The mayor in happier days.
Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs “willfully” broke state
purchasing laws and directed her staff “to violate the law” in paying $20,000
to radio station WBLS, the City Council said in voting unanimously Tuesday to reprimand her
and assess a $200 fine. Results of the council’s investigation will now be
forwarded to state and county law enforcement officials and to the Department
of Community Affairs.
At issue was funding for an Aug. 1, 2010 event featuring The
Rev. Al Sharpton, for which radio station WBLS received $20,000 taken from an
account marked “hardware and software maintenance.” Questions arose immediately
after the event, but a year passed without answers from the mayor, prompting
the council to invoke its subpoena powers under the city’s special charter. The
resulting investigation determined the mayor did not tell the truth about the
revenue source nor did she prove an emergency warranted the payment, as she testified in the
council investigation (see post here).
The mayor used a $15,000 donation from Investors Saving Bank
to offset the cost, even though it was earmarked for the annual July 4th
celebration, and insisted the amount in question was therefore only $5,000. But testimony by former City Administrator Bibi Taylor painted a picture of frantic
scrambling for a $20,000 check on the Friday before the event, with the mayor
pressuring Taylor and others to sidestep fiscal procedures.
Robinson-Briggs said nothing Tuesday night, but her
attorney, Richard Angowski, objected to the resolution, which was read into the
record as the meeting was being taped for viewing on local cable channels.
Council Chairman Adrian Mapp said the investigation was “not
a trial” and never was, and the mayor was not accused of criminal acts.
“The time for closure has arrived,” Mapp said, adding it was
“time to pass the baton” to outside agencies. “As far as the governing body is
concerned, this brings closure to the investigation.”
But defenders of the mayor, including Councilman William
Reid, quickly began rehashing her stance that an emergency existed due to gang
violence and that only $5,000 was at stake. Reid expressed a wish that the
mayor would not “try to take it further” and said regarding gangs, “Tell those
boys not to cause a problem again.”
Resident Roland Muhammad questioned how much was spent on
the investigation and assailed Mapp, whose term as Third Ward representative
ends this year.
“We’re going to vote a change this year,” Muhammad told
Mapp, and said to the mayor, “You didn’t do anything wrong – we love you.”
Resident Xavier Jesus Delvi also defended the mayor,
invoking the Bible verse about the stoning of a “prostitute caught in the act
of adultery” which advises those without sin to cast the first stone.
Saying the investigation was a waste of money and time, he
said of the mayor, “You got a hero right there, my sister.”
Robinson-Briggs is in the third year of her second four-year
term and is said to be planning to run for a third term.
--Bernice
In legal jargon it is referred to as: "Don't do it again"
ReplyDeleteWow...The Council spent $20,000 to investigate $3,000 in overspending. They found out something the Council and everyone already knew.
ReplyDeleteThanks Council for spending our hard earned dollars!!!
This is off topic, but: Who is covering Plainfield Board of Education Meetings? And, why aren't the meetings streamed online? Our HS kids participate in a program with Plainfield's community cable station, so why aren't the students building their resumes and airing our/their meetings?
ReplyDeleteBig things are happening at PPS meetings and most of us can't physically get to 8PM-11PM meetings...
I had to give up covering those meetings after the board made it so hard to do, by having closed sessions and opening again late in the evening and so on. Anybody who is so inclined can cover them and make a blog. I had to choose how to spend my old age after retiring eight years ago and I picked covering City Hall. The meetings are taped and I thought they were streamed, but how many people are going to watch hours of nothing before the meeting reopens? It's too cumbersome.
Delete@6:49. I don't see it as overspending. It's fraud and illegal.
ReplyDeleteShe lied to the bank about how the money would be used. That's fraud.
She illegally took money out of the IT budget, without the council's okay, for something non-IT related.
She pressured employees to act illegally.
It's a big deal.
Move on. Get a life. This is old news.
ReplyDeleteEveryone know she wasted money. So why spend money to prove what we already know?
I agree with 6:49. Why spend $20,000 in good money? Council is wasting our money.
But then again, that is not news either.
Hey, am I not mistaken but isn't it our fine mayor who spent the $20K??? Get it right, people. If you have that much money for the mayor to waste, more power to you, but I personally find her actions and spending irresponsible, reckless, and disrespectful towards the citizens of Plainfield.
ReplyDeleteI think we should all focus on getting Obama elected in 2012 and then we can see what a waste of time this was right Mapp and Storch? If you 2 focused on what matters this would be as insignificant as the PMUA payout. I no longer care that she did it, she doesn't speak out of both sides of her mouth like some of our more noted "NEW" Dems...
ReplyDelete