Relay For Life: Tonight at Hub-Stine!

From last year's Relay for Life.

Plainfielders will again participate in the American Cancer Society's 'Relay for Life' event overnight tonight at Hub-Stine Field.

Hundreds turned out for last year's event to learn, connect, remember and help raise money for programs aimed specifically at the Plainfield area.

Many friends and readers are participating in this year's event, and I hope you will check out the online opportunities to contribute (see here).

And come out and join in the event tonight!

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-- Dan Damon

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Senior Center: 4th floor floor arrives

Plainfield's new Senior Center and condos reach another milestone Thursday with the arrival and unloading of the floor joists for the fourth -- and final -- floor of the 62-unit complex.

With Front Street blocked off as I approached my bank, and two cranes towering over the construction site, I whipped into the Ben Franklin Liquor Store parking lot and got the following shots.

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Enjoy.

-- Dan

Muhlenberg hearing puts more pressure on state

Streetside rally before the hearing

Plainfield High School's auditorium was jammed with over a thousand people again on Thursday evening for the State Health Planning Board's second hearing on Solaris' application for a Certificate of Need to close Muhlenberg hospital.

Thankfully, the chairperson extended the meeting from its original 6-8 PM to restore to the public the time taken away from it by Assemblyman Green's prefatory remarks.

Speaker after speaker hammered away at points that need to be resolved by the Health Planning Board in making its recommendation to Commissioner Heather Howard --

• The proposed closure does NOT meet the state's OWN GUIDELINES for hospital closures;
• Not enough time is being given to potential buyers to put their deals together;
• Impact assessments -- on both health-related and economic effects -- have not been done;
• How will Solaris' commitment to 3-years for the ER and some other services be adjusted, since it does not meet the requirement of EIGHT YEARS set by guidelines;
  
• Would a 'right-sized' (i.e., smaller, but still acute-care) facility be workable?
• Can Muhlenberg's license be kept 'active' while a new owner is found and a rationale takes shape?
  

The advisory commission can recommend to Ms. Howard that the CoN be granted to Solaris as requested, granted WITH CONDITIONS, or denied.

Waving signs in agreement with speakers.

I think people had a sense of hope after last evening's hearing that the advisory group was not going to simply RUBBERSTAMP the Solaris application. That is a good thing.

But the fact remains that Solaris IS WINDING DOWN OPERATIONS at Muhlenberg AS IF the CoN is being granted.

Many staff have already left. Many operations have already been transferred to JFK.

Without a doubt, what will remain after June 15 is pretty much what Solaris hoped to achieve -- a very stripped-down facility.

Great anger was expressed by the crowd at two points:

1. The so-called 'Trinitas solution' to the issue of where babies of the Health Center's clients will be delivered (as you know, neither JFK nor Somerset MC want them delivered there!); and
   
   
2. The repeated -- and to me, new -- assertion that large numbers of angioplasty referrals were NOT made by JFK to Muhlenberg. A couple of doctors said that the lost referrals would have amounted to $10 million or more in income.

Will the road from Plainfield to Trinitas become a 'trail of tears' as pregnant women in labor use NJT's #57 bus or taxis to attempt to get to a hospital in time to deliver? The 800 pregnant women being considered today are only the tip of the iceberg. Large numbers of low-income pregnant women who depend on the Health Center's clinics are a permanent feature of Plainfield's health needs situation. The public is not pleased with the proposed solution.

The matter of refusing angioplasty referrals to Muhlenberg should be looked into by the state. If true, it only gives more credence to the notion among Muhlenberg supporters that Solaris has 'cooked the books'. Solaris should come clean on this matter ASAP.

Olive Lynch, founder of 'Buy Muhlenberg'.

Where will things go? Only time will tell, but you can be sure of one thing: If not for the popular pressure exerted by all those who have rallied, marched, chanted, prayed, honked and testified, Solaris and Heather Howard would have had a walk in the park.

At the least, the state now feels great pressure not to appear to rush to a conclusion. And perhaps even to try to be 'rational' in its decision.

Will justice be done?

I guess that depends on what you think justice is and who is in a position to 'do' it.

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-- Dan Damon

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McWilliams & Mapp: Celebration slideshow

A slideshow of pictures snapped at the McWilliams and Mapp victory celebration after the polls closed on Primary Day, June 3, 2008.

