What hasn’t gone as well as you hoped?
Pat: I’m still disappointed that we’ve been neutralized on the
Atlantic City issue. The Local 24 members have been treated
like dogs. The fact that Rick Richardella, the retired chief who is
the state fiscal monitor in AC and is still under marching orders
from the previous administration, wields as much power as he
does is stunning to me. And the law firm representing the city
has not been bargaining in good faith. It’s detrimental to moving
any negotiations forward. We’re looking forward to the day when
a new law firm will step in, and when there won’t be a retired
chief with an out-of-date law enforcement philosophy running
things.
Another disappointment is the disagreement among the
state’s legislative leadership. I hope the legislature can get back
to working better together for the benefit of all citizens and es-
pecially our members. It’s been a hurdle to getting things done
for our members.
Marc: Some of the politics in Trenton just gets in the way. Leg-
islators have jumped on a bad bill because it’s the trendy thing
to do. They’re not getting us involved, or getting us involved way
too late. So legislation like the bill to have the attorney general
handle investigations of officer-involved shootings gets passed
because of bad information. It was done for all the wrong rea-
sons by legislators listening to people who don’t know anything
about law enforcement.
Five years ago, you said taking over the State PBA was like
getting handed the keys to a Macy’s. What’s now inside the
store that members should know about?
Pat: We’ve enhanced the Legal Protection Plan over time, and
we’ve really expanded the Survivor & Welfare Fund. We have also
spread the renowned New Jersey law enforcement brotherhood
throughout the country, with our members taking our Special
Services Trailer to line-of-duty death memorials and events.
When we took over, it was tough to deal with the state legis-
lature. (PBA President) Tony (Wieners) had ceased dealing with
the legislature, which I agreed with at the time. Marc and I jump-
started those relationships very, very quickly. Adding and ex-
panding the roles of our in-house staff has been a big asset. That
has taken a load off our plates with things that have to be done.
Marc: One of the first things we did was bringing in Pete An-
dreyev to take over coordinating Pension Benefits. And after
George O’Brien retired, we brought in Mike Freeman to handle
labor relations, and he has taken it to another level. We have also
stepped up our in-house training with our education commit-
tee. All the different classes, like making it mandatory for New
Delegates to take Peer Liaison training, and especially the class
for Local treasurers, have made a big impact.
Pat: Let me add that the buyers for a Macy’s are always out
looking for new trends. I think we have done that successfully.
And if somebody has a great idea, I would love a call at the of-
fice to hear about it. Great ideas to move the union forward are
important.
What is the state of PBA Locals?
Marc: Some Locals are very engaged. I would say I get a phone
call once or twice a week asking for advice. I love helping them
out. Sometimes, State Delegates don’t call right away when they
need help. They say, “I don’t want to bother you.” That’s my job.
I’m here for the membership.
Pat: I find that overall, the Locals run well. There is some dis-
appointment with some of our larger Locals that you think are
running well and suddenly the phone call comes in that there
have been no meetings or nobody has a treasurer’s report. It still
stuns me that we get calls all too frequently about how a Local
has screwed up finances or elections.
On the positive side, all you have to do is read one issue of
NJ COPS Magazine to see the incredible stuff our members are
doing. We need to get that information out because 2019 is not
a great time to be in law enforcement, so you need to get those
messages out to the general public.
Do you have a message for PBA members as you head into
this new term?
Marc: They have to stick together. We need to be a big team
and not hurt each other. When a tragedy occurs, we come to-
gether and we’re at our best. But it shouldn’t take a tragedy to get
everybody together. We always have to have each other’s back,
through good and bad.
Pat: We are powerless without your activity. I will always ask
members to just show up at a meeting, just help with a golf out-
ing. It seems to be a lot different than 15 years ago, and I cer-
tainly get it. But just paying your dues isn’t being a member of
the union. We need your help. If everybody gives a little bit, the
union will move forward by leaps and bounds. When a Local is
united and able to produce a few people to go to a council meet-
ing or show up at an event, it sends an extraordinarily powerful
message to that town. We are not Republicans or Democrats. We
are PBA. We know you have strong feelings about political can-
didates, but we need to make sure we are voting for the PBA.
Your administration has been marked by new ideas like PBA
Day in Trenton and making the PFRS independent to keep the
union moving forward. Are you working on more of these?
Pat: We proudly appreciate the fundraising efforts of our Lo-
cals for the Survivor & Welfare Fund. Without it, the fund would
fail to exist. Those donations have increased our assets to more
than $1 million, so we’d like those fundraisers to now be done
for the benefit of the Locals. We’re coming up with a plan to self-
fund Survivor & Welfare and let the fundraisers go into the Lo-
cals’ coffers.
We have a few pieces of legislation we are drafting we will un-
veil very soon that will be exciting. We want legislators to con-
tinue to reach out to us before drafting legislation. They might
be surprised where we sit on an issue, and it might help for us to
weigh in before it gets drafted and we have to step in and stop it.
Marc: If somebody is trying to close down a jail or if a town
or a chief is coming after a member or if somebody is not sup-
porting us, we need to keep the members involved and believing
in the union. We need to make sure our members are involved
in the political process, showing up at council and freeholder
meetings, especially in an election year. We need to make sure
they are continuing to work the phone banks and knocking on
doors during elections.
So is it fair to say there is a lot to be excited about heading
into this next term?
Marc: I think the sisterhood and brotherhood is as strong as
it’s ever been. I am anxious to increase our membership and get
our numbers up so we can continue to be heavily involved in
Trenton. I also want to remind all members that we don’t run
our union by social media. Members who are staying home and
writing stuff on social media are usually misinformed. I urge all
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