I'm Holden MaGroin and this is for Herbie.
You now owe me $10.

Nicely done -- I don't think that this does much to refute anything that Holden posted. All it makes me think is 'a pox on all their houses.' Oh, and 'glad I bought a house in Fanwood'.

My only point of contention with the whole piece is with the editor's note re pseudonymity -- "This is a relatively new phenomenon in media". Far from it, and we all should have learned in American History that the Founders made good and aggressive use of pseudonymous letters to the editor -- check the wikipedia entries for the Federalist Papers and the Anti-Federalist Papers.

If you're really into the more modern issues surrounding identity that have arisen in the online world, doing a google search for 'nymwars' will give you hours of reading to do.

Nicole you're a sly one. You heard me complaining about one sidedness yesterday and bam, rebuttal. Nicely written Ms. Coronado. Looks like an initial bid from HG raised by Coronado. Can't wait for part deux

Hey is it just a coincidence that The History channel broadcast The Hatfields and McCoys was in a three part series as well ?

Not certain that this was a rebuttal to Holden(s) or to refute anything he (they) had to say. I think that is the way it is being portrayed by The Patch. To me, it is a not so subtle reminder of why I (we) didn't vote for Glover the last time he ran for mayor. Thank you Paulette. Looking forward to part 2

Amy, I believe it's a rebuttal to the topic.

Rebuttal, or counter-attack? To bg's point above, not much being refuted. Makes for good drama – and good to get some dirt on the other side. As for anonymity - I believe the Declaration of Independence was signed using just a few aliases. Personally I would not post on the Patch unless it was under a pseudonym – given fear of retribution.

Isn't Coronato DePaola's campaign manager?

Yes she is. She's also been a Marty Marks puppet for a number of years. Her claim that it's Glover who has alienated town workers is a joke. Ask someone who works for the town who is the one out of touch and condescending. She's quick to show her years on the town council. Well where was she when her buddy was partying on tax payer money and running up the cost of the sewer authority?

Being a Fanwood resident, the content of all this is somewhat interesting/disturbing from afar. I can say, however, that it just makes me more negative towards either merging selected departments or consolidating the two towns. While I might save a whole $100, if this is what we end up with I don't want it. The one town can't coexist with itself; how can a second town's interests ever get accepted.

Stop the insanity. Paulette, you've got too much class and integrity to be responding anywhere and anytime to someone named "Holden Magroin".

Thank you, Mrs. Coronato, for replying to Mr. Magroin's letter. I think that this is exactly the kind of discussion that should be going on prior to the election. I look forward to tonight's debate but I expect that it will not change my mind that neither mayoral candidate is worthy of my vote. I wish I could vote for both Saridaki and Gialanella instead. Maybe I'll vote for Ed for council and write-in Colleen for Mayor.

I'm Holden MaGroin and it is not good to drink coffee after 8:00 at night.
Besides adding to my sewer fee it causes me difficulty falling back to sleep.
What is does allow me to do is to read Ms "reserves are good to use when I'm in power but are reckless when I'm not" Coronato's links.
In the very first link, the former councilwoman who slept while her friend partied at the sewer commission shows us a Times summary of the reorg meeting from when Glover and Strauss were elected. Maybe she was hoping nobody would open it.
Well I did and would encourage others to also. There is no mention on the "demand" to hire beckerman, in fact there's no mention of insurance agents at all. The attorney change requested was denied by Marks because it would be replacing his BOYHOOD FRIEND. Sleepy Coronato also says glover flip flopped on the SID. Well in the link it shows good ole mayor marks talking about how he was changing his mind and now wanted the SID that is costing the businesses $400. She says the SID is understandably not successful cause it's still new. I guess she was told by marks not to call it a little bump in the road. You should really check your links, some people actually read them. Gotta go, sewer fee time.

And Groin...how would you a clear Dem know what goes on at Repub committee meetings? Just curious since prior to last week you were the keen independent eye of the town. Now you've shown yourself to be a Dem hack all along.

Tired, Agreed Glover did flip flop on the SID as did Marty Marks. So whats the big deal. A councilman can't change his mind about an issue. Are elected officials suppose to be so stiff that if they see an issue differently he can't change his opinion. We should cherish that. I don't think any representative should be criticized just for changing one's opinion. it's funny how both sides of the aisle always goes and makes an issue about an opposing candidate when it happens though. Politicians change their mind. NO BIG DEAL

I do believe there are moles in both parties -- people who claim they are Dems on the Republican Party and then go back and report to their "real" party.

