Happy Saint Patrick's Day, Irish people!
You Irish folks know that this day is not about drunken debauchery; it's a spiritual day to honor the patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick. Saint Patrick was a Christian missionary who lived about 1,600 years ago, and is credited with spreading Christianity throughout Ireland. Quite something!
Today, GA would like to honor an Irishman, Jim Doyle, who hasn't spread anything in Hoboken as far as I know- except for open, green space along with his beautiful (Irish) wife, Leah Healey.
Both Doyle and Healey have participated in Hoboken public life over the years as open space activists. So, in keeping with the verdant landscape of Ireland, both have helped turn our Mile Square a little greener- thus a little Irisher.
Both Doyle and Healey have participated in Hoboken public life over the years as open space activists. So, in keeping with the verdant landscape of Ireland, both have helped turn our Mile Square a little greener- thus a little Irisher.
Hence, while GA would like to honor all Irish folks in Hoboken, this is a political website so Councilman Jim Doyle gets GA's special Saint Patrick's Day acclimation: "Top o The Doyle, to you!"
GA's casual observation and belief is that Doyle would rather watch paint dry than be in politics. If he even tried to pull off the kind of political stunts his former allies Jen Giattino, Tiffanie Fisher and (Irishman) Peter Cunningham have done since they joined up with Ruben Ramos and Mike DeFusco, he'd fall flat on his face and make a GREEN McASS of himself. Jim stinks at gamesmanship. What he's good at is thinking. And logic. And complexity. . He should have been appointed Council president because it was "logical" not because he wanted it.
So, he finds himself in the Minority of Reason on a toxic, scorched earth council, sandbagged at the last minute with dubious ordinances and legal opinions pulled from a North Bergen hat. Doyle gets snapped at and interrupted (constantly) by Council VP Giattino, insulted by Mike DeFusco, and generally dissed by the rest of the "majority." It can't be fun, but none of this is fun for Jim Doyle, nor Emily Jabbour (unconfirmed if she's Irish).
It is PUBLIC SERVICE. It is what PUBLIC SERVICE is all about.
Public service is not about seeing your name on an invitation or an email. It's not about hurt feelings because you got your ass kicked in an election. It is not about elevating individual political careers.
It is about WORK. For other people- US.
So today, GA wishes to honor the public service of a guy who doesn't give two shamrocks about seeing his name on an invitation. He has embraced a thankless duty, is a voice of reason, maturity, thoughtfulness and fairness on (a rogue) Hoboken City Council. And so, today...
Top o' The Doyle to you!
Back in the day, it was incredibly hard and painful for Eric Kurta to see people like the Masons, the Bajardi's, the Keim's etc for who they really were, even when it became obvious to others, because he had worked so closely with them on issues he, unlike them, really cared about. Until the hospital deal, I think he desperately wanted to believe that deep down they were really good people since the alternative was that he'd been conned for years.
ReplyDeleteI think Jim is going through the same thing with Jen and Peter and to a lesser extent Tiffanie (since her track record was shorter and everyone who worked with her had concerns already). He worked closely with them, thought they genuinely shared his passion for honest government and considered them good friends. It's hard to square today's reality with the people he thought he knew well. It's getting pretty obvious that Jen, Peterlike the Masons, the Bajardi's and the Keim's, were never the people true believers in honest government thought they were, since people simply don't change like that overnight.
And to be clear, the "change" became apparent the day Dawn announced she wasn't running and was supporting Ravi, so it had nothing to do with how mean Ravi was to poor Jen.
Jim is intelligent and thoughtful. Much more important though is his character. He is a clearly a decent human being with integrity who is primarily driven by wanting to do a good job, and to that end is willing to work through problems, listen, maybe even change his mind. He also comes to each Council meeting the most prepared I’ve heard (Ravi and him held the line in that regard), meaning the read the Council packet and were conversant in the issues for each meeting.
DeleteI have a slightly different view of the Jen relationship to Jim thank @numberscruncher. I think Jen’s relationship with Jim was extractive. Jen was always out of her league and continues to be. Jim would spend time with her and help fill in gaps for years. Jen of course was genuinely grateful but at the end of the day, she was extracting knowledge from Jim and that when the rubber hit the road was the primary driver on the relationship. When she could no longer extract and she thought he was politically not with her, she began acting the way she is now, like a person without character who cares more about herself and her political career than Hoboken’s best interests. It’s in Hoboken’s best interests that intelligent people with integrity like Jim are on the Council and encouraged or on the Planning Board. It’s not in Jen’s interests in her mind though and that’s ultimately where her loyalty lies, and so of course she’s cut Jim loose even though it’s not in Hoboken’s interests.
Here’s to Jim Doyle, hard work, and good government. And yes, in 2019, let’s #FreeJim
Being utter shits like Tiff, Jen, Defusco, and Beth before them is a 2-pronged 'strategy.'
ReplyDeleteImmediate objective is to thwart your recognized political enemies at every turn.
Longer term goal is to make public service so distasteful that talented people of good will just won't bother with it. The personal attacks (both by pols and their sycophants), stress on family, making everything needlessly complex and difficult so very little gets done - all work to undermine the calculus that made public service "worth the trouble" in the first place.
The latter is the more pernicious and is happening even at this moment. Hoboken needs to rid itself of these bastards as soon as legally possible.
Longer term - the objective of those three appears to be power and I bet all three of them will ultimately turn on each other as people who band together for such selfish reasons can't help themselves.
DeleteHopefully Jim will learn his place and do as told. Or else......
ReplyDelete#FreeJim!
DeleteYou've inspired a t-shirt... #FreeJim!
Deleteand still, he persisted.
Delete