Howard Birdsall Pleads Guilty To Pay To Play Crimes

Howard Birdsall, 72 of Brielle, pleaded guilty today to corporate misconduct for his role in a criminal scheme in which more than $1 million in corporate political contributions were illegally made through employees of his now defunct engineering firm, Birdsall Services Group, in violation New Jersey’s pay-to-play law, according to an announcement by the NJ Attorney General’s Office.

Under the plea agreement, the state will recommend that Birdsall be sentenced to four years in state prison. He also must pay $49,808 to the state, representing forfeiture of the political contributions that he made on behalf Birdsall Services Group that were reimbursed by the firm. He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 22.

“As the CEO and largest shareholder of Birdsall Services Group, Howard Birdsall reaped major profits from the millions of dollars in public contracts his firm secured each year – contracts that should have been off limits based on the illegal campaign contributions made by the firm,” said Acting Attorney General Hoffman. “This plea should serve as a warning to any corporate officials who would engage in this type of criminal scheme to skirt our pay-to-play law and skew public contracting in their favor.”

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Brookdale Prez Doesn’t Get Texas Job

Brookdale Community College President Maureen Murphy’s search for her next gig continues.

One of four finalists for the presidency of Blinn College in Brenham, Texas, Murphy lost out when the Board of Trustees unanimously chose Dr. Mary Hensly, a 14 year veteran administrator of the Austin Texas Community College District.

Murphy has been the president of Brookdale for three years. In the 16 years since leaving teaching to become an administrator in 1999, she’s held five different positions at four different community colleges. Her contract with Brookdale was extended last October.

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Brookdale President Looking for Greener Pastures

photo via brookdalecc.edu

Brookdale Community College President Maureen Murphy is one of four finalists for the position of president of Blinn College’s Bryan, Texas campus, according to a report on theEagle.com, a Byran-College Station, TX publication.

Murphy and her three competitors will be in Texas to meet members of the public, who will provide feedback on the selection, on May 4 and 5.

In an email to Brookdale’s faculty and staff on Friday, Murphy said, “I entered this search for personal and professional reasons. My commitment to Brookdale is steadfast, but I am exploring select opportunities,” according to a report on APP.com.

The former English professor has an interesting definition of steadfast.

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Arrest made in Toms River hit-and-run death of Brookdale Student

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Hit-and-run victim was Brookdale student pepper-sprayed in arrest

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Curt Schilling outs Brookdale student who allegedly posted vulgar tweets about daughter

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Brookdale trustees approve 3.4 percent tuition hike

MIDDLETOWN – Brookdale Community College students will soon have to pay more for their education. On Thursday, the Brookdale Community College Board of Trustees approved a 3.4 percent tuition increase at the college for the 2015-16 school year, effective July 1. For full-time students taking 30 credits per year, the $4-per-credit tuition bump will mean an… Read the rest of this entry »

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Force ‘necessary’ when cops pepper sprayed Brookdale student in campus arrest, officials say

FREEHOLD – Brookdale Community College police officers who were seen in an online video arresting and pepper-spraying a student at the school’s campus did not violate criminal law or use of force guidelines, according to a letter from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office. The letter, sent by the prosecutor’s office Professional Responsibility Unit, was released Tuesday… Read the rest of this entry »

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Brookdale Art Exhibit ‘100 Days of Silence’ Displayed in Washington, DC

Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) hosted “100 Days of Silence,” a one-of-a-kind art exhibition on Tues. Dec. 2, 2014, coordinated by the Center for Holocaust, Human Rights & Genocide Education (Chhange) at Brookdale Community College to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the 1994 Rwanda Genocide.

The collection brings together works created by over 450 New Jersey students and includes more than 60 life-size human forms which illustrate students’ artistic responses to learning about the genocide, the silence of the world, and the importance of becoming involved, concerned citizens.

“These are powerful expressions by young people who are concerned about a genocide that unfolded while the world watched,” said Smith, a longtime human rights advocate in Congress and chairman of the House Africa and global human rights subcommittee. “The pieces in this exhibition remind us that each of the hundreds of thousands of victims in Rwanda was an individual, worthy of dignity, whose precious life was cut short, who the world should have done more to save. If we cannot do more to prevent genocides in the future, ‘Never again’ will only be lip service. When so many innocent lives are at stake, we must do more. While remembering a genocide often invokes feelings of horror, this exhibition reminds us that hope is also crucial. We must have the hope that we can defeat the evil that is at the root of genocides and we must follow it with the will to act.”

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Monmouth County seeking employers for September 19 job fair

Companies must register to participate; jobseekers do not

Spring Job Fair at Brookdale Community College, April 2014

LINCROFT, NJ – Monmouth County will again offer employers and jobseekers the opportunity to connect at the Monmouth County Fall Job Fair scheduled for Friday, Sept. 19 at Brookdale Community College.

“Employers who have immediate job openings are invited to participate in Monmouth County’s Fall Job Fair,” said Freeholder Serena DiMaso, liaison to the Monmouth County Division of Workforce Development. “This will improve the probability that jobseekers will find employment by attending.”

The event is free for employers to reserve a table and for jobseekers to attend.

The 2014 Monmouth County Job Fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19 at the Collins Arena at Brookdale Community College, 765 Newman Springs Rd., Lincroft.

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