These letters to the editor make SP look like a train wreck!!
And since a lot of this happened before my family lived here, I opened all of the links. I read that Glover & Strauss both suggested new attorneys & article stated former Mayor Marks made remark about it. Another article about the golf course, said Glover asked questions about financials? Why is that wrong? I too watched the debate and was disappointed to hear Mayor Depaola speak negatively about former Mayor Malool. But she praised former Mayor Marks. Looks like SP is in the middle of a war. This is a shame

HM...I take exception to you calling me a liar. Nancy Malool said that there were five "handpicked" people who selected the candidate, but this is an inaccurate statement. What she meant by that is that the Chairperson has the right to allow non-elected associates to vote for candidates. We changed our by-laws last spring (well before the screening for Mayor) to establish rules for this process. As it turns out the five that Nancy speaks of attend meetings regularly...the associates that Nancy was counting on have not attended meetings since Bratti was up.

When she says that the Chairman said she shouldn't bother even showing up, that's because...as with any election (whether public or private) you take polls to determine where you are with votes. And yes, you even work to persuade people to vote for your candidate. Just like all of the ads and mail and lawn signs.

The process was the same as I stated, but Nancy didn't even have enough non-elected associates to overcome the votes for Mary from elected committee people, so in the end...the five were not really relevant in that Mary won by more than five votes. Once again you take some statements on face value when it pushes your agenda forward, yet you refer to other statements as lies when it doesn't. Your agenda is clear...your motives are clear, but your not entitled to pick and choose the facts.

I'm Holden MaGroin and this is for Bo. Good morning.
To ensure that no one thought I made stuff up and for those who don't like to open links I copied your comments exactly as you wrote them in my letter.
You write how the process included the selectors as being chosen by the voters. You even asked another commenter why they would not believe malool.
I then showed the malool quote saying it was fixed.
Your allusion to such a fair and democratic process in selecting a candidate for the ballot does not match the exchange. It sure sounds like an attempt to mislead to me.
Also, who are these unelected selectors? You never mentioned them in you comments. You only talked about the elected ones. Who chooses the deck stackers?

But that's ok, you also became silent on papen and the rvsa when you got on council and saw our interests weren't being served by our local representative.
It could just be a bump in the road.
To quote a current mayoral candidate, maybe we can put this bumpiness behind us.

That I became silent on the RVSA is not an accurate statement. I have been on council for two years and Papen was replaced at the RVSA almost two years ago. Actions speak louder than words...do they not?

I'm Holden MaGroin and this is for Bo. So you got papen booted as our representative on the rvsa due to her lack of fiscal oversight while all the partys were going on with taxpayer money?
Is that what you're saying?
If yes then thank you.
What about the other part of my statement?
Your comments I quoted in letter 2 led readers to believe it was a very fair selection process. Malool says it's not and 5 people did the choosing not the 46 that you claimed.
You never mentioned the hand picked deck stackers and now you mention something about attendance and by law changes.
Please explain. Without a further explanation, I stand by my statement that you lied.
I show the quotes you and malool made, you are now adding snippets without explanation.

I did not get Papen "booted"...Papen was replaced, at that point it became a non-issue no matter how badly you want it to be an issue in this election. Regardless, do you think Papen was the party planner? The entire Board votes on issues and makes decisions. It is not a Monarchy...even as Chairperson she had only one vote out of 11. Can you state for a fact that she wasn't apposed to the lavish spending? You are making the "assumption" that she somehow lead the charge....but to be truthful, you would need some proof...which you do not have...nor does it exist.

I will accept responsibility for not including the details in my earlier comments, however, as I said...the five associate members did not decide the outcome of the Mayor screening. The fact that Nancy could not stack the deck with a handful of her own un-elected associates did have an effect. Perhaps they would have made the difference in the final vote. But, as I have also stated, the rules were put in place well before the vote took place. If she had wanted to have their votes, she should have had them attend meetings and petition for them to have voting rights. That did not happen.

Holden - Based on your comments above, has Paulette agreed to a retraction? "There is no mention on the "demand" to hire beckerman, in fact there's no mention of insurance agents at all. The attorney change requested was denied by Marks because it would be replacing his BOYHOOD FRIEND. Sleepy Coronato also says glover flip flopped on the SID."

