In an editorial today, the Courier News takes on Plainfield Assemblyman Jerry Green's demand for the ouster of Muhlenberg board president Ron West (see more here and more on the original story here).
Nobody seems to want to get to the bottom of the question.
Word is that the Muhlenberg board, and its president, have been asked (some say TOLD) by the Solaris Health System board and CEO John McGee NOT to participate in the citizen efforts around saving the hospital.
Assemblyman Green is fully aware of this.
His shadowboxing is an attempt to portray himself as acting IN SUPPORT OF KEEPING MUHLENBERG OPEN, which is about as far from the facts as you can get -- given his setting up a task force to make preparations for shutting down the hospital.
Further, Assemblyman Green appears to be desperately trying to find a role for Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs, who seems never to have given Muhlenberg a thought until the threat of closing was made.
The Courier is dead-on right when it says that the state has waffled on the matter of deciding what hospitals to close --
Statewide health experts concede that some New Jersey hospitals probably should close, but there is no plan to help guide and manage those closures, to assure that the right hospitals are shut down. Instead, facilities such as Muhlenberg that should stay open become casualties.Supporters of Muhlenberg HAVE a right and ARE right to remonstrate with whoever will listen.
The question the Assemblyman raises in people's minds is whether he is really interested in helping, as the Courier puts it, 'the city's cause'.
- Courier Editorial: "Don't waste time on blame over Muhlenberg"
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1 comments:
I hope no one else is taking Assemblyman Green's comments at face value. He puts out a ridiculous and inaccurate press statement and unfortunately some fall for it. He is clearly singling out someone who has been chairman for less than a year while he has been the assemblyman for seven terms and has done nothing to save Muhlenberg. Green has only responded to public pressure. I have been at the rallies and I have also been at several other public events where Green has talked about Muhlenberg. He changes his rhetoric depending on the audience. Sometimes its the "illegals" and sometimes its the "poor" and sometimes its the "republicans." Green has the ability (as he always claims) to lobby his legislative colleagues to not grant Solaris the opportunity to close Muhlenberg. Like Green, they can vote "no." He is always bragging about how much power and influence he has in the assembly. Well now is the time for him to demonstrate that power. For him to attempt to lay the blame on an individual whom he deems (with no evidence, by the way) insufficiently concerned about the hospital's fate is mere obfuscation. At the democratic committee meeting in Plainfield last week he made a series of rambling comments blaming Ron West. Even his committee members were shaking their heads, mystified. Sorry, he is not exhibiting "leadership." He is a demagogue and is laying blame in the wrong place and simply cannot back up his fake hysteria with facts.
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