Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Stupid is as stupid does...

...and says.

The following are direct excerpts from online stories regarding Trenton Chief of Staff/Deputy Mayor Paul Sigmund's lack of a valid driver's license when he was stopped for speeding in a city owned vehicle. Links to the full article are provide.

From the Trentonian: 


“It’s true that I don’t have a New Jersey’s license. I’ve been to DMV a couple of times but you need like six forms of identification to get a license. I will take care of it. And in regards to California, I have a permit that allows me to drive to work. I thought I could drive in New Jersey,” Sigmund said.


Sigmund attempted to explain his admitted mistake.

“I was totally lost in thought, rushing back to work because I had this great idea about improving our school system. I’ll tell you about it soon.”

Sigmund, in March, assured the Trentonian that he had “taken care of” his California problems, stemming from two unpaid tickets, and then promised to not drive a city car until he could show proof of rectification.

“I thought everything had been taken care of. I thought all of the restrictions had been lifted,” Sigmund said.
 
Again, from the Trentonian:
 
Mayor Tony Mack today said his Chief of Staff Paul Sigmund should not have been behind the wheel of a city-owned vehicle last weekend when he racked up tickets for speeding and driving without a license.

“In hindsight, Paul should not have been given a city car and he should not have been behind the wheel of a vehicle,” Mack said.

Mack said he had “no idea of how this occurred,” referring to Sigmund being issued the Trenton government Ford Escape without having a valid license.

Mack made one other statement, saying that he and Acting Police Director Joseph Juniak never discussed whether Sigmund should get a city vehicle.

“I didn’t speak to Juniak about this,” Mack said.



From the Times:

“My understanding, both from California and New Jersey, was that my license was valid,” Sigmund said yesterday.


He acknowledged he was speeding, saying he was “lost in thought” at the time of the stop and was unaware of how fast he was going.

During a press conference yesterday introducing former state treasurer David Rousseau as Trenton’s new finance adviser, Mack cited personnel issues in refusing to discuss whether he knew of Sigmund’s license status. But Sigmund said he told Mack about the issue earlier, when he believed he had it fixed.

“I brought it right to Tony’s attention the second I found out about it,” Sigmund said.

Sigmund said he drove to work yesterday morning, but would be leaving his sports utility vehicle at City Hall and finding another way home.

That pretty much says it all, doesn't it?

Friday, April 08, 2011

Remember this guy?

Remember back last summer when Mayor Mack wanted to appoint Andrew Weber the Business Administrator for the City of Trenton?  You know, after Bill Guhl un-volunteered himself and before Andrew McCrosson (later to resign and plead guilty to embezzlement) got to hold the chair for a few months.  The problem with the webe appointment was a blatant conflict of interest. Weber is a partner with the Mt. Holly law firm of Riley and Riley.  Riley and Riley were being considered for a legal services contract with the city.  Mr. Weber, who also served on Mayor Mack's transition team and was a former special counsel with Cooper Levenson. (You remember them, right?)

Well, it looks like Mr. Weber got the tiniest of wrist slaps from the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (NJ ELEC) this week:

NEW JERSEY ELECTION LAW ENFORCEMENT COMMISSION

P.O. Box 185

Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0185



NEW JERSEY ELECTION
LAW ENFORCEMENT COMMISSION,
Complainant,

FINAL DECISION FOR
LATE FILING

v.

ANDREW WEBER,
Respondent.
C-1598-1-2009L

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (hereafter, the Commission) considered at its meeting of March 15, 2011 the Complaint, issued on October 27, 2010, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 52:13C-18 et seq., for non-filing of the Governmental Affairs Agent Quarterly Report (Form Q-4) for the 2009 third quarter report period, which Complaint is hereby incorporated by reference in this Final Decision. The Commission considered the Respondent’s Affidavit and Waiver of Hearing submitted in response to the Complaint, and by a vote of 4-0 adopted as its Final Decision the proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law set forth in the Complaint, after modifying them to reflect that the Respondent filed a Governmental Affairs Agent Quarterly Report (Form Q-4) for the 2009 third quarter report period on February 1, 2011 (476 days late).

PENALTY

THEREFORE, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 52:13C-23.1 and N.J.A.C. 19:25-20.18, the Commission hereby REPRIMANDS the Respondent and imposes a penalty in the amount of $300.00 for late filing of Form Q-4. Respondent submitted payment of $300.00. No further payment is required.



NEW JERSEY ELECTION LAW
ENFORCEMENT COMMISSION



Date of Mailing: March 30, 2011  BY: _____________________

RONALD DEFILIPPIS
Chairman


CERTIFIED MAIL NO. 7009 3410 0001 8442 8922
RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED
AND FIRST CLASS MAIL

To be sure, a $300 fine is nothing to Mr. Weber.  And we're sure his late filing of a Government Affairs Agent (lobbyist) report was a mere technical oversight.  Right.
 
Just like not mentioning the various PAC's Mr. Weber is involved in during all of the Cooper Levenson/City of Trenton controversy was an oversight.  You know, PAC's like Voters United New Jersey that Mr. Weber just happens to have the sole signatory power on their checking account. 
 
According to the 4th quarter ELEC report filed (filed about two weeks late, btw) by Voters United, Riley and Riley, along with Cooper Levenson and Hydro-San (which has the same address and ownership as Alaimo Engineering, another consulting firm that has been trying to get work with the city of Trenton) all gave $5000 to Voters United last December. In that same report, we see that Voters United just happened to make a $2500 contribution to the questionable local Trenton PAC, Partners For Progress that same month.
 
But don't worry.  Mr. Weber, Mr. Levenson and friends have no undue influence over the Mack administration.  None whatsoever. 
 
Right.

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

Art for art's sake

Spelling doesn't count.

This is the flier produced for tonight's "Arts Summit" at the Mill Hill Playhouse. We love the creative spelling incorporated in the program.

Guess $50,000 a year doesn't buy much in the way of proofreading any more.