Part II Of Joann Petrizzo Ward
III Resignation Story
Were
Bungling & Incompetence By
Republican Greed Club "Leaders"
Factors In Petrizzo's Resignation?
Ward III May Be Tough For The
GOP: In 2001, Democrat Glennon DePetris Beat Republican Frank
Montagna 2635 to 1930, A Margin Of 705 Votes For The
Democrats, Or 58% Of The Vote, So Petrizzo, Even Under The
Best Of Circumstances, May Have Had Her Work Cut Out For Her
Despite her husband's health problems, JoAnn Petrizzo became a
candidate for Berkeley Township Council in Ward III, and filed
a nominating petition in the Republican primary election with
organizational support from leaders of the local Republican
club.
Petrizzo is a former township committeewoman from Dover Township who
moved to Berkeley less than two years ago.
Experienced And Knowledgeable
She was experienced in public office, knowledgeable on the issues, and
by the time she resigned her candidacy last week, she was the only one
of the four Republican ward council candidates who hadn't found a way
to compromise the substance of their candidacies.
Either through blatant hypocrisy or the issuance of false statements
or distortions on easily checked public data, each of the other three
Berkeley GOP ward candidates demonstrated they were part of the
Republican greed conspiracy that politicized the local school system
and sponsored the costly proliferation of no-bid professional
contracts and crony job appointments.
Credibility Problems
In The Republican Campaign
|
GOP VP Ciullo publishes offensive
internet material |
Nearly everybody connected with the
cynical Republican Club leadership is now a member of one of the local
school boards, a development that has fostered a climate of greed and
cronyism in the last venue the taxpayers want their tax dollars
squandered on useless job appointments and political patronage.
Ciullo Offends Nearly
Everybody
The amanuensis of the local greed
conspiracy is Republican Club Vice President Richard Ciullo, operator
of a series of websites that publish offensive and salacious internet
material. Ciullo is also a member of the Central Regional school
board, and two of his websites have been taken down because parents,
school officials and taxpayers objected to the content.
Poisoning The
Political Process
|
Bunnell and
Ciullo lied on double-dip issue; tried to shake down OCP |
Ciullo has continued to poison the
political process since his arrival on the scene in Berkeley Township
in time for the 2003 mayoral election, a contest he degraded by
publishing a series of lies about Democratic mayor Jason Varano.
Ciullo was also part of the ludicrous
attempt to shake down OCP for a $500 "contribution" to
GOP mayoral candidate Charles Bunnell for "permission" to use
Bunnell's official campaign photo.
Ciullo Speculates
About His Critics' Sexual Activities
Ciullo uses his websites to speculate
about the sexual activities of his political enemies, and once
published a photo of a sheep defecating on the head of a former school
board member.
As a result of Ciullo's bizarre
planning, a textbook campaign based on basic Republican principles was
transformed into a comedy of errors and transparent misstatements that
your average eleven year old would find insulting and ridiculous.
Davis Hypocrisy In
Ward I
|
Davis: Ciullo press releases had
hollow
ring for her |
Item: In Ward I, Karen
Davis nearly lost the GOP primary election despite big money and party
line support for her candidacy, after Ciullo wrote press releases
where Davis promised to cut spending and hold
the line on taxes in the local government, despite her record as a school board member
who spent eight years voting for every spending
and tax increase.
Chairman Amato: Hypocrisy
And Greed In Ward II
|
Amato |
Item: Ward II candidate
Carmen Amato, chairman of the Berkeley Republicans and also a Central
Regional board member, joined Ciullo to hand a useless $70,000 job as
Central Regional Assistant Business Administrator to April Yezzi, the
wife of architect Massimo Yezzi, the Republican county committeeman
from Dover Township who was awarded nearly $2 million in no-bid
contracts by Davis and GOP Club President Anthony DiPaola, also a
school board member.
Gilmore Was Amato's
Sponsor In
A Series Of Useless County Jobs
|
DiPaola Payola |
The latest Yezzi political reward came
as Amato was recognized by County Chairman George Gilmore for his
party loyalty with a useless job costing taxpayers nearly $85,000 as
head of the county department of printing and graphics, one of the
most overstaffed and wasteful departments in county government.
Gilmore Got Well-Timed
$5000 Yezzi Contribution
|
Benny: "Timing Is Everything" |
Yezzi cemented his loyalty to the
process he helped degrade by giving Gilmore a $5000 "contribution" (to
the Republican County Chairman's PAC) shortly before Yezzi's wife got
the job at Central Regional, a magnificent validation of comedian Jack
Benny's assertion that "timing is everything."
Yezzi Covered All The
Bases
Yezzi also covered all the bases two
years ago following the receipt of his lucrative no-bid contracts by
contributing to all three of the Berkeley Republican campaign slush
funds.
|
Candidate Krone signed letter
with blatant falsehoods
|
The coup-de-grace of Republican
stupidity was a letter written by Ciullo and signed by 4th Ward
council candidate Hugh Krone, which had some blatant falsehoods about
Democratic Mayor Jason Varano, including a charge, repeatedly exposed
as a lie, that the mayor was "double dipping" on health insurance
provided by the township.
Fraudulent '03
Double-Dip Charges
Backfired On GOP, But Ciullo
And Krone Repeated Them In '05 Anyway
|
Kenneth
Leake and Bunnell were the Berkeley double dippers, not Varano |
The double-dip charge, made by Ciullo
and Bunnell two years ago, backfired on the GOP that year when data
surfaced that the only Berkeley health insurance double-dippers of
note were Bunnell and former Mayor Kenneth Leake, working in the
Bunnell campaign.
So Petrizzo, regardless of current
motives, was faced with a wall of lies, incompetence and potential
chaos erected by her own running-mates and advisors.
Victory against formidable odds was
unlikely, and every time she turned around, one of her running-mates
or one of the party's clueless but fearless "leaders" was trying to
hire a surgical team to get his foot out of his mouth
So Petrizzo, citing "health issues at
home, and new job commitments," did the only sensible thing.
She resigned as a candidate.
Watch for Part III of the Petrizzo
resignation story. Who will replace her as Ward III candidate?
The article is
prepared for publication August 12, 2005
|
