March 1, 2012 MUC Nominates George McGuffin, Jo Ervin, Joel Hice as 14th Slate of Candidates for MUC Board

The Morristown Utilities Commission (MUC) held its regular meeting on February 23 at 8 AM.  Included on the agenda was selection of a 14th slate of candidates for the MUC Board seat currently held by George McGuffin who has served over 34 years on the Board.

McGuffin's term expired July 31, 2011, but he is serving as a "holdover" until someone is officially appointed to the seat. McGuffin himself wants to be that someone, and he has refused to step aside for a new appointee.

McGuffin is at the head of the table and sounds a little sarcastic as he introduces the "resolution that we all know by heart, the fourteenth time" that we have to submit three people for consideration as a Board member.  McGuffin briefly has trouble remembering the name of the 13th and last rejectee (Chris Horne) but one of the Board members helps out.

Max Biery then nominates McGuffin, Isaacs, and Joel Hice. Biery forgot that the Isaacs (both Steve and Jerry) were booted by LeBel and Company months ago. Lynn Elkins says it's "Jo Ervin." After some discussion, Biery confirms that his motion is to nominate George McGuffin, Jo Ervin, and Joel Hice. McGuffin says the list will go to the Mayor for the next meeting.

It's an odd situation.  The MUC Board selects qualified people and then says nothing when (City Councilman) LeBel and Company automatically reject every (non-McGuffin) MUC candidate including bankers, contractors, businessmen, physical therapists, CPAs, plant managers, former city councilmen, etc.

It's all a little game of MUC going through the motions of selecting "qualified" people and then abandoning that person and hoping that that person, if it's not George McGuffin, is rejected by the Council.

It's odd that "news"man Bob Moore has never put a quote from one of the many rejectees in the "news"paper.  Not even one of those statements that "so-and-so was contacted but had no comment."

Was the rejectee concerned about the rejection? Did the rejectee approach a member of the MUC Board about serving on the Board? Did a Board member contact the rejectee and ask if his name could be put on the MUC-candidate list before the nomination was made?  Did a Board member tell the rejectee that if he was nominated by the Mayor, he wouldn't be approved?

It's odd that "news"man Bob Moore has never put a quote from an MUC Board member in the "news"paper.  Not even a mention that he tried to contact a Board member for comment.

Is the Board shocked and concerned at the continuous rejection of THEIR candidates, or is the Board a part of the game and content and pleased to see each non-McGuffin candidate rejected?

The 14th list of candidates--selected by MUC--is at the City Center.  LeBel and Company are sticking by George, and George is sticking by LeBel and Company. No one else matters.

On the far left in the video are the five MUC Board members (from L-R):  Lynn Elkins, Max Biery, Gene Jolley, Harold Nichols, and Chairman George McGuffin.

February 29, 2012 LeBel and Company Reject #13 Chris Horne (VIDEO)

LeBel is fast on the draw...At the February 21, 2012, meeting of City Council, LeBel moved to reject Chris Horne's nomination to the Morristown Utilities Commission Board. Bob Garrett, former longtime MUC employee, seconded and faster than you can push a voting button, Chris Horne became the THIRTEENTH person rejected by LeBel and Associates. 

LeBel and Associates (Paul LeBel, Kay Senter, Bob Garrett, Chris Bivens, and Claude Jinks) evidently don't think much about the candidates being sent to the Mayor by MUC. Not one of 13 has been approved. See the complete list of rejectees by clicking on February 28 post.


While LeBel and Asoociates continually vote to "reject," Mayor Danny Thomas and Councilman Gene Brooks have supported the business people, physical therapists, bankers, plant managers, CPAs, contractors, and former councilmembers who have been nominated by MUC and submitted to Council for a full vote.


It's nice that MUC Board members (George McGuffin, Harold Nichols, Gene Jolley, Lynn Elkins, and Max Biery) have a wide array of well-connected friends who are willing to let their name be put up for certain rejection.  The old "take one for the McGipper" syndrome.

February 14, 2012 "Lucky" Thirteenth List of MUC Nominees

The three nominees for a seat on the Morristown Utilities Commission (MUC) are Jo Ervin, Chris Horne, and--surprise, surprise, surprise--George McGuffin.

