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| Buh Bye... |
REFORM SCORES OVER CRONYISM
It's a good day for the rule of law-- bylaws, that is. Multiple sources have reported the following:
Carepoint's External Affairs Senior Vice President Randy Minnear has told the City that Ruben Ramos' appointee (made secretly last June without consulting his Council colleagues) Eduardo Gonzalez is OFF the Hoboken University Medical Center Board of Trustees. Gonzalez was reportedly told of his removal from the board last Friday by HUMC Chief Operating Officer Ann Logan.
Three cheers for At-Large Councilwoman Emily Jabbour.
When Jabbour was notified that Council President Ramos had secretly appointed a political crony to a seat on the HUMC Board of Trustees, she moved to investigate the claim. The crony, who ran with Ramos on his 2013 slate, was unilaterally appointed by Ramos in a non-public process without consultation of his eight council colleagues. Those colleagues seemed to be caught off-guard on when on December 5 during New Business, Jabbour asked Ramos to explain how that hospital board appointment was made. Note: The councilwoman had obtained a copy of the hospital bylaws, which clearly stated that the appointee was to be a member of the Hoboken City Council.
Watch how Ramos, aided by his City Council cronies shut down Jabbour's line of questioning.
When Jabbour was notified that Council President Ramos had secretly appointed a political crony to a seat on the HUMC Board of Trustees, she moved to investigate the claim. The crony, who ran with Ramos on his 2013 slate, was unilaterally appointed by Ramos in a non-public process without consultation of his eight council colleagues. Those colleagues seemed to be caught off-guard on when on December 5 during New Business, Jabbour asked Ramos to explain how that hospital board appointment was made. Note: The councilwoman had obtained a copy of the hospital bylaws, which clearly stated that the appointee was to be a member of the Hoboken City Council.
Watch how Ramos, aided by his City Council cronies shut down Jabbour's line of questioning.
RETALIATION
You can bet on it. That is how this legislative majority rolls. When it happens, remember why, and who insisted on following the law, and who did not.
Ramos has only himself to blame. He could have handled the matter gracefully to spare Gonzalez the embarrassment of being booted off the board. He could have said, "Oh, I wasn't aware of the bylaws. Now I see that the appointee needs to be a member of this council." Instead, Ramos doubled down on his decision and put the onus on the private hospital to clarify their own bylaws.
COUNCIL RESOLUTION
It appears the Council is taking action with Wednesday's "Resolution Urging the Hoboken Hospital to Clarify the Language Surrounding Council's Appointment." The resolution seems to spell out the mistake, and a cure with this clause:
WHEREAS, the City Council shall then endeavor to set forth an internal City Council procedure for its selection of the representative to the Board of Directors of the Hoboken University Medical Center to the extent necessitated by any Board clarification and proceed with the designation of a representative to the Hoboken University Medical Center Board now and thereafter in accordance with any such procedure.
"Internal" procedure? Out of the public eye? How come? Why wouldn't the public want to know upon what basis the Council is selecting a representative to our hospital's board? The process of appointing a council member should be a public, fully transparent process. Instead of 5 council members who've seized power over Hoboken's legislature cutting more backroom deals.
What an effing disgrace.
ReplyDeleteNotwithstanding the nonsense that arose from the infamous (and illegal) "council minority" letter agreement, the hospital can't "clarify" how the council rep will be chosen.
ReplyDeleteThe by-laws are clear that the council rep has to be a council member. And the rep is chosen by a majority vote of the council in public session.
I suppose the council could vote to amend it's by-laws to delegate the appointment authority to the Council President, but it's hard to see what the rationale would be for doing that.
Someone should put a name on the agenda for the council appointment and make them vote on it. My vote would be Jim Doyle, whose under recognized role on a previous hospital board was a critical part of saving the hospital.
Given how concerned some members of the CC are about potential wrongdoing, where is the outrage from DeFusco, Fisher & Giattino on how Ramos pulled this stunt? Where are their demands for transparency and an investigation? Where is their pet blogger.
ReplyDeleteNot a damn thing from any of them - all they care about is what nutty conspiracy theory they can drum up next. The lot of them should retire from public service and go write Science Fiction novels for a living b/c all they are capable of is writing fiction - the more outlandish and unrealistic, the better.
Come November we can assist some of them in their retirement plans.
DeleteI would ordinairly feel some modicum of commission for someone who was publicly embarrassed but Eduardo Gonzales had to be at very least complicit in his illegal appointment in the first place.
ReplyDeleteThere is no way Ramos did this on his own without the knowledge and complicity of his council allies. I'm guessing that nobody realized the council representative had to be a council member - that was an unintended screw up because Pasquale had the position before - but they certainly knew that Ramos didn't have the authority as Council President to make the appointment himself since he doesn't actually have the authority to unilaterally take any action at all on behalf of the Council.
