 |
| Maryanne Camporeale watches from the dugout |
Tonight was GA's first HHA meeting, and wow... it started off with a BANG.
In fact, fireworks lit up the room before the meeting started. That's when Commissioner Jake Stuiver politely asked the HHA attorney if he could ask him something. Well, Stuiver's gentle tones did belie what was coming...
KA-BOOM.
Jake asked the attorney whether the meeting should be adjourned or Commissioner Maryanne Camporeale be asked to recuse herself due to her imminent removal by the DCA for failure to follow a statute mandating completion of a study course with 18 months of her appointment.
When did Camporeale's 18-months end?
November 2011. Wow.
Camporeale was silent as Jake jousted with the attorney, insisting that while a dismissal letter had not been received by either him or HHA Executive Director Carmelo Garcia, he'd spoken to the DCA and was told the letter was waiting to be signed by someone who was "on vacation".
The attorney seemed reluctant to advise on any action, unrelenting that the DCA had not sent a letter, but Jake argued that the statute should prevail.
Stuiver was like a pitbull, refusing to budge. He noted that all of the votes Camporeale had made since her 18 months were up would be retroactively called into question once she was booted, so it was in the best interest of the body not to compound the dilemma that her imminent removal would cause.
GA was impressed by Jake's tenacity. Grrrrrr... like a dog with a bone.
Carmelo tried to intercede for Camporeale, saying that she was physically handicapped so the state may give her special consideration. That flopped on the floor, DOA.
Because Stuiver explained the DCA gave no latitude about flouting the statute - never did. Then he read a DCA letter to an unidentified HHA Commissioner who was removed for the same reason: failure to follow the statute.
Commissioner Mello stepped in to say the the Board had 3 choices:
- proceed with the meeting as usual
- adjourn
- ask Camporeale to sit with the public and refrain from participation
And she did. Without comment. Except once seated she called out angrily, "Satisfied?"
GA was seated right behind her and heard what she said next to the person beside her. Let's just say it wasn't warm and fuzzy, something about it being "payback."
Carmelo wasn't the ebullient performer I'd heard about; his demeanor was glum. Deflated. Or as my friend put it: he usually bounces around like Tigger, but tonight he was Eeyore.
Perhaps he sees the writing on the wall.
To be continued...
Good work Jake. It seems that it's a brand new world over at the HHA. Rules will be followed. Good! This is as it should be. I'm sick of different areas of our gov't taking from the taxpayers unchecked. I'm glad Jake is shining sunlight into these dark corners.
ReplyDeleteWhich brings me to an interesting side note: Just this morning on my way into work, I noticed an "Official Hoboken Housing Authority" car parked over between 8 and 9th on Adams. It was maroon and beaten up a bit. It got me wondering:
1. How many Official HHA cars exist?
2. What is the purpose of these cars?
3. What do these cars cost the taxpayers on average (between gas and maintenance?
I am sure that most Housing Authorities have cars, I'm just wondering how many is normal? It would not shock me to learn that we have more than the average and that our HHA was sucking the taxpayers dry.
And let me guess, no Claire at the meeting so once again no story? They need to outsource their journalistic work to people willing to do the legwork.
ReplyDeleteCars? How about HHA employees? Is there an employee list? I heard it wasn't distributed to the other commissioners. We need some sunshine over at the HHA. Bravo to Jake!! Your coverage of this meeting is excellent, GA!
ReplyDeleteNow that is some BS. The commissioners should have a list of everyone on the payroll, their title, job responsibilities, time on the job, salaries and other basic information.
DeleteI went down to the root cellar to pull out this jar of twisted old fruit. From the archives:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkrRB5m4x4E
Clickable version.
ReplyDeleteCamporeale, a shill for the Old Guard, was an alternate on the zoning board for a long time, but seldom attended meetings. They'd take her out of mothballs from her lair in Fox Hill (where she bullies her neighbors) whenever they needed a swing vote and a regular member was absent.
ReplyDeleteShe's a mean piece of business, that Maryanne! I've been a fairly long-time observer of the electoral process in action at Fox Hill Gardens (where Matty C lives with his grandma). Maryanne always works the elections...she acts as if she's the Election Queen to whom all must bow down. Anyway, during an election when I was comparing actual voters to my list of registered voters, I asked for a voter's name to be repeated because I had not heard it the first time. Maryanne refused! According to her, the rules (and the man who trained her) permit the election worker who read the voter's name to refuse to repeat it without a reason. Obviously, a civil and decent person would think nothing of repeating a name...but not Maryanne. After all, why should she be helpful even though she was getting paid for the day!
ReplyDelete