Mayor Robinson-Briggs has shirked real leadership.
Plainfield's City Council passed Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs' second layoff plan by a 4-3 vote last night after wrenching public comments by those facing layoffs and their supporters from the taxpaying public.
Videographer Laurence Rice, one of those being pink-slipped, tried to place the blame on the Council, saying he felt he was being penalized for being a staunch supporter of Mayor Robinson-Briggs. (It was sad to see that he didn't even understand it was THE MAYOR, who selected the positions being eliminated in this second go-round, who was throwing him under the bus.)
Let's be perfectly clear: the blame for this whole sorry budget mess rests squarely on the shoulders of Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs.
If she had delivered a budget in a timely fashion, instead of waiting until after the November election, greater savings could have been made, with the loss of no (or at least fewer) jobs.
If she had sat the unions down together earlier and hammered out some concessions (whether pay freezes, furloughs, or some other combination), she could have avoided this crisis.
If she had exercised real executive leadership, she could have come out looking like jsut that: a real leader. Instead, she looks like the cowardly lion.
Make no mistake, the pain everyone is experiencing is directly traceable to Mayor Robinson-Briggs' avoidance of the difficult choices.
Now that there is nothing more to do about this year's budget, the question arises: Is there something that can be done about Robinson-Briggs?
-- Dan Damon [follow]
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9 comments:
Recall, Recall, Recall! Circulate a petition to have a no confidence vote.
Ohhhhh Dan, you SERIOUSLY overestimate the intelligence of the average person, voter or not, in Plainfield. Nice try, I will give you that. Here is what you will here from Assistant Mayor Sharon, Mayor Jerry and the rest of the people sucking at the machine teat that has been running Plainfield:
" This is all George Bush and Governor Christie's fault.
- I am glad to see someone else is educated and intelligent enough to see where the blame lies. It's too bad those on the council -- BURNEY especially who waved the party flag ( That is both Mayor Jerry and his pet Cheshire Cat Sharon )for election "for some mysterious reason " . Let's hope now more people realize that Sharon and Jerry are NOT FOR THE PEOPLE. Let's hope more people from the Democratic Party realize how they have been USED and tossed to the side by the self serving interests of Jerry and Sharon as well as the rest of Union County.
and as an additional note, I feel incredibly bad for all the people who lost their jobs. I feel even worse because not all had to be lost. Talk about a waste of potential talent. Way to Go Sharon lovers...you are all just as responsible.
The real question now is will the mayor learn from last year's budget fiasco, and start the process of getting the 2011 budget underway.
Now is the time to start looking at how this painful 2010 budget will benefit 2011. NOW!!!!
No excuses, no waiting for aid (think about that scenario with our current Governor), and no ego.
Let's learn from last year, and all work together to make the 2011 budget one that will be the backbone for future ones.
And, I would ask that the administration put together a true budget, not something that reduces expenses. Layoffs reduce expenses. A budget, if well constructed, will summarize expenditures for a long period of time, and create a plan that describes how those expenditures will be financed. It is a forward looking document, not present or past.
It is that same kind of "ignorance" as expressed by the videographer as to how a Mayor/Council city government works that allowed Plainfielders to keep the Robinson-Briggs administration in office for another four years. We then all suffer!
Margaret A. Lewis
It is sad that we re-elected this non-leading mayor. If people would pay attention they would have seen what a horrible mayor she is.
Recall or impeach. Either works for me. Where's the petition.
I don't blame Mayor Briggs-Robinson for not delivering the budget on time. After all, she was much too busy helping to shut down Muhlenberg Hospital.
That was a big job and I"m sure she spent a lot of time working on that.
I would think that with all of the budget cuts and talk of state aid being reduced and the taxes going up that they would be HAPPY to get rid of the expense of starting a baseball league through recreation. The money used for baseball could have been used to save 2 or 3 individuals in their positions. But the Mayor sees that it is more important to have baseball than to save folks jobs to support their family. YOU voted for her! Not Me!!!
I think you need to be more balanced in the posture you take toward the City Administration. There is no doubt about the inability of the Mayor to lead or manage the City. However I must take issue with your soft peddaling toward the city council. They have, as a group, abrogated their responsibility under the City Charter. They are all members of the same political machine, whether you call them new or old. The Council may half-heartedly critize the Mayor, but they really take little or no action to truely change the course the Town is taking.
History, when it studies the collaspe of Plainfield, will blame the Council as much as the Mayor.
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