ReplyDeleteThe GiaRaFiCusco Five had the votes to vote in Eduardo (or anyone else they agreed to among themselves). They didn't need to play these games. So why the obviously illegal secret unilateral council president appointment?
The obvious answer seems to be that Ramos wanted Eduardo as part of the power sharing deal they agreed to, and GiaRaFiCusco was OK with it but preferred not to cast a public vote for Eduardo- probably because he ran against Cunningham and it would seem like a distraction to him.
So they agreed that Ruben would unilaterally appoint him on the DL.
They cannot unilaterally appoint anyone to anything like that. They have to have a public vote. The only person who has the power to appoint anyone to anything in town is the mayor. None of them are the mayor - they are just a collection of mayoral wannabes. That doesn't count.....except in their imagination.
DeleteAll speculation, of course. I speculate that Ramos did it unilaterally. He's playing the long game, burnishing Eduardo's resume for their 2021 run. If Fisher loses her ward election, she's on Ruben's team. He needs one more Musketeer. That's the fake-news blogger's big push to sanitize Ruben.
DeleteAll speculation of course but it sure seems to me from the video that Ramos wasn't the only one familiar with what went down - his motion to close was seconded instantly by it sounded like at least 2 people. Don't you think councilmembers not in on on the scam would at least be wondering what Emily was talking about? Emily's obvious next question after "council president placed him there" would have been "by what authority?" Ramos was not alone in shutting this down before that question could be asked. Giattino, Cunningham and Fisher are not exactly know to be skillful in thinking on their feet and reacting on the fly. That is very much beyond their skill set. If they didn't know what Emily was talking about they would be sitting there looking bewildered, not jumping in to help shut down the meeting.
DeleteI had the same thought, Numberscruncher. Their treatment of their minority council colleagues is despicable. We can speculate how the appointment happened, who played what role, including connections on the hospital board, and their unethical behavior is expected.
DeleteBut Gonzalez was played for a fool by Ramos, and he should remember that when he tries to ride his coattails onto another slate, or insinuate himself onto some board or commission in town.
The humiliation hardly seems like a fair price for Gonzalez to pay to remain a player with the last original Latin king who hasn't been indicted or disgraced. Yet.
Anon- by "Latin King" I think you mean the one-time Hoboken political faction called by that name--Chris Campos, Carmelo Garcia and Ruben Ramos? Its an arcane historical reference that's easy to misconstrue in an offensive way. Which I don't believe that you meant but best to leave in the dustbin of Hoboken history.
DeletePoint taken, GA, but back in the day when they were simultaneously and perpetually running for something and anything, and would appear often as a trio, this is how they were referred to, and they seemed to wear the moniker with pleasure. It's ironic how people with zero ethics or morals are so easily offended.
DeleteI totally get it, Anon. I agree. Only because this site is monitored by jackasses who pleasure in making trouble for your host, I thought to clarify the benign historical reference. Speaking of which, I also recall an old Hudson Reporter story calling that trio the "Three Amigos." Where has the love gone?
DeleteDon't forget those three were always as thick as thieves with the infamous felon Peter Cammarano who was Hoboken's mayor from July 1, 2009 to July 31, 2009.
DeleteGonzalez's value has always been his willingness to lend the heft of his institutional background to give clean bills of health to agencies he's ostensibly stewarding to cover for whatever impropriety lurks beneath the surface of his praises. I think it's safe to say that whatever scheme Ruben & co. were concocting with this appointment has now been severely set back.
ReplyDeleteInstitutional-finance background is what I meant to say
DeleteI will Gonzalez be able hold on to his charter school position?
DeleteDelivering finance deliverables. It’s a thing.
DeleteHe did such a fantastic job over at the HHA........NOT.
DeleteI'm not sure what the strategy was here. Eduardo has served on lots of Boards - this additional one would not have added anything meaningful to his resume if/when he runs for Council again (for the third time!) But whatever the strategy was, it backfired spectacularly thanks to Emily. Being illegally secretly appointed as part of a corrupt scheme then being tossed upon legal review isn't exactly a resume enhancer.
DeleteLike I said above - the obvious best choice for this position, since it has to be a council member, is (as usual) Jim Doyle, given his important (yet unsung) contribution to the effort to save the hospital. Which pretty much means he won't be appointed. If he's interested, I hope someone will nominate him and the Council will give him the courtesy of a vote. Maybe, rather than embarrass themselves further, Jim's colleagues will even do the right thing.
It's kinda low hanging political fruit and if Ramos and his allies were smart, they'd see this as an easy way to put this embarrassing (indefensible)episode in the rear view mirror.
In what could be viewed as pay back Cunningham appointed to fill Hospital Board position Gonzalez was forced to vacate. Gonzales ran and lost three times to unseat Cunningham with the support of Ramos.
ReplyDelete