How does this look to you?

The late Art Holland, when he was the mayor of Trenton, used to say that it wasn’t enough for a public official to be honest; they also need to appear honest.

This was just an inside out way of saying that appearances can be deceiving and even if your intentions are pure, things might not look that way.

Appearance and intent seem to be the crux of the current Federal case against the current mayor of Trenton, Tony Mack. The mayor, his brother Ralphiel and supporter JoJo Giorgianni have been arrested and indicted on charges they conspired to use the Tony’s office to profit from a proposed (and, we now know, bogus) development scheme. Did they really intend to personally profit from the mayor’s position as head of city government? Or were they sincerely trying to get a “deal done” that would benefit the city?

Last week, it was revealed that the FBI has another investigation going in Trenton. According to Alex Zdan of the Times, the Feds have subpoenaed documents pertaining to five housing developments started under the prior administration of long-time mayor Doug Palmer. Zdan broke the story on Saturday, December 29 and had a follow up piece on Monday, December 31.

Coming back around to an investigation that apparently started two or three years ago, the federal subpoena requests the city of Trenton turn over accounting and payment records for the Pennington, Southwest Village I and Southwest Village II, Canal Plaza Homeownership and Catherine S. Graham Square redevelopment projects. All were being “shepherded” by Robert Kahan. 

Kahan has been doing redevelopment work in Trenton since at least 1997 when he formed the Warren Street Urban Renewal Limited Partnership.  Over the years, Kahan and/or his Tara ConstructionManagement/Tara Developers/Tara Developers II have worked on several projects around Trenton.

Tara worked on the Bellevue Court project with Isles a decade ago.

Then something happened. Tara and/or Kahan were suddenly all over the place.

Between April 2005 and April 2006, Kahan formed five LLC’s to work on five separate projects within the city of Trenton. He also formed Tara Developers LLC in April of 2006.

• Spring Street Housing, LLC (Southwest Village I) formed 4-26-05
• Titus Housing, LLC (Pennington) formed 4-27-05
• Broad Street Commons, LLC (Canal Plaza) formed 4-27-05
• Monmouth Management at Trenton, LLC (Catherine S. Graham Square) formed 11-15-05
• Tara Developers, LLC formed 4-5-06
• Passaic Street Housing, LLC formed 4-27-06

Forming LLC’s for redevelopment projects is apparently a fairly standard way of operating. It is at least an attempt to isolate the individual from any liabilities the corporate entity might encounter…especially those caused by other parties (contractors and such).

At the time they were created, the state of NJ, public records show that the registered address and agent for all except the Monmouth Management at Trenton, LLC was 1512 East Wheat Road in Vineland. Robert Kahan is listed as the registered agent and managing member.

Monmouth Management at Trenton, LLC was created between Tara and 319 Elton LLC, a company owned by Dov Gluck of Lakewood, NJ. In the initial incorporation, Monmouth Management at Trenton listed its registered address 1245 Airport Road, Lakewood and Gluck was the registered agent.

So far, nothing appears to be amiss.

In July 2005, Tara Construction Management, LLC (one of Kahan’s companies) contributed $1000 to then Mayor Doug Palmer’s re-election campaign. Tara had also given the Palmer campaign $1000 in June of 2003.

(NOTE: the pages from all the campaign reports referenced can be found here)

Although done all the time, contributions from LLC’s and LP’s are actually prohibited in New Jersey. While the corporate entity can issue the check, the contribution is credited to the member or partner who signs the check unless there is an accompanying letter explaining how the contribution should be distributed amongst all partners/members. Remember this for later and read on. {Edited for clarity.}

Tara Construction Management also contributed $700 to the re-election campaign of then East Ward Councilman Gino Melone in that same time span. Plus, Tara had contributed $250 to Melone’s campaign in January of 2005.

On June 1, 2005, a mortgage was issued between the City of Trenton and Spring Street Housing, LLC (one of Kahan’s companies). This was the start of the Southwest Village I project and came a little over a month before that July contribution to Palmer.

How do things appear now?

As the calendar turned over to 2006, things started to get interesting. In May of that year, Palmer would be up for re-election to his fifth term as Mayor. Campaign contributions really picked up.

There must have been a big fundraiser on March 15, 2006 because the ELEC reports are filled with contributions with that date. Lots of contractors and vendors and developers who were doing or wanted to do business with the city show up in the reports, but one in particular stands out: NDK General Contractors, LLC of Vineland.

