Assembly candidate needs to tell truth

Marie Bilik's nose must be getting longer.

Come on, Marie, tell the truth. Your organization supported the model of using taxpayers' money to put solar panels on schools way back in 2008. It's the same model that has failed so spectacularly in Sussex County. You were the group's executive director. They paid you a fat salary and you got a fat state pension on top of it.

Here is what the N.J. School Boards Association had to say in 2008 about projects that use public funds to install solar panels on schools, like the Sussex solar scam did:

"They are cost efficient, they can reduce the school utility costs, and there is the potential to make money by selling energy credits."

Parker Space voted the way he did because he relied on the advice of Sussex County's well-paid professionals and believed what the County Executive and County Attorney told him. They got their information from groups like the one Marie Bilik ran.

Tell the truth, Marie. Why is your campaign made up of energy lobbyists? Why are the people who opposed an investigation into the solar mess supporting you? Is your campaign just about attacking the people who have called out the solar rip-off?

Parker Space and Gail Phoebus responded to this taxpayer bailout by looking for answers and alerting the state and federal authorities who can properly investigate this mess. The county insiders who put you up to running are on record as opposing those investigations. They wanted the bailout and now they want a cover up.

As a Washington, D.C.. lobbyist who resides in Virginia most of the week, we can understand that maybe Marie Bilik is a little out of touch. But she shouldn't let these county insiders use her like they are. Don't be their shill. The taxpayers deserve answers.

Ann Kievit
Hardyston