Further investigation required

We really were not that surprised to learn that the now convicted former occupant of the office of Mayor somehow managed to create a“secret” bank account. After all, it fits the mold and methods of a man who used the city treasury as his own.

The revelation does leave many unanswered questions:

How was it accomplished without the knowledge of or approval from anyone in the finance department? If the auditor could find it, shouldn’t the checks and balances in the financial systems have picked it up sooner?

How much money was involved? Is there any left in the account? What was the money spent on?

Most importantly, will the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office open a full investigation into this? Will they bring the matter to a grand jury?

We should not concern ourselves with the fact that Mr. Mack has already been tried and convicted on Federal Corruption charges. This is about making someone fully accountable for the wrong they have done…at all levels. It is doubtful that Mr. Mack acted alone in this and anyone else who aided and abetted this deception needs to be charged accordingly. It is also about showing others that this kind of corruption will not be tolerated…at any level.

The above referenced article also revealed that there have been some issues with personnel working “out of title” and lack of controls over authorized overtime.

The audit covered the period of SFY2013 (July 1, 2012 – June 30, 2013). The report is just being made public to the city council. Sam Hutchinson, the city Business Administrator, admitted there were issues due to the massive layoffs but that things had been corrected “now.”

State statute 40:69A-44 describes the qualifications, powers and duties of the Business Administrator.

The department of administration shall be headed by a director who shall be known and

designated as business administrator. He shall be chosen solely on the basis of his

executive and administrative qualifications with special reference to his actual experience

in, or his knowledge of, accepted practice in respect to the duties of his office as

hereinafter set forth. At the time of his appointment, he need not be a resident of the

municipality or State, but during his tenure of office he may reside outside the

municipality only with the approval of council. He shall have, exercise and discharge the

functions, powers and duties of the department. The department, under the direction and

supervision of the mayor shall:

(a) Assist in the preparation of the budget;

(b) Administer a centralized purchasing system;

(c) Be responsible for the development and administration of a sound

personnel system; and

(d) Perform such other duties as council may prescribe.

(e) The governing body of the municipality may provide, by ordinance, that

the business administrator also shall, subject to the direction of the mayor,

supervise the administration of each of the departments established by ordinance.

For this purpose, he shall have power to investigate the organization and

operation of any and all departments, to prescribe standards and rules of

administrative practice and procedure, and to consult with the heads of the

departments under his jurisdiction; provided that with respect to any department

of law or department of audit, accounts or control, the authority of the business

administrator under this subsection shall extend only to matters of budgeting,

personnel and purchasing.

 L.1950, c. 210, p. 476, s. 3-14. Amended by L.1954, c. 68, p. 422, s. 2; L.1981, c. 462, s. 40; L.1981, c. 465, s. 19, eff. Jan. 9, 1982.

While it is true that Mr. Hutchinson did not come on board until April of 2012, “the development and administration of a sound personnel system” is one of the BA’s duties as enumerated in the state statute. 

When did Mr. Hutchinson become aware of these issues? How and when did he address them? Was the governing body made aware of the problems and corrections prior to the auditor’s report? (It certainly doesn't seem like it from the newspaper account)

In August of 2006 Mercer County Prosecutor Joe Bocchini removed former chief financial director and comptroller Christine Stankiewicz from city hall amid allegations of payroll fraud.

Has the prosecutor’s office been notified of the auditor’s recent findings as outlined above? If not, why not?

We hope and hereby suggest that the Mercer County Prosecutor open a full investigation into both of the matters outlined in the Mercadien report immediately. 

Think!

On Monday, February 3 2014, the prosecution and the defense will make their closing arguments before a jury charged with determining the guilt of Trenton Mayor Tony Mack and his brother Ralphiel in the alleged scheme to accept cash bribes from a would be developer of a downtown parking garage.

This is the end result of an FBI sting investigation that fronted the fake development deal to see if the Macks and their friends JoJo Giorgianni and Charles Hall III would take the bait.  Giorgianni and Hall have already entered guilty pleas, leaving the Macks to stand alone.

Some still wonder if this “sting” was actually “entrapment” and/or if this was part of some greater vendetta against the woefully underperforming mayor and his clique of unruly and ill-mannered friends.

We personally think the prosecution has made its case that there was a conspiracy and that the Mack brothers were not only aware of it but participated in it.  The law does not require that either one of them be caught actually taking the bribes, although Ralphiel was found to be in possession of some of the currency that the FBI used in the investigation.

One can never know for sure how a jury will vote. It only takes one reasonable doubt for the whole case to crumble and the defendants set free.

It is significant that this trial will end, however it ends, just as the municipal election campaign season warms up. Just three months after the verdict is delivered Trentonians will go to the polls to select a mayor and city council for the next four years.

Candidates and voters alike need to take some time to reflect on the past three and one half years of the hands down worst administration this city has seen in its over 300 year history.  We all need to review not only what was done but how it was done.

Before casting one vote in the May 13^th municipal election, the public needs to thoroughly and thoughtfully review their choices.  The candidates cannot be judged solely on the cut of their suit or the church they attend.

We need to examine who they associate with; where their campaign money is coming from and how they have conducted themselves in their public and, yes, private lives up to this point.

Engaged citizens must review the information that is available to them via New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission reports.  Does the candidate file complete and accurate reports on time? Are they reporting proper expenditures?

Trentonians must also ask direct questions of those seeking office and not accept the typical, non-committal political double-speak designed to win voter approval but containing no substance.

Mayoral candidates must present measurable, realistic goals and define a plan that they will follow to achieve them.

City council candidates must demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of the governing body’s role in city government; its authority and power.

Pay attention to not only what candidates are saying but how they communicate.

We all say we want the best for Trenton, let’s not lower our standards just because we have a personal affinity for an individual who is running for office. 

If we want elected leaders who can think critically, than we must be critical in how we choose them.

The 2010-2014 term has been a waste for the city of Trenton. Corruption scandal aside, we have seen more waste and ineffective, often non-existent, government. It is well documented and openly recognized that the city’s woes did not start at noon on July 1, 2010.  What has transpired since has dragged Trenton down to the lowest point in our memory.

Despite what may be said during the campaign, whoever takes the oath of office on July 1, 2014 will not be able to flip a switch and immediately make everything “OK” again.

So choose wisely, Trenton. Or be prepared for an even rockier next four years.

Now what?

Is the defense team for Tony and Ralphiel Mack trying to stifle coverage of their trial on corruption charges?

{edited at 9 pm, 1/10/14 to include notes about and from the Times article on the matter}

On the same day that jurors and the public heard a recording of JoJo Giorgianni complain about Trentonian columnist LA Parker constantly writing stories picking on Trenton Mayor Tony Mack, the defense team appears to have subpoenaed another Trenton reporter.

On Friday evening, the Times of Trenton published a story online noting that Thursday morning, January 9, Times of Trenton reporter Alex Zdan was served with a subpoeana asking for "all notes pertaining to coverage of the Mack et al matter."

According to the article by Jenna Pizzi,
“Attorneys for The Times have notified the judge and the defense attorney of our intent to fight the subpoena," said Matt Dowling, editor of The Times. "Courts have long-recognized a privilege deeply rooted in the First Amendment that protects reporters from being compelled to provide evidence in judicial proceedings.”

Just after Judge Michael Shipp called a one hour recess for lunch on Thursday, Times reporter Alex Zdan was approached by Robert Haney, attorney for Ralphiel Mack.

Haney, accompanied by private investigator Buddy Wright, walked over to where Zdan was speaking with colleague Jenna Pizzi.

