Birdsall Engineering’s Assets Seized
The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office has seized the assets of Birdsall Services Group, the Eatontown based engineering and consulting firm that does did business with Monmouth County and many government entities throughout the state, according to a Star Ledger report on NJ.com.
The firm and seven of it’s executives, including former CEO Howard Birdsall, were indicted on felony pay to play charges on Tuesday. The indictments allege that the firm and the executives skirted New Jersey’s ELEC regulations by having employees make political contributions below the disclosure threashold, $300, and later reimbursed the employees through bonuses. The scheme enabled the firm to accept government contracts they would have been disqualified for had the company made the political donations directly to the candidates or committees receiving the funds.
Monmouth County Assignment Judge Lawrence M. Lawson signed the order authorizing the state to seize all of the firms assests and to retain the property as evidence in a criminal proceeding subject to permanent forfeiture.
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Not to condone the negative, but accentuating the positive …. let us NOT forget the original footprint of the Birdsall ‘Family’ and their many years of ‘giving’.
Better gas up the paddy wagon.
to an otherwise excellent, statewide company. Feel very badly for the 300 or so employees and their families, it’s the workers who usually suffer the most. If they have to fold, all their contracts will have to be re-bid, and will probably wind up costing the taxpayers more money. Way to go, electeds: in your zeal to show how tough and ethical you are with some of these laws: now, an example seems being made of this firm, so, where are you getting some of your campaign contributions from, now? Just the special- interest lobbyists? NJ is so rife with over- reaction to every problem, it is really frightening.
Any indications of who/what the guys gave money to?
@ who……that info was not released (yet). Would not surprise me if you start to see a few pols and PACS saying they are returning $$$ claiming that they did not realize it had originated with Birdsall.
to just about anyone on either side of the aisle running for any office, over many years. It should not be a problem for the candidates, if , in fact, the lawbreaking entailed their reimbursing their employees after they wrote non- reportable checks. The candidates are not required to ask anything other than what the law requires: where do you work, are you self- employed, and did you write the check, etc.. Anyone who has gone to any fundraiser knows the drill of the cards or forms one has to sign when they contribute to anyone.
Just a short while ago the Monmouth County Freeholders relaxed their pay-to-play ordinance and shortly after that Tony Fiore along with Scharfenberger led the effort to do away with the Middletown pay-to-play ordinance to ‘level the playing field’. Does anyone think that the the county and township will bring back stricter pay-to-play? Probably not because it will get in the way of vendor contributions.
If reports are true that “multiple personal checks were bundled together at BSG and sent to campaigns or political organizations”, those receiving those bundles of checks are going to have some explaining to do. If current campaign finance laws are not tight enough to stop pols and PACS from taking those kind of donations, than its time for lawmakers to go back to the drawing board and adopt better legislation.
@pilgrim – I always have to laugh at you pathetic, loser Middletown Democrats when you whine about Republicans not having their hands tied when it comes to fundraising. The sleazeball Democrats want the unions to have the ability to dump and wheel money in by the truck load, but limit Republicans to puny $300 contributions. Not fun having to compete on more equal footing is it? I say “more” equal footing because the unions wiill always find ways to dump more money into their tax-happy, socialist Democrat lap dogs’ campaigns
How the heck is anyone supposed to determine which checks may have been part of a bundle? Ridiculous. It is a vendor’s job to keep track of donations they are responsible for! It is the candidates’ job to learn the issues and how to properly run the government and spend the taxpayers’ money, and their campaign treasurer’s job to be sure the forms are filled out and the monies deposited, reported, and spent right, by the law. Libs are so great at judging everyone else but themselves. The “holier than thou” nonsense is so old it creaks!
Quote from a newspaper article:
“They know where the money is going, where the money is from and what it’s for,” said Bill Schluter, a former Republican state senator who helped draft the state’s first lobbying and financial disclosure laws. “They don’t have to have a quid pro quo. It’s a wink and a nod.”
Odd that the judge who signed the order last name is Lawrence and the board of directors at brookdale name is Eugenia Lawrence. Coincidence? I think not sounds personal.
Lawrence Lawson, the Assignment Judge in the Monmouth Viscinage. Don’t know of Eugenia or any relationship there. There is a theory out and about that wonders if someone may have been “gunning” for Howard, as past chair of the college’s board,since they are one of several large firms statewide that have done plenty of public business, and, let’s face it, in this economy, one less competitor?? All in all, a sad commentary .
To see if anyone does an in-depth on certain possible inter-relationships in towns that used an AshBritt, for storm cleanup. Will be interesting to see if the bevy of “monitors” the Gov’s new legislation creates, to oversee FEMA spends on the rebuilding projects,digs up any more problems. NJ is such a mess, but according to Forbes, others are even worse!