Effective June 28, 2018, Eduardo Gonzalez joined the Hoboken University Municipal Hospital (HUMC) Board of Trustees in a seat reserved for City Council members.
How and why was Gonzalez appointed to that seat when the hospital's bylaws clearly designate it for a member of Hoboken City Council?
Thanks to At-Large Councilwoman Emily Jabbour, now we know. In the final minute of the last week's meeting during "New Business," Emily raised the question of the City Council's hospital board appointment.
"Somebody was put in that position in June, but that was the first I heard about it..." Jabbour said.
"Yeah, Council President placed him on. Motion to close," replied Council President Ruben Ramos, abruptly closing the meeting. No further discussion, no opportunity for Jabbour to follow-up; Ramos rudely cut her off.
But cutting Jabbour off will not make this issue go away.
Why did Ruben Ramos quietly slip a political crony into a hospital board seat that is supposed to go to a City Council member?
Who on the Council was aware that he did this? Or did Ramos make the appointment unilaterally without consulting the other 8 Council members? Did he consult some and not all?
The Hoboken University Medical Center Board of Trustees list shows Ramos political crony Eduardo Gonzalez there as "Hoboken City Council's designee."
But he is not a Council member, thus his appointment is in violation of HUMC Bylaws (page 2).
Jabbour's follow up questions to Ramos might have been:
(1) Why did you give a City Council board seat to a crony?
(2) Who is he reporting to?
(3) Why didn't you bring this appointment before the Council in a resolution?
(4) Why Eduardo Gonzalez?
(5) What have you received in return for this favor? Does it have monetary value?
HISTORY OF THE COUNCIL'S HUMC BOARD SEAT
It's a funny story. In short, after an unsuccessful effort to kill the sale of Hoboken's Municipal Hospital (when Councilman Occhipinti defected to become the 6th vote to complete the sale), Beth Mason cobbled together a face-saver: a late-night "Agreement" with the Buyer, HUMC Holdco.
At a jam-packed Sunday evening Council meeting, Mason's then political operative Matt Calicchio was handing out copies of the "Council Minority's Agreement" that she alleged had saved Hoboken's hospital from closing. When she read it allowed, the crowd booed and waved "Recall Beth Mason" signs (made by yours truly).
But, what got written into the HUMC Bylaws, clearly designated the seat to go to a Hoboken City Council member.
So then why did Ruben Ramos give the Council's board seat to a political crony?
GA hopes this will be remedied by the Council in a legal, public process in accordance with OPMA.
Sounds anti-hispanic! And since he's a friend of Defusco it's homophobic too!
ReplyDeleteBut the fake media only reports it when I do it. SAD!
1115 Willow has a pool - it's a nice building.
ReplyDeleteIs Eduardo the guy who sucked wind on the HHA board? Or was that a different Eduardo?
Yep. He was the wind-sucker, otherwise known as HHA Executive Director Carmelo Garcia's YES-man.
DeleteIt's pretty clear that Ramos can't unilaterally (and secretly) appoint the Council designer to the board, and it is equally clear that the Council designee needs to be a Council member.
ReplyDeleteThat means Eduardo's supposed appointment is null and void, and his presence on the Board creates potential legal liability to the hospital, Eduardo, Ramos and possibly the City.
While the scenarios that would really in liability are unlikely, since this board is mostly ceremonial, it's still a dumb thing to do.
So why would Ramos and Gonzales do this dumb thing? Likely to give Eduardo an additional credential in his next attempt to unseat Cunningham.
Cunningham's silence about this has only a three possible explanations. One is that he has no plans to run again and doesn't mind empowering Ramos and Gonzalez. The second is that Cunningham didn't know since this was done unilaterally and secretly by Ramos. The third is too stupid to see that his new "allies" plan to take him out in 2019.
My vote is #3.
Along those same lines, I wonder how TF will handle the duplicity of her new found BFF Ruben? I keep hearing whispers that Ruben has "reformed" and is not such a bad guy and is doing a "wonderful" job as the CC President bringing people together. Can any one spell S U C K E R? And if they can't, I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I can sell you.
DeleteHa ha! You said it, Anon. This Fisher-Giattino-Cunningham-Dark Side coalition is a train wreck in slow motion. I was wrong- thought the first one to shiv the rest would be DeFusco, but Ramos beat him to it! This is so funny: Ruben 'stealing' a council seat for a crony behind everyone's backs. Wonder what he got or was promised in return? Hysterical. I was told some time ago that Dark Siders were laughing at the 3 'Reformers' who slipped under the sheets with the 2 snakes.
