Claiming that a $50,000 contract providing lobbying and research services to the county is a waste of money, Freeholder Bill O’Dea urged fellow freeholders to vote down the measure or make the lobbying efforts much more specific.
The freeholders debated whether or not to renew its contract with Alman Group of Westfield, a management and consulting services business, a contract intended to help local legislators get through the quagmire of state bureaucracy.
“I think this is a waste of money,” O’Dea said. “We were told years ago that we needed the firm because it had connections to the Republican administration in Trenton. Now we’re being told we need it because it has connections with the Democratic administration. A year from now, if Jesse Ventura moved to New Jersey and set up an independent party here, we would be told we’d still need this firm.”
Jesse Ventura is the Independent governor of Wisconsin.
Freeholder and Union City Mayor Brian Stack said his municipality had contracted with Alman Group, and then found that the company “promised more than it delivered.”
Stack said in one case, he actually had to go to Trenton himself with State Sen. Bernard Kenny to get the information the company promised to deliver.
“This is my experience,” Stack said. “This may be different with the county.”
Assistant County Administrator David Drummler said the county needed The Alman Group for two particular cases that are currently before the county. The group, Drummler said, is helping to jockey through the state’s red tape to help get $5 million refund to the county in money spent on its nursing homes. The group is also helping to track a bill currently moving through the state legislature that has the potential to cost the county a significant amount of money.
Last year, a New Jersey Supreme Court decision said the state was responsible to pay penalties when a defendant’s rights are violated by county prosecutors. In an apparent effort to cut the impact on the state budget, the state’s Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill that would push the cost onto counties.
This could significantly impact the Hudson County budget because of a case that was reversed last year. James Landano was cleared of charges after he had spent 14 years in jail. He is suing for $20 million, claiming Hudson County prosecutors purposely withheld evidence in his trial on the murder of a Newark police officer.
Although Hudson County officials believe the prosecutor’s office did nothing wrong, they fear the huge legal cost involved in putting up a defense against the charges.
The county is also using the Alman Group to follow legislation that could help Hudson County shed the debt acquired in the 1980s during an effort to set up an incinerator authority.
O’Dea, Stack and Freeholder Nidia Davila-Colon argued that the county already has someone on staff who can follow legislative initiatives, and that Hudson County has three powerful Democratic senators, as well as the Democratic speaker of the assembly and other legislators who can be contacted for information.
Freeholder Maurice Fitzgibbons said if the county could get a $5 million reimbursement for nursing home expenses, then the county’s $50,000 would have been well spent. He also noted that the lobbying effort might still be needed despite the sympathetic Democratic administration. He said with the state senate split in half between the parties, the group might still play a significant role.
But Davila-Colon and O’Dea noted that firm has worked for Hudson County for a number of years, and both questioned the company’s record.
O’Dea requested a report that would show the freeholders what the company has accomplished to deserve its $50,000 a year contract.