Straight out of the Old Guard Playbook: cut the salaries of the mayor's staff so they will quit and make room for patronage hires.
At last week's council meeting, the Neo-Mason Council dusted off that dirty, old page from the OG Playbook.
In a shockingly petty, vindictive act, Councilpersons Giattino, Fisher, Cunningham, DeFusco, Ramos and Falco* approved the city employees' payroll for $2,061,552.47 minus one line item: a $384 "stipend" to the mayor's aides, Chief of Staff John Allen and Deputy Chief of Staff Jason Freeman. Yep, those council members refused to pay the nominal stipend- 0.017% of the total approved payroll.
(*According to sources, Falco apologized to both aides later. Falco needs to tell DeFusco to stop whispering to her during meetings.)
What is the stipend? It's an annual lump sum amount in their employment contract to cover all work performed before/after 'business hours'- in other words, to address the 24/7 nature of their jobs. Neither Allen nor Freeman are eligible for overtime. They both work a lot of overtime. The stipend is a nominal amount to compensate these aides for work performed at night and on weekends. For example, when the mayor was at the scene of the Observer Highway fire until 2AM, so was his Deputy Chief of Staff.
Understand, when both men left well-paid jobs in the private sector to work for the City of Hoboken, they did so based on agreements negotiated with the stipend. The stipend is part of their salary. Now, the nasty Neo-Mason Council is trying to hurt them economically, trying to get them to quit.
Now, check out the $2.06M City Payroll for yourself; see how truly petty the Council was to isolate this one line item (highlighted yellow) and refuse to pay it.
In a shockingly petty, vindictive act, Councilpersons Giattino, Fisher, Cunningham, DeFusco, Ramos and Falco* approved the city employees' payroll for $2,061,552.47 minus one line item: a $384 "stipend" to the mayor's aides, Chief of Staff John Allen and Deputy Chief of Staff Jason Freeman. Yep, those council members refused to pay the nominal stipend- 0.017% of the total approved payroll.
(*According to sources, Falco apologized to both aides later. Falco needs to tell DeFusco to stop whispering to her during meetings.)
What is the stipend? It's an annual lump sum amount in their employment contract to cover all work performed before/after 'business hours'- in other words, to address the 24/7 nature of their jobs. Neither Allen nor Freeman are eligible for overtime. They both work a lot of overtime. The stipend is a nominal amount to compensate these aides for work performed at night and on weekends. For example, when the mayor was at the scene of the Observer Highway fire until 2AM, so was his Deputy Chief of Staff.
Understand, when both men left well-paid jobs in the private sector to work for the City of Hoboken, they did so based on agreements negotiated with the stipend. The stipend is part of their salary. Now, the nasty Neo-Mason Council is trying to hurt them economically, trying to get them to quit.
WATCH THE NEO-MASON COUNCIL PLAY THE PAYCUT GAME:
Now, check out the $2.06M City Payroll for yourself; see how truly petty the Council was to isolate this one line item (highlighted yellow) and refuse to pay it.
HOBOKEN CITY PAYROLL
MARCH 22-APRIL 04, 2018
Folks, this is nasty.
In 2012, Councilwoman Beth Mason led the Old Guard's salary-cutting jihad. Mason demanded salary cuts across the board - which she tied to the false allegation that the City sent Jen Giattino and Leo Pellegrini on "an all inclusive trip to the Super Bowl." Nonsense. Nevertheless, she advertised the lie....
 |
| The Hoboken Reporter, Volume 29, Number 24, February 5, 2012- page 3 Beth Mason ad attacking Jen Giattino and Leo Pelligrini's February 2012 meeting with the NFL in Indianapolis. Giattino and Pelligrini were there to pitch Hoboken to host Superbowl 2014 events. Both left Indianapolis BEFORE the Superbowl game. Both were in Hoboken on Superbowl Sunday. |
...then repeated it for Carmelo Garcia in her "Real Democrats" flyers.
Alleged 'reformers' are playing Beth Mason's games, tucked in bed with Ramos and DeFusco.
See where playing nasty, low-road politics got Mason?
Just start calling her Bethany.
ReplyDeleteNone of them seem to get that acting like spoiled little shits just proves how completely unsuitable both Mike and Jen were for the job of mayor. Keep it up folks, it just makes it all the more likely that the only votes you get next election cycle come from people you pay.
ReplyDeleteFor every meeting missed, council members should have their checks docked by the appropriate amount. Three unexcused absences, and it's grounds for removal as allowed under state law, yet another way they resemble the shit-show that was Mason, who went AWOL for a long time.
ReplyDeleteWe should start a GOFUNDME to make up the money ALLEN and FREEMAN aren't getting. At least we will say where the money is going unlike DeDumbo and his Scooby Gang and "Find The Flyer maker."
ReplyDeletei'm in for $50.
DeleteIf the stipend is actually part of their employment contracts then it's still owed to them regardless of whether the council approved the checks being cut. I assume that amount is just going to keep showing up every time along with an accumulating arrears amount. This issue won't go away.
ReplyDeleteThere are a number of other departments that also have stipends. Even though those other departments were not touched this time around those council members have signaled their willingness to challenge that line item and ignore the precedent of honoring employment agreements. Wonder how those department heads feel about that prospect?
Don't worry, we'll get our chance to cut Cunningham, Fisher and Giattino's stipends -- when we vote them out and send them back to their prissy rich-person brownstone/Tea Building out-of-touch lives.
