Very little JC elected officials do is without conflict of interest.

I wish Councilman Fulop luck on this one.....

The greater conflict is when the elected officials take campaign contributions and then vote and act on behalf the the very donors, approve favorable zoning or tax abatements. Illegal should not be the issue, bribes are still bribes, graft is still graft. Most of us care about what we have done at the end of a day and how we impact other people. Most of these people are a of a different breed.

Whether or not, in the eyes and wording of the law, there is a "conflict of interest" or a "conflict of office", the fact remains that too few people have too many jobs in municipal and state office. As a sidenote, I think we really need some legislation prohibiting people from holding both state and local level office concurrently.

Concentration of power was one of the founding fathers' biggest concerns and the main reason for the system of (now laughable, at least at the state/local level in NJ) checks and balances built into our Constitution.

Is this the same attorney that subpoenaed the web site editor of getnj ?

'No conflict' in 2 voting on PJP deal, council told
Friday, September 15, 2006
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Jersey City's city attorney sees no conflict of interest when it comes to two City Council members voting on what to do with the former PJP Landfill site - even if they hold day jobs that are indirectly connected to the site's future.

Downtown City Councilman Steve Fulop had asked the city's newly resurrected Ethical Standards Board to give an opinion on whether City Council President Mariano Vega and Ward B Councilwoman Mary Spinello should be able to cast further votes on a controversial warehouse project proposed for the city's west side.

Vega, who wants to make the land a park, is in charge of developing parks for the county.

Spinello is deputy executive director of the Jersey City Incinerator Authority, whichhas levied more than $6 million in fire code fines on Trophy Trucking, a company located on land adjacent to where the warehouse would be built. The city - at Spinello's urging - is putting together a redevelopment plan that would evict Trophy Trucks.

In Fulop's opinion, Vega and Spinello should abstain when the redevelopment plan comes before the City Council in the next several weeks.

According to Corporation Counsel Bill Matsikoudis - who verbally jousted with Fulop at the council's caucus on Monday and gave the council a written opinion on Wednesday - Vega and Spinello should be allowed to vote.

No legal "conflict of interest" exists, since neither Spinello nor Vega are in a position to personally profit from their votes and the question then becomes, are they in a "conflict of office," Matsikoudis said.

In a Hudson County Superior Court case, a judge ruled that City Councilman William Gaughan, chief of staff to the county executive, could vote on a matter before the council even though the county had an interest in the outcome.

Plus, New Jersey permits dual-office holding. So if an elected county freeholder holding office on the council could vote, certainly Vega can, Matsikoudis reasoned.

In regard to Spinello, he said, the statute governing incinerator authorities allows employees to hold public office and fully participate in deliberations.

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Ethics and conflicts of interest

Ricardo Kaulessar --- Hudson Reporter

The council meeting also saw a discussion on the issue of ethics.

Ward E City Councilman Steve Fulop recently asked the city's newly resurrected Ethical Standards Board to give an opinion on City Council President Mariano Vega and Ward B Councilwoman Mary Spinello's involvement in voting on the AMB Warehouse project.

Specifically, Fulop believes both should not be able to cast further votes on a controversial warehouse project proposed for the city's west side based on their respective conflicts of interest.

Both council members have full-time jobs with the county in addition to being city councilpeople, and the county has made it known that it would like to use the land for a different project than the city wants it for.

Vega is currently the director of the Hudson County Department of Parks, Engineering & Planning, and wants the site of the warehouse to be open space.

Spinello is deputy executive director of the Jersey City Incinerator Authority (JCIA). The JCIA has in the past issued millions of dollars in fines to Trophy Trucking, a trucking firm that has property in the vicinity of the warehouse site, for illegal storage of trucks.

However an opinion was issued by the city's corporation counsel, Bill Matsikoudis, at Monday's council caucus and in a letter at Wednesday's meeting that finds that both Vega and Spinello are allowed to vote and there is no conflict of interest.

"Based upon my review of the law, it is my opinion that there is no conflict of interest under the facts presented.

Dual office holding, even if the offices are perceived to be incompatible, is permitted for the positions held by both council members under state law," stated Matsikoudis in his letter.

The City Council would not actually specifically vote on the warehouse project, but would vote on changing the zoning in the area to allow the warehouse.

The issue will be considered by the city's Ethical Standards Board at a future meeting. The state's Local Finance Board also has been sent information regarding Fulop's request.

Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com