Has Jerry exposed himself to a lawsuit in Storch post?

Plainfield Assemblyman Jerry Green.

There is a question whether Plainfield Assemblyman Jerry Green's latest attack on Councilor Cory Storch may have exposed the Assemblyman to a lawsuit with financial consequences (see the post here).

The Assemblyman posts correspondence from Moses Myers, an employee of Bridgeway, the social services agency of which Councilor Storch is the executive director, complaining of treatment he believes he received from senior staff of the agency.

Myers detailed his complaint in a memo to Storch dated March 8, 2010 concerning a meeting that took place on March 4.

On March 9, the very next day -- before Storch could possibly have addressed the matter -- Myers writes to Assemblyman Green, enclosing the memo and asking Green's help in getting a lawyer. (One may suspect the whole thing is a setup when reading that Myers was a 17-year tenant of Green's uncle, a point that is not really germane to the complaint.)

What we are made privy to is a personnel matter internal to Bridgeway. There is no evidence Mr. Myers pursued an established channel of resolving the issues discussed other than the memo to the executive director.

Myers' letter of July 23 to Assemblyman Green shifts gears from the original letter. There is no mention of legal assistance (can we assume Assemblyman Green never got back to him, or never helped with his request?), and now his thrust is against the agency itself and not a particular complaint.

Myers gives Assemblyman Green permission to use the letter as he sees fits.

However, there is a fly in the ointment: Myers now identifies the parties at Bridgeway by their full names; he also does not indicate whether he ever pursued a resolution of the matter or, if so, what that resolution was.

Personnel matters are confidential and reputable agencies such as Bridgeway would not violate that confidentiality.

Myers, however, in spelling out the names of the parties to his complaint has violated the rule of confidentiality.

If it turns out that the matter has been resolved and any of the allegations by Myers against the other Bridgeway employees was judged unfounded, Mr. Myers has exposed himself to legal action by those same employees.

And Assemblyman Green, by publishing the correspondence on his blog and thus publicly identifying the parties, may also have exposed himself to legal action.

The possibilities are libel and defamation of character --

• Libel: the act of presenting to the public false information that damages a person's reputation; and/or
  
  
• Defamation of character: false statements that harm a person in relation to their occupation.

In his attempt to smear Councilor Storch, evidently in advance of Storch's presumed re-election effort next year, Assemblyman Green has lost whatever good judgment he may have had.

This cannot bode well for him as he prepares for his own re-election effort in 2011.

---

• Jerry Green's Page:  "A letter regarding Cory Storch and Bridgeway Inc."
  

-- Dan Damon [follow]

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

Cory Storch wins national award in psychiatric rehab

Cory Storch, the popular Ward 2 member of Plainfield's City Council has been selected as the winner of the U.S. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association's prestigious Irvin Rutman Award for 2009.

Storch is the executive director of Bridgeway, a non-profit provider of comprehensive psychiatric rehabilitation services in central and northern New Jersey. The organization is headquartered in Elizabeth.

In his twenty years as leader of the nonprofit, which began as Bridgeway House in a converted residence, Storch has led the development of the organization into one of New Jersey's largest, best-run and highly regarded psychiatric rehab organizations.

Storch is in demand as both a presenter and a board member in his field, and has traveled around the country and to Europe to promote quality psychiatric community care policies and procedures.

The Irvin Rutman award is named after the founding president of USPRA, who served for over 30 years as the executive director of Horizon House and is currently president of Matrix Research Institute. The award honors an executive director who has demonstrated strong leadership skills in furthering psychiatric rehabilitation values and principles both within his or her organization as well as in the field.

The USPRA was founded in 1975 and has developed and defined the practice of psychosocial/psychiatric rehabilitation, establishing these services as integral to community-based treatment and leading the recovery movement. The organization is dedicated to improving outcomes for persons living with psychiatric disabilities in a cost-effective, evidenced-based and highly successful model.

The award will be presented to Councilor Storch during the USPRA's 34th Annual Conference in Norfolk, VA, from June 29 to July 2.

---

• USPRA: "United States Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association"

-- Dan Damon

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

Muhlenberg: Will the hapless heroine be rescued from the wicked schemer?

Pauline's guardian schemed to get rid of her.

Mayor Robinson-Briggs is 'thrilled' with the possibility that Dr. Reddy Dandolu and DBR Healthcare may emerge as the saviors of Plainfield's Muhlenberg Hospital. (See reports in today's Ledger and Courier.)

