Assemblyman Jerry Green takes credit for the legislation that resulted in Rasheed Abdul-Haqq's departure from the school board and talked on a news program about "dark secrets" that must be brought to light.
On the other hand, in this 2009 blog post, Green expresses great concern for the plight of parolees trying to find their place in the community.
The post popped up when Plaintalker did a search on the name of Darcella Sessomes. She is described in the blog post as being a state Corrections official at the time. Now someone by that name is being nominated to be a PMUA commissioner. Readers may know that the PMUA hires parolees, giving them one of the few job opportunities readily available to individuals trying to re-enter the community.
So on the one hand Green wants to punish the likes of Rasheed Abdul-Haqq for a decades-old transgression for which he paid in jail time and in several decades of voluntary service to the community, but on the other hand he endorses giving people fresh out of prison whatever it takes to help them find a place in society. Apparently their "dark secrets" will remain their own business as they try to get on with their lives.
Ironically, Green's legislation has inadvertently created a new class of lawbreakers in that all board members and charter school trustees who failed to meet a deadline for registering to get criminal background checks are now facing removal from office. Even if their crime is only procrastination, they are now liable to be charged with a fourth-degree offense.
--Bernice.
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And I believe Will Gill, also up as a commissioner nominee, is Adrian Mapp's brother-in-law. PMUA is quite the crown jewel, and so much more than sewage and garbage pickup on any given day. How the wheels turn on Redemption Island: Plainfield. The reality is regality in the Queen City. We are serfs on the tide.
ReplyDeleteWhy Bernice...hypocrisy amongst the local New Dems and RDO ??? Why..that would be simply unbelievable! Nothing like making some pay again and again and again to fulfill a personal vendetta... High Five to the New Dems who support this type of practice.
ReplyDeleteRasheed Abdul-Haqq should go out of his way and thank Dan Damon, Adrian Mapp and Cory Storch for supporting this practice!
I think it's despicable. There is such a thing as paying your debt to society. I don't know how some people sleep at night.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the middle on this issue.
ReplyDeleteEvery employer has the right to set the criteria for employment. Banks do background checks, and if you've committed certain financial crimes, you are barred from ever getting a job at the bank.
The same with the US government. I had an intern position once where I had to get a top-secret security clearance. Some people don't pass these checks.
So, if the state government (the ultimate boss of the schools), decides they don't want people with certain criminal pasts around kids (such as drugs and pedophilia), it is their right.
What is unfortunate is people can and do pay their "debt to society" for past mistakes and crimes, and are wonderful people that have a great deal to offer. By filtering these individuals out of the mix, it is society's loss.
However, we all have to live with the consequences of our decisions and actions. Young people, especially, don't realize the long-term damage they can do to themselves when they commit crimes, post questionble things on the internet, contract diseases and/or do serious injury to themselves and others through risky behavior.
I think people and society are hypocritical about many things. Many of the "lawmakers" have their dark secrets, which if they came to light, would mean jail time. People are always quick to point fingers, and ignore their own wrong-doing.
I do think giving a parolee a job picking up garbage on a truck where they are supervised is very different from being a decision-maker, in a highly sensitive and position of trust.
The standards and criteria for a board member's qualifications should be at the highest level.
That being said -- I do think laws, such as this, shouldn't be blind to looking at an individual, their accomplishments and service in context to any criminal history.
We all have different roads to follow. Some make serious mistakes, which if it doesn't break them, make them better, stronger people.
Is there such a law banning teachers from teaching if they have been convicted of a felony?
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