Haney and Wright stood slightly apart for a moment and were largely ignored by the reporters. After politely waiting for a pause in the conversation, Haney asked Zdan if he had been “served.”

There was a very tense pause while Zdan just stared at Haney. Finally, Zdan told Haney that he would not and probably should not speak with him, at least not without a lawyer present. The reporter’s tone was calm and measured but there was unmistakable tension in the words.

Haney nodded and stated that was why he had approached Zdan. He asked that any legal representative of the reporter’s please contact him.

This happened the same day that a lengthy article based upon an interview Zdan did with Giorgianni appeared in the Times. Whether that article was the catalyst for the legal action against Zdan is not known.

Zdan’s reporting on the entire investigation from the time of the FBI raids of the homes of the Mack brothers and Giorgianni has been intensive. He has uncovered the reasons why search warrants were issued for certain individuals.

We hope the defense is not unfairly trying to silence the press or discourage further investigative reporting as part of its trial strategy.

And we hope the defense team is a zealous in pursuing  and preventing possible witnesses from sitting in the courtroom during proceedings, such as Rodney Washington did on Thursday.

Sounds familiar

"My heart aches today knowing that my beloved home town of Detroit now has the notoriety of being the largest American city to officially file for bankruptcy. But the filing was really just a formality. Detroit has really been broke, broken and in decay now for decades — a shell of a city, with a small downtown and some scattered neighborhoods dissected by miles of abandoned storefronts and vacant lots ."

"Detroit's demise was decades in the making" is the title of a piece published on July 19 in the Washington Post  and written by Detroit native, Keith B. Richburg. The above is the opening paragraph of that article.

Richburg lays out, honestly, openly and sadly what has happened to his hometown over the last 50+ years. He rightly deduces that the city did not reach the point of having to file for bankruptcy overnight. It is a sobering read for anyone interested in urban studies.

There are some very strong parallels to Trenton's own history in the same period. The similarities are so strong, that Richburg could easily have been writing about our capital city rather than the motor city.

Take the last sentence in that opening paragraph and change one word: Detroit Trenton  has really been broke, broken and in decay now for decades —a shell of a city, with a small downtown and some scattered neighborhoods dissected by miles of abandoned storefronts and vacant lots.

OK. That was easy and a no-brainer. Read the article in full while mentally swapping Trenton in for Detroit. Substitue other local references where appropriate and see what you get.

For example:

The Detroit Trenton I remember ceased to exist a long time ago. But it was kept alive by a pride, a nostalgia for its former glory, and an illusion that revival was just around the next corner. We who love Detroit Trenton — even people like me who abandoned it long ago — were all complicit.

This paragraph stands on its own, unchanged from Richrburg's original and readily applicable to Trenton:

"Most of the old-time residents say they never plan to move, even though city services are virtually nonexistent in the old neighborhoods and most of the neighbors are gone. It’s a pride, a stubbornness and an attitude of “I bought this home 40 years ago, and no crack addicts or gangbangers are going to drive me out of it!” "

In a paragraph discussing Detroits past mayors, Richburg closes with a statement about convicted and imprisoned Kwame Kilpatrcik and how people still defend him. Change just a couple of words and it suddenly is Trenton that we are talking about:

But Detroiters Trentonians are prideful and protective of their own; even when Kilpatrick Mack and his associates were shown to be corrupt, many Detroiters Trentonians came out to support him, blaming the prosecutors for unfairly targeting a black elected official.

Perhaps the most telling passage comes near the end, under the subtitle "Racial politics."

The white population’s abandonment of the city left Detroit Trenton with a shrinking tax base and deteriorating, segregated public schools — a system locked in place by a Supreme Court order that halted busing across school district lines. But blacks still in Detroit Trenton had one thing left — political power. And they would guard it jealously against any encroachment, real or imagined.

Thus, the city’s black political class sees conspiracy theories everywhere. The investigation of the last mayor by the Detroit Free Press local press, and his indictment by a prosecutor, are seen as a white conspiracy to undermine black “home rule” of Detroit Trenton. The governor’s appointment of an emergency financial manager, once it became clear that Detroit Trenton cannot manage its own fiscal affairs, is again seen as a hostile, racist takeover by the state over the city’s elected black leadership.

Racial politics, and that racial prism, long ago ruined Detroit Trenton , and now they hamper any chance the city has at a modest recovery. As a longtime friend, one who has stayed in Detroit and worked to help the city, once put it to me succinctly: "Some people would rather be the king of nothing than a part of something.”

Meanwhile, in America's formerly favorite hometown...

{NOTE: we made a correction to the statement regarding the percentage of the Hamilton GOP committee treasury that was transferred to the ex-Mayor's campaign fund. We regret the typo that indicated a math error.}

In what could only be described as an attempt at karmic rehabilitation, Hamilton Township ex-Mayor John Bencivengo planned to run out his campaign treasury by sending checks totaling some $60,000 to various area charities.

Then came the reports that some of the chosen non-profits are politely turning down the contributions.

But that isn't the interesting part.

On the night of April 19, the Times of Trenton posted a story about Bencivengo being the target of a federal investigation into political corruption.

On that same day, according to his own campaign report (see page 2), Bencivengo received a transfer of $11,000 from the Hamilton Township Republican Committee. That $11,000 represented about 40% of the club's treasury.

On the corresponding report from the Hamilton party (page 8), the transfer was dated as occurring April 20...the day after.

Did Bencivengo incorrectly think he could use campaign funds for his legal defense? Remember, his defense attorney was Jerome Balloratto, who reportedly charges $500 per hour.

The NJ Supreme court decided that issue in the case of former state senator Wayne Bryant. Campaign funds cannot be used for the purpose of providing a defense in a criminal case.

"Contributors do not expect that their candidate’s election will be a stepping stone to a criminal indictment", wrote Justice Barry Albin in the March 2010 decision.

Why would Bencivengo practically plunder the township club's coffers just as he was heading into a federal corruption case?

Once he moved the money in, it would be "awkward" to move the money back.

Dispersing it to local charities was a nice gesture.

But it does smell a bit.

The morning news...and more

The Trentonian’s front page is screaming about the fact that one of Mayor Tony Mack’s properties is on the current tax sale list.

It is a shame.  Public officials should set a better example.

But what is a larger shame is that this Hampton avenue property has sat vacant and burned out for years with nothing being done. The city has never moved to forced Mack to fix up the building or tear it down. Never mind that he is now the mayor and CEO of the city. What does this say about Trenton’s ability to operate effectively as a city?

The Trentonian article mentions a few other names that appear on the tax list: Raphiel Mack, the mayor’s brother, for one. Jo Jo Giorgianni, a Mack confidante and supporter, for another.

What wasn’t mentioned was that Bayville Holdings, the owner/developer of the Broad Street Bank building, is also on the list. They owe $15,992.65 a combination of their payments in lieu of taxes and their assessment for being in the Trenton Downtown special improvement district. 

Bayville, you will recall, financed their extensive and expensive renovation of Trenton’s first skyscraper in part with state funding that resulted in an income cap for prospective renters of the buildings apartments. This meant that what could have, should have been a pricey, desirable urban enclave turned into just another high rise filled with subsidized tenants.  At the same time, the developer twisted the city’s arm to get a lengthy PILOT on the property taxes.  Payments they apparently aren’t making anyway.

Good deal (NOT!) that the Palmer administration stuck us with. 

The Times has an interesting story by Alex Zdan about Mercer Countytaking back control of the TMAC grant from the city because of non-compliance with the terms of the funding agreement.