Not, I think, if Solaris has anything to do with it.

Dr. Dandolu had reached out to me in April (see here), after I wrote about the interest of Pine Creek in Muhlenberg.

Discussing the need to work with local political officials to successfully conclude a deal (and that I could not be said to be on the friendliest terms with same), I suggested Dr. Dandolu approach the political powers-that-be through Councilor Cory Storch. (I call your attention to the lack of any mention of Councilor Storch in the Mayor's showboating -- which is not the reporters' fault if the Mayor never clued them in.)

Because Solaris' financial consultants required a confidentiality agreement, Dr. Dandolu was not at liberty to discuss his proposal.

However, my research after that conversation showed that he has a family connection to a group that owns several hospitals in southern California, operating as Prime Healthcare Services.

I have to wonder if PHS is part of the deal that Dr. Dandolu is putting together. That would bring a team that has successfully managed hospitals back to financial health -- though not without criticism and crossing swords with California's healthcare monitors (see here).

Tension increased unbearably as the train
bore down on the hapless heroine.

The real obstacle I think is that Solaris will move heaven and earth to see that Muhlenberg's license is cancelled. I have felt all along that Solaris has a STRATEGIC goal of 1) eliminating any competition in its service area, and 2) driving charity care away from the JFK facility.

The maneuvering by Assemblyman Green, Mayor Robinson-Briggs, Dr. Dandolu and Solaris put me in mind of the grandaddy of all movie serials, The Perils of Pauline.

Pauline was always put in peril by the wicked Mr. Koerner who schemed to polish her off and keep control of her inheritance for himself. When I was a kid, the serials used to be run on TV and I always remember the one with Pauline tied in knots and stretched across a railroad track by Koerner in the path of an oncoming locomotive.

Pauline was saved in the nick of time.

Will Muhlenberg be?

Pauline's adventures gave us the word 'cliffhanger'.

---

• Plainfield Today (4/29/2008): "New data and a new buyer for Muhlenberg"

-- Dan Damon

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

Muhlenberg Kabuki

Kabuki was on my mind as the state's Health Advisory Commission conducted its public hearing into closing Plainfield's 131-year old Muhlenberg hospital at the PHS auditorium Tuesday evening. (For the Courier and Ledger reportage, see links at the end of this post.)

The audience which packed the room -- more than 1,000 attendees, I'm estimating -- were impassioned, angry, defiant, persuasive and occasionally funny (one Mr. Smith spelt his name ever-so-slowly for the court stenographer: S. M. I. T. H.) in their 3-minute presentations, which were strictly limited by the hearing's rulemeisters.

The hearing panel -- short of a quorum, as pointed out by BOE member Martin C.O.X. -- sat mostly stone-faced throughout the proceedings. And that is what first put me in mind of kabuki.

Kabuki is the highly stylized form of Japanese theater in which actors are made up in masks representing their characters, playing out scripts that are centuries old in a set number of acts and which often contain battle scenes such as we witnessed last evening. In one famous play, the death of the main character causes calamities to befall the capital city.

So, Plainfield witnessed its own Kabuki last evening --

• Plainfield elected officials, who never paid attention to the developing crisis until it was too late, put on their crocodile tears and thunderously declaimed their 'opposition' to the closing;
• others -- particularly Mayor Allen of North Plainfield and Council President Bencivenga of South Plainfield -- were compelling in both their passion and their citation of facts;
• the audience, crying out against injustice and cruel fate; and
• the state panel, standing in for the traditional Lord High Executioner.

All in all, a complete drama, though in American -- not Japanese -- guise.

Some astonishing things were expressed and learned from last evening's speakers, among them --

• there are 800 children with severe asthma in the Plainfield area, who will face life-threatening delays in getting hospital attention during an attack;
• 90% of pregnant clients of Neighborhood Health Services (formerly PHC) will not be allowed to deliver at JFK;
• minutes crucial to the survival of heart attack and stroke victims will be lost in being transported to another hospital and may lead to the death or permanent impairment of the victims.

Among the hundreds of attendees I recognized, there were a good number of off-duty cops, firefighters and other city workers -- many of them holding the ubiquitous POP 'Save Muhlenberg' placards.

