JG Attacks Inspector
The blog post, "The Card-Carrying Republican/New Democrat," deserves a careful reading and interpretation in order to understand the workings of the Assemblyman's mind.
Since the blog recently took a turn for the verbose, it does require more effort to figure what he is talking about, but here it seems that a city inspector's failure to approve occupancy of the new Obama headquarters is being taken as a vendetta against Gerald B. Green himself. The malefactor will therefore face the wrath not only of the prosecutor and the administration, but even of the governing body itself.
Do we really want our prosecutor to be investigating a city inspector for allegedly overstepping his authority, when the latest major effort from that office is forming a Homicide Task Force? The administration is within its rights to discipline any employee, but employees who feel targeted for political reasons certainly have the recourse of grievances to their unions. As for the City Council, the governing body is strictly forbidden from interfering in the day-to-day operations of the city.
By letting this dispute all hang out in public and invoking the notion of a conspiracy of inspectors against building owners, the legislator pits City Hall against citizens in a disquieting way while on the other hand acknowledging that inspectors have a valuable job to do. The rhetoric meets itself coming and going and does a disservice to the public. Whom to trust?
Before launching his own blog, the Assemblyman often condemned blogs for dealing in bombast, misinformation and personal attacks. A close look at the last three posts on Jerry Green's Page reveals a departure from simply offering views and information. Take a look and decide for yourself how this reflects on the Obama campaign.
--Bernice Paglia
Since the blog recently took a turn for the verbose, it does require more effort to figure what he is talking about, but here it seems that a city inspector's failure to approve occupancy of the new Obama headquarters is being taken as a vendetta against Gerald B. Green himself. The malefactor will therefore face the wrath not only of the prosecutor and the administration, but even of the governing body itself.
Do we really want our prosecutor to be investigating a city inspector for allegedly overstepping his authority, when the latest major effort from that office is forming a Homicide Task Force? The administration is within its rights to discipline any employee, but employees who feel targeted for political reasons certainly have the recourse of grievances to their unions. As for the City Council, the governing body is strictly forbidden from interfering in the day-to-day operations of the city.
By letting this dispute all hang out in public and invoking the notion of a conspiracy of inspectors against building owners, the legislator pits City Hall against citizens in a disquieting way while on the other hand acknowledging that inspectors have a valuable job to do. The rhetoric meets itself coming and going and does a disservice to the public. Whom to trust?
Before launching his own blog, the Assemblyman often condemned blogs for dealing in bombast, misinformation and personal attacks. A close look at the last three posts on Jerry Green's Page reveals a departure from simply offering views and information. Take a look and decide for yourself how this reflects on the Obama campaign.
--Bernice Paglia
posted by Bernice at 7:53 AM
5 Comments:
Bernice,
This is quite scary. Why did Jerry Green feel the need to write about a request for inspection documents on his blog? Why wouldn't he just provide the documents to Councilman Burney to give to the inspector? Councilman Burney certainly knows the building code, as it is posted on his website for all to see. Did Councilman Burney suggest to Jerry Green that the inspector was targeting the Obama campaign? A certificate of occupancy and/or certificate of compliance is necessary for all buildings in Plainfield. Is Green trying to say that Barack Obama's supporters don't deserve a safe, non-code violating space in which to work toward his election? Why would he not want to make sure that the building is up to code? Is Green saying that the inspector is targeting Obama and Democrats in general? I fear this line of reasoning, Bernice. By publicly targeting this inspector in this way, Jerry Green has just opened up this city to a huge lawsuit by the inspector. If I were in this individual's shoes, I would demand an apology from Green and Burney and I would take legal action. Are we now going to have to pay tens of thousands of dollars to fight this lawsuit in court, like in the case of Chief Santiago? Jerry Green has made it clear that politics trumps building safety. And we, the people of Plainfield, will have to pay for it.
hmm.. i read his article after reading yours.. and i cannot relate to your view..
it seems as though the Assemblyman has a valid arguement, and it is well articulated.. what article were you reading??
In his hysteria over the "republican/new Democrats" Jerry Green appears to forget that New Democrat candidates Annie McWilliams and Adrian Mapp are also on the ticket with Obama. How are they (as presumptive Republican/New Democrats, to use his term--hah) set to benefit from the closing of the headquarters? In addition, nowhere does he specifically name anything that was requested by the inspector, nor does he say that the headquarters is actually being threatened with closure. Is the inspector concerned about the sprinkler system? Is there a missing fire extinguisher? Is there only one way of egress? Why does a simple request for paperwork turn into a political vendetta? One thing that could be done is to have another inspector or a supervisor review the paperwork of the building's owner to make sure that the building is in compliance. How are we to evaluate to legitimacy of Green's remarks with no examples of what he is talking about? Since when has requesting paperwork (which is all he attributes to Burney) become a political witchhunt against Jerry Green? On a final note, the building changed owners in the several years since the New Democrats under the late Al McWilliams used it as a headquarters.
Bernice,
When we elected this current cast of elected officials, what could we expect? NO one is in charge. The mayor is clueless and is surrounded by people that refuse to get the job done. There is no vision or plan by the GReen/Briggs team and subsequently the department heads and the city administrator are vacuous, robotic pay-for-play-sycophants. One would think with the City facing severe economic and social stress that they would be embarrassed by their passive management practices. May I suggest adopting The "Broken Window Theory" of city management. It works. Give it a try. They may even redeem yourselves.
The late great Molly Ivins often spoke about the first rule of "holes"--I think Assemblyman Green needs to observe the rule, given his blustery, desperate McCain-like hysteria:
STOP DIGGING!
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