| Channel your inner Chris Matthews for a second and play some hardball with me: seventeen former or current Jersey City public officials and residents have been arrested so far in a corruption sweep by the feds for accepting bribes or other misdoings.
Among them, Jersey City's own Council President Mariano Vega and Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini were taken away in handcuffs by the FBI. The details of the arrest reports prominently feature "JC Official 4," which is self-admittedly Jerramiah Healy, as being present at meetings with the FBI's confidential informant when cash was exchanged for political favors.
Despite JC residents outside City Hall calling for politicians implicated in the scandal to step down, the City Council today rejected a no-confidence vote against Mariano Vega -- a vote in which Vega himself was allowed to participate. Only the sponsor, Councilman Steven Fulop, voted no-confidence.
Healy responded to calls for his resignation by stating that he has no intention of resigning, that he had "not been accused of any wrong doing."
Innocent until proven guilty in a court of law is a principle that we cherish and defend; those accused will have their day in court, thanks to law enforcement.
But the standard of public office demands much more than that; our trust requires more than simple, technical legality. This isn't a court of law. This is the second largest city of a state with gubernatorial elections this year, where the incumbent Democratic Governor is trailing his Republican opponent, a former U.S. attorney, by as much as 14-15 points in recent polls.
The Hudson County Democratic Organization and NJ Democrats need to get it through their heads: the corruption scandal is having an impact with voters statewide.
There is also the simple truth that good leaders own up to the faults of not only themselves, but their whole team. And not just when they are caught.
Mayor Healy was not hauled out in handcuffs like Hoboken's Peter Cammarano or several members of Healy's own former campaign slate, nor was he charged with any criminal offenses -- but he might as well have been for the way he was talking today. Jerramiah Healy needs to do a lot more to reassure voters considering all the corruption going on on his watch, among his people, and at meetings where he was present. Technical legality won't cut it with the scope of these charges.
If he can't do that, then the only ethical choice is to resign.
And if you still believe he knew nothing of it, or was powerless to put an end to it, then I know a guy who has a kidney he wants to sell. |
