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.

Rally this!

L.A. Parker and others are right.

Having a rally, or a march, and having Al Sharpton, Russel Simmons, or other notables show up is NOT the solution to Trenton's woes.  It is but another cheap political stunt by Emmanuel Shahid Watson ben Avaraham and a chance to grab some headlines for Mssrs. Sharpton and Simmons*.

Self-promotion at the expense of a poor little girl and her family.

Of course, Mr. Parker doesn't mind going on the radio in another city to speak about the case.  He's just as guilty of self-promotion as the others.

*We have just learned that Mr. Simmons has announced he will not attend this event as per a post here.  Seems either Mr. Simmons' name was being tossed out there without his permission or he came to think there were better ways to help.  Good for him!

And there you have it

Shrugging off the post-Thanksgiving stupor, Trentonian columnist and Palmer administration confidant L.A. Parker posted a story this morning about Paul Pintella's decision to run for Mayor in 2010.

Those following the local political scene have been supposing and predicting who will run for what in the 2010 municipal elections. Many have long counted Doug Palmer as long gone from Trenton by then. Others have conceded that Palmer wants to be gone, but is hedging his bets and would run again in Trenton assuming nothing "bigger and better" comes along.

Presumably, as Parker points out, Pintella would not decide to run against his mentor. If, as suggested, the current Council President has decided to run it might be an indication that Palmer is not running again no matter what comes (or doesn't come) his way in the way of a "promotion" to a state or national position. (And the consensus around the stoop is that he will not be handed anything his ego would consider worthy---but that is another story).

Most likely, Parker's story is another "trial balloon" being sent up to gauge reaction from gadflies and the public at large. Otherwise why include so many obvious potential contenders and ignore others?

Brace yourselves dear Trentonians. If you thought the recently concluded presidential campaign was a marathon you haven't seen anything. Trenton municipal elections, formerly a sprint of just four and one half months is about to turn into long distance race.

Palmer phones it in

Missing Mayor calls in from Florida and hints at sixth term.

The city is in a fiscal crisis unprecedented in the 18 year reign of his mediocre-ness, Douglas H. Palmer so he troubled himself to take the time and call into L.A. Parker's dubiously titled "Straight Talk" radio show last week. (Listen to the entire broadcast here).

So, what did Doug have to say? A lot of nothing!

The call-in was troubled with some technical difficulties and so was broken into two segments. The first segment, about 11 minutes long, had Palmer touting the 14th place ranking of the Trenton-Ewing metropolitan area in green job potential (click here for a copy of the whole report). Even though Doug mentions that he realizes that the Trenton-Ewing designation includes Ewing, he unfortunately glides over a crucial fact in touting Trenton as the beneficiary of this high ranking. The Trenton-Ewing Metropolitan Statistical Area is the demographer's term for the whole of Mercer County.

And this isn't the first time Doug has confused the MSA with the City of Trenton. A few years back there were newspaper reports of cheers around the table in his conference room when he announced a significant spike in the average home sales price in Trenton. The only problem was, the new average was for the entire county and not just the city.

Back to the radio show, Doug blathered on about how positive this all was for the city as if

a) it was all his doing (implied, not stated)
b) it signaled an immediate turnaround in the fortunes of the beleaguered capital city (the job potential was calculated for 2038---three decades into the future!).

Then it was on to the liberary issues. Palmer began trying to explain away the library closings as fiscally responsible and his appreciation for all of (Library Board of Trustee President) Mrs. Hayling's dedication over the years. Doug was absolutely indignant that anyone would challenge the good work of this woman and "point fingers" at her because the system was failing. He even cited a time when "no one wanted to serve on the Library board" except her, never once pausing to consider the hesitancy to serve might have something to do with Mrs. Hayling's heavy handed way of controlling the board.

It was somewhere along in this part of the conversation that Palmer uttered some non-sense about never holding grudges against people who disagree with him because he knows we all want the same thing: a better Trenton. He actually claimed not to let his personal feelings "good or bad" stand in the way of doing what was best for the city.