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Enjoy!

Muhlenberg hearing tonight, POP rallly starts at 5 PM

The state's second -- and final -- hearing on the proposal by Solaris Health System to close its Muhlenberg operation will be held tonight, 6:00 - 8:00 PM at the Plainfield High School auditorium, corner of Park and Stelle Avenues. Come early, parking is sure to be at a premium.

All the 'Save Muhlenberg' forces will rally hold a sidewalk rally beginning at 5:00 PM.

Read the Courier News article here: "State board to review Muhlenberg statements at second public hearing".

Kudos to Olive Lynch, candidate, Muhlenberg activist

Though she did not win the Ward 3 Democratic nomination, I tip my hat to Muhlenberg activist Olive Lynch, who ran a feisty campaign and garnered a respectable number of votes.

As she said to me last night at the victory party for the McWilliams and Mapp teams, she felt relieved that she was once again able to turn her full attention to the matter nearest her heart -- saving Muhlenberg Hospital.

Thank you, Olive, for being there for Plainfield in these trying times!!!

Onward!

Links to Primary runup stories: A referendum on Jerry Green

For those who simply cannot get enough of Plainfield political hurly-burly, here are the links to my posts leading up to Tuesday's stunning defeat of Assemblyman Jerry Green's handpicked City Council candidates.

Was I wrong to cast the entire election as a referendum on Green's political leadership? 62% of voters seem to think not.

Read on --

Primary Day: "Tuesday To-Do's: Vote, Party"
Monday: "The Assemblyman's panic attack"
Sunday: "The problem with Don Davis"
Saturday: "Slimemeister Green avoids Gibson's true cost to taxpayers"
Friday: "Plainfield's 'Corruption Tax', the Platters and You"
Thursday: "Gibson and Muhlenberg: Sleeping through the crisis"
Wednesday: "The Buying and Selling (out) of Plainfield"
Tuesday: "Primary A Referendum on Assemblyman Jerry Green"

Police Director: Absurd level reached

With Orange mayor Mims Hackett's resignation from office in the face of his bribery conviction, City Council President Lisa Perkins became acting mayor until the new mayor takes office on July 1.

With a mayorally-appointed civilian police director (as in Plainfield's new arrangement), Perkins exercised her authority as mayor to appoint HERSELF as police director, sending Aric Webster, Hackett's appointee, packing with NO notice.

Read more here: "Politics of the absurd in Orange".

Assemblyman Green bombs on state, national picks

Assemblyman Jerry Green with his handpicked local team. The only one
to win a nomination was William Reid, who ran unopposed.

Pssst! Wanna stock tip?

I wouldn't suggest taking one from Plainfield Assemblyman Jerry Green.

Green's pick for U.S. Senate, Congressman Rob Andrews, bombed with 33.6% of the vote to incumbent (and longtime Plainfield friend) Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who took 60.5% of the vote. Morristown mayor Don Cresitello came in a distant third with a little over 5% of the vote.

This means the Assemblyman will have a ton of Rob Andrews signs to take down after his weekend blitz -- unless, of course, he expects the DPW crews to do his work for him.

On the national front, Barack Obama, clearly the peoples' choice, finally claimed the nomination after the last two statewide primaries in Montana and South Dakota and a rush of superdelegates pushed him over the 2,118 nomination line.

Green, an early Hillary supporter has achieved a perfect trifecta of losses.

My stock tip of the day?

Be very, very wary of any tips from the Assemblyman.

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-- Dan Damon

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Voters Rebuke Green Team With McWilliams-Mapp Blowout

Annie McWilliams and Adrian Mapp celebrate with supporters after
sweeping Tuesday's Primary Election. (Photo, Allison McWilliams)

Plainfield voters soundly rebuked the political leadership of Assemblyman Jerry Green at the polls on Tuesday, giving the Democratic nomination for the citywide at-large seat to Annie McWilliams by a resounding 62% as against 37% for Green's handpicked incumbent, former Union County Public Safety Director Harold Gibson. Unofficial totals show 2860 votes cast, 1785 for McWilliams and 1075 for Gibson.

