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Thursday, December 23, 2010

Should Sharon go?


When Caesar crossed the Rubicon, he knew it was the point of no return. We don't know if Mayor Robinson-Briggs
has understood she may have crossed her own point of no return.

Has Plainfield Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs crossed her Rubicon, her point of no return?

T
hough there have been many missteps over five years under her administration, none has generated as much public outcry as her attempt to fire the popular City Administrator Bibi Taylor effective Christmas Day, and just days before her expected delivery of her third child.

Bibi escaped that fate, thanks to the unanimous vote of the City Council.

Bibi's baby, Lena Elyse, arrived early yesterday morning -- nearly two weeks early, no doubt owing to the stress induced by Robinson-Briggs' moves.

In an editorial today (see here), the Courier notes the Taylor incident is just the latest in a --

...troubling and sometimes baffling series of missteps that are accelerating concerns about her competence to run the city...
Indeed.

Followers of this blog may have noticed the increasing number of comments over the past few months calling for Robinson-Briggs' recall, especially in the week since Robinson-Briggs moved to fire Taylor.

Fellow blogger Jim Pivnichny also raised the question recently (see here).

The first thing those who are interested in recalling Mayor Robinson-Briggs should know is that state law precludes undertaking such an effort BEFORE the elected official in question has served out a year of their term of office.

Sharon reaches that milestone January 1st.

In the meantime, I am posting a poll (see top of column at right) in which readers may vote whether they are or are not in favor of recalling, as Piv so juicily put it, 'the Queen of the Queen City'.


Note: The poll will only accept one vote per person.



-- Dan Damon [follow]

View today's CLIPS here. Not getting your own CLIPS email daily? Click here to subscribe.

9 comments:

Rob said...

I enjoy reminding the Courier News they supported her campaign to have a 2nd term in office.
Should she go ?? Yes...will she ??
Ask Jerry Green. When he decides she is too much of a dead weight around his neck then she will be cast aside. Just like Reed and Burney siding with the Bibi vote against the Mayor..it most certainly not because they thought she did anything wrong..it's because Jerry Green said she did something wrong.

Anonymous said...

Get a hold of the voter registration list, go door to door like we did for Obama, and make it a package deal- recall the Mayor and make certain Assemblyman Green is ousted as City Democratic Party Chairman at the least.

If anyone is interested in helping form a steering committee, send an email to recallsharonin2011@gmail.com

Bob said...

I've been calling for Sharon's recall for nearly six months and don't mind being a pain if that's what it takes to make Plainfield a better place. This is my home town and I don't plan on leaving unless people like Sharon keep tearing the city down. I like it here and know how beautiful this city can be.

Simone Says said...

The question isn't whether Sharon Robinson-Briggs should go, but if she does, who would replace her? Who's capable enough to reign in the crime, control the out of control "leaders" of this community and rebrand Plainfield? I believe Sharon is a capable leader but not in a Mayor position. She needs to go but who would replace her?

Unknown said...

Dan, this is overdue... I have no idea how can Plainfielder no see beyond party line... This mayor is there just because she said "I'm democrat"... I'm an independent voter, and I would love to see Plainfield vote smart, not just one side.

By the way, just a suggestion, you should include a share tag for all the different social network. I was looking to link your post to my facebook profile, but you don't have a facebook share tag :(

Anonymous said...

If Jerry Green is the one to make the decision on whether she goes then we truly are lost. We might as well name him Dictator. What is the matter with people in Plainfield. If you do not like the mayor and her actions it is our responsibility to recall her and take her to task for not doing what needs to be done. After that any town council memeber who has served more than four years should not be reelected no matter how much good we think has been done. The longer these individuals are in office the more their power grows and in most cases is excersized for their own gain (absolute power corrupts absolutely). Let me put it very simply, we are in a fiancial crisis, so the first think they do is lay people off in order to scare us and dig into our pockets further. Please explain to me why salary cuts are not on the table. Please do not give me the BS that their are contract articles that prevent this. If the public employees were truly interested in the wellfare of the city and its residents the first thing they would do is help their coworkers by sharing the burden. A small cut in salary (10%?) will be hard as each individual will have to give up some things but at least you will still be able to live. I know what I am talking about as I have been out of work for 21 months. I have applied for jobs well beneath my abilities and cannot get hired to be a PeaPod delivery person at Stop & Shop. Once I start dipping into retirement savings I will be forced to move out of NJ.

Anonymous said...

I voted NO because the most likely replacement would be Mapp, and he is far worse, what with his overblown ego, undeserved sense of entitlement, achingly poor social skills, and overwhelmingly loose grip on the facts. Talk about ambition exceeding ability!
Mike.

Anonymous said...

@Mike 11:29AM -

Have you EVER had a conversation or a meeting with Councilman MAPP? I would like to know what makes you say Councilman Mapp has "an overblown ego". I believed he was arrogant only because I read and heard he was. However - during Plainfield's mayoral election I had a conversation with him and I did not see, hear or smell arrogance.


This is a NASTY rumor brought on by SLIMEY JERRY GREEN and his mini me -Ghettofied Sharon RobinsonBriggs.

Mapp is the one to take over as Mayor once Sharon is RECALLED!!!

Ron

Anonymous said...

Beyond the political maneuvering there's not much to Mapp. Even if I agree with him on issues I wouldn't trust him to do the right thing unless there's some political advantage to be had. Better than Sharon by a stretch, but not the one that will lead Plainfield anywhere. It'll just be a different spin on the same old nonsense.

Annie McWilliams has heart and soul, and smarts, but needs to fly free of the machine, the special interests, and to set a course independent of New or Old Dem turf battles.