MAYOR'S COMMUNITY FORUM

The perhaps  not phantom Community Forum aka Mayot/Sharpton forum.

At last I have knowledge of  where TONIGHT'S event is Scheduled to take place:
According to today's Courier; it will be at

Farrones

111 East Front St. 

6:30 pm

LOCAL POLITICS

One of the results of the Wednesday night fiasco has been voluminous correspondence to the blogs. Most have been directed to Plaintalker II (Bernice’s blog) as they should be since it is the most widely read.
 
A recurrent theme concerns the meaning of getting the “line” for local candidates. The consensus expressed by most is that since it is at the goodwill of Jerry Green the lucky person is beholden to him. Too often those that have shown a degree of independence in their elected office do not receive the “party’s line” when they are up for reelection.
 
Robinson-Briggs was promoted as Green’s prodigy when she first ran for mayor. She certainly was not nominated because of her political record. The most noteworthy action in her first term was the elimination of the Police Chief’s position. The lack of administration organization was evident then, but with the only other viable candidate seeking the office was Mapp who although also a Democrat was and is a member of a faction that has challenged Green.  

There are times when the “Party” which in Plainfield is its Chairperson, is faced with supporting the lesser of two evils. After the last three+ years with many negative incidents including the $20000.00 check hearing,, the 2011 4th of July celebration rumors of someone collecting extra fees from merchants, the vacant CFO position and the turnover in City Administrator and Department Directors plus budget gaffs; there was no way Green could support her bid for a third term.
 
THOMAS MANN wrote, “What good would politics be, if it didn’t give everyone the opportunity to make moral compromises. Be it moral or not the apparent reconciliation between Green and Mapp was the only choice. Mapp too is a politician but we will have an organized government.  

The other comments have concerned with the fact that in this one party town there is little choice except the candidate picked by the party leader. Some have advocated turning to nonpartisan elections. That is one of the factors the Charter Study Commission is considering.
My comments on this matter to the Commission as recorded in their minutes: Question 10. What is your opinion of non-partisan local elections (for mayor and council) rather than primaries and partisan local elections?
Dr. Yood believes that there should be no place for political parties at the local level; however, there is no such thing as a non-partisan election. It is too easy for small power groups that can have a greater impact on the makeup of the council to be elected. As a result, he believes that we should retain the party primary election format.”
 
Non Partisan Elections is an oxymoron. We have a perfect negative answer to that question if we consider the BOE elections. For the past few years a slate sponsored by “King Maker” Campbell has won the elections. Green cannot support a slate as the Democrat City Chairman, but as a private citizen who has friends he has backed some losing slates the past three years.  

Does anyone think that we are better off under this system with a board that seems to have pulled a cloak over its operations?

AN EXPLANATION

I have excerpted parts of an email that Pat Turner Kavenaugh sent to Peter Briggs, The Mayor’s husband and I believe President of the local NAACP chapter.

“Peter: had I heard from the Mayor's campaign that she was ill, I would have cancelled tonight's event. I left for the Library at 6 pm, so checked my phone answering machine and email when I got home, in case someone had tried to reach me on behalf of the Mayor (My boldface)
I had hoped to attend the NAACP event Sunday, but was tired from the rainy FOSH garage sale and the Crescent Concert program. Bernice covered the NAACP event, and pointed out that Councilman Mapp was not there. She estimated the audience at 15. There were about 120 people at the library tonight.”

“We asked the two candidates to arrive at 6:45. Councilman Mapp was in place. The LWVNJ vice-president for voter services was there about 6:20; she trains moderators statewide and came some distance to handle tonight’s forum.”

“The moderator shut down the event close to 7:30. She told me about six minutes later someone from the Mayor's team approached her and asked to read the Mayor's statement, which has, apparently, been distributed to Bernice Paglia and Mark Spivey..”

“The Mayor is always affable when we meet, and, I believed, you and I have a decent working relationship.”

Read Bernice’s blog before you judge the Mayor too severely.

I may post some comments this afternoon, since I have no time this am due to an appointment.