If that doesn't make you choke on your morning danish, nothing will.

Has there ever been a more thin-skinned, vindictive person than Doug Palmer? Not in our extended memory. Just look at the number of times good, dedicated individuals have been replaced on boards just because they dared cross purposes with the dictatorial Palmer.

Towards the end of the segment, as the technical difficulties grew more annoying, Palmer began to answer a question about the vacant Police Director position.

Finally, the feedback and noise got so bad, Parker cut Palmer off.

With a cleaner connection established, Parker resumed the phone interview about 15 minutes or so later (download Part 2 of the interview here). Instead of picking up where he left off, Doug went back to the library situation and tried to convice listeners that his ideas were best and that there was no other choice. Bah!

The topic of the Police Director was resumed as Palmer spun some yarn about not wanting to promote someone from within the ranks of the TPD to the Civilian Directorship because of the pension, residency and loyalty (to the rank and file, and not to him) issues. Palmer spoke in certain terms that these were all insurmountable obstacles to having an "accountable" Police Director and demanded that city council amend the residency ordinance.

All the sturm and drang and chest thumping aside, perhaps the most telling moment came when Parker tried to extract a definitive statement about Doug's intentions to run for Mayor again or not. Palmer all but confirmed what many have been saying for awhile now.

At about 6:55 into this segment the exchange goes like this:

Parker: "You always say that you have not said that you were not going to run again. Are you going to say that soon?"

Palmer: "No."

Later on, in explanation Doug says quite plainly that he has a lot to finish here, but that there may be "an opporunity that may present itself where I may not run again..."

So there you go all you doubters. Out of the horse's mouth...if he gets a call up to a bigger, higher profile position, he's gone.

If not, he's here for another term...or at least an attempt at one.

Great lines

Note: entry edited on 9/24/08 to substitute "resign" for "retire."--OMH

The reporting of the departure of Joe Santiago from the already vacated position of police director for the city of Trenton provided ample opportunity for some interesting word choices and turns of phrase.

Let me replay for you now, just a few of the better ones we've read.

At the top of the list is the announcement of Santiago's "resignation" itself. As several of the more astute members of the community have pointed out, you can't really resign from a job you don't have. Lest we forget or overlook the fine point of this, four judges in two separate hearings of the matter determined that the position of police director in the city of Trenton was vacant due to the simple fact that Mr. Santiago was not a city resident. Judge Feinberg gave her decision in March with a 30 day grace period for orderly transition that was stayed until the three judges of the Appellate Court upheld her ruling but extended the transition period to 75 days. No matter how you look at it, Joe Santiago was out of a job. I don't think you can resign from a grace period. He might as well have said, "You can't fire me. I quit."

Another great quote came from Council President and Palmer lackey, Paul Pintella. The idiot prince was quoted as saying Santiago was "one of the finest police directors ever to work in Trenton." Nice.

Here's a test for you Paulie. How many police directors has Trenton had?

Let me help you out. There have been two: Jim Golden and Joe Santiago. (George Clisby and Abe Hemsey were never fully appointed to the position).

Now if we accept your statement that Santiago was "one of the finest police directors" to work here that would indicate that he was a) not the finest and b) Santiago was, by elimination, the worst police director to work in Trenton.

If there were only two, and Joe was not the finest but "one of the finest" than he is second. Second in a field of two is last. Last in this case equals worst.

So you managed to insult Santiago and give a backhanded compliment to his predecessor at the same time. You could have won the prize for best statement, but...

Unexpected vacancy

The topper may be one of the wry comments from Trentonian columnist and Palmer plugger, L.A. Parker.

First, L.A. writes about the appointment of Captain Fred Reister as acting director "until further notice as Palmer attempts to fill an unexpected vacancy."

Something that has been on the books for six months, is "unexpected?"

About 11 paragraphs into his page three article about Santiago's departure, Parker cleverly wrote the following:

"Mayor Palmer bid farewell to his partner in crime, calling Santiago one of the city's top assets and a major crime fighter."

