams of documented evidence that showed pretty clearly the OCUA owed the Dover Authority between $6 million and $20 million because of the OCUA’s failure to accurately measure sewerage flows in Brick and Dover for the previous fifteen years.

Broome Once Said OCUA Could Owe
Dover As Much As $30 Milion

Even John Broome, the executive director of the local authority, previously presented data that showed the OCUA’s obligation to Dover could have been as high as $30 million because of continuously wrong flow measurements in Dover and Brick townships.

GOP Establishment Flunkie Haines
Fired Haelig For Doing His Job

But the DMUA Commission Chair in 2001, former State Lottery Director Virginia Haines, a stooge for the Republican establishment, fired Commissioner Haelig in the middle of the OCUA negotiations, basically for doing his job.

Haines Lied About The Reason

Ms. Haines said she took this action because Commissioner Haelig wrote a letter, published in the Asbury Park Press and the Ocean County Observer, that was mildly critical of the OCUA.

Media Knew About The Incident,
But Never Covered It

The press knew about the incident; and it should have been a big story – just like the Smith firing was a big story - and there should have been strong editorials on the duplicity of Ms. Haines and the potential damage to the ratepayers of the DMUA.

The Haelig firing was ordered by local boss Rick Clement and sanctioned by Republican County Chairman George Gilmore.

Lack Of Coverage Encouraged GOP Flunkies, And The
Media Blackout Cost DMUA Ratepayers $Millions

But there wasn’t; there was no coverage at all: the damage became real very quickly, because the DMUA ended up paying nearly $3 million to the OCUA, instead of the other way around – under Haelig’s replacement in the negotiations, former commissioner Leonard Hedinger, whose wife, Carole, has been the recipient of political payoff jobs from the same GOP establishment, most recently as a $65,000 “confidential aide” in the Surrogate’s office.

Haines-Hedinger Duplicity Big Factor In
Current Year $5.3 Million DMUA Deficit

The huge OCUA payoff and other bad decisions by Hedinger and Haines, and Boss Clement's wife, Commissioner Deborah Clement, led this year to a $5.3 million current-year operating deficit at the DMUA, and the same costly double standard surfaced again recently regarding Commissioner Haelig and a change of the DMUA meeting schedule, made by Ms. Clement and the current crop of stooge commissioners to keep him from attending meetings of the Dover Council, with 50,000 DMUA ratepayers as the victims once again.

Chris Earle - Fourth Ward Democratic Spokesman

Click Here For Related Article On DMUA Meeting
Schedule Change - Made To Keep Commissioner
Haelig From Attending Dover Council Meetings

This article prepared for publication January 22, 2005.

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