The TMAC grant is state money passed through the county to municipalities to fund alcohol and drug abuse prevention programs for children.  Since the Mack administration took over, there has been the typical lack of attention to conforming to the terms of the grant agreement. The monies have been used, at least in part, to pay friends of the administration, like Lisa Whitaker, with no reported work product being shown.

In April, the city convened the required steering committee in a last ditch effort to retain control over the funding but the county was not impressed.  In this morning’s article, Zdan states that the county will select the program providers, taking the decision away from the city.

Interestingly, the article also states that Joyce Kersey was named the coordinator for the grant.  This is a paid position. It begs the question: if the county is now running the grant, why is it paying, through the city, someone to coordinate the program?

Is Ms. Kersey, who was recently singled out as the individual Mayor Mack used to inform two school board members that he was rescinding their appointments (which, it turns out, he can’t do), yet another “Friend of Tony’s” grabbing a few extra taxpayer bucks for no real reason?

Not reported in the article was another little tidbit we heard re: the TMAC steering committee meeting. One Ms. Linda Gundy was chosen to chair this committee to steer the program that the county has now taken control of.  As ridiculous as that sounds, it gets better.

Ms. Gundy is a friend and supporter of Tony Mack.  She was listed in TMAC grant documents asbeing a “concerned citizen” that was appointed to the steering committee. (It should be noted that many people who were named on this list weren't even aware of it until Anthony Roberts convened that April meeting. It should also be noted that Ms. Kersey's name is not on this list.)

Ms. Gundy may very well be concerned, but she is also on the city payroll.

Since January, Ms. Gundy has been employed by the TrentonWater Works.  Prior to that, she was listed on documents as “an intern” in the recreation department.  She was paid as an independent contractorfrom September of 2011 until she was placed, full time, at TWW.  Interestingly, in August and September of2011, Ms. Gundy was also listed and paid as a “seasonal employee” of theTWW. 

This means that during September of last year, she was a city employee and a paid city consultant. This would appear to violate state law, not that the Mack administration has ever appeared to be concerned about following such law.

Being a friend of Tony Mack’s sure has its advantages.  

Apparently, Crime* does pay

You remember back in November when the story broke that long time City of Trenton employee and AFSCME local president Dave Tallone was charged by the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office with fraudulently obtaining city contracts, right?

You don't?

Then read Lisa Coryell's article from the Times, November 11, 2011.

And you remember when, on the heel of those charges, the City of Trenton issued a release stating that Mr. Tallone was to be suspended immediately without pay?  If not, here's the press release on the city website.
 Well, what if we told you that Mr. Tallone has not missed a day of pay in the past two plus months?

We didn't either. that is not until we checked his payroll records and discovered that Mr. Tallone has been collecting "sick pay", "holiday pay" and, of course, his "longevity pay" ever since his alleged suspension. 

Seems as though Mr. Tallone was never technically suspended. Sources are saying the city, in the persons of acting Business Administrator Anthony Roberts and/or acting Public Works Director Harold Hall, never provided Mr. Tallone with the required Loudermill hearing and notice of suspension.  There doesn't seem to be any reason to not have provided this "due process" to Mr. Tallone. He didn't even have to be present for them to hold a hearing and draft a notice to send to him.

The city just didn't seem to do it in the 30 days allotted.  So now Mr. Tallone enjoys a taxpayer paid vacation while awaiting the disposition of his case.

Was this by design or default?  Maybe Mr. Bocchini or the new state Attorney General should seek answers to that question.

UPDATE: The Trentonian has posted a story on line here wherein highyl paid contract labor attorney for the city Steve Glickman claims that Tallone's charges were not serious enough to allow suspension without pay.  Glickman goes on to explain that Tallone could be suspended with pay, but that would be like giving him a "paid vacation." 

Mr. Glickman, what is Mr. Tallone getting now but paid for not doing anything?  Sounds like a paid vacation to us.
*We use the term "Crime" here to make the reference to the old saw that crime doesn't pay. We fully recognize that Mr. Tallone was only charged with criminal acts and as yet has not been found guilty of any crime.  Innocent until proven guilty and all that.

Hey, Joe?

Remember this:

Trenton official arraigned

Published: Monday, February 26, 2007, 10:35 AM Updated: Monday, February 26, 2007, 11:05 AM
By Ralph Curcio/The Times

TRENTON - Longtime city Finance Director Christine Stankiewicz, who was indicted last week on charges of official misconduct and theft by deception, appeared in court this morning. Stankiewicz was arraigned before Superior Court Judge Maria Sypek, who entered not guilty pleas on her behalf.

Assistant Prosecutor Doris Galuchie said the 57-year-old woman had allowed employees to take improper time off work and falsified payroll timesheets. Stankiewicz, who has no prior criminal record, was released on her own recognizance.

© 2011 NJ.com. All rights reserved.


Recap:

The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office raided city hall, removed Stankiewicz from her place of employment and she was indicted for allowing employees to take improper time off work and falsified payroll timesheets.

So the question is, where is the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office now?

The city of Trenton appears to have improperly employed one Nathaniel M. Jones, Jr. as the Director of the Municipal Courts for the past year. There are some problems with this:

• The position of Court Director does not appear to exist under the city’s administrative code
• Mr. Jones is not a bonafide resident of the city of Trenton
• Mr. Jones has a criminal record (that he appears to have tried to avoid disclosing by avoiding a thorough background check)
• Mr. Jones has proven to be highly ineffective in the apparently non-existent position.

Yet, to date, nothing has been done about this. Surely, this bears scrutiny that would no doubt result in some sort of charges being filed.

As Kevin Moriarty said in his blog the other day:

I think one can make the same claim of … Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph Bocchini. For over a year, Bocchini has been investigating, collecting evidence (and had evidence provided to him), convening grand juries and more; with very little to show for it. He has indicted a few Water Works employees including Mayor Mack’s half-brother, but there has been precious little other movement from his office on any other matter.

I think Mr. Bocchini may also have a “terminal case of the slows.” Going forward, I expect this to be one of several articles that will turn up in the future when one Googles “Joe Bocchini” and “Tony Mack.” What will the others say?

Maybe this article will turn up on that Google list.

Bass ackwards

When you hire an employee, you usually try to hire someone with the most qualifications and/or experience pertinent to the job he or she will be doing.

At least that is the theory.

In the city of Trenton, it appears that the inverse is more the rule than the exception. The hiring policy in city hall seems to follow the old adage "it is not what you know, but who you know."

Marc McKithen, city law director, is a case in point. 

Marc is bright, well educated, and with a strong ethical bent.  He is not an expert in municipal law...especially the byzantine version followed here in NJ.  McKithen admitted as much while being questioned by city council woman Marge Caldwell-Wilson during his confirmation (advice and consent) appearance before the governing body.

Apparently, above and beyond his actual qualifications for the position, McKithen comes from a large, well-known local family.  One of his uncles gave a substantial contribution to the Tony Mack campaign.  Marc made a contribution as well.

During his brief tenure as the city attorney, Marc made some bad calls and a couple of good ones.

One notable example of the latter was McKithen's lack of understanding of the New Jersey's public purchasing laws that lead to the ADPC/Lynx IT consulting contract debacle.  It resulted in the case going before Judge Linda Feinberg, who not only decided against the city's position but gave Mr. McKithen quite the tongue lashing.  The judge was none too pleased with the city's complete abandonment of the proscribed purchasing process.

To the good, Marc McKithen famously and correctly declared the legal services contract between the city and the Cooper Levenson law firm void due to campaign contribution law (pay-to-play).  The Cooper Levenson firm is headed by Lloyd Levenson. The firm contributed significantly to the Partners for Progress political action committee that in turn gave money to Mayor Mack's campaign.  The contribution was allegedly withdrawn by the firm and repaid by the campaign although there was never any hard proof of that. 