The win was continued in the Ward Three contest, where former Councilor and Freeholder Adrian Mapp beat out Green incumbent Don Davis and 'Buy Muhlenberg' founder Olive Lynch. While I do not have the totals for Lynch, Mapp drew 462 votes to Davis' 371 in the unofficial count. UPDATE AT 8 AM: The newspapers report Olive Lynch receiving 149 votes. The unofficial breakdown now stands at: Mapp, 47%; Davis, 38%; and Lynch, 15%. Combined, Mapp and Lynch garnered 62% of the vote, with 38% for Davis, reflecting the percentage spread in the citywide race.

Official figures will be available on the County Clerk's website later.

Running a low-budget grassroots campaign, the McWilliams-Mapp team used both tried-and-true techniques (walking the neighborhoods and talking with voters) as well as new methods of spreading their message (blogs) and gathering online contributions by using the Paypal service, which has been so successful for Barack Obama.

Assemblyman Green, on the other hand, relied on an old-style vendor-driven contribution operation which guaranteed oodles of cash but little-to-no grassroots support.

Preliminary numbers indicate McWilliams swept the Green machine in all four wards -- including strong showings in Ward 4 (especially Neighborhood House) and Ward 1, both of which Green has relied on in the past.

One of the sights caught by voters entering the polls at Plainfield High School was Her Honor, Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs, dutifully handing out palm cards in support of Assemblyman Green's handpicked candidates. (You will recall SHE was herself handpicked by the selfsame Assemblyman Green in 2005.)

McWilliams and Mapp trounced Gibson on his home turf -- Ward Three -- with Mapp taking the Ward Three council nomination despite a run by 'Save Muhlenberg' activist Olive Lynch, who drew substantial support.

In my mind, the Ward Three results also represent a rebuke of Assemblyman Green for his dismal performance on the Muhlenberg Hospital question, where he first found himself asleep at the switch and then spent his initial energies organizing the hospital's shut-down.

The people, evidently, will have none of it, and this does NOT augur well for Green on other fronts.

In a heavily Democratic community such as Plainfield, nomination virtually assures election in November, in which both Annie McWilliams and Adrian Mapp will appear in the regular Democratic lineup.

The times, as Dylan said, are a changin' --

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

You may substitute the elected officials of your choice in the lyric.

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-- Dan Damon

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Tuesday To-Do's: Vote, Party

It's Primary Day. I will be working as a volunteer challenger on behalf of Annie McWilliams today.

I'm hoping you are so tired of the 'same old, same old' -- or angry, embarrassed or frustrated about the state of affairs in Plainfield -- that you will vote for the change that is needed.

The graphic above shows the location of Annie and Adrian on the ballot. Voters citywide have the option of voting for Annie McWilliams. Only residents of the Third Ward may vote for Adrian.

If you have voted in a November election but have NEVER voted in a primary and are considered UNAFFILIATED, you may vote for Annie and Adrian in today's primary election by declaring your party preference as Democratic at the sign-in table.

WATCH RESULTS AFTER THE ELECTION

The polls close at 8:00 PM and friends, supporters and campaign workers will be gathering at the McWilliams/Mapp headquarters at the Antique Castle, corner of Park Avenue and 9th Street. (Parking available in the Library's parking lot across the street.)

Come join us to watch the election results as they come in and to mingle with other supporters.

And thank you for all your support!

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-- Dan Damon

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The Assemblyman's panic attack

As Plainfielders prepare to vote in Tuesday's primary election, Assemblyman Jerry Green's team gave way to an anonymous, hysterical panic attack on Sunday.

Worshipers at many West End churches emerged from services to find their windshields plastered with anonymous flyers attacking Annie McWilliams and Adrian Mapp as well as supporting Rob Andrews in his run against incumbent Frank Lautenberg for the U.S. Senate nomination.

Stuck under each car's windshield wiper was a packet of four pieces: the anonymous flyer, a letter in support of Council President Gibson signed 'Harold', a slick postcard pitching Jerry's team of Gibson/Davis/Reid on one side and Gibson on the other, and all wrapped in a trifold brochure touting Rob Andrews against Lautenberg.

The attack on Annie McWilliams is printed on the back of the same anonymous anti-Mapp flyer that Jerry Green trundled down to Roselle after his Washington School performace a week ago last Wednesday -- and paid two people $50 each to stand outside the Borough Hall to hand out. (Who knew Jerry believed so strongly in recycling?)