NDK was formed by three sisters, Nicole, Davina and Kathleen Kemenash. The registered address for the business was 1512 East Wheat Road, Vineland. If that sounds familiar, it should. Kahan registered several of his development LLC’s to that same address.

NDK gave Palmer $1000 on March 15. So did each of the three sisters. Remember the law about contributions from LLC’s? That’s $4000 in contributions to be apportioned amongst the three of them. If divided equally, they are each just a little more than halfway to the $2600 individual limit for political contributions. Oh, and back on July 20, 2005, NDK gave Palmer $1000.

Back to March 15, 2006, five employees of NDK General Contracting also gave $1000 each to Palmer’s campaign. While it is entirely possible that these people gave freely of their own money, how probable is it?

How likely that an office manager, two secretaries, an estimator and a consultant from a construction firm in Vineland, NJ really care who gets elected in Trenton?  The office manager, by the way, had given a previous donation to Palmer. Although not listed as being affiliated with NDK in the reports for that contribution, Lisa Bancia gave a $1000 contribution to the Palmer campaign on July 20, 2005. That is the third contribution of $1000 to Palmer on that particular date. One from Tara, one from NDK and one from Ms. Bancia.

On one day, $9000 in contributions to Doug Palmer’s re-election campaign came from one company, its owners and employees. It’s not what it appears like. Right?

Office manager Lisa Bancia gave another $1000 to Palmer on May 6, 2006. This put her over the limit and Palmer’s campaign reportedly refunded her the $400 in excess contributions. This was part of another wave of contributions to Palmer’s campaign that appear to have come from/through NDK. Besides Bancia, the three sisters who formed the company each gave $1000 again, as did NDK General Contractors itself. That’s $8000 in contributions which puts the three ladies over the limit if apportioned equally. The estimator gave another $1000. That’s $6000 more that definitely came through NDK.

There were also three woman who each gave $1000 and who all list addresses in Vineland. The report does not show their occupation or employer information (as required by law). Hmmm. That doesn’t appear quite right.

Election Day was May 9 that year. On May 10, Palmer’s campaign report shows that one of the secretaries at NDK gave another $1000.

Tara wasn’t keeping its checkbook closed either. In November of 2005, Gino Melone received another $200 from the construction management firm. Melone also received $250 from Tara on April 17, 2006.  Well within the contribution limits, but again a violation of the LLC's can't contribute rule.

On May 6, a gentleman by the name of Keith Karmitian (hard to make out the handwriting on the report) gave $1000 to Palmer’s campaign. This was interesting because the address given is in Philadelphia. In fact, it is the same address listed for a $1000 contribution to then Councilman At Large Paul Pintella’s re-election campaign that came from Scott Kahan who listed his occupation as “Developer”. It appears that Scott is the son ofRobert Kahan and that Scott works with his father. (If you go to the Tara Developers website, contact us page, there are links to contact Robert, Scott and a “Keith” as well as a couple of other individuals.)

The Scott Kahan contribution to Pintella’s campaign is dated May 24, 2006. There was a runoff for the at-large council seats that year so the campaigning (and fundraising) continued for another month.

Robert Kahan, a “Developer”, also gave Pintella’s campaign $1000 on May 24, 2006.

Funny thing, NDK General Contractors and President/Owner Nicole Kemenash also contributed $1000 each to Pintella on that same date, May 24, 2006.

Pintella and the rest of the Palmer slate (Manny Segura, Cordelia Staton) went on to win the runoff election in June of 2006. You can view a timeline of all this here.

In July of 2006, the Pennington Housing project (Titus Housing, LLC, a Kahan company) got underway. The Canal Plaza project started in earnest in June of 2007. The Southwest Village II (Passaic Street) and Catherine Graham Square (Monmouth Management at Trenton) projects got underway in April and July of 2008.

NDK General Contractor was involved in the Pennington Housing project according to construction liens filed by suppliers waiting to get paid. Some of the liens were satisfied but one wasn’t. The contractor letits state license lapse at the end of 2006. It has not kept up with its annual corporate filings to the state either and is currently suspended pending reinstatement.

Kahan formed Tara Developers II, LLC in 2010 and maintains an office on West State Street in Trenton. Kahan had, in the meantime, changed all of his registered addresses for the various project related LLC’s from Vineland to the Trenton address.

