Poland shows Hudson County pols a good time: Political Insider

Published: Tuesday, September 13, 2011, 12:01 AM
By Agustin C. Torres/The Jersey Journal


Councilman William Gaughan, right, may have been preparing for Europe when he and Councilman Michael Sottolano, left, Council President Peter Brennan, center, talked to Amanda Narvaez, second from left, of Brooklyn, Marlena Soultaire, of Newark, and Cathrine Alessa Aichinger, of Carinthia, Austria, all wearing traditional German dresses called dirndls, at Oktoberfest in Jersey City, Oct. 7, 2010. All past trips were to Germany but this year's jaunt was to Poland. Gaughn did not return with a replacement for the Katy?„ massacre memorial.


Hudson County officials went on what seems their annual "Go to Europe" escapade.

In August, Bill Gaughan, who is Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise's chief of staff, represented DeGise on a trip to Poland at the invitation of Siedlce County Executive Zigmund Wielogorski and Bialski County Executive Tadeusz Lazowski.

Ziggy and Tad had been introduced to the Hudson County officials by Oberhavel County Executive Karl-Heinz Schroter of Germany. You remember Karl-Heinz. He provided our county officials with a section of the Berlin Wall, I believe in 2007. The Wall section -- all cleaned by our folks of graffiti is expected to some day wind up in Lincoln Park, Jersey City, and not as a Tonnelle Avenue median as some of you wise guys suggested.

Gaughan did not go alone.

In a memo, it was noted that Hudson County Administrator William La Rosa and, as luck would have it, staff member and Eileen Gaughan, accompanied DeGise's chief of staff and Eileen's dad.

Also, Hudson County Community College president Glen Gabert went along on the jaunt. Gabert wanted to explore possible student exchanges and other educational opportunities, just as the Hudson County officials wanted to explore tourism connections and make contacts for government, business and cultural reasons. I have to save this paragraph of generic reasons for next year. After all, it can't all be about sausage and the local vodka.

Hudson County spokesman Jim Kennelly echoed the memo by saying the county did not pay for the trips, just as they did not when officials visited Germany in 2007, 2008 and 2009. He said they all used vacation days to travel. Kennelly did say it was possible the county did pick up the tab for some "state" dinners in Poland.

What the memo did not say, but Kennelly confirmed, was that Gaughan's Jiminy Cricket, known to us as former Assemblyman and Union City Mayor Rudy Garcia, now a lobbyist, was also on the trip to Poland. The county spokesman said Garcia paid his own way.

Has anyone ever submitted a report about what has been accomplished on these trips?