I'm not sure but there may be some double, if not triple irony to that statement.
First, without a doubt Palmer and Santiago are partners in crime. The waste of taxpayer dollars fighting the illegal waiver of the residency requirement was nothing short of criminal (and we still think they should have to repay the city for the legal fees and court costs). Referring to Santiago as one of the "city's top assets" might have read more accurately if the final t was swapped for an s. A similar rewrite might be applied to the declaration that Santiago was "a major crime fighter." His regular displays of favoritism, cronyism and the reported poor attendance record he had while on the city payroll add up to make Santiago more of a major criminal than a crime fighter.

And just when you think you've read the best comes old Smug Doug himself. The Missing Mayor made a prophetic statement in the Times.

"I'm disappointed," Palmer said. "However, I have to move on. I have a city to run and I have to run it."

At last, a statement we can agree with. Palmer has to move on.

Blather and confusion from another Palmer puppet

Doug Palmer’s favorite shill set a new record for sucking up to the master Thursday during his radio show.

L. A. Parker opened “Straight Talk” on WIMG with a discussion of the Santiago residency issue. For five minutes, Parker took the party line to new lows. (Download it here.)

After proclaiming that the Trentonian “broke the story” of Santiago moving into the city, Mr. Objectivity and his female on-air sidekick state that if the opportunity presents itself through the former police director should be allowed to stay on. They demonstrate a complete lack of understanding and/or acceptance of the fact that four New Jersey judges have declared the office of police director vacant due to Santiago’s lack of residency. The only reason he is still “on the job” is because he was granted a 75 day time period to effect an orderly transition to a successor.

He goes onto state the matter was handled incorrectly from the outset and that if the job meant that much to Santiago he should have moved into the city and avoided all the expense and hassle of the court case. We can’t argue that.

Parker criticizes Council, notably Councilman At-Large Segura and the so called “gang of four” (Segura, along with Bethea, Coston and Melone) about changing their tune from ‘it’s about residency’ to ‘he’s (Santiago) not the man from the job.’

“It’s not fair,” L.A. says.

Parker actually says that it appears there is a way for Santiago to stay.

L. A. also says Mr. Segura “should have kept his mouth shut” but has “had a problem doing that lately.” (About 2:55 in) Maybe Parker should heed his own advice.

This again shows a refusal to grasp the most basic concept of the case…the position is vacant. Santiago’s relocation to the city doesn’t guarantee his approval by Council or anyone else.

Parker, ever the administration loyalists, defies anyone to tell him that Santiago has not done a good job in the five years he was Police Director. His blind allegiance to the Palmer throne prevents him from acknowledging the financial waste, blatant favoritism, the lack of public confidence in the level of overall public safety in the city that have marked the Santiago tenure.

Not a very good quality in one who purports to be a journalist.

Another indication of Parker’s lack of comprehension of the facts of the case comes at about 3:49 into the piece. Our intrepid reporter, so willing to offer his learned opinion on these weighty topics admits readily and clearly that he “doesn’t know how it was stated in the decision by Judge Feinberg.”

“If it says that he’s gone, than he’s gone,” explains our non-comprehending radio host. “But if there’s a way that he can stay, don’t change the debate now.”
Don’t know, L. A.? Then stop talking about it!

Perhaps the most telling and egregious statement in the piece comes near the end.

Mr. Parker brings up the fact that there are questions about Director of Communications Irving Bradley residency as well. Parker puts this on people who don’t like “Latinos” or “blacks.” As proof, he cites the fact that rumors have swirled for years about the true residency status of Business Administrator Jane Feigenbaum yet nobody has gone after her.

It is true that many have questioned just how much of a Trenton resident Jane is. It was pretty well known that she divided her time between Jersey City and her house in Mill Hill. Her frequent absences were marked by an increase in the amount of people hanging on her front steps; her often overgrown backyard. And it is right that her residency should be questioned.

