JCLAW wrote:
http://www.nj.com/opinion/ledger/edit ... 20502918246120.xml&coll=1

From Today's Star Ledger:

Quote:

Hold Healy accountable
Thursday, September 04, 2008

Jersey City Mayor Jerra miah Healy should be held to the same standard im posed on Newark Councilwoman Dana Rone. Rone was removed from office because in December 2006 she intervened when Rutgers-Newark University police stopped her nephew for a traffic violation.

She told the officers she was a councilwoman and even said she'd call "the real cops," a threat she delivered on.

For her antics, she was convicted on a disorderly persons charge -- a relatively minor offense -- but one significant enough to prompt Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow to seek Rone's removal from office.

The punishment was harsh -- but one we found hard to argue against given the language in the statute requiring public officials to forfeit their offices for misconduct that touches on their jobs.

At the time, Rone's defenders said she was being unfairly singled out and pointed to Hea ly's situation. In the summer of 2006, a few months before Rone's altercation, Healy was arrested by Bradley Beach police when he tried to intervene in a quarrel outside a Shore bar owned by his sister. Witnesses said Healy was drunk. The mayor was pepper-sprayed, handcuffed and arrested.

Healy supporters and, more important, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio insisted Healy's case was different from Rone's because he never mentioned that he was mayor of Jersey City and never sought special treatment.

Now, according to the Jersey Journal, quoting police testi mony before a grand jury that indicted Healy on charges of resisting arrest and obstructing the administration of law, the mayor was quite vocal about who he was.

"I'm the mayor of Jersey City. I was a judge. I was a lawyer. I am a good personal friend with your chief (Lenny Guida). Call the chief and let's get this rectified without any charges. For the good of your town, for the good of your department, for the good of my city, we need to resolve this without charges. Can you sweep this under the rug?"

Healy denies he made these statements, telling the Jersey Journal they are "completely untrue."

This should be sorted out through the same kind of legal process that Rone faced.

In Rone's case, the prosecutor pursued forfeiture, relying on statements captured by video. In Healy's case, the prosecutor has taken a hands-off approach. It is former assemblyman Louis Manzo, who may run against Healy, who has been pushing the issue. While Manzo's motives may be political, it's clear the Healy case needs further scrutiny.

Who seriously thinks Ed DeFazio, who is as much an HCDO cog as any of the rest of them, is going to prosecute his own patron, Jerry Healy? So what if it was exactly the same crime that Rone committed in Newark and for which she was removed from office. In Jersey City, da Mayor is da law.

An ecosystem of corruption is a situation in which many have a stake in the status quo, which is to say - corruption. Because the import of 'culture of corruption' is very badly understood, a corrupt public official is portrayed by the media (ALL media, including 411) as existing in isolation. The public generally accepts this as true - that is, while they might see ALL pols as individually corrupt, or even all media as individually covering for them, they cannot grasp their own place in the ecosystem of corruption.

In any ecosystem, every living thing plays a part. In the Hudson County ecosystem of corruption, newspapers play a part. The publisher of a paper such as The Jersey Journal understands that it is allowed to report investigations of public officials - but not launch its own. It is allowed to criticize public officials - but only up to a point. For example, recently the JJ's editorial page director Augustin Torres was called on the carpet by HC prosecutor Ed DeFazio for suggesting that DeFazio might have put a beer on his expense account. With the line drawn there, Torres knows better than to run a story looking into the fact that DeFazio has NEVER prosecuted a prominent public official.

Hold Healy accountable
Thursday, September 04, 2008

Jersey City Mayor Jerra miah Healy should be held to the same standard im posed on Newark Councilwoman Dana Rone. Rone was removed from office because in December 2006 she intervened when Rutgers-Newark University police stopped her nephew for a traffic violation.

She told the officers she was a councilwoman and even said she'd call "the real cops," a threat she delivered on.

For her antics, she was convicted on a disorderly persons charge -- a relatively minor offense -- but one significant enough to prompt Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow to seek Rone's removal from office.

The punishment was harsh -- but one we found hard to argue against given the language in the statute requiring public officials to forfeit their offices for misconduct that touches on their jobs.

At the time, Rone's defenders said she was being unfairly singled out and pointed to Hea ly's situation. In the summer of 2006, a few months before Rone's altercation, Healy was arrested by Bradley Beach police when he tried to intervene in a quarrel outside a Shore bar owned by his sister. Witnesses said Healy was drunk. The mayor was pepper-sprayed, handcuffed and arrested.

Healy supporters and, more important, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio insisted Healy's case was different from Rone's because he never mentioned that he was mayor of Jersey City and never sought special treatment.

Now, according to the Jersey Journal, quoting police testi mony before a grand jury that indicted Healy on charges of resisting arrest and obstructing the administration of law, the mayor was quite vocal about who he was.

"I'm the mayor of Jersey City. I was a judge. I was a lawyer. I am a good personal friend with your chief (Lenny Guida). Call the chief and let's get this rectified without any charges. For the good of your town, for the good of your department, for the good of my city, we need to resolve this without charges. Can you sweep this under the rug?"

Healy denies he made these statements, telling the Jersey Journal they are "completely untrue."

This should be sorted out through the same kind of legal process that Rone faced.

In Rone's case, the prosecutor pursued forfeiture, relying on statements captured by video. In Healy's case, the prosecutor has taken a hands-off approach. It is former assemblyman Louis Manzo, who may run against Healy, who has been pushing the issue. While Manzo's motives may be political, it's clear the Healy case needs further scrutiny.