We don’t know what the FBI will find through their investigation. We know what the situation appears to be. In an effort to secure at least five redevelopment deals, Mr. Kahan and friends made at least $30,000 in campaign contributions to Doug Palmer, Paul Pintella and Gino Melone between May 2002 and May 2006.

In Alex Zdan’s article published on December 31, Doug Palmer is quoted as saying, “It doesn’t involve me or my administration.”

He may be right. But that isn’t the way it appears.

Random thoughts on a saturday afternoon

Hey!  All you candidates in last week's elections, it's over!  Tuesday was four days ago, how about you send out your minions to collect your campaign signs.  Especially you winners...and especially the signs that were placed illegally on public property!  Your responsibilities didn't end when the polls closed my friends! 

And you know what...some of you losers (figurative and literal) from last spring's city election and runoff need to remove your signs too.  That includes you, Mr. Segura para Trenton!

***

Does anybody remember the water crisis of a month ago?  Did anyone ever explain what really happened to cause the low pressure and brown water experienced by some customers of the Trenton Water Works?  We know it wasn't strictly a function of the high water level in the Delaware River at that time

And whatever became of Ron Lind?

***

Nobody has anything to add to the razzle-dazzle fumbling of the city of Trenton layoff plan?  We all believe that Mayor Mack's manipulation of "the plan" is going to work, right?  The numbers said so.  At least that is what we were told.

***

Now that we've visited the Mayoral Circus (Mayor Mack's Thursday morning press conference touting his "saving" of the public safety jobs; etc.) and wrung our hands in despair over those who did get laid off, are we going to get back to the predicament of having an unfit judge presiding over Trenton's Municipal Court?

***

The library branches are still closed.  And the deadbeat jazz festival promoter is still on the Library Board.

***

City Council meetings are rapidly turning into a side show of incompetence and in-fighting while the citizens of Trenton seem to be struck silent by the city's rapid descent from bad to worse.

***

You're doing a heck of a job, Tony!

That was close!

By a margin of approximately 3 to 2, Mercer County voters chose to keep Paula Sollami-Covello as their County Clerk rather than hand the office to former Trenton City Councilman Gino Melone.

Guess Gino finally coming out as a closeted Republican after all those years pretending to be a Democrat didn't win over any voters.

Or was it the electorate's memory of the games Gino played going into his final term on Trenton's council.

At that time Melone shepherded Doug Palmer's slate of at-large candidates around the East Ward to get them votes with the hopes of securing the council presidency for himself.  That ploy didn't work either.

We don't mean to pick solely on Gino.  All politicians and would-be candidates should take note of his plight.

You'll win office once in awhile with your craft and cunning but sooner or later the voters will tire of your games and duplicity.  Then you will be left out in the cold.

Serve the public and you can serve for a very long time and move up the ladder.  Serve yourself and eventually you will pay.

The Staton mess

Trenton’s city council voted last night to dismiss Deputy City Clerk and former At Large Councilwoman Cordelia Staton. This brings the curtain down on the first act of this saga. Let us hope that there is no second act in the way of a lawsuit.

 

The five individuals on council who voted to dismiss (Bethea, Caldwell-Wilson, Chester, Holly-Ward, McBride) Ms. Staton are to be commended for their action…if not they’re reasoning and rationale as reported in the press.

 

And even though we disagree with his position, we acknowledge that the South Ward Councilman Muschal stood by his principles and voted to keep the Deputy Clerk.

 

We are somewhat disappointed that the East Ward Councilwoman, Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, abstained for the vote. Hopefully, this was because of some reason other than an aversion to taking sides by making a controversial decision either way.

 

This situation quickly polarized city residents as demonstrated by the attendance at the August 5 city council meeting. Council chambers was packed and you could almost draw a line down the middle of the room that neatly divided the pro-dismissal and pro-Staton sides.

 

Overlooked in the outrage about Mayor Mack’s total mishandling of the situation are some facts which should be reviewed in order to put the whole affair in perspective.

 

Item 1: As far back as early 2007, Ms. Staton seemed to be aiming for the City Clerk position vacated by Anthony Conti’s resignation. Nothing wrong on the face of that, but keep in mind two points.

• She was less than one year into her second term as Councilwoman At Large.
• She was not certified as a municipal clerk* and may not have even started taking the required classes as yet.