Assemblyman Jerry Green -- who created a ruckus at Monday's City Council meeting by shouting within earshot of all at Councilor Cory Storch outside the Council chamber's (slightly ajar) door: "I've got things under control!" -- was present, as well as Councilor Storch, who was speaking out as a health care professional.

Mayor Robinson-Briggs lugged her four binders of letters of support to the podium when her turn came to speak, rather like a pathetic show-and-tell. Where was she at the beginning of her term, when she could have made a difference? (And then I had to hear her almost literally swipe my laundry list of issues and suggestions in her remarks -- so now I'm her speech writer, too?). She too, disingenuously, thundered out against the closing.

I expect the hearing panel will do what is sought of them and soon enough issue the much-desired execution order.

And so the play will end.

And then the calamities will begin.

---

Read the media reports here--

• Courier: "1,200 attend hearing to keep Muhlenberg open"
• Ledger: "Hearing on closing of hospital is packed"

-- Dan Damon

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

Councilor Storch asks a stumper question

The topic was information technology and Plainfield City Administrator Marc Dashield was presenting.

Councilor Cory Storch's question was simplicity itself: Does this mean that we'll be able to get our information packets by email?

The answer is that even when the $1.1 million IT project is completed in July or August, it won't make a difference to the Councilor's question, since the packets could be emailed NOW, even without the fancy bells and whistles that are coming.

The truth is that the weekly packets, already prepared in digital format (using MS Word) could easily be converted to PDF file (also using MS Word) and emailed to Councilors on Friday evening. So what's the holdup?

The good news on the information technology front is that the $1.1M project to network City Hall and the Annex is expected to be complete by July/August. With a data center in the Annex which will house all the city's servers, workers will be completely networked, with no more standalone computers.

The aged Centrex phone system will be replaced by a VOIP (internet-based) telephone system. (This is a good thing.) Unspecified were plans/expenses for including outlying facilities such as the DPW Yard and the east and west end fire station (read: more expenses).

The bad news is that this project only addresses connectivity, not productivity.

It was productivity that Councilor Storch had in mind with his questions. Another one he raised was whether the $1.1M project meant that residents would now be able to file permit applications online. The answer is no.

There has not even been a discussion yet of what is referred to as 'e-government', making it possible for residents, businesses and taxpayers to do everything from apply for permits to paying taxes and other bills online. And when that is eventually discussed, you can be sure there will be more money needing to be spent.

One item that was NOT mentioned, either by Mr. Dashield or Council members, was whether the new network would include having a dedicated email server for elected officials and employees. It is a matter of continuing concern, especially given how important email has become as a part of the normal course of conducting business, that City employees have a jumble of email options (some even using free webmail accounts) and there is no attempt to preserve this correspondence, which is in fact a part of the public record. Not to mention that elected officials all used private emails.

Finally, Mr. Dashield did not address whether the ever-popular government productivity tool, Solitaire, would be hosted on the network or reside on individual computers.

---

-- Dan Damon

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

Storch wins despite demeaning demagoguery

Voters at Cook and Evergreen schools were treated to the display shown below as they entered the polling places.

Evergreen School Courtesy of Maria Pellum	Evergreen School Courtesy of Maria Pellum
Cook School Courtesy of Alexa Storch	Evergreen School Courtesy of Maria Pellum

As a small child, I was taken on a memorable visit to the Zoo in Buffalo, New York.

Besides exotic animals in viewing areas behind tall steel fences, there was an elderly, wizened Native American in a Plains Indian costume, complete with ceremonial headdress, who sat near the entry and posed for snapshots with zoo visitors.

• It was demeaning to the old man.
  
  
• It was an inaccurate portrayal of western New York Native Americans, who are Senecas, one of the Five Nations, and not from the Great Plains at all.
  
  
• It insinuated a silent sense of superiority in those who posed with the elderly gent by treating him and his heritage as a prop.

That long-buried image flashed immediately to mind when I saw the signs displayed by workers for Storch's opponent outside these polling places.

• They were demeaning to Park Hotel residents.
  
  
• They were an inaccurate portrayal of Storch's statements about the Park Hotel.
  
  
• They treated Park Hotel residents as mere props in a political campaign.

Storch, a mental health professional whose agency was recently recognized as one of the best in the state, has long and detailed familiarity with the Park Hotel facility.

What has Storch said about the Park Hotel, after the topic was raised by Assemblyman Jerry Green, in a bid to get the Council to back closing the residential facility?