What didn't come out at the time or in the aftermath, was that Cooper Levenson also made a $2,500 contribution to another political action committee, Trenton Thrives that in turn spent money on behalf on Keith Hamilton's campaign to become mayor of Trenton.  This also violates the city's pay-to-play law and would have disqualified the firm from doing business with the city.

Levenson himself served as a chair of the Mayor's inaugural ball. His name was featured prominently on the invitation to the event.  In most circles, that constitutes solicitation on behalf of the Mayor and thus would violate the pay-to-play law as well.

All that didn't seem to matter and the administration saw to it that council approved the contract to Cooper Levenson in the fall of 2010.  Only later, when things started getting heated in the press, did Mr. McKithen (who, it must be pointed out, was on staff but not yet the actual law director when the contract was approved) determine the contract to be null and void.

The Mayor quickly issued a follow up message stating that Mr. McKithen was wrong and that the contract was legal and in force.  As the public turned up the heat on the deal, Cooper Levenson oh so gallantly "withdrew" from the contract.

Then came the onslaught of Open Public Records Act requests.  Reportedly, the Mayor didn't like the fact that McKithen was complying with the law and releasing information to the public.  Information that demonstrated just how inept, corrupt and sloppy the Mack administration was.

Rather than clean up his act, the Mayor decided to clean house and put pressure on McKithen to resign.

McKithen has apparently given up trying to bring some semblance of law and order to the Mack administration and has tendered his resignation effective June 30.

So the guy who was trying to do the right thing is being forced out of an administration that needs all of the competency it can get.

Bass ackwards.

Cash, lies and videotape

Show me the money, part II

So we have a Political Action Committee (PAC) known as Partners For Progress (PFP) whose stated mission is:

Partners for Progress PAC’s mission is to not only raise money – but also to raise awareness about the political process, educating potential candidates, candidates, and organizations on how to successfully participate in the political process.

Well, PFP seems to have gotten the raising money part right…too bad they are a little shaky on how to successfully participate in the political process.

As was pointed out in the previous post, there are some interesting “problems” with PFP’s required reporting to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission. The $7200 contribution from the Cooper Levenson law firm that was apparently wheeled to Tony Mack’s mayoral campaign was covered in the prior post.

We will track some other interesting contributions later. This time out let’s look at some of the expenditures that PFP reported.

The first thing that comes up on the expense pages is a listing of payments made to individuals for “community outreach.” This is another term for “street money,” money paid to individuals to get out the vote. By law, these payments must be made by check and reported with each person’s name, address, and the number of the check used to pay them.

PFP reported 79 such payments of $25 each to individuals. That would be a total of $1975 paid for community outreach. Would be…except seven of the reported payments are duplicate entries. So it was really 72 individuals receiving a total of $1800. Guess PFP is somewhat sloppy with their record keeping.

Of the 72 individuals who received payments from PFP, 30 don’t have check numbers listed. That is a violation of state election law. Twelve of the 72 don’t have an address listed. That is also a violation of state election law.

Pretty sloppy record keeping, don’t you think?

Or was this report just hurriedly put together because of the investigation that Politicker NJ reported in December of last year?

Interesting, too, is that PFP paid a Jeff Meyers a $2500 “consulting” fee. One might wonder what kind of consulting Mr. Meyers provided to PFP. The report doesn’t give the required full address for Mr. Meyers, just the fact that his is from Burlington, NJ.

Is it safe to assume, then, that this Mr. Jeff Meyers is the very same Jeff Meyers who stepped down as the Treasurer of the Burlington County Democratic Committee because of questions surrounding some money “wheeling” and pay to play schemes (sound familiar?)

If we are talking about the same Jeff Meyers, is it not reasonable to expect that a former county political committee treasurer would know the rules for proper ELEC reporting? Wouldn’t it have been prudent to seek his advice and counsel in preparing and filing the required reports in a timely manner?

Three other expenditures jump off the page as one peruses this report.

Under the heading of “Itemized Contributions Made to Candidates and Committees” are entries for the $7200 contribution made to Mr. Mack’s campaign, a $250 contribution to Councilwoman At Large Kathy McBride’s campaign, and a $5000 contribution to Juan Martinez’s campaign.

The Mack contribution seems directly related to the now disputed Cooper Levenson contribution to PFP.

The contribution received by Ms. McBride’s campaign falls beneath the $300 threshold for required reporting and so she apparently didn’t. There are additional expenditures listed as “in-kind” on her behalf that would, when paired with the $250 contribution, put her over that limit and require her to report the aggregate contributions. It looks as though PFP may have failed to notify these candidates of these “in-kind” contributions as required by law and the blame, again, lies with them.

Now the $5000 contribution given to Mr. Martinez presents an interesting situation. The date of the contribution is for June 15, the date of the runoff election. Mr. Martinez, who is one of the candidates woefully lacking in compliance with NJ ELEC reporting requirements, had apparently not filed any reports for the runoff part of the election cycle. So we don’t know if he actually received this money or not.

Interestingly, in a videotaped conversation posted on Robert Chilson’s Trenton United Blog, Mr. Martinez states that he never received any money from PFP. He claims that he received a phone call from someone connected with PFP asking if they could put him down as the recipient of a contribution. Martinez admits that he probably shouldn’t have given the go ahead, even with the attached caveat that if the contribution was questioned it would deflect back on PFP.

Is this another indication that PFP hurriedly put together a report in response to the ELEC investigation and “faked” the contribution?

Or did Mr. Martinez actually take a $5000 contribution and not report it?

Again, all it would take is the production of a copy of the cancelled check to show who is telling the truth.

But that seems to be too much to expect from either PFP or Martinez.

Show me the money

If you have been hiding under a rock or stuck in an ice cave the past several days, you might have missed the latest in the ever lengthening line of scandals to hit the Tony Mack administration.

In a nutshell, the city awarded a contract for general legal counsel to the law firm of Cooper Levenson last October. The head guy at Cooper Levenson, Lloyd Levenson, was on Mayor Mack’s transition team and he headed up the committee that put together the Mayor’s Inaugural Ball.

The Mayor wanted Cooper Levenson to get the city contract so badly that he sent it before council three times before he could muster the four votes needed to carry out his desire. At the time, many raised the issue that Mr. Levenson, whose name was prominently featured on the invitation to the Mayor’s gala, was soliciting on behalf of the Mayor and therefore his firm was not eligible to be awarded the contract.

Mr. Levenson, of course, denied that he ever contributed to or solicited contributions on behalf of Mayor Mack. Four members of Trenton’s city council: Alex Bethea, Phyllis Holly-Ward, Kathy McBride, and Verlina Reynolds-Jackson voted to approve the contract.

On January 31, the Times published a story detailing a $7,200 contribution made to a local Political Action Committee (PAC), Partners For Progress (PFP). PFP in turn made an equal contribution to Mayor Mack’s campaign.

A spokesman for Cooper Levenson claims that the firm sent a letter requesting the return of the contribution so they could proceed with soliciting business from the city. The spokesman claims the contribution was repaid and so the potential violation of the city’s Pay to Play ordinance was averted.

If that is the case…show us the cancelled check proving that the contribution was indeed refunded, when it was refunded and that it was re-deposited into the law firm’s account.

Until that check is produced no one should have to take Mr. Levenson’s or anyone else’s word that the violation was “cured,” as the lawyers say.

As for PFP, their tardy reporting to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) just may be central to what is looking to be a very interesting story.