For unintended hilarity, you probably cannot top the screaming headline (punctuation as on the flyer):

A VOTE FOR ANNIE
IS
A VOTE FOR BUSH!
----
SAY NO! TO ANNIE!
&
SAY NO! TO McCAIN!

None of the pieces in support of Gibson had the required 'Paid for by...' language. More intriguing to me is that the anonymous flyer was bundled with 'official' stuff. Panic makes for sloppiness! In his better days, Jerry would never make the careless mistake of leaving 'fingerprints' like this. Tut, tut!

Laughable or not, tomorrow's outcome depends on absolutely everyone who is frustrated, angry or embarrassed by the state of affairs in Plainfield TURNING OUT TO VOTE and voting in support of the positive change that Plainfield needs and deserves.

If you are tired of the 'same old, same old', I hope you will join me tomorrow (Tuesday June 3) in voting for Annie McWilliams (6E) and Adrian Mapp (7E).

SAY NO! TO JERRY!
&
VOTE FOR ANNIE! & ADRIAN!

NOTE: Several readers have asked about the police officer appearing in uniform in the Gibson/Davis/Reid political materials. Is it the newly-minted Capt. Gilliam? Appears to be. But the more serious question raised by many is whether the officers pictured were on duty when photographed. Or, if they were not, then are they allowed to wear their uniforms to pose for political purposes? Just another example of the Green team's scant acquaintance with propriety?

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-- Dan Damon

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The problem with Don Davis

In her recent mailer, Olive Lynch, one of the challengers for Don Davis' council seat, asks rhetorically whether Plainfield can afford Don Davis' bar tab. While some may be annoyed at what Davis spends the public's money on, I for one think that is not the main point.

The real question with Councilor Don Davis is simply this: What does he bring to the table?

What has Don Davis done that earns him another term?

Stumped?

So is everyone else.

Like President Bush, everyone agrees Don Davis is someone you'd like to have a beer with. Or two.

But that's about it.

As Adrian Mapp's canvassers have been out talking to voters in the 3rd Ward, they are greeted over and over again with 'Don who'?

Folks cannot remember ever seeing him at a neighborhood function or block association meeting or walking in the neighborhood at all in the past four years.

For those who think Councilors should be attentive to their constituents and not just the opportunities to schmooze at the public's expense, not even showing up is an offense.

So, the real question about Don Davis is not his bar tabs on the public dime, nor the unresolved other matter that is whispered about.

No, the problem is there is no there there.

And that is just the way Assemblyman Green apparently likes it.

I hope you will join me on Tuesday June 3, in voting for Annie McWilliams (6E) and Adrian Mapp (7E).

Two who will be there when you need them.

[ Click HERE to email this story to your friends.]

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-- Dan Damon

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Slimemeister Green avoids Gibson's true cost to taxpayers

Plainfield's slimemeister strikes again!

Assemblyman Jerry Green's political style (you didn't think these campaign mailers flooding your mailbox were the candidates' idea, did you?) rears it ugly head in the final weekend's REALLY NASTY mailings.

On behalf of Council President Harold Gibson, who COULD NOT WIN A SEAT IN AN OPEN ELECTION (he ran and lost against Councilor Burney, who still sits in the seat Gibson could not win), the same Harold Gibson who had to serve the party machine for 50 years before -- at age 72 -- he could get a seat on the Council, Jerry Green attacks Annie McWilliams for her YOUTH.

As if being young and savvy were a crime.

And as if being old and toeing the Democratic machine's line were a virtue.

Sadly, Assemblyman Green fails to give Gibson credit for the REAL service he has given to the UNION COUNTY DEMOCRATIC MACHINE.

While trying to give Gibson credit for everything except inventing sliced bread (who knows?) -- singlehandedly reducing crime (does his undershirt have a Superman logo on it?) and working (once he woke up) alongside Jerry Green (once HE woke up) on the Muhlenberg closing -- he fails to mention the most compelling example of Gibson's UNPARALLELED FINANCIAL EXPERIENCE, costing the taxpayers $650,00 for his partisan political activity.

Huh?