CANDIDATES' FORUM

PLAINFIELD CITIZENS                                   100+

MAYOR SHARON ROBINSON-BRIGGS           0

Mayor Robinson-Briggs has frequently expressed her contempt for Plainfield’s voters. But never has she insulted the people who twice elected her in the manner she did Wednesday night.

Well over 100 citizens were already waiting for the scheduled 7pm Mayoral Forum to begin but one of the two Candidates was absent. Although Robinson-Briggs was requested to by present by 6:45- 15 minutes before starting time the Mayor had inexplicably neither showed nor communicated with the Organizers of the Forum.

Neither FOSH nor the Plainfield League of Women Voters would have scheduled this eagerly awaited Forum if the Mayor who is seeking the Democrat nomination as and Independent had not agreed to participate.

The fact that so many Plainfielders were in attendance suggested that even if they had decided who they were going to vote for; both Candidates needed to have a chance to plead their case before a final irrevocable voting decision was reached.   

Or perhaps she intends to blind side those who would oppose her by lulling them into not casting a b allot on Primary Day.

MINI BLOG

Since on both Wednesday and Thursday am I having “social visits” with different doctors; any blog if written will be posted late that day and may be for the next day.

There is a great deal occurring nationally other than horrendous weather nationwide. Some such as the Senate Judiciary Committee agreeing by bipartisan vote to send immigration reform bill to the floor for vote should be of maximum interest.     .

Another item of interest is that the Supreme Court will hear arguments Monday on the legality of prayers before opening a meeting.  There will b e no decision till June

Tonight at the Library at 7pm there e will be the Democrat Mayoral Candidate debate. 

Once again I have a logistic problem; on Wednesday I usually have dinner with my daughter and son-in-law.  If you can make this event do not miss it.

ONLY POTPOURRI

(A) Our world is paved with good intensions; but pavements do develop potholes. My came last night when I intended to go to the Council’s 3^rd Ward Town Hall Meeting. Regrettably for unknown reasons I did not finish dinner until 7pm. Despite the fact that the 3^rd Ward has always been one of the better wards for this type of a meeting I did not feel in the mood to rush to Cedar Brook School.

So, I too will depend on Bernice’s and Dan’s blogs today for a report. I am sure that there were questions about the Hospital site; about JFK’s intentions and why the City has not collected taxes. I am also sure that there were no answers.

(B) Among life’s mysteries is what little information about local events I can find at the City site. There is a large budget item for IT in the 2013 proposed Budget; but in 2012 I had trouble finding stuff at the Plainfield site. This has continued for the first 5 months of 2013.

The NAACP Candidates’ Forum time and location was almost a well kept secret. I have heard rumors of a “Community Forum” at Washington School this week, at which time Sharpton will appear; but on my Internet there was no mention except for Bernice’s blog the other day. Who is sponsoring it? What is the subject matter?  How can I decide if I would like to attend?  Should not all this be on the City site and easily obtainable?

(C) I have continuously harped on the dangers of relying on electronic record keeping and mandated electronic communications. My focus has been on their use in the health care field, yet the dangers are paramount in every aspect of daily life.

Once again the Chinese have been accused of “hacking in” on secret information. In the field of Health Care the bean counters have decided that everything must be done or recorded electronically. Doctor’s have to transmit prescription electronically to the pharmacy or be subject t to financial penalties. Personal Privacy a Constitutional right is disregarded.

One example was in an article in WSJ the other day. I have excerpted two paragraphs:

“In the old days, sales representatives from drug companies would chat up local pharmacists to learn what drugs doctors were prescribing. Now such shoulder-rubbing is becoming a quaint memory — thanks to vast databases of patient and doctor information being used by pharmaceutical companies to market drugs.

The information allows drug makers to know which drugs a doctor is prescribing and how that compares to a colleague across town. They know whether patients are filling their prescriptions — and refilling them on time. They know details of patients’ medical conditions and lab tests, and sometimes even their age, income and ethnic backgrounds.”

Supposedly the individual’s identity is not available, but if some of the above information is on record so is all and nothing is safe.

Oh for the days when the druggist had to fill a doctor’s illegible written prescription. Nobody could get someone else's personal info from  that document.