The President’s Message
NEW JERSEY STATE
POLICEMEN’S BENEVOLENT
ASSOCIATION
EXECUTIVE BOARD
PATRICK COLLIGAN
State President
MARC KOVAR
Executive Vice-President
Peter Andreyev 1st Vice-President
Andy Haase 2nd Vice-President
Henry Werner 3rd Vice-President
Michael Pellegrino 4th Vice-President
Domenic Cappella 5th Vice-President
Mark Aurigemma 6th Vice-President
Manuel Corte 7th Vice-President
Mark Messinger 8th Vice-President
Eugene Dello 9th Vice-President
James Crilly 10th Vice-President
Keith Bennett 11th Vice-President
Richard Kott 12th Vice-President
Michael Kaniuk Financial Secretary
George Miller Recording Secretary
John Monsees Treasurer
Bruce Chester Trustee
Meg Hammond Trustee
Frederick Ludd, Sr. Trustee
Luke Sciallo Trustee
Frank P. Cipully Trustee
John Cernek Trustee
Ed Carattini, Jr. Trustee
Michael Freeman Sergeant-at-Arms
Bryan Flammia Sergeant-at-Arms
Robert Ormezzano Sergeant-at-Arms
Joseph Biamonte Sergeant-at-Arms
Terrance Benson, Sr. Sergeant-at-Arms
Rodney Furby Sergeant-at-Arms
Charles Schwartz Sergeant-at-Arms
Patrick Moran Sergeant-at-Arms
Some bits and pieces
Patrick
Colligan
By the time you read this, election D-day will be just weeks away. If your
mailman likes to read our magazine it might be just a few days away. Nov.
3 is the day that the 15 months of our work of engaging the membership
in the political process all comes together: the PAC, the miles, the smiles,
the meetings and lobbying. Our Election Day volunteers and our phone
bank staffers are all being put into place. There is just one last piece that I
am counting on and that is YOU. Please get to the polls. Please vote for our
endorsed candidates. If that candidate is distasteful to you, close your
eyes, push the button and go take a shower.
You absolutely can’t vote for the endorsed candidate? Please vote for somebody
anyway! Tens of thousands of dollars will be spent in the days following the election to
see if we are voting, and with today’s technology that isn’t too hard to figure out.
We have all seen some crazy stuff come out of Congress, but when they let the Zadroga
funding lapse for the latest victims of 9-11, I really was shocked. My anger spilled out in
a letter I sent to every Congressman on Oct. 1st (which is on our website). I’m still
checking the mailbox to see which coward wants to respond, but I won’t spend too much
of my time waiting. Somehow, in their busy schedule this year, they found the time to
require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins for the centennial of Boys Town. They
even legislated the weight (8.359 grams), the diameter and gold content. I can’t even fathom the argument on the floor that got them to agree to 8.359 grams? I have no doubt that
Boys Town does some really great things, but listen Mr. Congressman: We have some very
brave people dying up here on a very regular basis. If you can’t find the time to reauthorize
the Zadroga Act, can we at least give them a 8.359-gram Boys Town commemorative coin?
How great is the magazine cover this month? Unless you are color blind to the color
pink, I’d have to guess you know by now that it is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Don’t
miss the article about the efforts of some very courageous women within our ranks doing
some great things to combat the disease and raise awareness. Yet another example of the
great stuff we all do every single day.
For those that attended the annual convention, I certainly hope you took home some
valuable information and had the chance to network with your fellow State Delegates.
That is where the learning really begins. The inspirational story of Portland Officer Paul
Meyer, the case study of the Las Vegas CiCi’s Pizza massacre and the very interesting
Richard “Bo” Dietl was just a sampling of the agenda.
Finally (and I mean FINALLY), the Division of Pensions and Benefits has released the
“Employment after Retirement” Fact Sheet #86. Of course, it contains exactly the information we have been providing you all at our pension seminars since they pulled the
sheet from the website. Funny that the very agency tasked with telling us the rules treated
this issue like Kryptonite. Just the very mention of “Employment after Retirement” in the
halls of the Division shook the staff to the bone. Doors would slam shut and the dark
clouds of termination would hover over anybody that even whispered the phrase. Makes
me wonder whose friends could possibly have been violating those rules? That sheet has
been done for two years. It’s the pinnacle of hypocrisy and a damn disgrace to those of us
that play by the rules. It is reason #467 that 2017 can’t come fast enough.
Now, the final and most important word this month: VOTE! d
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NEW JERSEY COPS
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OCTOBER 2015