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Thursday, August 21, 2008

Council, make their heads roll

Palmer administration officials could be facing some severely drastic action at Sept. 4’s Trenton City Council meeting should they fail to deliver on the informational requests of council members.

City Council members – and the public – want to know what the administration plans on doing with the position of ousted Police Director Joseph Santiago and on the other apparent residency law violator, Communications Director Irving Bradley.

Council members have already requested that information, on several occasions, yet administration officials such as Business Administrator Jane Feigenbaum, Chief of Staff Renee Haynes, and others have all failed to deliver in a timely manner or at all, on both these requests and others.

Perhaps Mr. Coston gave us a glimpse of what’s to come if the administration once again stonewalls city residents’ elected representatives, when he stopped an entire council meeting in response to a lack of response on the part of Ms. Feigenbaum to numerous requests for city data.

We have said it before: if this record continues, council members ought to put one or two administrative positions on the chopping block, and hold removal hearings for an eventual vote to remove a Palmer official, perhaps Ms. Feigenbaum or Ms. Haynes.

Personnel chief Raissa Walker could be the best candidate for dismissal, considering her implication in much of this residency brouhaha and the “look the other way” policy that was used with Mr. Santiago and Mr. Bradley.

Whatever the case, this City Council – continuing its transformation in standing up to Mayor Palmer and his minions – needs to up the ante, and force a Palmer administration that has already been defeated on numerous occasions into an even more defensive position. The time has come, however they choose to do so.

3 comments:

Old Mill Hill said...

Maybe it should be noted that a year ago Ms. Walker herself was declared unqualified for the position of Personnel Director by the state. For whatever reason, that decision was overturned on appeal and she remains in the position.

Seems to me somebody should look at the decision again in light of the hiring of the un-qualified, non-resident Mr. Bradley; the un-qualified (per the state) Mr. Carabelli, Jr.; the liability of having hired young Mr. Messina (who is now the target, along with the City, of a civil lawsuit).

Of course, Ms. Walker is only carrying out the orders of Mr. Palmer and his Chief of Staff, Renee Haynes. So can we put all the blame on her?

Nicholas Stewart said...

Yes, all the blame can fall on her shoulders. If she's a qualified Personnel Director, she should have been aware of the fact that she was hiring unqualified individuals and following illegitimate directions from the mayor and his subordinate.

westwrdguy57 said...

Wow. I thought Bradley might have already been planning his exit. Santiago moving here? These kind a guys are always looking for some way out. He's nothing other than a manipulator of the system. I don't see why he's allowed to drive a cop car. It's only a privilege if he is. He has associated with some of these organized gangs in the past and may still be in contact. Who knows? He was outright fired by the former governor. I do not think he gave him a 75 day grace period to leave.

This seems to have become a war of sorts between city council and the all powerful and mighty Palmer hiding behind that machine with the levers. Watch out everyone, when our mayor is angry, which must be about anytime he can't get his way, he may spew out some of that powerful looking smoke.

Palmer, like I have said before, feels he is above the law, beyond reproach, and would likely stop at nothing to win a game of checkers. He's a sore headed loser, and if someone were to say, confront him face to face for even little friendly banter, find he is really cowardly. We all need an appointment to see him in person. Who else needs so much round the clock protection? I heard he has this fortress like mansion out in Lambertville. I wonder how he would greet a visitor from Trenton who say happened by there? I'm thinking he may cower inside, and get to that red phone hahaa.

This Joey Santiago guy could have been ordered out of that office at once. The court's only mistake was giving him this big transition window of 75 days. No need for that much time. Cannot blame the court though. If they had known him for the type of person he was, their decision would have come down much differently. One week would have been sufficient. All he's been doing during all this time is planning his next move. We know crime is still way up. He is bad for the city and things are getting worse. If he would only face up to this fact and turn over the position over to someone with the experience to get the job done. He can't and he won't because that would mean he's an honorable man.

I saw where all these severe crimes occurred yesterday and right in broad daylight. Two happened right next to city hall. Lots of times cops are stading around city hall, and outdoors on the steps. No one ever sees anything it seems.

Any of the aforementioned names selected for removal is fine with me. Not sure how many are that competent. Guessing not all. Be happy to see any new leadership down there. There have been problems with all of them. Some are just puppets to Palmer. If the mayor isn't competent enough to run the city, and to abide by the law, then that says all anyone needs to know about the people already in his employ. They are his picks as well as his puppets. He is the lord of his fiefdom. He is all hung up on power. That is a recognized disorder of unknown origin. Some professionals claim to know.

Instead of running off to Africa and everywhewre else for them power trips, he may just learn a thing or two about himself if he asked for the help that's out there.

Santiago has been buying more time by lying whenever convenient and conjuring up strategies to get around the system. I doubt he is moving his family here. He just likes getting away with stuff. And now he is looking for a way out of the court decision to buy even more time. This idiot should know by now the majority of us don't need him here or want his lousy services.