But Mr. Parker, intrepid reporter that he is, again doesn’t know or doesn’t care that Ms. Feigenbaum owns her home in Trenton (something Mr. Santiago has yet to be able to say). Ms. Feigenbaum also is registered to vote in Trenton. Again, something Mr. Santiago never did.

Aren’t these two of the benchmarks used to establish “bona fide” residency? Since these two facts are public information that anyone can readily come by, why wouldn’t one assume that Ms. Feigenbaum has met a lot more of the legal standards used to determine residency than Mr. Santiago or Mr. Bradley, so maybe there is no point in pursuing any action against her.

But even that simple research is too much for Mr. Parker, an alleged reporter, to be able to carry out. It’s much easier and to his liking to call the motivations racist and leave it at that.

Prattle on Mr. Parker. You aren’t convincing anybody of anything other than your blind and loyal allegiance to Doug Palmer’s shrinking, sinking fiefdom.


*Edited to fix broken link to audio download. If it still doesn't work, try cutting and pasting this url into your browser: http://www.zshare.net/download/1742864254135b48/

Psst! Do you want to know a secret?

Seems as though the Palmer machine, dysfunctional though it may be, set the grapevine humming via its unofficial mouthpiece, Mr. Larry "L.A." Parker.

In this morning's edition of the Trentonian, Mr. Parker "reports" that unidentified sources have stated that former Police Director Santiago will move into the city in an attempt to regain his appointment.

Word of the story began to circulate Tuesday evening raising eyebrows and tempers across town. And that was just what the scenario was intended to do.

Once again, the Trentonian's Mr. Parker showed that he is nothing more than a pawn of the Palmer administration by writing up and submitting a biased piece of public information flim-flam disguised (barely) as reporting.

Fellow blogger and co-plaintiff in the suit that upheld the City's residency ordinance, Greg Forester, exposes Parker's professional lapses in an entry today. We agree that Parker irresponsibly compromised his position as a supposedly unbiased and independent reporter by allowing himself to be used to "float" the notion that Santiago would take up residency and be reappointed to the Director position by Palmer.

Obviously, Palmer and Santiago hope to gauge public reaction to the "rumors" to design their next move in this game they are trying to run on City Council and the public.

Palmer and Santiago seem to hope the hardworking, taxpaying citizens of Trenton will overlook the hundreds and thousands of dollars spent defending the Mayor's illegally granted residency waiver. Money that the cash strapped city can ill afford at this time.

They are also overlooking and possibly condoning the continued illegal actions of errant police Captain Paul "Capt. Sleepy" Messina. Why isn't Mr. Parker reporting on that situation?

The truth is Palmer and Santiago are using their "inside" man, L.A. Parker, as their lead propagandist. By manipulating the "news" they hope to control public opinion of their failed leadership.

That is the real secret and they do not want you to realize it.

But on the other hand

This blogger giveth and this blogger taketh away

Where we had to give a nod to Trentonian Columnist L.A. Parker the other day, his inaccurate statements on Friday have given us a change of mind. We agree with Greg Forester's entry on the misinformation contained in Parker's May 16 column.

Let's set the record straight on a couple of points that Mr. Parker misstated:

1) The city council has not already approved the gun purchase. If that were the case, there would be no discussion or docket item. The action that was previously approved was a budget line item to replace the aging Glocks in the city's arsenal. Just because the item is in the capital budget does not need it has to be spent in whole or part.

2) The argument that it is not a $200,000 lump sum expenditure, but rather spread out over 20 years at $10,000 per is ridiculous. Whether you accept his and former Police Director Santiago's math or not, it's $200,000. There is an offer of free guns on the table so the capital expenditure is not needed. Period.

3) The cost of $25,000 for Glocks is only if the department opts to "upsize" to a .45 caliber gun vs. the current .40 caliber (and there is, research tells us, very little difference between the two size rounds). Would you prefer to hit with a slug from one over the other? Not us. If the city stays with the .40 caliber Glock, there will be no cost for the one-to-one gun swap. Only if we swap the .40 caliber Glocks for new .45 caliber Glocks, would that $25,000 cost be incurred.