These three were selected by MUC in a special called meeting at 10:15 AM yesterday morning. 

According to the MUC Private Act that was approved by 72% of the voters in a 2001 referendum, MUC is the primary gatekeeper in the appointment process since MUC has total control over who is considered for the MUC Board.

The Mayor takes the MUC-provided list and submits the name of one nominee to council.

The Council then accepts or rejects.
So far, twelve MUC lists have been sent to the Mayor. Each time, the Mayor has submitted one name to the full council. And all twelve MUC nominees have been rejected.

February 8, 2012 No. 12 Steve Isaacs Shot Down by The Five

The Morristown Utilities Commission Board, headed by George McGuffin, recently recommended three names to Mayor Danny Thomas for appointment to the MUC Board. The slate of three candidates: Steve Isaacs, George McGuffin, and Chris Horne.

At yesterday's council meeting, Mayor Thomas submitted the name of Steve Isaacs to the council, and the council quickly rejected Isaacs 5-2. Voting to reject Isaacs were Paul LeBel, Kay Senter, Bob Garrett, Chris Bivens, and Claude Jinks. Supporting Isaacs were Mayor Danny Thomas and Councilmember Gene Brooks.

Steve Isaacs is the TWELFTH person to be nominated by Thomas, and the TWELFTH person to fail to win the approval of a majority of council.

January 16, 2012 McGuffin: Ready To Beat Down #11 To Keep the "McGuffin Seat" on MUC

In late December, the Morristown Utilities Commission did the vetting and picked its ELEVENTH list of nominees for a seat on the MUC Board: George McGuffin (who has already served on the Board for 34+ years and who desperately wants to stay on that Board), David Wild, and Chris Horne.

On January 17 Mayor Danny Thomas will submit one of those names to the Morristown City Council for approval or disapproval.

If history repeats itself, the Mayor's nomination of either David Wild or Chris Horne will be voted down by these five councilmembers: Paul LeBel, Kay Senter, Bob Garrett, Chris Bivens, and Claude Jinks.

Wild or Horne will then join the list of TEN persons (Mike Minnich, Glenn Thompson, Carroll Fowler, Wally Long, John Allen, Mike Davidson, Bruce Sluder, Jerry Isaacs, Gene Lynch, and Steve Henrikson) that The Five have rejected over the past seven or so months.

But McGuff and The Five view all this as just a temporary setback. The Five are moving to change state law just for McGuff so they can put him back in right away instead of serially rejecting other MUC-recommended candidates. 

McGuff and The Five don't care that the people set up the current appointment process and that MUC ran pricey paid political ads to get the people's (72%) support for this and all the MUC changes in the 2001 Referendum.

It's kind of funny to imagine how all this plays out in jokes on the golf course, at the Club, and at the elite parties.


Hey, David (Wild), do you really think you can get LeBel and Bivens and Senter and Jinks and Garrett to vote for you?  Have you had "the talk" with Bivens to let him know that you're just a strawman nominee who's not really interested in taking Daddy McGuff's seat---so it's OK to vote against you?

Hey, Chris (Horne), we admire you for letting your name be put out there for the LeBel Five to reject. After you "lose one for the McGipper," your name can be added to the Guinness Book of World Records under "most MUC rejectees ever."

Hey, George, remember those cute political ads that MUC ran in the "news" paper back in 2001 to get people to vote for MUC changes? Guess you're pretty happy that you have the clout to get your council buddies to cancel out those 3,202 votes without blinking an eye! 

Of course, some people wouldn't dare kid George about his obsession with holding onto the MUC seat, but they just might have some thoughts like...

Can you believe that McGuff is so obsessive/compulsive that he won't let go of his MUC seat after 3-1/2 decades and just move on?

Taking over the sewer and having control of all utilities in Morristown must be really important to Daddy McGuff and a lot of others. All that power and you don't even have to run for election!
 
Wow! Daddy McGuff, Momma McGuff, and Frank McGuff took Frank's loss to newcomer Danny Thomas in the Mayor's race so hard that Daddy McGuff now has his buddies on City Council trying to change the law just for him so Daddy McGuff can stay on the Morristown Utilities Commission.

Yes, it looks like money and power can make an individual and elected officials arrogant enough as to be willing to overturn the votes of 3,202 people in a referendum.