OK, we all read this morning that at last night’s City Council meeting, City Attorney – Director of the City of Trenton Legal Department as nominated to that position by The Honorable Tony F. Mack and confirmed by our Governing Body – Marc McKithen announced that one of the City’s outside counsels, the law firm Cooper Levenson was in violation of our City’s pay-to-play Ordinance. As a result of that violation – announced by our chief lawyer, remember! – the City was moving to void its contract with Cooper Levenson.
This was due to a very complicated and still not fully explained transaction which involved a contribution to a local PAC that seemingly made its way to Mayor Mack’s campaign, then was refunded by the campaign AND the PAC back to Cooper Levenson.
Or, perhaps it wasn’t! Or, maybe just a piece of it, with the rest hidden in some dark, quiet place!
Who really knows? Based on the reports filed with the State, it’s hard to tell just What the Hell Did Really Happen.
Except that, to our Director of the Legal Department Marc McKithen, whatever he could see was enough to satisfy him, and he called Shenanigans last night and canceled the contract.
OK, NOW IT GETS WEIRD!!
Tonight, Mayor Tony Mack has decided that his Chief City Attorney and Director of the Legal Department, GOT IT ALL WRONG!!
Mayor Mack issued a Press Release tonight as the “City of Trenton Response to Alleged Pay-to-Play Violations” that says, among other things, “I carefully examined this unprecedented situation, and my preliminary opinion is the Cooper Levenson law firm did not violate the Trenton Pay-to-Play Ordinance.”
Excuse me. What?
Mayor Mack goes on to describe the Ordinance in detail, and offers his legal expertise to make the argument that his City Attorney was flawed in his analysis of the situation and mistaken in his decision.
Hey, does anyone else find this strange? On a number of levels? First off, in any matter of a Senior Manager and a subordinate, don’t most managers call their people in and tell them to their face that They Fucked Up, probably very loudly? How many issue press releases as a way to communicate displeasure to their staff?
And, as a person whose own campaign is under suspicion in this very same complicated and still-not-fully understood transaction, do you really think you can be considered an impartial critic of the matter at hand? Wouldn’t you be better off staying as quiet or non-committal as you could afford to be?
Finally, what makes Tony Mack think he’s a Lawyer??
The “City of Trenton” made its official response to this Alleged Pay to Play Violation last night: our City Attorney tore up the contract!
Mr. Mack is in no position to second-guess his Director on this. No way. No how! For him to do so is improper and frankly more than a little Odd!
Just when you think you’ve seen it all in this town, there’s Always Something New. You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet!!
I will wrap this up by giving the last word to Pete Fields, Carla Hogan, and Cynthia Taylor. These are three board members of Partners for Progress, the Political Action Committee at the heart of this very same complicated and still-not-fully understood transaction involving Cooper Levenson and the Mayor. They issued a few Press Releases of their own today, defending themselves and their group against these same allegations.
In their second release today, they speak of their support for Tony Mack:
Following the first ballot election in May of 2010, we made a decision to support Tony Mack in the run-off. Given the choice at the time, we believed it was the best choice for the city’s future. In hindsight it was a mistake.
We’ll go even further, in the past seven months, Mayor Tony Mack has demonstrated flawed leadership and compromised decision-making.
Boy, they’re not kidding!
Remember, these were Mack’s Friends and Supporters. And that was even before tonight’s Mayoral Statement!! With friends like these…