In conclusion, Mr. Parker is entitled to form his opinions and he's paid to express his thoughts.

He should, however, make sure he has his facts straight before he holds puts them out there for public consumption.

And, one other thing...the city taxpayers who will be shouldering the costs of the city's deficit should be given due consideration when council decides this issue.

The opinions of the non-resident former Police Director and the non-resident Trentonian columnist should not be given a second thought.

Nothing from nothing

We have to give a nod to oft-maligned Trentonian columnist L.A. Parker. In his column this morning he takes on the Zero Tolerance issue.

In the piece, Parker appreciates the Zero Tolerance approach now being taken by law enforcement as a response to the fatal Walnut Avenue arson that cost the life of a 10 year old Qua'Dashia Hopkins. He does touch on the fact that maybe if this had been done sooner, things might not be quite as bad as they are in Trenton. To his credit, Parker does suggest this might have been more of a policy decision from the top than from the cops on the streets.

L.A. also takes up the matter of the community's responsibility for not holding to a zero tolerance level of its own. And we have to agree.

The residents can only do so much, but they can do more than many may realize.

Anyone with a knowledge of Trenton knows that there are and have always been neighborhoods where negative behaviors are tolerated less than in other places. Subsequently these areas become known as "better" or "safer" or "nicer."

All because the residents have determined what is tolerated and what is not and acted accordingly.

The police and other law enforcement officials can only work effectively in conjunction with the public.

The laws on the books are the standards that each must strive to uphold.

Both sides need to do their part if we are to rid our streets of the filth, the crime and the ultimate sadness of what is happening in Trenton.

One turkey sandwich, please

Make mine to go.

In his Trentonian column on Wednesday, January 16, local scribe L. A. Parker compared City Council’s long-awaited action on the residency waiver to their inability to construct a decent turkey sandwich with the ingredients set out before them.

Parker, who is not known for his objectivity when it comes to the actions of the Doug Palmer administration, admonished the six members of Council who voted to give the Mayor seven days to rescind his action regarding Police Director Joe Santiago’s residency.

L. A. decried the hours spent discussing and avoiding action on this one issue when so many other items need to be addressed. And Parker is right on that, there are a lot of other issues to be dealt with.

a) the City’s infrastructure is not in good shape
b) housing enforcement (indeed, enforcement of all laws in general) is more lax than it should be
c) Our schools are physically falling apart and the school administration is failing our children, despite the millions of dollars poured into the system by the state (this is not a Council problem per se, but it still needs to be dealt with).
d) No matter what the Mayor, Director Santiago, or their respective spin doctors say, public safety in Trenton is not better now than it was 40 years ago. It is not even better now than it was 40 months ago.
e) We still have no economic opportunities for unskilled city residents and no prospects of attracting a major employer to the area in at least part because of points c and d above

What Mr. Parker fails to acknowledge is that after 17+ years of the same bullying, arrogant, administration the state of the city of Trenton is not totally Council’s fault. Indeed, if you follow the money and support that Mr. Palmer has given to “his team” of council people, logic tells you that implicit in that funding and endorsement was that they would support his agenda and personal whims.

Of course, Mr. Palmer and Mr. Parker would, along with the council people who received the Mayor’s largesse, deny that there was ever any intent to co-opt the legislative branch of city government to do the executive branch’s bidding.

If that were truly the case, why would Mr. Parker make snarky remarks about a council majority that found its voice?

So what, it took them awhile. But they made a turkey sandwich and it tastes pretty good. Maybe they’ll get comfortable in the kitchen and start making more.
If Mr. Palmer continues to ignore the law for his own selfish and egotistical reasons, maybe Council can cook up another sandwich and send him packing as well.

It is obvious Doug doesn’t want to be here anymore and we certainly can’t afford his poor leadership any longer.

As columnist, Mea Kaemmerlen of the Times wrote this morning, “Trenton -- beleaguered and beloved -- deserves an energetic, intelligent, inspired, workaholic leader.”

Let’s order up a triple-decker turkey club, to go.