As Union County's Public Safety Director, Gibson approved the appointment of a political hack, the unqualified son of a Democratic mayor, as Superintendent in the Division of Weights and Measures, part of the Public Safety Department.

The well-qualified longtime employee who was passed over sued Gibson and Union County and won $300,000 in her first suit, which alleged discrimination job. In a second lawsuit to compel Gibson and the County to appoint her to the job instead of the mayor's son, the County agreed to a settlement of $200,000 in her favor plus a pay raise to the Superintendent's level, but without giving her the job.

Another applicant who was more qualified than the mayor's son who was appointed also sued. He won a settlement of $150,000 for Gibson's and the County's discrimination against him. (You can read about the whole sleazy business on The Countywatchers blog here.)

So, I would agree that Council President Gibson has UNPARALLELED FINANCIAL EXPERIENCE: his partisan behavior has cost you, dear taxpayer, $650,000.

Skip the cornball sleaze in the last mailings from Assemblyman Green's team (including one for Don Davis due in your mailboxes today) and focus on the real question: Do we need a change from the 'same old, same old' in Plainfield?

I think so.

That is why I will be voting for Annie McWilliams (6E) and Adrian Mapp (7E) on Tuesday, June 3, and hope you will too.

[ Click HERE to email this story to your friends.]

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-- Dan Damon

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Plainfield's 'Corruption Tax', the Platters and You

"The fact is that the residents of New Jersey pay for the misdeeds of government decision-makers by paying in effect, a “corruption tax.”" -- Jon Corzine (more here).

Prosecutors who deal with corruption cases will tell you that taxpayers pay a premium of anywhere from 5% to 40% as a result of New Jersey's infamous pay-to-play culture.

Plainfield is no exception.

That is money that finds its way -- legally -- into the campaign accounts of machine politicians running for everything from City Council to the state Assembly and Senate. And illegally, into the pockets of pols throughout the state who haven't any ethical sense.

But even when it is 'legal', pay-to-play functions as a 'corruption tax' that burdens Plainfield taxpayers, you included.

How?

Mainly through three methods: patronage hiring, inflated costs, and shoddy work.

PATRONAGE HIRING

If you've been a fan of City Council meetings in recent years, you will have noticed that very few contracts go out to bid any more. Open public bidding was devised many years ago to correct the abuses of Boss Tweed-type machines controlling local politics just doling out public monies to their friends and supporters. An irony of the supposed 'pay-to-play' ordinance that the Council passed under the Robinson-Briggs administration is that a list of vendors is vetted, adopted by the Council and -- Presto! -- public bidding is circumvented. Nice trick, huh?

Think Remington & Vernick, the politically juiced South Jersey engineering firm you never heard of before Assemblyman Green got hundreds of thousands of dollars 'wheeled' to him to pay for the election of Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs. Money that came from South Jersey pols, with whom Remington & Vernick is entwined. Thanks to votes by Jerry's City Council, you not only have them as City engineers, you pay for their hotel stays when they have to overnight away from home in order to huddle with Administration biggies the morning after Planning Board meetings. Can you say 'corruption tax'?

INFLATED COSTS

So, now that we have gotten rid of public bidding and have the vendor who has paid for the privilege in place, what next?

The vendor will study 'em and change-order 'em to death, that's what.

Engineers love to bill taxpayers for 'studying' the community's problems. Consider the road rebuilding program adopted by the Council when Adrian Mapp was its leader. That perfectly adequate plan has been 'restudied' by the new engineering firm (Remington & Vernick) -- of course, as billable hours. You can bet your bottom dollar any changes are cosmetic. But you will pay -- dearly -- for them.

And once work on infrastructure projects begins, vendors have the change-order route, adjusting the agreed-upon prices as projects go along -- always for a 'justified' reason, of course.

Always reminds me of the lady who ran the Red & White grocery at the crossroads near where I grew up. She routinely put her thumb on the scale when weighing your hamburger or sliced cold cuts.

SHODDY WORK

Under Remington & Vernick, you may have witnessed their hired hand trying to hustle a redevelopment plan by portraying a mattress in the street as a sign of blight, justifying declaring an area 'in need of redevelopment'. The Planning Board sent him packing on that one. Is it any coincidence that some of the members involved in that fracas were not reappointed by the Robinson-Briggs administration -- to which the Council responded by meekly accepting the new, presumably more amenable appointments?

