Quakertown and the Operating Engineers union have opened formal negotiations, and it hasn't gone well at all. You would think that both sides would want to demonstrate good faith at the outset. But noooooooooo.
When council bargained with the police union earlier this year, three members represented the borough at the table. The process was slow, but everyone was professional, and respected the other's position. So just continue the same successful strategy, right? But noooooooooo. The borough is now being represented by - manager Dave Woglom!
Is this freakin' unbelievable??? It was Woglom's mistreatment of the borough's employees that sparked the town's union movement in the first place. He is the guy from whom the workers are trying to protect themselves, their pensions, and their health insurance. The guy who was caught manipulating the pension funds in Hatboro before he came to Quakertown. And now he is in their faces during sensitive negotiations? What is council thinking?
And this was only the opening insult. Much of the first five-hour session was spent arguing over the borough's insistence on charging twenty-five cents a page for the various necessary documents! According to OE officials, in the dozens of contracts they have negotiated, no one has ever charged for these. Borough attorney Joel Barras claimed that this payment is imposed on every request from the town. But noooooooooo. The union shop steward went down to the zoning office and obtained the paving ordinance free!
The union filed a formal Unfair Labor Practice complaint. You will pay to defend it. Barras' law firm, Reed Smith, was fired from Hatboro in January after attorney Joe Rudolf ran up huge fees, and in three years failed to conclude the same type of contract that is at issue in Quakertown. After Rudolf was dismissed, Hatboro council completed the job in four months.
Reed Smith has five attorneys billing on the matter here, over $39,000 in just April through June. July and August alone could double that number. This is in addition to $17,000 from last year. Barras gets $290 per hour; Rudolf, Michael Jones, and Ryan Cassidy $340 each. This is (or was) your money, folks. Say thanks to Mr. Woglom.
Councilman David Zaiser is worried about repeating the Hatboro debacle here. "The real issue is why council is wasting money on a team of lawyers instead of negotiating ourselves. That money would be much better spent on the two new police officers we need". The sad truth is that council, as usual, avoids the tough decisions, and has turned everything over to the very expensive attorneys and Woglom. And you pay.
Over in Richland, Supervisor Mike Zowniriw, and wife Amy, will go on trial before Judge Robert Roth at 9:00am on August 31. Mike allegedly threw a rock at a neighbor's child, and Amy is charged with allowing the family's unlicensed and unvaccinated dog, a biter, to enter the neighbor's yard.
It isn't often (thank goodness) that we must witness a criminal trial for a local elected leader and his wife. But this was inevitable. After years of complaints by the Z's neighbors, Richland police are taking these hearings very seriously. Both Mike and Amy have reportedly been bragging publicly that Mike is "over the police". To avoid any possible problems, an Assistant District Attorney from Doylestown will prosecute the case.
I can't wait to hear Pinocchio Mike explain his statement that he was a "star pitcher" on a team in Philadelphia, and would have hit the child if he had really meant to. According to someone who grew up with him, he was never involved with organized sports and "wasn't a star anything".
And, finally, Patrick Murphy's self-proclaimed "Journey to Justice". No, not Pat Murphy the Iraq War veteran and candidate. The other Pat Murphy, the head Richland Democrat. He was embarrassingly removed as township volunteer Emergency Management Coordinator in 2003 by fellow Dem Governor Rendell after Murphy reportedly announced that emergency personnel would be "hesitant" to respond to a problem at the Milford irradiator. Murphy had no authority to make such a statement, and none of the eight fire chiefs I spoke with supported him, or his reinstatement.
But Murphy blamed the Republican supervisors, insisting that he was replaced because he signed a nominating petition for buddy Zowniriw. He filed a federal lawsuit against them and the township (but not the Gov, of course). When Richland's insurance company refused to settle, he was furious. Then the judge threw out Murphy's major claims, that he was defamed, and that the supervisors conspired against him. The only question left is whether his first amendment rights were violated. Murphy has lost, but to listen to him, you would think that he was championing the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Equal Rights Amendment all rolled into one. He flashed his widest political grin and dubbed it his "Journey to Justice". More like Detour to Deception.
With the defamation and conspiracy claims kicked, there will be no big payoff. Just the political bullying he so loves: He is also suing three other Republicans. His attorney has personally sued Republicans. Buddy/neighbor Todd Oxenford wrote a letter to the editor bashing Republicans. In 2003, Murphy filed a complaint against a Republican with the county Board of Elections, which was thrown out, and last year he berated a Republican candidate outside the polls in front of her young daughter. Get the picture?
Given the fire chiefs' testimonies, it will be hard for the judge to rule that Murphy was replaced because he signed a petition. However, even if he does "win", the usual award in this type of case is reinstatement to the job, with back pay. But Murphy was a volunteer. There was no pay. And there is no defamation. Since apparently none of the township's emergency personnel want him back, this "Journey to Justice" likely leads nowhere.