Partners For Progress was formed, in early 2010 by Cynthia Taylor, Carla Hogan and Pete Fields: two Trenton residents (Fields and Hogan) and the owner of a Trenton business (Taylor owns Jet Wine and Liquor on Willow Street). At the bottom of a press release distributed about 3:00 pm on Wednesday, February 2, 2011 PFP states the following:

Partners for Progress PAC — Partners for Progress PAC is an independent, non-partisan group of individuals dedicated to supporting candidates, organizations or causes who demonstrate a commitment to advancing the interests of their community socially and economically. Through political participation and organizational support,

Partners for Progress PAC plans to endorse candidates or causes who have shown an interest in shaping good government policies that will advance the issues important to our organization.

Partners for Progress PAC’s mission is to not only raise money – but also to raise awareness about the political process, educating potential candidates, candidates, and organizations on how to successfully participate in the political process.

Well, maybe Ms. Taylor, Ms. Hogan and Mr. Fields should have raised their own awareness and educated themselves on how to correctly participate in the political process.

PFP is required by law to file quarterly reports detailing their fundraising and expenditures. Since they “organized” in February of last 2010, their first report covering inception through March 31, 2010 was filed when due on April 15, 2010. No additional reports were filed until January of this year when the one covering the period ending June 30 and due on July15 was given to ELEC.

The reports due October 15 and January 15 for the 3rd and 4th calendar quarters have yet to be filed (or at least aren’t yet posted to the ELEC website).

{Note: As far as that goes, many of our candidates/elected officials are behind in their report filing as well. But we’ll get to that some other time.}

Besides the late and missing filings, there are some other issues with PFP’s reporting.

In December, Politicker NJ reported that ELEC was investigating the unreported and excessive contribution made to Tony Mack’s campaign by PFP.
By law, a PAC like PFP can only contribute up to $8,200.00 to a candidate committee in an election. The Mack campaign reported receiving a contribution of $8,805 from PFP…$605 over the limit. PFP hadn’t filed the required reports so there was no record of the contributions from that side…a violation of the state’s campaign finance laws.

Interestingly, the Mack campaign also reported a reimbursement back to PFP of $3,173. But it only had to return the $605 excess. Hmmm.

Why then, did Mack return an additional $2,568 to PFP? There’s no details on the Mack report…could it have been a “partial” repayment of the infamous $7,200 from Cooper Levenson?

Let’s say it was returned to PFP so PFP could in turn repay Cooper Levenson. Where is the documentation?

PFP’s sole report, filed months late and only after the story appeared on Politicker NJ has an entry showing the return of the $3,173 from the Mack campaign but it doesn’t show any reimbursement…in part or in whole…to Cooper Levenson.

Did the reimbursement come in the next reporting period (July 1 – September 30)?

We don’t know because there is no evidence of PFP report having been filed for that or any subsequent period.

In the Times article on this mess published February 3, reporter Alex Zdan wrote the following:

According to Mack, the city received Cooper Levenson’s refund letter when it was sent to Partners For Progress June 28, three days before Mack became mayor. A copy of the letter could not be provided to The Times last night.

“The problem is, it’s in a locked office and I don’t have the key,” mayoral spokeswoman Lauren Ira said.

McKithen could not be reached for comment last night.

Partners For Progress’ Cynthia Taylor denied the $7,200 was specifically for Mack.

“We didn’t approach him, he came to us, he didn’t say, ‘This is for Tony, or anything like that,’” Taylor said yesterday.

Although Levenson said the firm received a full return of their contribution, Taylor said she was not sure.

“Well, like I said, I don’t know what’s going on, what happened since then,” she said. “I just know they asked for the money back sometime in June.”

So was the money returned or wasn’t it?

Levenson claims there was a full return of the contribution, but Ms. Taylor doesn’t know. And, according to the paperwork filed with ELEC, Ms. Taylor signs the checks for PFP.

A reading of the city of Trenton’s Pay to Play ordinance makes it pretty clear that the contribution has to be returned in full before the violation is corrected.

Let’s look at another aspect of the PFP report. The first sheet of the 30 page document gives a summary accounting of the PAC’s funds. It shows an entry of cash on hand of $2,248.71.

If PFP hadn’t returned the $7200 contribution to Cooper Levenson by the June 30th close of the reporting period as indicated by the report, then the refund must have occurred later (if at all).

Since no subsequent reports have yet to be filed, we can’t determine if a later payment was actually made. But with a balance of $2,248.71 shown on the report, PFP would have to find another $4,951.29 somewhere to make up the difference and be able to return the contribution to Cooper Levenson.

Again, no subsequent reports have been filed, so PFP can’t show that they took in the money.

Doesn’t seem likely that they returned Cooper Levenson’s contribution, does it?

There are other interesting aspects of the PFP report filed on January 27, 2011. We’ll get to those in the next installment.

Is there something in the water?

If we weren't so busy running around fighting the rest of the population of the eastern seabord for our fair share of bread and milk we would have posted this yesterday.

What in the hell was Mr. Irwin Stoolmacher thinking when he included the following line in his op ed about Trenton's Mayoral race that appeared in the Friday's Times:

"Trenton politics is not seen by its citizens as corrupt."

Any Trenton citizen who hasn't questioned the accountability, ethics and/or transparency of the current administration just hasn't been paying attention.

Why else would citizens have had to sue to get the administration to enforce its own residency ordinance?

Who else but a corrupt administration would hide their own salary increases in a resolution accepting a contract with one of the city employee unions, again forcing the citizens to take legal action?

Wouldn't a corrupt administration be likely to play favorites amongst developers and contractors, especially those who make sizable campaign contributions (pre-Pay to Play ordinance---which, by the way, the administration fought against)?

What's worse than Mr. Stoolmacher's assertion that this administration is not "seen by its citizen's as corrupt" is the comparison of Mr. Palmer's way of doing business with that of the late Art Holland.

We're not suggesting that Mayor Holland was pefect during his tenure as the city's CEO.  But no one can question his integrity.  The man was "open and fair" long before that became a catch phrase.

Mr. Palmer's tenure, on the other hand, has been marked by repeated examples of administrative sleights of hand that raise many questions about ethics and legalities.

We suggest that Mr. Stoolmacher revisit his thinking on the issue of a corrupt Trenton political seen.  Or at least revisit his physician to have his medications adjusted.

Dennis the Menace rides again

Acting BA throws a tantrum and refuses to pay city bills.

In yet another demonstration of the spiteful ways of the Palmer administration, Acting Business Administrator Dennis Gonzalez has not gotten around to paying the city’s public defenders, as well as other contract workers and consultants since city council denied his request for a part-time, $75,000 assistant some six weeks ago.

Kudos to the Trentonian’s Joe D’Aquila for breaking this story in last Friday’s paper and for the follow ups on Saturday and today. D’Aquila’s reporting once again demonstrates how Gonzalez and others feel they can selectively follow the rules when it is convenient or is to their advantage.

Whether in making payments to favored parties without contracts (ala Barry Colicelli in his first go-round as the so called “Special Assistant” to the Mayor) or selectively enforcing the residency requirements for some employees while prosecuting others, this kind of double standard is a hallmark of Doug Palmer’s reign.

And, if that is not enough, there are rumors that Larry Pollex, the person Gonzalez targeted as his assistant, was working in city hall prior to the vote and continues to do so even after the contract was denied by council.

Let’s hope newly elected South Ward Councilman George Muschal picks up where his predecessor Jim Coston left off and serves as the conscience on council. Here’s hoping he kicks off his term by asking straight up what Mr. Pollex’s status is.