Another incident sticks in my memory.

There was, when I was still employed by the City, a vendor who Jerry Green foisted on Mayor McWilliams -- to the tune of a 'retainer' fee of $5,000 per month for a year's contract -- who was supposed to find grant monies for city programs.

Working late one evening, I heard the fax machine several cubicles over alerting that it had run out of paper while receiving a fax. Going over to reload the paper tray, I found over a hundred faxed pages strewn on the floor, having filled the in-tray and then spilling over. Picking them up and looking for the cover sheet, I discovered that the hundred-plus pages (including copious copies of newspaper articles, handwritten notes, and copies of emails) were a submission package for a grant application whose deadline was the next day. Talk about shoddy work! Need I say the City never got the grant?

(Interestingly, today's Bergen Record carries a story of U.S. Attorney Chris Christie starting a criminal investigation of Bergen County Dem kingpin Joe Ferreiro, for just the same sort of scheme.

A consulting firm linked to Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero and politically connected lawyer Dennis J. Oury raked in $11,000 in fees for securing a $50,000 state grant for Lyndhurst, according to township records obtained Thursday.

The firm, Governmental Grants Consulting, billed the township for an initial $6,000 retainer fee, plus 10 percent — or $5,000 — of the overall grant amount, after the money was secured in 2003.

Read more here.)

Lastly, a majority of this City Council voted to hand over its responsibilities for redevelopment projects to the Union County Improvement Authority -- one of those agencies that Jon Corzine characterized as New Jersey's "invisible government" -- where the cylce of patronage hiring, inflated costs, and shoddy work is continued on a higher level and with even less public scrutiny. (Except, of course, that the UCIA's executive director, Charlotte deFilippo is currently under investigation by the Attorney General's office.)

ONLY YOU...

Isn't it time to get rid of Plainfield's 'corruption tax'?

Annie McWilliams and Adrian Mapp are truly grassroots candidates, not beholden to any pay-to-play vendors. When you put them on the Council, they will be there to guard against the picking of the taxpayers' pocket that the 'corruption tax' represents.

But first, you must put them on the City Council.

I woke up this morning with Elvis singing in my head (Why? I'm NOT an Elvis fan, and it was THE PLATTERS who own the song.) --

Only you can make this world seem right
Only you can make the darkness bright
Only you and you alone...

-- Whether The Platters or the Elvis version....

That is why I am asking you to join me in voting for Annie McWilliams (6E) and Adrian Mapp (7E) on Tuesday, June 3.

[ Click HERE to email this story to your friends.]

---

-- Dan Damon

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Gibson and Muhlenberg: Sleeping through the crisis

Sign by Muhlenberg supporter in front of his house, Watchung Avenue.

If Plainfielders want evidence that Council President Harold Gibson slept through the Muhlenberg crisis until it was out of control, he gave it at Tuesday's candidate forum.

In response to a question about Muhlenberg, Gibson said he had been to every rally.

That's it?

That's it.

While yesterday's Courier editorial made the point that Muhlenberg is a 'microcosm' of the state of New Jersey's hospitals (see more HERE), Council President touts his attendance at rallies.

The issue here is that Harold Gibson is in a position of power unlike that of ordinary citizens. Why hasn't he used it?

As Gibson himself pointed out, he has access to information ordinary citizens do not. Average citizens like us did not have the opportunity of secret information about how dire the situation at Muhlenberg was.

Harold Gibson did, though he did nothing with it.

We do not have the power to force Solaris to stop shutting Muhlenberg down.

Harold Gibson does, though he will not use it.

As Council President, Gibson could use his power to sue for an injunction to prevent Muhlenberg's shutdown by Solaris.

But he does not.

Why not? Gibson had no problem going to court -- expensively -- to get rid of Police Chief Ed Santiago, so why not to save our hospital, save 1,100 jobs, save Plainfield's business community?

There is ONE glaring reason -- it would put Gibson's patron, Assemblyman Jerry Green, in a more difficult spot.

Jerry Green is already between a rock and a hard place.

On the one hand, he has profited greatly over the years from his association with Solaris, pushing its agenda in Trenton, posturing as a 'rainmaker' and basking in the glory of being Muhlenberg's champion.

