Assemblyman Jerry Green: How I let you all down, again

Perhaps Plainfield Assemblyman Jerry Green should stop writing OpEds, considering that a close reading of them often does not advance his cause.

Take, for instance, the piece "Let's clear the air, post-Muhlenberg" which appeared in the August 15th Courier News (see here).

Setting aside the Assemblyman's propensity to deal with his responsibilities by looking around for someone to 'throw under the bus' (in this case, the late Mayor Al McWilliams), he DOES reveal something he has never said before --

The Muhlenberg situation became a major issue for the current administration as soon as it took office because the former administration chose not to do anything. In fact, during a meeting with the former administration and Solaris, I was advised that Muhlenberg Hospital was in danger. The former administration chose not to fight.

When the current administration and City Council came into office, we were told that, without a new buyer, the hospital would be closing within one year. This administration and the City Council have been working diligently to find a new buyer because the handwriting was on the wall ... (Emphasis added.)

Whether or not there was a meeting between Green, Solaris and the McWilliams administration (and I would want date, place and agenda from an independent source as verification), Green has tipped us off that -- as he himself says -- Mayor Robinson-Briggs and the Council knew FROM DAY ONE of her administration (that is, January, 2006) that the fate of the hospital was 1) A MAJOR ISSUE, and 2) that Muhlenberg might CLOSE WITHIN A YEAR WITHOUT A BUYER.

In an earlier OpEd from April, 2008 Green said --

I have been working with the leadership of Solaris Health Systems for years to make sure that Muhlenberg has received special funding from the state, and I am continuing to do that. (Emphasis added.)

In fact, questions around how Green 'worked' for Solaris surfaced last October at the time of the exposure of his previously undisclosed job as a VP for the Alllman Group of Westfield (see my post "As Green leaves, questions remain")

Given what Green says about what he, Robinson-Briggs and the Council knew and when they knew it, a few questions keep coming to mind --

MAYOR ROBINSON-BRIGGS: Since Muhlenberg's fate was an issue 'as soon as she took office', she needs to explain to the people of Plainfield and the Muhlenberg service area

1. Why, as a board member, she only attended one Muhlenberg Board meeting between taking office in January, 2006, and the announcement of the closing this past February [and THAT was a cocktail sip!], and
   
   
2. Why there is no prior evidence of an effort to find a buyer for the hospital if it was so high on her to-do list.

ASSEMBLYMAN GREEN: It has been years indeed, since Jerry knew Muhlenberg's situation was troubled. As a matter of fact, he advocated for their cardiac surgery license application nearly ten years ago, and in 2003, he stunned those involved in planning new construction and upgrades for Plainfield's public schools by flying in from left field with a wild proposal to build a school on the Muhlenberg campus as a 'demonstration project' under the Abbott construction funding scheme, with -- as rumored at the time -- a sales price to Solaris of $100M for a slice of the Muhlenberg campus. Alas, that scheme came to naught. (See here and here for details.)

1. The pertinent question to Assemblyman Green is -- Knowing what you knew and when you said you knew it: What did you do about Muhlenberg between 2003 and the announcement last November that it would be sold and/or closed?
   

So, as Assemblyman Green suggests, let's 'clear the air':

The real issue with regard to Muhlenberg is not what the previous administration did or did not do, it is the question of what kind of leadership Assemblyman Green and Mayor Robinson-Briggs have exercised on their watch.

Not nearly good enough, by my lights.