Commissioner Parent Protests Too Much




Commissioner Parent is a seasoned politician with years of experience as an elected official. Mr. Parent denies any political affiliation and stated he had nothing to do with the derogatory commercials during the last election. At the recent commission meeting, a citizen stood up and stated he was paid $50 to hand out fliers for Team Santiago. A search of the election fund reports shows that the Cumberland County Democratic Party paid for this. Doug Long is the Democratic County Chairman and now his firm has the attorney contracts for personnel, tax appeals, foreclosures, and COAH. Coincidence? Probably not.

At a recent commission meeting Mr. Parent stated that the fees charged by the new city solicitor from Atlantic County, James Schroeder were not out of line. In fact he compared them to the previous city solicitor, Brock Russell, a Millville native who lives and practices law in Millville. Mr. Parent is in charge of Revenue and Finance so he should understand billing, contracts and budgets. Mr. Schroeder’s low bid covered resolutions, commission meetings, and discussions with commissioners only. Mr. Schroeder charges $150 per hour for everything else. So far for 4 months, Mr. Schroeder has been paid over $100,000.00. Mr. Parent claimed that Mr. Russell was paid more than Mr. Schroeder. Not true. Also, Mr. Schroeder has missed the last 4 commission meetings in direct violation of his contract. Either Mr. Parent purposefully distorted the facts to fit his agenda or he does not understand numbers and contracts. Either way is this who should be handling the city’s finances?

Commissioner Parent has been using the commission meetings to defend himself. Since January he has been stating that he cannot be bought, but his appointment record speaks for itself. He stated he does not know any of the professionals that he appointed and then contradicts himself bragging that the city auditor is a personal friend. He states that he hires the best but if they are strangers how does he know that? Did he research their records? If he had, he would have discovered ethics charges, questionable billing practices, and firing by other municipalities. There are pictures of Mr. Parent, dated long before the election; with some of the professionals he hired who he now says he didn’t know. So which is it? Are they his cronies hired as payback or are they strangers who he failed to vet?

Mr. Parent has been on one political payroll or another all his adult life. He has mastered the art of political double talk. It worked in the last election. Let’s see how it works when it is time to govern. Keep a close watch on your wallet.


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