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| What happens to City Hall when Hoboken government officials take "gifts" of value |
Jokes aside, the stunning admission that a legal opinion obtained by Council VP Jen Giattino for the purpose of changing Hoboken municipal law wasn't paid for (a "gift"), means she took a "gift" of services having a value greater than $25 (closer to $2,500) and by doing so, broke Hoboken law.
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| excerpt from Hudson County View |
§ 30-1 Gift policy of the City of Hoboken
"No officer or employee of the City of Hoboken shall directly solicit any gift or accept or receive any gift having a value of $25 or more, whether in the form of money, services, loan, travel, entertainment, hospitality, thing or promise or any other form, under circumstances in which it could reasonably be inferred that such gift was intended to influence the officer or employee, or could reasonably be expected to influence the officer or employee in the performance of official duties or was intended as a regard for any official action on the officer's or employee's part."
The notion that Hoboken's Council VP took a gift of legal services to change Hoboken law alone is a stunning revelation, but...
It's positively mind-blowing that the "gift" is from a Hudson County political boss who has been trying to get his hooks into Hoboken, but has thus far been unsuccessful.... that is, until March 15 when our Council VP took his "gift."
Because once you take a "gift" from someone you have a obligation.
And when the gift is on behalf of a HudCo boss, he is not being your friend, he wants something. When you take his gift, he assumes you understand that you owe him. And expects reciprocity.
So if the phone doesn't ring today, it will tomorrow. Contracts? Jobs?
Who knows.
That is why Hoboken has laws against officers and employees accepting gifts of value.
Note, Giattino doesn't own this whole thing. Because any Council member who aided, abetted, or knew about the "gift" transaction is complicit in breaking the law. If I were Giattino, I would come clean now. Throw your compadres under the bus; they took advantage of your naivete when they had you execute a serious ethics violation.
Of course, she should have known better.
This is what happens when you throw in with ethically challenged people.
Once Giattino, Fisher and Cunningham joined up with Ramos and DeFusco, the writing was on the wall.
And yes, there are penalties for breaking this law, per statute:
"Any violations of the foregoing policy shall subject the violator to appropriate discipline pursuant to the established policies of the City as well as the rules and regulations of the New Jersey Civil Service Commission, and a report of the violation shall be transmitted to the Local Finance Board within the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs for review as a potential violation of the New Jersey Local Government Ethics Law, N.J.S.A. 40A:9-22.1 et seq."
GA cares less about the penalty than the truth. I want to know how this happened and who was involved. That is more important than a slap on the wrist.
I ask Corporation Counsel, what can be done to investigate this matter outside of the City Council? They cannot investigate themselves.
It is a sad day to see how far off the path of good government the former Reform Council members have traveled.
#FreeJim
GA cares less about the penalty than the truth. I want to know how this happened and who was involved. That is more important than a slap on the wrist.
I ask Corporation Counsel, what can be done to investigate this matter outside of the City Council? They cannot investigate themselves.
It is a sad day to see how far off the path of good government the former Reform Council members have traveled.
#FreeJim
NORTH BERGEN'S GIFT
This is ridiculous and shameful. As I keep saying, Jen and those who support her will live to regret trying to push through Jen's friends no matter the cost for these appointments. This is truly idiotic.
ReplyDeleteGiattino, Fisher and DeFusco are no doubt genuinely very ignorant of these laws and standards, but the people they've aligned themselves with know better, and know best how to flout laws while having others take the fall.
ReplyDeleteYou have to admit, those three are pretty stupid and it is easy to pull their strings and get them to do stupid things. It is pretty pathetic.
DeleteWho could have predicted when Jen trounced Carmelo in the last council election that she would go on to become someone he'd never bother to run against, serving as Ruben's right-hand henchwoman and as morally bankrupt and ethically malleable as anyone in that crew. Carmelo might as well consider Jen his surrogate.
ReplyDeleteThe legal issues, while important, are pretty much besides the point. The bottom line here is, legal or not, these idiots have actually admitted that the sole purpose of the change is to deliver the positions to Lenz and Fallick.
ReplyDeleteI still don't get that. Both of them are rather nasty individuals. One is a scheming political hack who has an approval rating in town of like 2%. The other is a heckling windbag at CC meetings whenever their pet issue comes up for discussion. Both have massive credibility issues and I'd argue that at times, both of them are pretty dim bulbs. I not only don't understand why anyone would want them on a board, I don't understand why anyone would even bother to listen to them. But here Jen, Tiff and Peter are tanking their political careers for these 2 people. It just is so mind numbingly stupid that it is hard to believe.
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