Crawford Responds to Ferrara's Allegations

Former Board of Education member Robert Crawford is speaking out to refute allegations made against him by his Township Council primary election opponent, Vincent Ferrara.

Last week, Ferrara's campaign sent Patch documents the incumbent councilman said proved Crawford was "no friend to Parsippany taxpayers."

The documents consisted of a memorandum of agreement from 2009 between the Parsippany-Troy Hills Board of Education and the Educational Secretaries Association of Parsippany-Troy Hills, plus minutes from the Feb. 26, 2009 Board of Education meeting.The memo, signed by Crawford and two other board members, shows an agreement between the BOE and the union giving school secretaries a one-year contract for 2007-08 with a 4.5 percent pay hike. The minutes show that Crawford voted against the agreement he signed.

According to Ferrara, the documents, obtained through an Open Public Records Act show Crawford voted one way in a closed-door session with the union and another way in a public meeting.

"If it's not illegal, it's immoral," he said last week. 

At the time, Crawford denied the allegations, but said that because union negotiations must by law remain confidential, he could not respond fully without getting the approval of the board attorney. 

"[A]s with all negotiations, discussions are held in closed session," the candidate said, "so there was never an attempt by me, as Mr. Ferrara falsely alleged, to hide anything that I was doing or saying with regard to the negotiations."

Crawford has since been given the legal all-clear.

In a lengthy statement released exclusively to Patch, Crawford confirmed that he was appointed to a committee charged with negotiating a new contract between the Parsippany schools and the secretaries' union. Also on the committee were board members Deborah Orme and Alan Gordon. (Gordon is no longer serving on the BOE.)

"We were charged with reaching an agreement for both the 2007-2008 time period and for the 2008-2011 time period, and we were conducting these negotiations under the direction of an attorney hired by the Board to facilitate the negotiations," he said. "[T]he three Board members, in consultation with the attorney, unanimously decided to pursue a segmented negotiating strategy, and as a show of good faith and to move the then-stalled negotiations forward, the negotiating committee unanimously agreed to offer the secretaries' union a 4.5 percent increase for the 2007-2008 time period."

Crawford said the funds required to pay for the secretarial pay hike were already pre-encumbered and so would not have to be included in the 2008-2009 budget. 
"In accordance with the attorney’s direction," he said, "Ms. Orme, Mr. Gordon and I signed the memorandum of agreement."

Crawford said that then-BOE President Anthony Mancuso "summarily and unilaterally" removed Orme, Gordon and Crawford from all negotiating committees after he heard about the terms of the memorandum of agreement. According to Crawford, the attorney hired by the board to facilitate union negotiations resigned.

"Mr. Mancuso then convened new negotiating committees that presented a three-year contract recommendation to the board that would increase salaries by 4.5 percent in 2008, 4.3 percent in 2009 and 4.4 percent in 2010," Crawford explained, adding that he objected to this plan due to the failing economy. "I also called upon the newly appointed negotiating committee to seek contributions from the secretaries with regard to their medical benefits coverage."

Indeed, the meeting minutes indicate that the contract ratification voted upon on Feb. 26, 2009, was to cover 2007-2008 and 2008-2011. The memo of agreement signed by Crawford only covers 2007-2008.

"At the board meeting on Feb. 26, I had the choice of voting for or against a contract which had one item I agreed with and three items I disagreed with. Given that choice, I voted no, as I believed that the contract as presented on Feb. 26 was not in the best interests of Parsippany’s residents.

"Mr. Ferrara has stated that my votes, 'if not illegal, were immoral.' [That] is simply not the case," Crawford said. "However, what appears to be the case is Mr. Ferrara’s willingness to make reckless and unsubstantiated allegations. Whether his willingness to engage in such behavior is due to ignorance or an utter disregard for the truth is a question Parsippany voters should ask before casting their ballet on June 7."

Board member Deborah Orme corroborates much of what Crawford said. However, she shares a different view of some of what occurred.

"Yes, we were removed from the committee at President Mancuso's discretion. Though I may not have agreed with the decision, it was completely within his purview to do so," she said, "and based on his perspective and the details of a conversation the board had in closed session immediately prior to when Bob, Alan and I signed the memorandum, he had reasonable grounds to exercise  that authority."

For his part, Mancuso told Patch that after consulting with the board attorney and Superintendent LeRoy Seitz, he did remove the three from the negotiating team because they violated previously accepted paramaters the full board had set for the union negotiations and acted without first gaining the board's approval. Board of Education bylaws allow the president the power to make changes to committees at his or her discretion.

"I did discuss it with other board members prior to making the decision," said Mancuso, who still sits on the board. "I did not take this lightly.  

"[If] a majority of the board had wanted to overrule me they easily could have done so by making a motion and taking a vote. As they could do with any issue," he continued. "They have veto power. None was taken."

Orme said she "was disappointed with being removed from the committee," but respected that the BOE supported Mancuso's decision.  

"On the other hand, Bob continuously challenged the authority our bylaws gave the president and asked to have that policy revisited on numerous occasions by the board attorney and the Policy Committee," she said. "Every time the issue was visited, the authority stood regardless of Bob's inability to come to terms with our being removed from the committee."

Crawford admits that he was angry over his dismissal from the negotiating committee, but insists that his "no" vote was motivated by concerns about the economic climate.

Orme takes issue with Crawford's recollection of what he did and did not support in the contract negotiations. 

"Before we were removed from the committee, we signed the memorandum of agreement covering 2007 through 2008," she noted. "But Bob, Alan and I did help craft the other sections covering 2008 through 2011. Those sections were consistent with the part covered by the memorandum. And we did participate with the full board when it came up for a vote.

"I can't comment on why Bob decided to vote no to something he did work on," Orme added. "I will say, though, that I found his vote inappropriate. That vote did not serve the people of Parsippany."

Crawford maintains that in the board's closed sessions, he consistently opposed the sections of the contract not covered by the memorandum of agreement. 

"As board members, we had a role to play—in closed sessions, we would discuss it. In those closed sessions, I opposed it," he said. "What I was arguing for was to go year by year, to have no increase one year to see what the economy was like at that time. The board shot that down. Also, I argued for [union members] on the traditional [health care] plan to give that up as a sort of quid pro quo to gain their [pay] increases. The board shot that down too."

Crawford is running head-to-head against Ferrara in next week's primary election. Ferrara was appointed to fill the council seat vacated by Ann Grossi when she became a Morris County freeholder last year. The seat at stake carries only the two years left in Grossi's unexpired term.