Where to Begin?

News in Trenton over the last few days has been coming fast and often. No, I take that back. News over the last seven months has been coming fast and often. There’s hardly a chance to absorb a story or an issue about the sad spectacle of our city’s ongoing efforts at self-governance before a new one comes along.

Rest assured, the old stories aren’t going away – investigations and lawsuits are still ongoing about TWW, SR Development, Lynx Technology and campaign loans, just to name a few – but they keep getting pushed into the background by the newest stories, Fresh Baked Every Day!

It’s almost as if the City of Trenton is a neighborhood bakery. Every morning, you can just smell the news, baking fresh and delivered to you piping hot!!! If only all this news was tasty instead of revolting, then we might have something to savor.

As proof, I give you several stories from just the last 36 hours. There are so many to choose from; where to begin?

Howe about the most recent? In an article posted this morning on the Trentonian’s website and due to be published in the print edition tomorrow, LA Parker bemoans the low profile of Mayor Tony Mack over the last ten days, since his memorable appearance at City Council Tuesday Jan 18.  Mr. Parker describes several of the mayor’s recent problems, and wonders why he is not doing more to defend himself.

But Mr. Parker also breaks news of what is likely to be a very, very big problem for Mr. Mack. I won’t provide all of the details of the story – why duplicate LA’s reporting? – so let me summarize in a few sentences:

• In June, Tony Mack’s campaign receives a large contribution from the owner of a cab company.
• On September 2,  Council passes and the Mayor signs the same day an ordinance that – in the middle of financial emergency, reduces the city’s license fees for cab companies: using a hypothetical example from today’s story, under the old ordinance, the owner of a 15-vehicle fleet would pay the City $2,250. Under the new law, that same fleet would pay only $200!!! The company owner in that example would save more than Two Thousand Dollars, and the City loses the same amount from its coffers.
• Two weeks later, on September 16, Mayor Mack receives another large contribution from the cab company owner who donated in June.

So, what do you think?

Quid Pro Quo? Was the June contribution a message saying, “Hey, do me a favor, will you?” And was the September donation, “Thanks”?  How else do you explain it? Why else, in the middle of the most dire financial circumstances facing this City perhaps ever, does the Mayor as one of his first actions, push a law through that Loses the City Money, and directly benefits a contributor?

Parker provides a quote from an anonymous source to the effect that the City passed this ordinance to comply with a state law passed ten years prior. But, the City’s new law charges far, far less than the state law allows. Besides, after 10 years, what was the rush? Why this particular law, why so early in the administration’s term, why so fast?

This is a big story that, on its face, provides pretty strong evidence of a pretty corrupt act. The Mayor must convincingly and credibly respond to this story, in short order. More details are bound to come out on this. He’ll be better off if those details come from him. And soon.

What else is going on? Well, for one thing Mayor Mack would like to appoint one of his aides, longtime friend Anthony Roberts, to the post of Assistant Business Administrator, working with newly confirmed Sam Hutchinson. Among other posts, Mr. Roberts was Tony Mack’s long-time campaign treasurer.

OK, you can stop laughing. This won’t take long.  Put aside for a moment  – if you can –  all the campaign irregularities being discussed about this campaign – the taxi donations above, Robert Jordan and Renaissance International, the $20,000 “loan” – take a look at an example of the man’s work. Here is the link to Mr. Mack’s campaign finance reports for the May 2010 election.  Click on any report from April 13, 2010 and earlier.  I suggest any of the reports dated 3-24-10 as examples.

Look at the scrawl, the scratch outs, the overwrites, the general lack of attention to detail or clarity of presentation. Ask yourself: do you want this man anywhere within 100 miles of the financial affairs of this City????

OK, I thought so. Moving on!

Another mayoral nominee has been rejected by the state Department of Community Affairs. This time, the nomination of Ewing’s Ron Cefalone to be Director of Public Works was vetoed by the State, apparently due to lack of sufficient supervisory and managerial experience.

While they were at it, DCA informed the City that the process by which DCA reviews the administration’s personnel selections will change, at least for those individuals who will require City Council’s advise and consent. Up until now, the City sent the names and resumes of its candidates to DCA for vetting.  When approved – sorry, IF approved, since many have not been – the nominations then go to Council for their confirmations. Now, DCA Acting Director Thomas Neff wants to have a preliminary discussion with the City about nominees, then send them to Council for public consideration and a vote. THEN, if confirmed by Council, DCA will get a final chance to review and approve or deny.

Why so complicated? According to the Trentonian article, Mr. Neff states that DCA wants to  “postpone further action [approval of nominees] so we may have the benefit of understanding the views and information that may be raised by City Council.” He might also have said AT City Council, since it has been during the Public Comment  sessions at Council that many public objections to nominees have been raised and addressed. Clearly, DCA is listening to Trenton’s citizens.

Another reason DCA is doing this is to make our Council much more accountable and responsible for their actions. Too often, some members of Council have been willing to use DCA vetting as proof of a State “Endorsement” that doesn’t exist. In the recent vote to approve an IT contract for Lynx Technology Partners – the subject of a new lawsuit, but hey! there’s only so much you can cover in one post, right? – Councilman Zachary Chester used the existence of a “letter” from DCA that he said “certified” Lynx as justification for his vote in favor of Lynx.

Councilwoman Phyllis Holly-Ward went as far as to say, quote, “I will also let the State make my decision.”

DCA’s new process should remove that excuse for those members of Council who essentially look to hide behind Chris Christie’s skirts when faced with tough decisions.  And if that mental image alone isn’t enough to endorse this new process, I don’t know what is!

One other aspect to this: of all the cities and towns for whom DCA is administering Transitional Aid, Trenton is the only one to have this three-stage process applied to it. How come? According to Trentonian writer and blogger Robert Chilson, a DCA source told him “Thanks to blogs like Trenton-United and The Trentonian newspaper — and after watching video of very intelligent, concerned Trenton residents speaking up during public comment on issues we have the last word on — we decided to hear from them first and take their findings into consideration when making our decisions in the future.” How about that!

This has gone long enough. A whole bunch of stuff not discussed at all. What about that lawsuit? How about the Fire Director nomination? What’s going on at the Police Department?

Stay tuned.