PART II: Corruption, Cronyism, Misconduct and Coverups: Westfield Town Administrator Jim Gildea Becomes an Accomplice

     In early July 2001, town administrator Tom Shannon, who was involved in the promotion of Bernard Tracy to police chief in October of 2000, suddenly resigned from his position leaving the town with assistant administrator Jim Gildea to oversee daily operations.
   
     The Westfield town administrator is responsible for making the police chief recommendation to the town council for approval.  At the time, Shannon would’ve been responsible for making the recommendation.

     Tom Shannon was notorious for instructing Westfield’s payroll clerk to issue $500 holiday  bonuses at the end of the year to a select number of town employees that he chose.  This illegal practice was met with refusal unless Shannon was willing to put the request in writing.  The bonuses never materialized.
     
     Assistant town administrator Jim Gildea didn’t have the certification to be the town administrator and was given a time frame to obtain the necessary certification.  The certification would allow him to become Westfield’s administrator for the foreseeable future.  Until he procured the required certification, he was named “acting” town administrator.

     Mayor Tom Jardim, after winning a second term in a landslide election in 1998, and the first Democrat to serve as Westfield mayor since 1912, did not seek re-election and a third two year term after he promoted Barney Tracy to police chief.  Replacing Jardim on the Democrat ticket was Westfield Board of Education member Susan Jacobson.  Jacobson was chosen to carry the torch for the Democrats but subsequently lost the November 2000 election to Republican Greg McDermott.
   
     By 2003-2004, Westfield Police Chief Barney Tracy had entrenched himself in town politics while the Westfield town council was debating the construction of parking decks.  The debate would ultimately lead to a referendum in which Westfield voters overwhelmingly defeated the parking deck proposal 77% against, to 23% in favor, with an 80% voter turnout in November 2004.
   
     It was during the town council discussions leading up to the referendum regarding the parking deck proposal, that a group of local residents from WECARE spoke out against the parking deck construction.
   
     Westfield Police Chief Barney Tracy began to target residents that approached the microphone during open public comment of the town council meetings to speak out against the construction of parking decks.
   
     Chief Tracy was complicit in having names of Westfield residents illegally run through the department‘s computer system to obtain information incriminating, detrimental, and embarrassing to those he targeted.
   
     Westfield resident James Abate, a practicing attorney, was arrested on a warrant for alleged failure to pay parking fines from another jurisdiction, as he walked away from the open public comment microphone after addressing the town council and opposing the parking decks.  Westfield parking director John Morgan was present during the arrest.
See related story of James Abate arrest:
Part I:  http://07090.blogspot.com/2010/12/the-arrest-of-out-spoken-citizen-part-i.html

Part II: https://07090.blogspot.com/2010/12/tfotm-archive-arrest-of-out-spoken.html
   
     Sitting Westfield Town Councilman Sal Caruana was allegedly a target of Chief Tracy’s illegal access of NJ State Police computer systems.  It is alleged that Tracy misspelled the councilman’s last name when conducting the check.
   
     Westfield resident Sarah Strohecker Clarkson, chair of the Westfield BRAKES group was targeted by Chief Tracy when she wrote a letter to the Westfield Leader critical of the police department.  He instructed a police department dispatcher to check her driver’s license, without probable cause, for any infractions, using the department’s computer system to illegally access NJ DMV records.
   
     Chief Tracy maintained a file on Westfield resident and parking deck opponent James Baker, a file  he held up to a member of the Westfield police department when referencing people who he thought were spewing anti-parking deck testimonials and should not be respected.
   
     McDermott’s tenure as Westfield’s mayor ended prematurely as he resigned on June 21, 2005 and the Republican’s selected sitting 3rd Ward Councilman Andy Skibitsky to take over as mayor.  This allowed Skibitsky to run as the incumbent in the November 2005 mayoral election.
   
     Mayor McDermott had relied on his parking director John Morgan, a Barney Tracy confidant, to provide parking statistics to the public and town officials, that supported the pro parking deck construction narrative.
   
     It was later revealed that some of the statistics had been fabricated leading some to believe that McDermott’s resignation was facilitated by the failed referendum and fabricated statistics, an embarrassment to his administration.
   
     The referendum was as much of a blow to Chief Tracy and Westfield Parking Director John Morgan as it was to Mayor McDermott.
   
     John Morgan would eventually leave Westfield after alleged complaints of sexual harassment and would be appointed Hoboken’s parking director until he overstayed his welcome in that city.
   
     The NJ State Police sent an investigator to Westfield to audit Westfield’s computer system after Chief Tracy coordinated the illegal computer checks on Westfield residents.  An NJSP audit allegedly  revealed that improper login ID’s were used to access the records.
   
     Westfield Town Administrator Jim Gildea was now front and center in the daily operations of town business as he had been named Westfield’s Town Administrator, stripping away the “acting” designation.
   
     What did Mayor Tom Jardim know?  He was Westfield’s mayor when the infamous “Tracy letter” was sent to town officials.  See contents of letter at the following link:
https://07090.blogspot.com/2020/05/corruption-cronyism-misconduct-and.html

     Despite the warnings in that letter, the town council approved Tracy’s promotion to police chief.
   
     What did Mayor McDermott know?  He was mayor during the parking deck debate when Chief Tracy orchestrated the illegal criminal history checks on Westfield residents.
   
     What did Mayor Andy Skibitsky know?  He was a councilman when the parking debate was raging and the illegal criminal history checks were orchestrated by Chief Tracy.
   
     What did Westfield Town Administrator Jim Gildea know?  Gildea was assistant town administrator when the “Tracy letter” was sent warning town officials of Barney Tracy’s transgressions and later became the town administrator, witnessing Chief Tracy’s tenure of corruption.
   
     They all knew they had a rogue police chief in Barney Tracy.   Each of them allowed B. Tracy to either become, or continue as, Westfield’s Police Chief despite warnings of misconduct, corruption, and criminal activity.
   
     They would all soon find out, after a Barney Tracy approved investigation, who was responsible for sending the controversial and incriminating letter to town officials.....a letter that detailed Tracy’s criminal conduct.  See letter here:  https://07090.blogspot.com/2020/05/corruption-cronyism-misconduct-and.html
    
     Chief Tracy’s regime embedded itself in town politics which allowed him to spawn a future police chief cast from his own mold while he targeted those that tried to expose the corruption and criminal activity of him and his underlings.  One of his first targets.....Officer Steve Elvin.

     To be continued...........