McConn should know all about shady dealings. He didn't spend time in the Federal lockup for nothing.

Does anyone know the name of his travel business? I want to be sure to not use it ...

McCANN TO BOE: PUT END TO THIS
Calls Favia doing travel biz on school time 'organized crime'

Thursday, April 10, 2008
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Former Jersey City mayor and current school board member Gerald McCann wants the district to go after the longtime teachers union president for running his travel business on company time.

Last August, Jersey City Education Association President Thomas Favia acknowledged to The Jersey Journal that he fielded calls for his travel business during working hours.

Unlike most union presidents in the private sector who are paid from dues shelled out by their members, Favia is actually a public employee working for the Jersey City Board of Education.

His current title is student assistant counselor, for which he is paid $95,215 annually, school officials said.

But unlike his members, Favia, who began working in the district 53 years ago, is contractually exempt from any duties other than being a full-time union president.

McCann's argument is that Favia is conducting his own private business when he should be doing union work.

"Like all employees he (Favia) has a legal obligation to limit those activities to his legal responsibilities," McCann wrote in a letter he distributed to fellow school board members Tuesday.

"If a school employee was caught stealing from the district, working another job while employed by the district, running a business from their job location . every board member would be outraged. This is organized crime," McCann stated.

Favia didn't return several phone calls seeking comment. But asked last summer about the appropriateness of running his private business out of the JCEA office using union resources, Favia found nothing wrong. "I've been doing it for 38 years," he said.

Superintendent of Schools Charles T. Epps Jr. received McCann's letter yesterday afternoon and hadn't yet decided how to respond, said district spokesman Gerard Crisonino.

Not speaking about Favia specifically, BOE general counsel Charlotte Kitler agreed employees cannot use district funds, time or equipment for a personal business.

Punishment for such actions could range from withholding a salary increase to firing, Kitler said.