I'm Holden MaGroin and this is for Bo.
If it wasn't you who got papen booted why did you comment that actions speak louder than words when you said you have been on council 2 years and she's been gone just under 2 years? Again, without directly saying something you allude to it. So which comment is untrue, the one where you allude that it was you or the one where you say you didn't?
No, I wasn't at the rvsa parties. I just helped pay for them. Papen was the chairperson, so I just assumed she had to approve the spending and the places like the echo lake country club. I've never been in there but it does look nice from the other side of the gate.
Can you explain more about this attendance thing? Does that mean that the people who were voted in from the 23 districts as you explained didn't all get to vote?
Why would you say they did in those comments that I copied?
You're being confusing. Which is it. Do the people that get elected and as you claimed get to vote for the ticket or not?

Part 2: The Retraction

This is my problem, and laundry list of complaints. How can we all sit back and let Marty Marks run our town through Nancy.

HM...the point I made, perhaps not clearly enough, is that there was no further need to discuss the issue. Action had been taken...Papen was no longer the RVSA representative for Scotch Plains. Only you would like to complain about the fire when it has already been extinguished. As the Chairperson, (by the way elected to that position by 10 other members she was not self-appointed) she was only one vote. The Mayor in Scotch Plains, for example, is only one vote...they cannot impose their will on the group, only express concerns or give their input the same as all of the rest. And as I stated, you have nothing that shows that she didn't express concerns or resist the events that took place.

As for the Committee screening...ALL elected members are allowed to vote if they so chose. Those present did vote. In addition, all of the associate members who meet the qualifications can vote if approved by the Chair according to the bylaws. In this case, there were approximately five associates which met the qualifications to vote. Regular attendance at meetings, according to the bylaws, are part of the qualification. The other associates did not meet that qualification. That qualification was in place well before the screening.

I'm Holden MaGroin and this is for Bo.
I would submit that the fire is far from extinguished as the spending commitments from the rvsa under the watchful eye of our representative papen continue to climb. Isn't that the reason you and depaola gave for not refunding us the $800,000 overpayment that we made? Isn't it a way of keeping our money to coverup the big increases that you acknowledge are coming?
No, the fire is not out and you and depaola may not wish to discuss this latest bump in the road, but we will be paying for a long time.
How come you didn't talk about these associate voting members when you described the selection process. You made it sound so simple in fact you mention how the process works and tell another commenters that there's no conspiracy there.
Now it comes out that it's not how you described it and that there's some attendance policy put in place a month or so before the selection.
So maybe you didn't lie. Maybe you misled.
Maybe depaola is misleading about contacting mahr before the consultant was hired. ( based on their statements, one of them is not telling the truth).
Maybe saridaki is not lying but just misleading when he denied making the comments under his name that called taxpayers cowards with no cajones.
Maybe coranato just misled when she provided a link that didn't back up her claim.
Maybe malool is just misleading us when she said the selection was fixed because she got rid of the boyhood friend of marks.

The large one time expense to the RVSA a few years back was court mandated and the costs were passed on to the 11 towns who use the facility. This was the catalyst to the sewer utility being created. It had nothing to do with any parties or lavish spending. However, that was wrong even in good times and that course has been corrected by the Board at RVSA...not pertaining to any individual on the Board.

The ongoing operating expenses and potential increases going forward are because the RVSA spent down their fund balance over the past few years to the point where it now needs to be replenished. SP made the decision not to spend down the SP fund balance so that rate payer's bills would not be whipsawed around from one year to the next. The RVSA gave back most of their fund balance and will pass along increases to replenish it. This was stated specifically by the RVSA management at one or more of our meetings where they attended.

It is not responsible to pay down a fund balance too far, (whether it be general budget, sewer utility, etc. as former Mayor Marks has stated from his own experience doing it) because it then ends up costing you more money to refinance bonds and borrow needed money for projects and operating expenses. Or, you raise taxes substantially to compensate which is what had to happen when Marks was Mayor. With a 2% cap...that option is not available to us anymore.

I'm Holden MaGroin Bo you are misleading us again. The fact that Marks screamed to use surplus when he was in the minority and then changed his mind when he and coronato were in the majority was nothing other than who could score political points. The bonding you refer to had to do with $4m for the municipal building facelift marks wanted, the $2m south side field, and if he had his way the $4m for a new senior center they proposed.
As far as the rvsa spending, I will again ask, if you want to lead shouldn't you take responsibility? Why do you defend and make excuses for papen? The titles are nice, but now she, with your help is distancing herself from the parties, the spending and now the higher costs to us taxpayers. I liken that to every time depaola asks us to get past another bump in the road like it never happened. If you want to lead, take responsibility and stop misleading.
Which brings me to repeating my statement from my last comment, why did you mislead, who is lying depaola or mahr, why does coronato refer to a link that doesn't have what she says it does, why did saridaki deny his statements under his name, and is malool lying when she said the selection was fixed?
If marks is in the middle of an extraction, I can wait until you confer.