And maybe Councilman Muschal should also inquire about just how long an individual can hold the post in an “acting” capacity. Seems to us, Mr. Gonzalez has been “acting” Business Administrator for about a year now and that would be about four times longer than the 90 day limit.

City council asks why? How?

Balk at hiring extra administrator.

Trenton’s City Council members don’t often get praised for the job they are doing. And there may be reasons for that, but last night they put the brakes on another excursion of the Doug Palmer express as the administration tried to ram through approval of a $75,000 contract to pay for an assistant business administrator.

Good for the members of city council for standing up and saying, “What!?!? NO!!!”

For those who missed it, the Times’ Meir Rinde wrote it up in this morning’s edition.

The long and the short of it is this:

At a time when the city has laid off employees, including much needed inspectors in the technical services division, the administration wants to contract with a person to perform “assistant business administrator” duties to ease the load of one Dennis Gonzalez who was “promoted” last year when former Business Administrator Jane Feigenbaum left to take a job in Perth Amboy.

Interestingly, the administration’s rationale for needing to hire this consultant is so the city can draft policies and manage assets in accordance with suggestions from auditors. Specifically, the adoption of whistle blower and conflict of interest policies as well as updating and maintaining a current inventory of city assets are needed and would be the responsibility of the consultant retained to serve as assistant business administrator.

Bearing the above in mind, we ask:

What did Mr. Gonzalez do when he served as acting business administrator? Wouldn’t these policies and the inventory have fallen under his responsibilities?

If Mr. Gonzalez failed to complete the required work as assistant BA, how and why did he get tapped to move into the “Acting” Business Administrator position?

And that’s another thing: isn’t the title “acting” a provisional one good for only 90 days after which time the appointment is to be brought before council for approval? If that’s the case, does anyone remember Mr. Gonzalez’s appointment coming before council for final approval anytime since, oh say, last February?

Voting citizens of Trenton take heed. Your current city administration continues to run roughshod over the rules and procedures of the laws that govern our city. Watch closely what they do in the next few months and watch even more closely those currently on council and all who seek your favor to gain office in the coming elections.

Their actions will speak much louder than their words.

Last night, Council made an excellent point.

Civil is as civil does

Fear and loathing at the conference table.

The grapevine and the Internet were alive with chatter over last night's City Council conference session where Frank Weeden hurled the "F-bomb" at Council President Paul Pintella. Click here to read L.A. Parker's telling of the tale.

Now Mr. Weeden's remark was uncalled for and rude, but he did immediately apologize to his target (Pintella) and remove himself from the proceedings. Weeden's quick recognition of his faux paux does count for something in our book.

But what of the "target" himself? What role did he have in this that prompted such an outburst from a citizen?

If you've never attended a City Council meeting you wouldn't know it from the reporting, but the Council President can be quite rude to the public and his colleagues alike. Last night was a particularly blatant example.

Mr. Pintella was argumentative towards and dismissive of everyone and anyone who voiced an opinion that differed from his. This is troubling.

No Councilperson...especially the presiding officer, should argue and debate a citizen during the public comment portion of a public meeting. Mr. Pintella does this regularly...berating and arrogantly challenging the very people he took an oath to serve. This happened repeatedly last night and has happened regularly over the course of Mr. Pintella's tenure on Council.

Pintella debated and dismissed comments about the proposed gun purchase for the Trenton Police; he argued against a citizen's concern for preserving two grand buildings in the Greenwood-Hamilton Historic District in the face of having them razed to build a 25 story office building; and he was sharp with and critical of other speakers when they had difficulty making clear their points/questions to the Council.

The Council President also debated West Ward Councilwoman Lartigue when she asked to pull the second reading of the ordinance that would essentially strip the landmarks protection from the Greenwood Avenue buildings. Responding to the concerns raised by a citizen, she wanted to slow the process until there could be further discussion that such a move was in the best interest of the city. Pintella wanted to bulldoze ahead (and we all know his history when it comes to preservation issues---"new bricks" being better than "old bricks," "the train of progress" etc.).

Discussion and the expressing of different points of view with an eye towards forming a consensus is the backbone of our democratic process. And even if a consensus isn't reached, if the parties can agree to disagree and move forward its OK. What is not OK is the arrogance and condescension exhibited in Mr. Pintella's remarks toward citizen and colleague alike.

Another problem with the Council President's deportment is that we cannot think of a single time that he hasn't taken the Administration's side in one of these "discussions." Now he is entitled to his opinions on matters and they may just happen to coincide with that of the Mayor and his other minions. But it seems unlikely that a truly thinking individual would side 100% of the time with anyone on every issue. To us, this demonstrates a lack of cognitive ability on Pintella's part and/or an unwillingness to go against his "master," the Mayor.

That is a problem for the person who presides over the legislative body and therefor is supposed to provide the checks and balances to the administration. And it is but one more sign of the contempt has for the residents of Trenton.

Interesting that, even though his contempt and disdain for his colleagues is regularly on display, they were the ones who voted him into the position.

The final point we'd like to make about Mr.Pintella's pitiful performance as a presiding officer is that he breaks all of the rules governing the chair of a body.

It is our understanding that under proper and normal rules of procedure it is the presiding officer's duty to maintain order and move the agenda along. The chair is not supposed to express personal opinions on matters without first relinquishing the gavel. Certainly, they may clarify points, cite facts or ask/answer questions of a member of the board (in this case, Council) or body (the public).

Discussion and debate are to be moderated by the chair. The Council President's frequent blathering of personal opinions and beliefs on the matters before the group are inappropriate and out of line.

We're pretty certain Mr. Pintella has not studied or even familiarized himself with Robert's Rules of Order. If he had, he would know that his opinions are more properly kept to himself and expressed through his vote on the matter at the proper time.

It's a shame that neither the City Attorney or the highly compensated "Special Counsel" seem able or willing to correct and corral the Council President.

And it's a sad testament to the failed leadership of this city that a person "elected" to represent the city at large and then "chosen" by his colleagues to chair the council is such an incompetent.

Mr. Weeden apologized to the Councilman.

Councilman Pintella should apologize to the people of Trenton for failing to correctly uphold the duties of his office.

Memo from a taxpayer

One person's twelve, oops, make that thirteen cents worth.

To: The Palmer Administration and Trenton City Council

Subject: The Budget

Ok. You danced around so long that the FY2008 budget has to be approved more or less as presented. There was no chance for City Council to find ways to reduce or eliminate the tax increase because a) the budget year is nearly 75% over and the money similarly spent and b) the Administration likes to play games with the amount of detailed, timely information given to Council so they can perform their fiduciary duties effectively.

So you won another round of “My Way.”

Well, let’s get started today on the FY2009 Budget. Let’s start with the assumption that revenues will not increase a single penny above this year’s (and it’s a pretty sure bet they won’t even meet that mark).

Let’s look at real ways to cut spending. And yes, this means jobs. But perhaps not the ones you were thinking of cutting.

For starters, let’s look at these various “Special Assistants” to the Mayor. By now we all know the saga of Barry Colicelli, the highly compensated “consultant” whose contract was not renewed by Council. Well that’s just the beginning.

How about Mr. Jerry Harris? Do we really need to pay him over $50,000 to be a part-time assistant to the Mayor? No!

How about Chief of Staff Renee Haynes? Is this position really required? A survey of most taxpayers might just show you that it is not. There’s another $100,000+ a year saved.

In fact, Mr. Palmer, if you were to “stay home” and tend to the business of running this city, you might not need all this extra help.

Oh, and let’s not forget your driver. How about we let those police officers assigned to you get back to doing the job they were hired to do in the first place: protecting and serving the people of Trenton.

