The Deed is Done - WITHOUT....

Hi again,

Despite the questions I asked (see yesterday's post, "Did you know...") the board voted 4 to 3 to install Johnson and Rosati as Salem's new legal firm. Hmm. Win every case brought by a developer for a township, get replaced without so much as a "thank you." Does that strike you as professional? Would you run your life or business that way?

When the Salem Board voted 4 to 3 to replace Salem’s legal representation of McLain & Winters with Johnson & Rosati might it be said that they did so WITHOUT YOU IN MIND?

It defintely was done:

·     without searching for the best legal representation possible, admitting “political” motivations (please see the A2 News article, Salem Township Officials Fire Longtime Attorney in Controversial Vote.

·     without due diligence or consideration for the records of the firms under consideration.

·     without notice to three Board members, the public or the current attorney.

·     without consideration for the pending $50,000,000⁰⁰ (fifty million dollar) arbitration,  against the highly successful winning attorney for developers: Robert M. Carson - what will the arbitrators think of a township board that replaces the attorney that argued before them, without notifying him or the other board members? If you were an arbitrator on this case would you think the Salem Board was honest and above reproach?

·     without consideration for the nine-year, undefeated record of Doug Winters against developers, attorney of record from McLain and Winters, and on-going litigation issues.

·     without consideration for the losses of Carol Rosati (Johnson & Rosati) to Robert M. Carson.

·     without checking the claims of Carol Rosati that she “knows how to deal with Carson” (did she mean by losing to him?).

·     without consideration for Johnson and Rosati’s prior experience with Salem township, when they were replaced in 1997 because they could not fulfill Salem’s need for an attorney firm that  could successfully deal with challenges that developers were posing then – is this déjà vu all over again?

·     without consideration of Carol Rosati’s proposed consent judgment on Salem’s behalf to allow a 16-pump gas station with fast food restaurant, 6000 sq ft restaurant, and 35,000 sq ft retail shopping center in direct violation of our Growth Management plan and zoning laws protecting us from uncontrolled sprawl.

·     without consideration that the above consent judgment was not approved and the entire suit dismissed only through Doug Winters’ intervention. (You’ll note that there is not a shopping center, restaurant and huge gas station, along with the uncontrolled, unregulated growth in Salem today – you can thank Doug Winters for that, even if our township board doesn’t).