ReplyDeletePretty amazing these people of extraordinary wealth and mostly passive-income lifestyles, and Ruben with his pension-padded sweetheart deal, can be so callous about taking money out of the pockets of young people working hard for a city they can probably barely afford to live in.
Pure scum.
Petty and vindictive, and it will likely get worse. Arriving on the scene with their plans in place, they are obviously spending more time caucusing behind the scenes than doing the jobs they're elected to do. And it looks like Falco has fully crossed over. That didn't take long.
ReplyDeleteWe have 560 days until their replacement. Can't wait.
Oracle I can't wait either! So many folks are asking me to run against??? Let's see.
DeleteSenate and Assembly District Offices are allocated $110,000 per year for staff salaries. The average Legislative District is about 220,000 people. Why does the mayor need 2 aides making close to double what a Senator gets for their ENTIRE district office staff?
ReplyDeleteYou do understand that the average legislator spends 90% of their time picking their nose and just doing whatever caucus leadership tells them to do, right? There is a massive difference b/w what a legislator does and someone in the executive branch. Comparing the staff budget for a legislator to a mayor is like comparing a sheet of paper to a light bulb. They have nothing in common.
DeleteAnd have you ever tried to get a hold of a legislative staffer in a part time legislature like New Jersey's? It takes freaking forever b/c nobody is in the office when there are no hearings or votes scheduled. You are better off just calling the legislator on their direct line at their day job. I suspect that is not the case w/ people who work full time at city hall. BTW, I am guessing you had no idea most state legislatures including NJ's are part time.
You do realize district offices are full time offices, that handle case work for 4 times as many people as there are in Hoboken, right? Just because the legislature meets in Trenton 1-2 days a week doesnt mean their offices arent open. If you dont believe me just talk to Senator Stack. He will tell you that his office is open at a minimum 40 hours a week, receives hundreds of calls/emails a week, and has staffers tend to issues on the weekends as well (without overtime pay). If he can run a district office with $110,000, then the Mayor should be able to do the same, if not better.
DeleteMaybe Ravi's other job at the former New Jersey Republican Party Chairman's law firm (Mike Lavery) will keep him out of town more than anticipated so he needs extra bodies at City Hall?
DeleteEddy E, comparing the magnitude and complexity of responsibilities of the ONE Chief Executive of a City, to that of a NJ Assemblyman (1/80 of the legislative body) or a NJ Senator ( 1/40 of the Senate) is plain ignorance. It's like comparing the job of US. Senator with the job of the President. Simply put, not apples to apples-- and I assume you know that. Ruben Ramos was Assemblyman, Councilman and fulltime teacher in 2008, 2009. Oh yeah, Ruben had a staff, too.
DeleteThe mayor's aides don't answer calls and emails for the mayor - they WORK. Since you don't live in Hoboken, you wouldn't know that this mayor is extremely productive- part of his success is having smart, competent staff. You get what you pay for.
As for the "of counsel" job, you need to keep up. The mayor already answered the council's 26 questions, and confirmed that he does not have an office there and will not be going there.
You are a fool. There is no way in hell any Senator fields 4x as many calls as city hall does. And between the two of us, which one of us for a living actually meets with city alderman, state senators, city CFOs and so forth? The answer is not you. So please do not tell me how much some staffer who got a patronage position works when I know damn well the answer is "almost never except when it is budget season".
DeleteYou have an axe to grind and it is painfully obvious. Please take your nutty conspiracy theories back over to the horseshit pile where it belongs.
It's astonishing that Eddy's argument is that Senator Stack is open for business full time while being paid to be the full time Mayor of Union City. That's truly double dipping.
DeleteDa Ojo Rojo/snoopy- Our friend EddyE comes in from Trenton and shills for DeFusco. I guess this is all they've got.
DeleteHe also conveniently ignores the simple fact that someone like Senator Stack probably doesn't only rely upon funding from the state to keep his office funded or that the man chairs and vice-chairs some committees (which usually comes along w/ additional funding and sometimes dedicated staffers paid for out of the committee budget). And let us not forget the biggest problem w/ his line of reasoning, staffers at the legislative level are effectively people who just answer phones, solicit feedback from constituents and attend meetings for legislators. That is not what the mayor's staffers are doing at all. But hey, he has an axe to grind so never mind the inconvenient details as to why his line of reasoning is full of horse crap.
DeleteSo basically he is a parasite. Got it.
DeleteRojo I thought you work in this business? You should know how legislative offices are funded. It would be illegal to fund his office with any money besides state money. He can not use political money to staff that office. They also do not get additional money for chairing a committee, or get additional district office staffers from the "committee budget". The committee aides do not work in district offices - they work in Trenton. The money is allocated at the sole discretion of the Senate President. He can allocate leadership money to members of his leadership team or any other member at his own discretion. Also since you work with Senators, you should know that there are people in those offices that do more than "answer phones". In fact I know a number of DO staffers with much more impressive resumes than yours.
ReplyDeleteFunny, I meet with a Senate President on a regular basis who has committee staff not only working with him in two offices, but often working out of his law firm. And he is a full time legislator with a day job. Anyway, I really don't care about Senator Stack, the point was you are full of horse crap so please go back to where you found your horse crap and stay there. We don't need no stinking Trenton Trolls here. Your kind of paid for filth is not welcome and quite honestly, we are tired of your contrived outrage. It reads false on every level.
Delete