PET PROJECTS THAT WASTED
THE TAXPAYERS' BUCKS
Our founding fathers had it right when they wrote into the Constitution, a separation of church and state but Mayor Schundler sees it differently. Jersey City, like many American cities, is a multi-racial, multi-ethnic city. It affords so many opportunities for religious pandering. We have over 50 different nationalities from all continents represented in the JC public schools and many of our residents are first generation Americans. Under the Schundler administration, a simple Christmas display at City Hall blossomed into war with the ACLU, at taxpayers' expense.
"'Jersey City should never have to censor the display of certain symbols just because they have religious significance,'" Schundler said. "'Every community in America has a right to celebrate religious, ethnic, cultural and religious traditions of its residents.'" "In 1994, the ACLU sued the city and Schundler, claiming the City hall menorah and nativity scene it had put … " That case cost the taxpayers over $100,000 for the City's and ACLU's $30,000 legal fees plus thousands more wasted in display ads in the local papers. (JJ 12/5/1996)
By 1999 the City was still in court and had just won an appeal provided they display seasonal secular signs, like Santa Claus, in addition to the crèche and menorah.
When does it end? In March 1999, the Mayor had a statute of St Joseph on the front lawn of City Hall while on the north side were the symbols of St Patrick. In a JJ Letter to the Editor, Schundler co-"naysayer", Yvonne Balcer, candidate for Councilwoman-at-large on Louis Manzo's ticket, criticized the mayor at a council meeting for getting into the business of assigning patron saints to nationalities such as the Italians get St Joseph. In the end she says, "The job of government is to run the various departments and to prepare the city's budget. So far, the city has privatized many services and up to April has not produced a budget." (City fiscal year ended in June 1999 and there was no approved budget by April! It's the same this year and gets worse ever year under Schundler) "Since it cannot do its assigned job, I suggest it leave matters of church alone!"
The Faulkner Act that governs Jersey City's form of government only allows 9 departments and numerous autonomous agencies. On July 1, 1997 Schundler dissolved the Finance Division so as to elevate the
NIDs', (Neighborhood Improvement District) to departmental status. This was to justify Maureen Corrado's (see PLUM JOBS/DEALS - PAY BACK -NIDs) $80,000 salary and $3.5 million budget. She was Schundler's Downtown Ward Campaign coordinator for his 1993 election. In the initial NID pilot in 1995, the mayor promoted the NIDs' as the city's answer to cleaner and safer streets but it was transparent to activists like myself that it read more patronage and city paid workers for Schundler's reelection in 1997.
"Schundler leprechauns pack polling… Mayor's allies plan St. Patrick parade" headlined the 1/27/97 JJ article. "The election for Grand Marshall of the parade, Irish Man and Irish Woman of the year and other parade titles were decided by the votes of employees of the Neighborhood Improvement District program, many of them obviously non-Irish ancestry… Councilman William Gaughan, who is seeking re-election on Schundler's slate this year on Schundler's slate was elected Grand Marshall…. Maureen Corcoran (running on Louis Manzo's ticket for Ward D) was picked as Irish Woman of the Year. Her husband, Tom, is NID coordinator… Several NID workers also said they were told they could report for work three hours late on Friday if they attended Thursday night's vote."
At the same time, the city was laying off city personnel and cried poverty in refusing money for the federal COPS program. The grant paid salaries for newly hired police officers for three years, then their salaries became the responsibility of the City . (See POLICE).
The demotion of the Finance department destroyed many of the controls in the fiscal system by having the Finance department report to the Business Manager, an appointed position. How many corporations would elevate the janitorial head (NIDs) to the Executive Board while demoting the CFO? Is this an indication why we're still $40 million in the hole and on the first step to state take-over as a "Distressed City"?
"Ex-con NID worked facing new charges… Accused in burglary of neighbor" was a front-page article by Stan Eason in the JJ, September 6,1996. Reynaldo Garcia, a code officer for the program, was a convicted felon who was arrested again on charges of possession of stolen property taken from a neighbor's Greenville apartment. "each NID employee also undergoes a police background and check and Garcia's apparently came back clean, Gallagher said. (Schundler's mayoral spokesman) However court records showed that in November 1993, Garcia pleaded to guilty to forging checks…" " Since his arrest, Garcia has remained on the city payroll and was not suspended from the NID program. He is still operating as a code enforcement officer, Gallagher said."
Another pet project of the Mayor, and a 1994 Republican proposal, introduced with great fanfare and controversy was the Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs'). By 1997, Schundler was forced to disband the 3-year-old MSA program, group health insurance, since it was costing the city much more than being part of the state's group health insurance plan. Schundler kept criticizing the state's health plan as too costly but a simple analysis from the beginning showed it to be cheaper. The MSA program works if you have a young, healthy group with preferably no child dependents and no claims which is hardly the case with city personnel nor most corporations of the City's size.
This was another fiscal misstep costing the City over $100,000 annually in additional premiums but allowed Schundler his DC spotlight . Even after withdrawing from the plan, since it proved too costly, Schundler was in DC with then House Speaker Newt Gingrich touting the benefits of the MSAs'! (JJ 12/17/97)
On March 6, 1998 "Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler will testify today before a House of Representatives subcommittee analyzing the feasibility of a medical savings account option for federal employees. '"We in Jersey City had a tremendous positive experience with medical savings accounts,"' Schundler said Friday." (JJ 3/8/98)
Hello????
August 1994, the City under the direction of Wayne Anderson, Director of Cultural Affairs entered into agreements with numerous entertainers for a CITYBLUES Fest. When the City Council balked at spending $425,000 for the blues festival, after the City just laid off workers in July 1994, Anderson was forced to cancel. The City lost at least $55,000 in deposits. Wayne was a Schundler campaign worker for his 1992 and 93 elections. He is currently a Supervisor with the NIDs. (See PET PROJECTS THAT WASTED THE TAXPAYERS' BUCKS- NIDs).
Wayne's wife Suzann McKiernan was an Independent candidate for Council-at-Large in the May election.