Now you see it, now you don't.
Your money GONE like a rabbit in a hat. The hat was worn by Frank Raia, Theresa Burns, Carmelo Garcia, and Frances-Rhodes Kearns.
Egregious abuses of the public's money targeted for our kids' education keep coming from the pages of the 2005-2006 Hoboken BoE audit.
Readers are sending me their 'finds' but I simply can't keep up.
Are you ready for this?
$1.9 Million disappeared in excess payments to vendors with (95% having) "no evidence of approval."
That's right. Because...
91% of vendor contracts were "not available for review."
Not available? Or non-existent?
What kind of legitimate business transaction with a school district has no paperwork?
How was this billed? Reviewed? Approved? Without paperwork.
WHO approved these excess amounts, based on WHAT?
Where the hell did our money GO?
On the next page (page 51) the audit notes that "invoices were dated PRIOR to purchase orders". What is THAT about? Did the amounts invoiced match the P.O.s?
Folks, this MAGIC disappearing act happened under the management of CURRENT Board members, AND those considering a run for the School Board.
Do you want these people running our district again?
Kids First stopped the 'magic' and that's WHY the Old Guard and their operatives are fighting so HARD to topple them- with online smears and unruly behavior at School Board meetings.
Not to mention over the top, drama-queen letters to The Hoboken Reporter.
Your money GONE like a rabbit in a hat. The hat was worn by Frank Raia, Theresa Burns, Carmelo Garcia, and Frances-Rhodes Kearns.
Egregious abuses of the public's money targeted for our kids' education keep coming from the pages of the 2005-2006 Hoboken BoE audit.
Readers are sending me their 'finds' but I simply can't keep up.
Are you ready for this?
$1.9 Million disappeared in excess payments to vendors with (95% having) "no evidence of approval."
 |
| 2005-2006 BoE audit- page 50 |
That's right. Because...
91% of vendor contracts were "not available for review."
Not available? Or non-existent?
What kind of legitimate business transaction with a school district has no paperwork?
How was this billed? Reviewed? Approved? Without paperwork.
WHO approved these excess amounts, based on WHAT?
Where the hell did our money GO?
On the next page (page 51) the audit notes that "invoices were dated PRIOR to purchase orders". What is THAT about? Did the amounts invoiced match the P.O.s?
Folks, this MAGIC disappearing act happened under the management of CURRENT Board members, AND those considering a run for the School Board.
Do you want these people running our district again?
Kids First stopped the 'magic' and that's WHY the Old Guard and their operatives are fighting so HARD to topple them- with online smears and unruly behavior at School Board meetings.
Not to mention over the top, drama-queen letters to The Hoboken Reporter.
Lacking anything remotely like shame, a conscience or a sense of ethics, the old guard's corruption, greed, nepotism and self-dealing knows no limits and the school budget, with its no-bid cotntracts and patronage mill for jobs is ground zero for all of these vices.
ReplyDeleteThey never cared that children's educations, prospects and livelihoods were lost in the balance, largely because not so many years ago, those children were poor, black or latino.
Their actions have stolen the futures from too many kids for far too long. There is a tyranny in this kind of institutionalized racism and we will all be living with the results for a long time to come.
Thanks for the work you're doing, GA. May this be the proverbial "tip of the iceberg" that sinks that ship of fools.
Right on, Oracle!
DeleteAnd this is just one year's audit! Extrapolate the chicanery & the implications are even more staggering!
(As one example, remember all the research Wiley Coyote offered on the BoE & Stan's Sporting Goods?)
Again, all possible legal action does well to be explored. And whatever recall process is doable, along with getting rid of these parasites in the election process.
Dear G.A.
ReplyDeleteThis is absolutely appalling. The Hoboken Board of Education at the time of the audit had absolutely no internal controls in place to prevent fraud or theft. Does anyone know who the Business Administrator was??? Another know-nothing crony perhaps?
Based on the damning audit report prepared by KPMG, I think it's absolutely necessary to have another audit done from 2007 through 2009 when Kids First took over.
A lot of money-grubbing adults robbed the children in Hoboken public schools of supplies and services they really could have used. These people should hang their heads in shame...but, I forget all the time that they have absolutely no shame whatsoever!!! What a travesty and a tragedy for the kids.
At some point in the not-so-distant past, MBB recalls David Anthony may have functioned as the BoE B.A. Tim Callighy had some role as well. But clearly, massive collusion was involved at many levels, involving many others.
ReplyDeleteBoth Anthony (also a former BoE member, MBB recalls) & Callighy are long-standing Old Guard players, appearing in lots of different roles over the years. Anthony, MBB recalls, also received the initial contract for the Sinatra Park restaurant under Roberts.
Callighy may still maintain his large apt. @ Clock Towers. Along with--true to form--a lovely beach house. Callighy, while working at City Hall, was rumored to have some side business involving some apparently lucrative service related to the DMV, out of trailer somewhere close to or on the lot where Pino towed vehicles for the City.
But these are just a few of many examples. MBB is sure there are other GA readers who can weigh in.
This BoE audit sadly highlights just more of the truly mind-boggling & widespread greed & corruption that have plagued Hoboken & Hudson County for decades.
Folks do well to be outraged. And to take appropriate action accordingly.
My understanding (thanks for clearing it up, Baghdad Bajardi) is that, like everything else in the BOE audit, the car load of cellphones is fully explained by the conversion of essential records from a paper-based to a computer system.
ReplyDeleteAs a matter of fact, this explains the early release of Cammarano from Lewisburg. Apparently, Cammarano was confused by the analog transaction, ie, receiving bags of paper and had no earthly idea he was receiving a series of bribes. Once law enforcement officials recognized Digital Pete's honest mistake, they knocked 7 months off his sentence and sent him on his way with a heartfelt apology.
You can have your leg back now.