• Storch said the facility was outmoded.
  
  
• Storch said that it could be renovated to properly accommodate about half the present population of 180 or so.
  
  
• Storch said that doing so successfully would require a substantial -- and creative -- investment by the State in smaller group homes.
  
  
• Storch said that all this would need to be done with minimal disruption to the clients and without their being allowed to 'fall through the net.'

His opponent's signs totally misrepresented Storch's position.

Nonetheless, incumbent Storch won the Democratic primary for the Ward 2 seat despite this last-minute demagoguery.

The unofficial tally is 329 to 174.

Storch will face GOP candidate Deborah Dowe in the November general election.

I guess you could call me a "fat, gruntled old man". If you wanted to.

-- Dan Damon

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

ARCHIVED POSTS OF PLAINFIELD TODAY FROM 11/03/2005 THROUGH 12/31/2006 ARE AT
http://plainfieldtoday.blogspot.com/

Troubling questions on Ward 2 race

Troubling questions have arisen about the Council race for the Ward 2 seat.

Will they be answered tonight? One can hope.

You will not want to miss the forum -- which will include not only Democrats Cory Storch and Tony Rucker, but Republican candidate Deborah Dowe -- at the Plainfield Public Library, 7 PM sharp.

With apologies to the GOP, whose last successful candidate for the Council's Ward 2 seat (former Councillor Donna Vose) ran in the early 1990s, the seat will be won in November by the victor in the June Democratic primary.

That is why this evening's forum is so important for those concerned about the Ward and the City. And why troubling questions should be answered NOW, before the primary election.

For openers, Storch's campaign has reported his campaign signs have been removed from homeowners' lawns.

This is an perennial annoyance, though Plainfield has never been in the same league as those towns in which municipal employees of the faction in power have removed opponents signs en masse (as in Sharpe v. Booker in the first go-round).

I had hoped for better things, though, from this campaign.

A more troubling question is centered on Rucker's upcoming appearance as a guest of city employee and radio personality Laurence Rice on Harvest Radio (1070 on the AM dial), scheduled for the day before the election, as reported on Rucker's campaign blog --

"Monday. June 4. 1:30 - 2:30 PM. The day before the June 5th election I am an invited guest speaking and broadcasting live on Harvest Radio 1070AM. Please tune in!!"

I can appreciate the candidate's enthusiasm at being able to present his views, but radio stations get their licenses of bandwidth from the Federal Communication Commission as a public trust.

And the FCC takes a decidedly dim view of radio stations endorsing, or even appearing to endorse, political candidates.

If Rucker alone is being invited to share his views, and he posts it on his campaign blog as another part of his campaign for office, one has to ask: Is Harvest Radio endorsing a candidate?

A call by the Storch campaign to Harvest Radio's station manager yesterday was not returned by the end of the business day.

This is indeed a troubling question.

Will we get an answer?

Tonight?

-- Dan Damon

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

ARCHIVED POSTS OF PLAINFIELD TODAY FROM 11/03/2005 THROUGH 12/31/2006 ARE AT
http://plainfieldtoday.blogspot.com/

The real news in the Dem news

There is a wacky scene in Disney's 1951 Alice in Wonderland, at the Mad Hatter's tea party, where the March Hare repeatedly offers Alice a cup of tea but pulls it out of her hands just as she is about to drink it.

The press may be forgiven if it feels a little like Alice after last night's re-announcement of the lineup of Democratic candidates for this year's primary.

Remember that the lineup was announced in last Friday's Ledger ("Plainfield Democrats switch allegiance"), with a note that the formal announcement would come on Monday AT CITY HALL.

ALL THE NEWS WAS ALREADY OUT OF THE BOX -- the dumping of Mapp for Van Blake and granting Carter and Storch the line.

So what was to come out for on Monday -- except maybe a photo opp?

Unless the change of venue to DEM PARTY HEADQUARTERS was the news?

The reason for the venue change heard in the street was that it seemed to the powers-that-be that a partisan political announcement at City Hall was somehow inappropriate.

To which PT says, "Who cares?"

There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.

-- The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. T. S. Eliot, 1917.

-- Dan Damon

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

ARCHIVED POSTS OF PLAINFIELD TODAY FROM 11/03/2005 THROUGH 12/31/2006 ARE AT
http://plainfieldtoday.blogspot.com/