The Ruins of Trenton

Trenton City Council Monday again sided firmly with the group of nine residents - including me - who sued the city over Police Director Joseph Santiago's non-residency, with their attorney filing an informal brief with plaintiffs' attorney George Dougherty.

City Council's attorney David Corrigan joined Mr. Dougherty and the plaintiffs in rebuking the crescendo of empty calls for a stay of Mercer County Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg's decision to immediately vacate Mr. Santiago's position as Police Director a week ago today.

Also of significance was that City Council has officially denounced the continued involvement of attorney Susan Singer in the case, with Mr. Corrigan labeling Ms. Singer's filings and motions on the behalf of the City of Trenton as misrepresentations.

"I can state categorically and without hesitancy that the City Council has not authorized Ms. Singer to file any papers with respect to this matter," wrote Mr. Corrigan. "This is more than a matter of semantics. It is at the very least misleading and probably inaccurate for Ms. Singer to purport to represent the City of Trenton."

These statements continue the trend of City Council stepping up to the plate for the best interests of the residents, both morally and financially.

The same cannot be said of Mayor Palmer, who has at best been exposed as a petty, common politician, and at worst as an ego maniacal, self-obsessed liar willing to stop at nothing and spend anything to eke out what would surely be a Pyrrhic victory over his own residents and his own previously expressed position on residency.

Even in this matter, Mayor Palmer opened the city coffers to numerous unnecessary attorneys and counsel like Ms. Singer, who has not made a single worthwhile dent in the entire Santiago case.

In fact, her only real effect besides wasting oxygen has been to also suck up precious city dollars.

Ms. Singer has only provided another high-priced voice to the group of attorneys who have sacrificed their souls by helping a desperate mayor continue a legacy of talking out of both sides of his mouth.

Anyway, kudos to City Council, and let's hope for the best tomorrow morning during the hearing that will hopefully yield the final severing of Mr. Santiago's employment relationship with the City of Trenton.

Let the post-Santiago era begin.