Oaklyn council candidates call on solicitor to step down during state probe
Following last week’s disturbing story in The Philadelphia Inquirer, revealing that New Jersey Division of Pension and Benefits is investigating Oaklyn Solicitor Timothy Higgins, Republican c council candidates Dennis Bataloni and Charlie Kolbe want to know what municipal officials knew and when did they know it.
“The primary duty of every public servant is to ensure that the taxpayers’ money is handled in a responsible, efficient and ethical manner,”said Bataloni. “This looks like yet another unfortunate example of Oaklyn’s career politicians failing to protect the residents who pay the bills.”
According to the Inquirer story, the state informed Oaklyn’s government back in February that Higgins was under investigation. At issue is Higgins’ pension eligibility, since Oaklyn officials continued to allow the solicitor to accrue pension credits even though allowing him to do so violated a 2007 pension reform law. Higgins also works for
Both Pennsauken and Oaklyn officials, according to the Inquirer, admitted they had made mistakes by allowing Higgins to keep receiving pension credits as their municipal attorney, despite the 2007 statute prohibiting this practice. According to the officials they had taken steps to correct the problem. However, Oaklyn officials verbally shrugged off responsibility for the mistake, simply calling it a “misunderstanding.”
“There’s nothing ambiguous about pension fraud,” continued Bataloni. “It’s a sad commentary on Borough Hall that we probably would’ve never found out about this probe were it not for the Inquirer’s reporting. Oaklyn’s government owes the taxpayers an explanation.”
“Mr. Higgins must step down immediately, at least until such time that the state concludes its investigation and makes its findings known to the public,” concluded Kolbe. “We firmly believe in the constitutional principle of 'innocent until proven guilty,' but a solicitor cannot continue to execute the duties of his office while the state is simultaneously investigating whether he’s violated the public’s trust.”
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