The 37-second vote

THE 37-SECOND VOTE
Would it surprise you to know... that prior to last Wednesday's meeting, every City Council member received a 6-page memo from Corporation Counsel Brian Aloia, warning them that the Ramos-DeFusco ordinance targeting the mayor's 'of counsel' employment was invalid and unenforceable. 

Aloia's memo began:

"the proposed amendment to Chapter 51 of the City’s Code is invalid and unenforceable...  Foremost, the ordinance is invalid as it attempts to pass an ethics requirement to address potential conflicts, which may be done only if the City establishes a local municipal ethics board. In the event a local board is created, if sought to be adopted by the local board, such an ordinance would also be subject to the approval of the Local Finance Board as required under the Local Government Ethics Law. . ...Accordingly, because the City has not established a municipal ethics board the City cannot alter the State ethics code by passing ethics rules and disclosure disclosure responsibilities that alter the State Code. Therefore, the proposed ordinance is an improper and unenforceable attempt to alter the Statewide code of ethics without the establishment of a local municipal ethics board or approval of from the Local Finance Board."

Hence, prior to the meeting, every council member was on notice that this ordinance was junk.

So what happened?  Was there debate over the junk? Was the junk pulled off the agenda?

The junk was rammed through to a vote in 37 seconds.   

This is getting to be a habit with this Council. One (or two) members of the anti-Bhalla coalition introduce poorly crafted, unvetted, politically-motivated, and/or unenforceable junk- legislation solely aimed at undermining Executive power or hurting/embarrassing  Bhalla specifically.

Examples: 

(1)  FISHER'S MUNICIPAL AUDIT COMMITTEE

At Bhalla's final meeting as a Hoboken At-Large Councilman last December, Tiffanie Fisher introduced legislation proposing a "Municipal Audit Committee" to be composed of herself, a former Hoboken CFO (*wink*), two Hoboken residents picked by the Council, and two Hoboken residents picked by the Mayor.  The purpose: oversight of the Mayor's Independent Auditor. In other words, the Legislative Branch was granting itself supervisory powers over a department controlled by the Executive Branch. Yeah.  

How did that fly? GA posted last December:

"Corporation Council Brian Aloia told the Council in no uncertain terms, (after he'd  researched the law and vetted her concept by the League of Municipalities) that Fisher/Giattino's resolution  violated  the Faulkner Act and was illegal.

Councilwoman Fisher wasn't having it.  She spoke at length and posited several different imaginary scenarios whereby this "municipal audit committee" might make small "$100" line item suggestions or could find something much larger. The word "investigation" came up. That gave me the distinct impression her true intention was a fishing trip into the City's books of an investigatory nature- with political benefits.

...the discussion got heated when Ravi said it was disrespectful of Fisher not to call him or contact him about this Resolution prior to putting it on the agenda, since it necessitated cooperation of members within the Executive Branch of his Administration.  He's right of course. Why didn't she call him?

Fisher's illegal resolution was tabled, and the discussion ended when Fisher told Corporation Counsel that she would prove him wrong (on a matter of law)."

CONCLUSION: JUNK LEGISLATION

(2) GIATTINO'S "EMERGENCY" RENT LEVELING BOARD RESOLUTIONS

Remember Jen Giattino's "emergency" resolutions to waive the mayor's 20 day grace period to veto the council's Rent Leveling Board appointment power grab? At the same time, the Council tried to introduce two  "emergency" appointments for Cheryl Fallick and Mike Lenz to the Rent Leveling Board.

The "emergencies" were thoroughly debunked here.  Next meeting, the "emergency" resolutions were quietly withdrawn.

CONCLUSION: JUNK LEGISLATION

(3) GIATTINO'S RLB APPOINTMENT POWER GRAB 

In spite of Corporation Counsel's lengthy opinion on the illegality of Giattino's resolution to take Rent Leveling Board appointments away from the mayor in order to re-appoint 2 campaign supporters, the Council recklessly forged ahead.

The anti-Bhalla Council  chose to disregard the City's Law Department in favor of a legal opinion which Giattino had procured for free from a Nick Sacco allied attorney.

Note, the Sacco- lawyer's opinion was unsigned. Further, accepting this North Bergen Boss' "gift" was in violation of Hoboken's anti-corruption law.  The legal limit on the value of a gift a Hoboken   official may accept is $25.

This blog's effort to obtain communications between Giattino and the Sacco attorney have been thwarted by the Councilwoman's claim of "attorney client privilege."

GA's position is that attorney Client privilege was broken by the "crime-fraud exception" since accepting the gift of services violated Hoboken law.

And so, what happened? A compromise was brokered by Vanessa Falco and Mike Russo, and the "Power Grab" resolution died quietly. 

CONCLUSION: JUNK LEGISLATION, against the advice of Hoboken's Corporation Counsel, based on an unsigned "gift" opinion from a Hudson County political boss. 

That's all for now.