I know it will be hard on your image as a highly successful municipal executive with a role to play on the national stage, but too bad!!!!

The people of Trenton need a leader. They want a mayor who is hands on, in touch and grappling with the real problems of this city. They don’t want a grandstander who is running all over the country promoting himself while the city sinks deeper into debt and despair.

So there’s your start. Check around the executive branch of Trenton’s government and see what other positions we can no longer afford. (Public Information Officer Kent Ashworth, maybe).

Next, stop spending incredible sums of money for outside professional services contracts when the work can be done in house with staff people (and if the people on staff aren’t qualified, get rid of them and hire people who are!).

Need an example?

How about all the various attorney contracts the City pays for? We have a legal department and staff. Why is so much work going out the door? Is it to “toss a bone” to your cronies and campaign contributors? (The names Peterson and Trimboli are just two that come to mind). Bet we could save some money there.

And just why are we dealing with so many legal cases anyway?

Let’s see, there are protracted union negotiations…and who benefits from those? Not the unions and their membership; not the public. That’s right, the lawyers.

And there’s the multitude of claims and lawsuits. Maybe if we didn’t arbitrarily tell the police to “look the other way” while someone shoots a movie without a permit or liability insurance; perhaps if we monitored the way we go about the city’s business, we could minimize or eliminate some of these claims and reduce the need for legal representation. I believe it’s called “Risk Management.”

And it’s not just contracts with lawyers. We need to seek out the best price on all outside professional services contracts…regardless of whether or not they are buddies or supporters of your campaigns (and those of your chosen few).

Along with this, we need to totally and honestly evaluate how the various city departments operate.

Now whatever happened to the management study being conducted in the past year? What were the results? How much did that cost? Are we reaping any benefits from that yet? Oh, and was it really necessary to hire as one of the sub-contracted consultants the wife of one of the division heads who’s staff was being interviewed and evaluated? Isn’t that a little dicey as well as pricey?

City Council, don’t turn away. You’ve got a role in this too. Apply what you’ve recently learned about the budget process to FY2009 expenditures. If you don’t have a working budget in front of you, along with the backup information and material, don’t approve any unnecessary expenditure! Especially outside contracts. It’s past time for you to exercise the power and authority that you have over the budget. Use it or lose it!

Back to the administration; stop proposing stupidly expensive and totally unwarranted spending.

The fire helmet was a bad idea from day one. It became an infamously costly bad idea as time went on. The next time it goes out, have it dismantled and sold for scrap. It’s worthless and we can’t keep spending money on it.

Municipal Wi-Fi: it is a bad idea. Scrap your dreams and whatever promises you may have made to E-Path. It will never be what you think it will. If E-Path or any other company wants to build a system, let them. Just don’t put one Trenton dime into it.

And stop buying half-assed technology just because somebody’s cousin or friend is "in the business" and will sell you stuff cheaply that you can then point to as an illustration of just how advanced and sophisticated Trenton is.

You did it with the old Computer Aided Dispatch System (CPLIMMS was it?)

You did it with the Motorola radio system for the Communications division (remember the promise that the whole County would share this system --- and the cost--- with us?)

You did it with the farce of the video surveillance cameras in the midst of the 2006 election campaigns.

Are the few minutes of positive press you get really worth the ultimate cost to the taxpayers for non-functioning equipment and systems? Not to mention the risk to life and property when they fail to perform as advertised?

If you really want to improve the city’s bottom line, how about making a real and concerted effort to wrest control of the multitude of vacant buildings from their owners who are sitting on them like golden eggs that will never hatch. Take those buildings and put them in the hands of the various small developers who have been working very hard to restore and revive the market for this great old building stock. Get these building out of the hands of speculators and into the hands of people who will realize their full assessed potential.

Forget the big marquee development projects that never seem to work out or get started or become what they were promised to be.

And stop squandering our money and UEZ funds on your friends like Mr. Torricelli and his touted yet unrealized promises of “full occupancy.”

In short, the Mayor and the Administration must stop treating the City budget like their own personal treasury. Pennies must be pinched. They must do without some of the fun things (do all the various directors and such really need full-time city provided vehicles when our cops don’t have enough decent cars to use?) and perks.

If we can’t afford them, you can’t have them. (And by the way, a lot of this also applies to that money pit subset of City government, the school system. Let’s get rid of the extra assistant and special superintendents, various other dead weight positions, unneeded extras and spend money on good teachers, supplies and facilities!)

So let’s get cracking! Sharpen those pencils and fire up those calculators. July 1 is but four months away. Let’s see a fully thought out preliminary budget and all the back up detail presented to Council by then.

Who's at the helm?

After burning up the keyboard and the logging some serious verbiage last weekend, we sat back this week to quietly observe things from our vantage point on the stoop.

The picture isn’t all that good.

Revelations about Mr. Colicelli’s continued use of city resources and appearances at City Hall despite not having a binding contract, coupled with the fact that he’s been paid for “work done” last month and not authorized under any contract irritated certain council members. Meanwhile the Times, unconvincingly took those council members to task for an alleged hasty vote that didn’t allow for a proper transition as the consultant, who according to his submitted invoices did little more than attend meetings, exited.

Trentonian columnist L.A. Parker wrote about the questioned need for a $130,280 Chief of Staff position and a $55,457, part time aide. Citing an anonymous source, Parker reported that “Palmer antagonists” may be setting their sights on eliminating these two positions.

Interestingly, these (and other) positions need to be reviewed with respect to their effectiveness in the overall operation of the city and the relative cost to the tax payers. During the Palmer years, the city hall hierarchy has grown. The Chief of Staff position, a police driver, and various aides to the Mayor: these have all been added, but do the results justify the costs?

Or is the Mayor:

a) covering for his own managerial inadequacies
b) taking care of friends and associates
c) paying others to do things he’s not interested in doing.

Perhaps all of the above.

Councilman Coston made a point in the aftermath of the Colicelli decision that maybe the Palmer should “take the reins.” And that is the simple truth.

The hallmark of the Palmer administration is that the man himself is remote and detached from the day to day job he was elected to do. In fact, he is increasingly absent from the city itself. In his stead we have had a succession of Chiefs of Staff: Bill Watson, Gwendolyn Long-Harris, and Renee Haynes. And then there are aides, like Mr. Jerome Harris…who, if we are not mistaken, is the husband of the former Chief of Staff.

It was also announced this week that there will be some half dozen different attorneys working on the Santiago residency case. And they will all be funded by city tax dollars. All because Doug Palmer is determined to have his way, or punish those who oppose him by dragging things out in the courts. And if he won’t capitulate and rescind his unlawful waiver, city council should step up and terminate Santiago’s employment with the city. The law is the law (and take heed all you other not-quite-bona-fide-city-resident Directors who’ve been sticking closer to your Trenton cribs—you could be next). Drawing this matter out in the courts is unnecessary and costly.

Similarly, it was revealed in today’s paper that the city is filing for the return of settlement payments made to Trenton Fire Captain Ron Kosztyu. Kosztyu had alleged the city passed him over for promotion due to his union activities and anti-administration stance. The State Department of Personnel Merit Board agreed, but the city appealed. Just prior to the case going before the judge, a settlement was reached.

Now the city is challenging that Kosztyu and his attorney, George Dougherty (who is also representing the citizens who are challenging the Santiago residency waiver), improperly spoke to the press regarding the settlement and disparaged the city. On these grounds, the city is seeking to have the settlement declared void and the payments returned.

Anyone notice a pattern here?

