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The Conscience of Walter Denson

“I don’t think you can make a lawyer honest by an act of legislature. You’ve got to work on his conscience. And his lack of conscience is what makes him a lawyer.”  – Will Rogers

[UPDATED BELOW]

OK, this week’s question: how do we work on Walter Denson’s conscience?

On June 7, Mr. Denson was confirmed by City Council for another 90-day term as “Acting” City Attorney. In this capacity he is responsible for, among other things, “Render[ing] opinions in writing upon any question of law submitted to him/her by the Mayor, the Council, the Business Administrator or the head of any department with respect to their official powers and duties.” In other words, he is the city Officer charged with making sure that the Mayor, Council, Business Administrator and the rest of City Government conduct their official duties legally and ethically.

Lately, it’s not looking to me that Mr. Denson is doing his job.

Not when you read stories like today’s Trentonian piece by Anthony Campisi about the current situation in the zombie “Mayor’s Learning Center Libraries.” In this article we read:

  • That – Mayor Tony Mack’s public statements to the contrary – books that don’t belong to the City are being lent out to people without a formal lending system in place.
  • That the City has spent at least $40,000 in unauthorized funds to renovate the branches before they were opened as zombie centers.
  • That the Mayor plans to use an unknown amount of City funds – also unauthorized by Council – to operate the centers.
  • That payments to contractors were released solely on the basis of handwritten notes by mayoral aide and onetime “Acting” Biz Administrator Anthony Roberts.
  • That payments to vendors seem to have been facilitated by artificially splitting charges into several small bills, an illegal practice known as “splintering” according to a former City Attorney, George T. Dougherty.

How are all of these activities going on under the nose of our “Acting” City Attorney, Mr. Denson?

At the same session of Council at which Mr. Denson’s term of office was extended, several other “Acting” Directors – having served well over their legal maximum term of 90 days – were fired by Council, in accordance with their clear power to do so. Yet the Mayor openly defied  Council’s action, and even denied that Council had any authority to do so.

Where is Mr. Denson’s advice and counsel on this? Does he believe that Council exceeded their authority? Does he believe the mayor can govern without limitation?

Last month, the Mayor asserted that he had the authority to dismiss School Board members after they had been sworn in to their new terms of office, a power that the State Department of Education did not agree is granted to a city mayor.

What did Mr. Denson advise the Mayor in this instance? Did he see authority given to Trenton’s mayor where the State saw none?

And in April, the Mack Administration announced it had unilaterally withdrawn from participation in Mercer County’s recycling program in favor of starting up its own program. This decision was made in the absence of any open and public discussion, or any proposal made before Council, or any authorization given by Council. The Administration just up and did it on its own, and we don’t know how much this will cost us.

Did Mr. Denson say this was OK? Was he even consulted by the Mayor?

Last September, Mayor Mack issued an Executive Order which created a “Mayor’s Commission on International Business Affairs,” a body which was – you can almost fill in the rest, can’t you? – not authorized by Council. The Mayor was forced to backtrack on his plans, which also included a financial commitment of up to a quarter million dollars of taxpayer money, not because of any action or warning by his lawyer, but because of the public spotlight shone on this brain-dead idea by the press and concerned citizens.

Where was Mr. Denson’s voice on this stupid Commission?

The previous City Attorney, Marc McKithen, was forced out of his position and forced to resign last summer, after a series of actions and announcements on his part that sought to reign in some of the more blatantly illegal, improper and unethical practices of his boss.

Mr. Denson has served the City for little more than a year, his first experience in public service and municipal law. So far, to this layman and citizen, he has served as little more than a rubber stamp, allowing his boss to run amok, without providing the checks and balances his job requires. His client is not Tony Mack, but the people of the City of Trenton. So far, he has served us poorly by failing to prevent or halt any of this nonsense, as Marc McKithen did when he canceled the City’s legal services contract with the Cooper Levenson law firm, an action that contributed to his being forced out.

So, what can we do? There are few direct ways that the people of Trenton can influence the City Attorney. He is unelected. He has just been confirmed by Council for another 90 days, inexplicably without having had to justify any of his actions – or, more importantly, inactions – at an open session of Council. He seems beyond our reach, sad to say.

So, perhaps we take Will Rogers’ advice to heart and try to work on his conscience, which – pace Mr. Rogers – I believe Mr. Denson to possess. Or at the very least work on his self-interest. Mr. Denson may be acting right now to protect his job by giving Tony Mack his way, wanting to avoid Marc McKithen’s fate.

Yet at some level he has to know that having “Tony Mack’s City Attorney” on his resume can’t possibly help his career in later years, if the rest of his term is going to be characterized in the same way as the first part, as a rubber stamp to a stupid and corrupt mayor and his circle.

So, how do we work on his conscience, or self-interest? Well, shining a light on his work, for a start. Encouraging him to stand up and do his job, perhaps. His email address is wdenson@trentonnj.org, and his phone number is 609.989.3011.

Ask him to represent us, instead of just covering for Tony Mack.

UPDATE:  For those of you who do not subscribe to Facebook, you may be interested in the following exchange with Jim Carlucci, who sheds a little light on Mr. Denson and his actions & inactions.

Jim Carlucci

Let me add two things:
One, re: the Commission, oops, Committee on International Business Affairs, the mayor did change the body from a (unapproved by council) commission to a committee. He then appointed the members of that committee to terms ending in 2015. Terms that extend beyond the Mayor’s term would have to be approved by council, NO? Where was Denson’s advice on that?

As for Mr. Denson himself, he reportedly just wants to be moved back to the Housing and Economic Development position he was originally approved for and is merely trying to NOT displease the mayor to hold onto the hope of getting back there and out of the hotseat.

Sad.

10:50 AM · 1

Kevin Moriarty

Thanks, Jim. Even if that is the case regarding Denson’s objective here, it still is a pretty short-sighted strategy on his part.

There’s a scene in “A Man for All Seasons” when Sir Thomas  More confronts someone who has given false testimony against him in return for a government position as Attorney General for Wales. More sadly tells him, “Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world… but for Wales?”

We could now just as legitimately say, “Why Walter, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world… but for Housing and Economic Development?”  11:07 AM

3 comments to The Conscience of Walter Denson

  • Small issue – it was Thomas More not Robert. What I found amusing is that I used the same quote/question last Tuesday. As I was leaving the, “distress conference,” I met someone who now works for the city. My question, “…but to sell your soul for Trenton?” The answer was simply, “It pays the bills.”

  • Kevin

    Oops, thanks Pat. Brain fart there, from someone who worked on a 10th grade production of “Man for All Seasons” and who attended a college chapel named after the man for only 4 years!!

    It is funny that you used the same quote just last week, but not surprising given the ethical dilemmas being faced by all the honest and talented people – and they do exist, in significant numbers – still in the belly of the Beast that is 319 East State