On the other hand, he now faces angry voters. Voters who feel he blindsided them by keeping Muhlenberg's difficulties from public view. Voters who feel he betrayed them by organizing a task force to shut the hospital down rather than use his clout in Trenton to keep it open.

Gibson, who owes his seat on the City Council to Assemblyman Green, finds himself in the position where using the power he has to force Solaris to keep Muhlenberg open would embarrass the Assemblyman.

What do you think he's going to do?

For an idea of what Council President Gibson thinks is the REAL use of his power, we have to go no further than Tuesday's candidate forum.

To illustrate his idea of real service to the community, Council President Gibson cited the matter of a resident who had a bus stop in front of her house. People waiting at the bus stop would routinely litter the area with trash. In response to her complaint, Gibson got the bus stop moved.

The garbage didn't go away, it just went in front of someone else's house. This is how to solve problems?

Among other things, representatives on the City Council have a responsibility to be good stewards of Plainfield's resources. That includes jobs, services, and institutions serving the community.

Every Councilor should leave Plainfield a better place than when he or she found it.

That can only be done by being proactive, by using the special knowledge and power one gets from elected office to actually BENEFIT Plainfield.

Plainfield needs someone who will not sleep through its crises as Harold Gibson has.

Someone with energy. Someone with new ideas. Someone who will not sleep through a community crisis like Muhlenberg.

Someone who will not ever let Plainfielders be blindsided again.

That is why I will be voting for Annie McWilliams (6E) and Adrian Mapp (7E) on Tuesday, June 3.

And I hope you will, too.

[ Click HERE to email this story to your friends.]

---

Other posts in this series --

Wednesday: "The Buying and Selling (out) of Plainfield"
Tuesday: "Primary A Referendum on Assemblyman Jerry Green"

-- Dan Damon

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Tuesday's Primary: The Buying and Selling (out) of Plainfield

I left off yesterday's post with Plainfielders wondering about the money being spent by Assemblyman Green on next Tuesday's primary election.

Well, you need wonder no longer. Jerry himself revealed all. Or at least more than he ever meant to.

At last night's very well attended candidate forum hosted by the Netherwood Heights Neighbors, the candidates were just finishing up a question. Here's the scene:

Annie McWilliams was pointing out that her campaign was truly grass roots, supported by the many small contributions of homeowners and taxpayers across the city, leaving her beholden only to the voters and residents.

Annie contrasted that with the funding of her opponent, Council President Harold Gibson, whose team's bankroll is many times larger and doubtless includes money from vendors -- those pay-to-play lawyers, engineers and providers of costly services who bankroll the campaigns of machine incumbents in the expectation of lucrative contracts once the election is past.

Gibson avoided the thrust of McWilliams' point, saying any contributions he took would pass scrutiny.

In the silence before moderator Joan Van Pelt of the League of Women Voters could ask the next question, Assemblyman Green was loudly heard to say "It's my money ... MY money, $200,000 of it."

Now, gentle reader, just when was the last time YOU sat down and wrote a check for $200,000?

Kind of explains the slick commercials on Comcast and the glossy mailers which are starting to fill our mailboxes, doesn't it?

And where do you think 'Jerry's money' comes from?

A pol may be forgiven if they sometimes confuse the money they can dole out and the SOURCE of the money they can dole out.

The $200,000 Jerry says he is spending on the campaign is 'his' in the sense he can write a check for that amount.

But make no mistake, this isn't JERRY'S MONEY, it's the money of those same vendors that Annie McWilliams was talking about.

Producing those slick commercials takes money -- for photographers, lighting, editing and coaching, rehearsal and makeup for the 'actors'. Yes, makeup.

And those glossy mailers from the good folks at 491-A Washington Avenue in Carlstadt? They cost plenty of money, too.

The bottom line in this election is that Assemblyman Jerry Green has a bottom line -- to continue to control the City Council by electing the best (in his mind) Councilors money can buy.

And there is the problem in a nutshell, isn't it?

Buying -- and SELLING OUT -- Plainfield.

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Tuesday's Primary: A Referendum on Assemblyman Jerry Green

NOTE: For a REAL candidate forum, hosted by a REAL organization, come out tonight to the Plainfield Public Library at 7:00 PM. A candidate forum hosted by the Netherwood Heights Neighbors, the association for the Netherwood Heights Historic District.

