December 6, 2008
Hon. Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr.
Essex County Executive
Hall of Records, Room 405
465 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
Newark, NJ, 07102
Re: OPRA Requests
Governor’s Office on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Grants
Dear Mr. DiVincenzo:
Attached, please find a copy of the respective OPRA (Open Public Records Act) requests of this date CWA Local 1081 submitted to both the State of New Jersey Department of the Treasury and the County of Essex in the following respective regards:
1. From the State of New Jersey Department of the Treasury, CWA Local 1081 is requesting to “be provided all documentation delineating all memorialized grants afforded the County of Essex by the Governor’s Office on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse between 2003 and 2008, inclusively” as well as “all documentation delineating toward what purposes the County of Essex expended said grants”.
2. From the County of Essex, CWA Local 1081 is respectfully requesting copies of all documentation delineating the receipt of all memorialized grants afforded the County of Essex by the Governor’s Office on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse between 2003 and 2008, inclusively, as well as all documentation delineating toward what purposes the County of Essex expended said grants.
Sincerely,
David H. Weiner, President
CWA Local 1081
Heed counsel of comptroller
December 6, 2008, Asbury Park Press
An audit of the Governor's Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse found that the state agency wasted more than $10 million a year, that most of its dozen employees didn't have enough work to do and that seven out of the 12 abused sick time.
The state Comptroller's Office, which conducted the audit, made 11 recommendations for improvements — all of which were accepted by the council except one — that the agency be merged with the Division of Addiction Services. Gov. Jon Corzine should insist that all 11 recommendations be implemented and that the council's director and her unproductive workers be fired.
In the audit, which was released Thursday, Comptroller Matthew Boxer reported the council handed out grants with little oversight and no follow-up to determine how the funds distributed to 21 counties were used. According to the audit, much of the money was spent unwisely and for purposes that had nothing to do with the agency's mission — to coordinate the planning and provision of treatment, prevention, research, evaluation and education services for alcoholism and drug abuse.
Boxer said state tax dollars were spent on pony rides, petting zoos, tattoos and other things that did nothing to help people struggling to overcome drug and alcohol addiction. Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver, D-Essex, who chairs the Human Services Committee, said it's "not just a smack in the face to taxpayers, but to the very people these programs are supposed to help."
Boxer's office sampled four counties receiving agency funds, reviewing how the money was distributed, whether expenses were documented and if outcomes were measured. The agency failed — at every level. The council's executive director, Mary Lou Powner, said many of the conclusions were "seriously flawed."
The most serious flaw was the way in which the agency was managed. Boxer said merging it with the Division of Addiction Services would save an estimated $600,000. Corzine should make that merger happen and hold those on the council accountable, starting with pink slips for Powner and the majority of her staff.