Regarding Mayor Mahr and when she knew...if she was unaware of anything that might be discussed in our meeting, why did she send over Donna Dolce to our meeting that night? I was there and so was she.

My apologies for not including the details of associates in my original explanation. Given the fact that we were operating according to our bylaws (which were put in place a few months before and Nancy was present)...and they had little if any impact on the outcome...and there was zero conspiracy (unless you call political process conspiracy) it didn't seem germane to the explanation. Once again my apologies.

Lastly, I supported Nancy from the time that I came on the council. This, despite the fact that she openly endorsed candidates Strauss and Bratti against me in the election. As I said to her at the time...this is her right...but she would have to understand that she might not have the support of the committee when her turn came around again. Then, when she unilaterally decided that under no circumstances would she support a "Joint Meeting" structure for Police merger...I made the decision not to support her for re-election.My belief was/is that limiting the Police merger scope was not in the best interest of SP and others on the committee agreed.

Politics should not personal...those who run do so because they believe they can provide a better solution or outcome...if the majority of those who decide believe that they can't...they won't get elected.

So then mahr is lying?
And malool is lying?
How about when depaola said taxes will go up $2.9m if the sewer fee goes back into the budget? I would believe that you understand that it is legally impossible for that to happen with 2% cap laws So did depaola lie about that or does she not understand the law? Andlease don't say it was hyperbole.

I would not use the word lying...that is not appropriate. I would say that the evidence speaks for itself. Why would Donna Dolce show up at the Scotch Plains meeting when Fanwood was meeting on the same night? Perhaps you can explain that "coincidence"?

What DePaola said last night in the debate about taxes going up, if the sewer fee goes back into the budget, is that there would need to be an offset because of the caps. This would result in the maximum tax increase at 2% and deep cuts in other areas to offset. The same decision that was contemplated at the time the sewer utility was established.

As far as Malool is concerned...hey, if I were rejected by my party and felt slighted...I too might lash out with less than accurate assessments. That doesn't change the facts...it only creates an illusion. Furthermore, at the time, we chose to say nothing out of deference to her family and the desire to move forward.

FYI...Woodward and Bernstein want their private detective kit back....and they said don't forget the secret decoder ring.

Yoo hoo Bo?
Bueller?
Crickets?
Marty?

Bo, I have always wondered this. Had you and Paul Malool not been separated by Republican Chairman Bill McFlintcock from fighting on SP day , do you think you could have taken him?

So Bo. When asked questions you resort to the saridaki response of sarcasm?
And we are to believe that as you say here you changed bylaws a couple of months before you booted malool for depaola?
You imply mahr is a liar but it's not appropriate to say that?
Marks/coronato/depaola put a headline grabbing release that taxes will go up $2.9m and you don't directly answer if she was lying or just dumb?
And marks and coronato for the first time in 16 years decided to keep quiet when malool said the election was fixed because she has a family?
Wow, saridaki was wrong, some people on here have BIG cajones with what they peddle to us.
Oh, no Woodward or Bernstein. Just someone asking why you make comments and then have to spend about a dozen comments qualifying and apologizing for not being straight with us.

Bo, I Don King could promote the fight. We will call it the "Downtown Throwdown". It will be you and Malool. Mano Y Mano. Don't worry you'll win. See what will do is , we will call Marty and will will stack the deck with five judges in your favor. Then later we can say it was on the up and up. Sound good. Look it work before it should be no problem doing it again

Uh Bo, if you read the article mahr says she was "blindsided" with the agenda addition when there was a meeting 2 days later.
So maybe the repub leadership just likes to blindside ladies who begin with "m".
Malool, mahr. I will ensure that Pat MaGroin lies (I mean misleads) low for awhile.

The SID has announced that they will put up the 4 million dollar prize money. This about half the amount that they have stolen from the downtown business owners and not seen a penny in return. And the event I now understand will be sponsored by Port-O-Potty. Since that's what's will all will be using here in Scotch Plains when the RSVA shuts down due to its mismanagement by Pappen and friends.

Bo, It's all set. I have booked the venue . It's going to be held at the mini golf course on Jerusalem road. I called recreation and they told me they had plenty of availability. In fact all 365 dates were open. It's going to held April 1st. Seems only appropriate. Plus that gives us plenty of time to stack the deck. Wink-Wink