Please someone tell me something good about our Mayor and the politics of our fair city. Please. Quick. Just one thing will do.

Anything.

Please.

IS THIS JUSTICE?
Accused burglar gets pension, but retired chief can't get his

Earl Morgan - Monday, April 09, 2007

W hen Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy named William Sinnott as the new fire chief, Downtown Councilman Steve Fulop criticized the appointment as blatant pension padding - at age 63, the new chief could serve less than two years before he would be forced out by the state-mandated age 65 retirement age for firefighters.

In response, Sinnott urged Fulop "to wait and see what I accomplish before he comments blindly."

In the intervening four months, several situations have developed that provide a clear view of Sinnott's management style at the helm of the JCFD.

For starters, there's the Thomas Verdon affair. Verdon, a Jersey City fire captain, was arrested in December after a neighbor said he caught him taking a stained glass window from a home that had been marked as vacant by firefighters. The home happened to be owned by Ted Brunson, the director of the Jersey City Afro-American Museum.

Verdon, who faces charges of burglary, theft and official misconduct, was never suspended or disciplined by the department. Instead, Sinnott said, he met with Verdon's attorneys and representatives of the city's law department, and hammered out a deal to let Verdon remain on the active duty roster, thereby protecting his pension and allowing him to retire today - his 25th year on the job.

We're not exactly sure what the city got out of this "deal."

Oh, and incidentally, Sinnott said the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office also signed off on this agreement, but Edward DeFazio denies that.

Yes, Verdon is innocent until proven guilty, but even allegations of misconduct can lead to suspension. Take, for example, the case of Lawrence Lemke, a Jersey City firefighter found slumped over the wheel of his idling car, which then rolled into a cop who went to check on his condition.

Lemke - who, cops said, was high on heroin at the time - was immediately suspended without pay after he was arrested and charged with aggravated assault.

While Verdon can expect to get his first pension check next month, Sinnott's predecessor, former JCFD Chief Frederick Eggers, who was unceremoniously dumped by Healy in December, is still trying to collect his pension four months later.

When asked why Eggers is still waiting for his pension, JCFD officials said it's because of the state pension board. They say salary increases Eggers received raised red flags, and the state wants more information concerning Eggers's wages.

By the way, those salary increases mirrored wage hikes received by former Jersey City Police Chief Robert Troy. Do you think he's still waiting for his first pension check?

Officials at the JCFD also note they advise employees to file paperwork several months before they leave the job, but Eggers filed his paperwork at the same time he left.

Talk about adding insult to injury. Eggers didn't leave voluntarily - he said he had no choice but to leave after receiving a phone call from the mayor telling him he wanted to take the department in another direction.

"I didn't want to go," said Eggers, who at 60 still had five years ahead of him before retirement. "But I've been around and I know how things work. I didn't want to end up isolated in some office with no phone and no one to talk to."

Pushing Eggers out to make way for Sinnott could end up costing the city more money and more headaches - Deputy Chief Joseph Gallagher, who was first on the seniority list, is adamant about wanting the chief's job, but as he turns 65 in August, he'll be long gone by the time Sinnott retires.

Too bad for Gallagher? Maybe not. Attorneys for the city say the mayor's case for taking Sinnott over Gallagher is "weak." The city could end up having to remove Sinnott for Gallagher, if only for four months.

All this could have been avoided if Eggers had not been forced out.
Perhaps the Lemke situation isn't really a fair comparison. So let's instead discuss a case regarding someone who isn't accused of any wrongdoing at all.