For Plainfielders, next Tuesday's Democratic Primary election will be a referendum on Assemblyman Jerry Green's rule of Plainfield's political and economic life.

Assemblyman Green makes no secret of this in making sure he mugs with his team of Council candidates -- Harold Gibson (at-large), Don Davis (Ward 3) and William Reid (Ward 1) -- in both mailing pieces and TV ads running on Comcast.

I will devote the next few days to reviewing the reasons this primary election is so crucial for Plainfield and what you can do to stop the ripoffs and conflicts of interest.

Jerry Green is, as the Courier noted, the 'King of Plainfield.' Make no mistake about it, since his proxy Sharon Robinson-Briggs took office in January 2006, every decision of importance has been made as Jerry Green wished. When Council votes were called for, Jerry's team of Gibson, Davis and -- since January -- Reid have been there for him every time.

Here are just a few samples of Assemblyman Green's decisions that have picked your pocket --

• THE MAYOR'S MILLION-DOLLAR BODYGUARDS: While you struggle to pay your property taxes, Jerry Green has seen to it that Mayor Robinson-Briggs has bodyguards soaking up your tax dollars. Without ever proving they are needed, the public has been saddled with the expense of their salaries, overtime and fancy cars. They were recently spotted 'guarding' Her Honor at 10 PM in New Brunswick's theater district;
  
  
• THE 'CORRUPTION TAX': By turning Plainfield's development and redevelopment over to the Union County Improvement Authority, which is headed by Union County Dem chair Charlotte deFilippo, Jerry Green has assured her of the ability to pick Plainfield taxpayers' pockets to give bloated contracts to politically connected developers. As a result, Plainfielders can pay up to 40% more for equivalent services and products -- what is commonly called the 'corruption tax';
  
  
• POLITICIZING THE POLICE: Jerry Green used the Council's ability to legislate to fulfill a personal vendetta to remove Plainfield Police Chief Ed Santiago by eliminating the position (and New Jersey's first Hispanic police chief), which had been in place since Plainfield became a city 139 years ago. In this, he had the special help of Council President Harold Gibson, himself a sworn officer of the law. While Gibson engineered the passage of the ordinance eliminating Santiago's position, he was able to safely duck having to vote on it since Green already had enough votes to pass the ordinance. The Police Division is already suffering the effects of political influence as a result; and
  
  
• TRASHING PLAINFIELD WITH ILL-CONSIDERED PROJECTS: Jerry Green forced the Planning Board to adopt flimsy redevelopment plans such as that for East 3rd/Richmond/Cottage Place (where the engineer accidentally revealed the deal had already been done before the Planning Board even voted), taking away property from longtime businesses in order to benefit politically juiced developers and their shoddy projects.
  

Does Jerry Green think a lot is riding on this election?

Why else is he spending so much money on his candidates?

What to do?

Since the winner of the Democratic primary in Plainfield only has to show up in November to get elected, the real decision facing Plainfield voters is the ballot the cast in June.

A vote for Jerry's team is a vote for four more years of the same.

Something we DON'T NEED.

That is why I will be voting for Annie McWilliams (6E) and Adrian Mapp (7E).

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-- Dan Damon

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Memorial Day Services

Memorial Day will be honored by Plainfield's veterans' organizations today as follows --

9:00 AM - Memorial Services at the Evergreen Cemetery, Plainfield Avenue

9:30 AM - Memorial Services at St. Mary's Church, Liberty and West 6th Streets

10:00 AM - Services at the War Memorial, Watchung Avenue and East 7th Street

Muhlenberg: But what happens to the $7.3M?

Several readers pointed out in reponse to yesterday's post on the media's ignoring Muhlenberg in the news of FY2009 aid for hospitals that Plainfield's Muhlenberg was indeed scheduled to get aid -- $7.3 million, and 11% increase over the previous year.

The fact is noted, but the point of my post was the media turning its backs, collectively, on Muhlenberg by not even referencing the most contentious hospital situation in the state at all.

A new question now must be pondered: What will happen to the $7.3 million if Solaris gets its way and Muhlenberg closes on June 15?

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-- Dan Damon

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