Item 2: After not finding a suitable permanent replacement for Conti, in the fall of 2009 city council started taking applications from those interested the position. Ms. Staton put her name in for consideration even though after almost three years she was not yet a certified for the position.

 

Item 3: In February, 2010, Council member Melone spoke on the record of the need to let the new council taking office on July 1 to have the opportunity to select their own clerk and urged his colleagues not to make a permanent appointment. After repeated attempts to demonstrate a fair and impartial process at naming a permanent city clerk, Ms. Staton had removed her name from consideration, council terminated long time (and as yet un-certified) Acting City Clerk Juanita Joyner and hired Leona Baylor as Acting Deputy Clerk.** Citing the need for an experienced hand to guide the city through the spring elections, former clerk Anthony Conti was brought in as a consultant to help Ms. Baylor.

 

Item 4: In June, 2010, Ms. Staton discreetly resigned her council seat with less than a month to go in her term, quit her job at the Board of Education, and was quietly appointed Deputy Municipal Clerk for the city of Trenton by some of her colleagues. She still had not achieved certification as a Municipal Clerk.

 

Item 5: Voting in favor of the appointment were Councilman Melone (in apparent conflict with his stated position earlier in the year), Councilman Pintella (Staton’s running mate in 2002 and 2006) and Councilwoman Lartigue (who was not present at the meeting but voted via her cell phone). This vote raised a couple of procedural questions:

• Is Lartigue’s vote via cell phone allowed?
• What is the number required for a majority vote amongst the four council members actually present at the meeting, two or three?

Item 6: The Mack administration, regardless of its motives, was correct to point out the improper way that Ms. Staton was appointed. This did not give them the right or reason to treat her the way they did. You don’t fire someone by leaving a note on their chair while they are at lunch and you don’t call the police to have them escorted out of the building.

We’re sorry that Ms. Staton was mistreated by the Mack administration. Still that doesn’t remove the fact that she held the position through improper actions by the previous council as they tried to take care of one of their own.

 

We hope the current council will get some definite rulings on the propriety of voting by phone and other procedural matters before they get caught up in gaffes like their predecessors.

 

*Apparently, NJ state law allows the appointing of an Acting Municipal Clerk who has yet completed the course work and passed the certification exam providing that the appointee does obtain certification within a certain time frame.

 

**Also according to NJ state law, a person holding a valid municipal clerk certification can not be appointed Acting Municipal Clerk but can hold the title of Acting Deputy Clerk and fulfill all the duties of the Municipal Clerk.

 

The blame game

"It's not my fault. I didn't cause it." --- the late George Carlin, comedian

Trenton’s lame duck city council took a double-barreled blast in the Trentonian yesterday.

In his Thursday column, Trentonian scribe L.A. Parker claimed that the five members of council who voted against the city budget demonstrated a lack of “accountability.” Parker did give the South Ward Councilman, George Muschal, a pass for only having come on board after November’s special election. He chided the other four “No” votes (Bethea, Lartigue, Melone and Segura) for passing the responsibility determining the city’s tax increase to the state Division of Local Services. Parker claims the four did not own up to their part in helping “put Trenton in this position” of begging the State for money.

It comes as no surprise that Parker did not mention at all the irresponsible and spendthrift ways of the Doug Palmer administration that for the past two years has waited until the fiscal year was more than half over before submitting a budget to city council.

Instead, Parker wrote a companion piece in which Palmer “blasts” city council’s alleged irresponsibility in the matter.

“I introduced a budget to City Council and then it was up to them to schedule meetings or hold budget workshops. The ball was in their court. I don’t want to hear anything about my Plan B,” Palmer said earlier today.

“But now we have five city council members who are attempting to point the finger at me. I made my decisions. People elected me to be a leader and that’s what I have done. Being a leader is not for the weak of heart.”

Palmer praised President Paul Pintella and at large Councilwoman Cordelia Staton for “having the guts to take responsibility for the budget.

Both Parker and Palmer seem to ignore the fact that Council cannot act on the budget until it is submitted by the administration. And Palmer should have submitted a “worst case” budget months ago and not relied upon the Supreme Court to bail him out by allowing the TWW water sale to go through without the chance of a referendum, which it didn't do.

It is just too bad Parker doesn’t decry Palmer for not accepting his share of accountability in the matter.