DeleteFiGiCu have shown their political ineptness which, in large part, stems from their blind hatred of the Mayor. I figured it was only a matter of time before they were going to get played. I just didn't think it was going to be this soon. They can't say that they knew about the appointment, or that it was okay for Ramos to go ahead and appoint Gonzalez without a public hearing, not after all of the "transparency" screeching of late. It will be hysterical to see what pretzel shapes FiGiCu will contort themselves into in order to explain this one away. And I am sure that MSV will be right on top of this scandal. But then again, maybe not, as the John Allen non-existent scandal seems to have taken on a life of its own over there and has sucked all of the oxygen out of the room.
DeleteWait a second here. Ruben cut Emily off like a gangrenous foot and immediately asked for a motion to adjourn. Was that TF who seconded the motion in a split second or are my ears deceiving me? She was not the least but interested as to how this appointment came to be made in a back room deal by her buddy Ruben? WTF?
DeleteWhen it comes to Low Energy Petey Cunningham, it's impossible to know exactly whether he's just too stupid, too incompetent, or just doesn't give a crap. Probably a mixture of all three.
DeleteHe said "motion to close." That's the same as "no tag-backs" in meeting talk. So he wins and you have to do what he says. #MAGA!
ReplyDeleteWasn't Eduardo's father Pedro Gonzalez, Councilman Michael DeFusco's campaign treasurer ? What ever happened to all those DeFusco campaign funding irregularities Councilwomen Fisher and Gianntino brought up ?
ReplyDeleteCouncil President Ramos imediate shutting down any possible discussion of his personal appointment make it look like he views it as somewhat tainted.
Yep, Eduardo's Dad was DeFusco's Treasurer. Agree, about cutting off Emily like a "gangrenous foot"-- Ramos wanted to shut that down.
DeleteGonzalez has always lurked around the edges, striving for relevance in a city where most don't know who he is. Running for office and trying to get on any board or commission that would have him has paid off.
ReplyDeleteBut we're left with the question: why did the hospital allow what they knew would be an illegitimate appointment? What's been promised to them?
He did such a shit job over at the HHA, you would think they would just refuse to seat the guy as being completely unqualified for the job.
DeleteYeah, so where the hospital is concerned, what's their quo for Ramos's quid?
DeleteI guess it isn't enough for Triple Dippin' Ruben Ramos to have multiple jobs at once while accusing others of misdeeds, now he's appointing his friends to positions and CUTTING OFF other council members like Emily Jabbour who have the audacity to simply ask HOW AND WHY this is happening.
ReplyDeleteI thought my feed to the last council meeting got cut off at the end with how quickly it ended, I didn't even realize Ruben totally cut off Emily so disrespectfully. Meanwhile, Ruben Fisher-Brice is over there playing make believe and inventing ways his girl Tiffanie has been disrespected, and here we have a REAL instance of a legitimate councilwoman getting disrespected here for no reason. UNREAL!
The sooner we get rid of bozos like Ruben, 4th place Jenn, and Tiffanie the better off we will all be.
On edit - ROMAN Fisher-Brice, not Ruben. Although, I suppose Ruben being caught up in some weird triangle with those 2 isn't all that ridiculous to think.
DeleteStart the rumor.
DeleteRepeat the rumor.
Repeat the rumor again.
Claim the rumor is now a fact.
Demand the target of the rumor issue a denial.
Claim the target's failure to deny is proof that the rumor is true.
Start a new rumor.
Rinse and repeat.
Just another day on Tiffanie Square View.
Can't help but think there's a lot of jealousy from councilwoman like Tiffanie and Jenn when it comes to Emily, and that's why they backed Ruben's motion to end the meeting rather than let Emily have her moment calling out the backhanded, unethical move by Ramos.
ReplyDeleteThe HobokenHorseFace/Tiffanie/Jenn group have no problem making despicable personal comments about others, so let's be real here and analyze this... Emily is married and has a beautiful family while Tiffanie only has her rabbits and a gross blogger in her corner. Emily is educated and smart, whereas Jen is an uneducated ballerina who was only able to muster up a 4th place finish in the election. It makes sense...
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ReplyDeleteIf anyone is a friend of John Allen, you should advise him to keep an eye on his google profile. He looks ok so far but if you add "race-baiting" to the search, he comes up.
ReplyDeleteNot bad as of now, but they only decided he was a deeply corrupt official and convicted him of defrauding taxpayers yesterday.
He can expect the malicious attacks to continue. But at some point he will want to go back to the private sector and hopefully won't have a pile of baseless attacks to explain to potential employers when the time comes. This is something that people who don't seek or need employment tend not to care about very much.
Another page from the Beth playbook comes to fruition: make public service unappealing and even professionally hazardous if possible.