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NEW JERSEY COPS ■ JULY 2014
The President’s Message
NEW JERSEY STATE
POLICEMEN’S BENEVOLENT
ASSOCIATION
EXECUTIVE BOARD
PATRICK COLLIGAN
State President
MARC KOVAR
Executive Vice-President
Mark Butler 1st Vice-President
Peter Andreyev 2nd Vice-President
Jerry Tolomeo 3rd Vice-President
Andy Haase 4th Vice-President
Henry Werner 5th Vice-President
Kenneth Burkert 6th Vice-President
Michael Pellegrino 7th Vice-President
Domenic Cappella 8th Vice-President
Mark Aurigemma 9th Vice-President
Michael Kaniuk 10th Vice-President
Manuel Corte 11th Vice-President
Michael Messenger 12th Vice-President
Wayne K. Hall Financial Secretary
George Miller Recording Secretary
John Monsees Treasurer
Eugene Dello Trustee
James Crilly Trustee
Keith Bennett Trustee
Richard Kott Trustee
Richard Brown Trustee
Bruce Chester Trustee
Margaret Hammond Trustee
Frederick Ludd Sergeant-at-Arms
Luke Sciallo Sergeant-at-Arms
Frank Cipully Sergeant-at-Arms
John Cernek Sergeant-at-Arms
Kevin Hibbitt Sergeant-at-Arms
Michael McLaughlin Sergeant-at-Arms
Rich Geib Sergeant-at-Arms
On a recent Friday afternoon, I shut off the lights in my office and
headed home for the weekend. I had been the Pension Coordinator
for almost a year. It was a great opportunity to help our members with
the next daunting step in their careers. The position was personally
rewarding and an amazing learning experience. I am still grateful for
the opportunity that Tony and Keith gave me one year ago. But on the
very next Sunday afternoon, I received the news that you all know by
now and that took me completely by surprise; effective July 1, 2014,
Patrick
I would be the next President of the New Jersey State Policemen’s
Benevolent Association.
Colligan
I would be remiss if I didn’t thank Tony and Keith for seven years of
incredibly dedicated service to our organization. When you hear the phrase “Blood,
Sweat and Tears,” it personifies their work here on our behalf. Whether you agreed or
disagreed with how they did it, they did it with a passion and dedication that will be
hard to duplicate. Nothing has come easy to any labor organization these past five
years, but they never once gave up or felt that they weren’t doing the right thing for
every single one of you. I have had the privilege to work closely with them during the
years, and they are two men who can look proudly in the mirror every day and know
they gave their very best. I was proud to work with them and serve on their Executive
Board. I am truly honored that they gave me the opportunity to lead this organization
into the next phase. I am even prouder to call them my friends.
Our great friend in labor, past FMBA President Bill Lavin proudly proclaimed on
more than one occasion: “We don’t owe an apology to anybody for what we make.” I
believe in that phrase so much that I hope one day it will be attributed to me! With few
exceptions, we were here before our Local, County and State officials were elected and
we will be here long after they are gone. Sometimes we benefit from the decisions they
make, but more often than not we are left reeling in their wake wondering what the
hell they were thinking. Despite the good or the bad, we continue to provide safety and
outstanding service to the residents of this state. Our profession has come a long way
in the past 30 or 40 years. We are more professional, better trained and much bettereducated. We are saddled with regulations, mandates and guidelines that were
unheard of a few decades ago. We are doing much more with much less and many of
us with a lot less people to do it. The last time I looked we are still doing it on weekends, holidays, midnights, anniversaries and birthdays. Sadly, in the past four-anda-half years we have been doing it with a knife at our throats not knowing what’s next.
Sick time? Benefits? Hybrid Pensions? I hear all of you every single day and at every
single seminar I presented during the past year. The day I need to apologize for a competitive salary, comprehensive benefits or a sound pension is the day that I will resign
from this presidency. An apology for defending you and what you earn every day on
every shift will never come out of my mouth.
I chose Marc Kovar as my Executive Vice President. Marc is one of the most passionate union members I have ever met. He is fiercely loyal to the PBA and has served
the residents in the City of Passaic for more than 20 years. Until his appointment, he
was chairman of our Collective Bargaining Committee. His involvement with the Collective Bargaining Committee has given him the unique perspective of where the
attacks are coming from and how to fight back. He has a great business sense and will
be a great asset to our organization. He has been involved in many other committees
and sits on the National Board of NAPO (National Association of Police Organizations).
Marc and I hit the track before the starting gate opened on July 1. With Rob Nixon,
we developed a comprehensive Political Action Plan that we are already diving into.
Appointments with Senate and Assembly leadership and union leaders from public
sector labor organizations are already on our calendars. We