It’s been said elsewhere but the comparison to Nero fiddling while Rome burns keeps coming to mind.

Palmer is only fooling himself if he thinks the people of Trenton can’t see through his charade of leadership. This Captain is not on the ship, let alone in the pilot house. He’s left it to an ever increasing cadre of loyalists with questionable competencies (the names Haynes, Gonzalez, Santiago, Colicelli come immediately to mind) to run the city.

And folks, we’re in danger of running aground.

Perhaps its time for our other elected officials, city council, to grab the oars and turn this boat around. Before it’s too late.

More on Colicelli's Contract

Yesterday, Trenton City Councilman Jim Coston let it be known that the contract for Barry Colicelli and his On Target Law Enforcement and Security Consulting Company was up for renewal. If the new contract is approved at Thursday's Council meeting, not only will it be for a discounted rate (about 32% less) than the previous contract, but the term will be for two years instead of one.

Sounds like a deal except for one thing, what do we get for our money?

Looking at a copy of the previous contract which actually expired back in December of 2007, we find the following items:

The contract is between the City of Trenton (Client) and On Target Law Enforcement and Security Consulting (contractor).

The services are to be provided by Barry Colicelli personally who will charge a rate of $75 per hour.

The total amount of the contract shall not exceed $91,000 (That is the equivalent of 1213.33333 billed hours)

The client (City of Trenton) will provide the following: an office, computer, mobile phone and loaned vehicle (car). (We're assuming the City owned car--a crown victoria--is fueled with city gas, but it isn't spelled out in the contract. We did see a copy of an expense report where Mr. Colicelli was being reimbursed for gas for a trip to Washington D.C.)

The Client will reimburse the Contractor for travel expenses.

The contract spells out the scope of work for the contractor as "providing direct assistance to the City of Trenton and its departments in the formulation of a comprehensive collaboration of City services to address the at-risk youth and adult gang-involved populations within the City."

Ok. So we hired somebody to help us shape a process to address a problem. We gave him a car to commute 50 miles each way, a cell phone, computers and an office in City Hall. And he attends meetings.

Now, we'll be positive here and state that sometimes you need an outside voice to identify and coordinate new ways of doing things. And along the way, there should be training and preparation of existing personnel to carry those initiatives forward.
The contractor should not be a perpetual rehire for the same scope of work with no measurable progress shown.

We've also had the opportunit to review some of Mr. Colicelli's invoices to the City from 2006 and 2007. Interestingly, the 14 monthly invoices we reviewed were strikingly similar in that they followed a template so closely as to be nearly perfect copies of one another. Some dates were changed, one initiative or task force meeting might be substitued for another from month to month, but they were each one for the same exact amount: $7,583.

Now that's an interesting number: $7,583 each month. No break down of how many hours (at $75 per) spent on each item on the invoice, just a total amount of $7,583.

If you divide that by the hourly rate, you get 101.106667 hours a month. Each and every month. Most professionals I know of that bill by the hour will calculate to the nearest quarter hour. But not Mr. Colicelli. He bills to the exact amount, and it totals precisely 101.106667 hours per month.

And if that isn't odd enough, try this little math exercise. Multiply the $7,583 per month by the 12 months in a calendar year and you get $90,996. That is just four dollars short of the maximum $91,000 allowed under the contract.

Coincidence?

And then there are the travel reimbusements. Mr. Colicelli went to conferences in New Orleans and Washington D.C. last year on the City of Trenton's tab. This cost us another $1,300 plus.

And again the question has to be asked, what benefit has the City received from Mr. Colicelli's services? What benefit that we couldn't have just as easily obtained from a bona fide employee of the City of Trenton without the extra cost?

In a City struggling to make ends meet; where people will often say they are not getting their money's worth from City employees; how can we justify the continued expense of this "consultant?"

And if his work is so good and he has been so effective, why are we looking to grant him a fourth contract?

If we have benefited so much from hiring this consultant, why are we suddenly able to get him for two years and two thirds the cost?

Oh, and does it mean anything that Mr. Colicelli donated at least $1,300.00 to Mayor Palmer's re-election campaign in 2006?

It adds up to one thing and one thing only, patronage of the worst kind.

This is not news...

K. Hovnanian is pulling the plug on it's development plans for the former Champale site in South Trenton. As originally presented and coming on the heels of the ill-conceived Leewood Village proposal back in 2004, the project won praises and support all around.

Then Hovnanian decided to get greedy. They determined they couldn't make their plan work on the existing footprint of the Champale property, so they got the city to expand the redevelopment area and set their sights on some privately held properties. After a long drawn out fight, Hovnanian and the City prevailed and private properties were acquired.

Unfortunately, the developer's fortunes sank with the housing market and economy and the market was missed. The project is dead. And what is left to show for it?

The city has needlessly acquired properties it must now deal with; people were forced to give up all or part of their holdings for a perceived "greater good;" and individuals who were anxious and willing to sell have been left high and dry.

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Last night's school board meeting regarding the future of Trenton Central High School was a farce at best. Representatives of the SDA reversed position on timelines to achieve funding; the school board president opted not to allow public comment (perhaps in violation of the state's sunshine laws) and adjourned the meeting while a member of the Board had the floor.

Another shining example of the quality of leadership in Trenton.

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Doug Palmer was given the opportunity to throw another hissy fit in this morning's Times where he tried to pass off last week's City Council resolution as politically motivated by individuals who will seek his seat in 2010. Palmer went on to sing his usual song about the Mayor and Council having to work together (meaning Council should acquiesce to his whims and desires) and that if they (Council) didn't feel the ordinance allowed for exemptions they should amend it.

Kind of counters his own argument that the ordinance does allow for exemptions now, doesn't it?

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And finally, apparently yesterday the powers that be in the Trenton Police Department decided they would respond to City Council's request to bring the "ComStat" process to the public in a series of ward/police district based road shows. Starting this Thursday, January 24, at the West Ward Citizen Police Advisory Council (CPAC) meeting, the police will present an abridged version of their weekly process for the public to witness.

Is it just me or does anyone else see the timing of this as a little more than coincidental? The first of the four proposed public events is scheduled for one day before the "seven working days" deadline that City Council gave the Mayor regarding Police Director Joseph Santiago's residency. And the first meeting is to take place in the West Ward...long a stronghold of Mayor Palmer (and Councilman Pintella who abstained from voting on the resolution) supporters.

Nope. This is not news. Not in our little piece of paradise.

So early in the new year for so much cynicism

Tonight the battle lines will be drawn in the fight to save Trenton Central High School. On the one side, the cash strapped State of NJ who is bullying the equally cash strapped City of Trenton and it's School Board into accepting a "new school or nothing" approach to updating the facilities. On the the other side are the preservationists, alumni, and common sense advocates struggling to hold onto this beautiful old edifice.

Certainly, if Trenton's City and Schools Administration actually knew what they were doing and had treated the existing TCHS building as the treasure it is, we wouldn't be in this bind.

And if the State hadn't thrown away all of the school funding through the badly managed SCC and just gone with the plan that was prepped and ready to go three or four years ago, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

But the fact remains, our government entities have failed us once again. And now the community is left holding the bag of crap our "leaders" have dealt us.

It is time for the State to get off of its high horse and release the money for the renovation of TCHS. Period.

And we, as a community, need to stand tall and demand our school board, Superintendent Lofton, and the City Administration meet their collective and individual responsibilities to see that this gets done and gets done right.

And along the way, school board member Lucy Guzman should reimburse the district the $300 for the on-line course her daughter is taking for free.

We're in this mess because too many people have fed too long and too well at the public trough while our facilities go wanting.

Stop. Now.