Posted by Letters to the Editor on September 29, 2003 at 11:11:25:

Cunningham's biggest failing: Dividing the city

I can totally understand how two elected officials playing "dueling letters" can become tedious to the public, but a lie left unchallenged can be accepted as fact. So I reluctantly must respond to Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham's latest attack upon me, my office and my organization.

County government has suffered some huge blows in the last several years. Misdeeds by its elected leaders and political feuds have dominated the headlines. It is easy and convenient to beat up on county government in order to deflect scrutiny on the failings of city government. I would like to simply point out that the first act I took upon taking office 10 months ago was to establish the county's first ever Ethical Standards Board - at the very time the city was simultaneously disbanding the one I helped to establish in my tenure as City Council president

It is curious that Cunningham criticizes me for defending by mail the hard choices county government was forced to make thanks to the mess his hand-picked crew left behind.

It was his unfair attack on me, mailed at taxpayers expense, that prompted my response.

I wonder if the mayor will be so eager to defend his massive spending of taxpayer dollars on a race-baiting publication called the Urban Times News, or on the numerous junkets he has attended at our expense, or his attempt to raise his pay as soon as he took office - an attempt the state blocked.

I could point out many of the policy failings of this Cunningham administration. His innovative "refinancing" was a masking of the saddling of Jersey City with tens of millions of dollars of new debt to cover operating expenses. I could point out that Jersey City is desperately lacking in the delivery of vital services. Our streets are dirty and pockmarked with potholes. Community-based policing is nonexistent. The dismantling of the neighborhood improvement districts has left a total void in the city's response to quality-of-life issues.

But Glenn Cunningham's greatest failure as mayor has been his refusal to work to bring people together. Consensus is not in his vocabulary. I have never seen Jersey City as divided as it is today. The mayor's attitude, ego, rhetoric and fingerpointing style of management has divided people along racial, economic and geographic lines. Jersey City needs a leader of skill and vision to move us forward. Glenn Cunningham seems determined to pit us against each other and hold the city back.

I'm going to continue to do all I can to improve the lives of the people I work for, and part of that is why I won't let Glenn Cunningham bully me. I've deeply cut the amount county government spends on taxpayer-paid-for public relations. If anyone wants to sue for that offense Glenn Cunningham ought to be the defendant.

THOMAS A. DEGISE Hudson County Executive

Follow Ups:

• DeGise misuses taxpayer dollars Letters to the Editor 13:09:17 09/29/03 (4)
  • Links to the Original Letters GET NJ 15:33:38 09/29/03 (0)
  • Re: DeGise misuses taxpayer dollars JC Voter 13:21:49 09/29/03 (2)
    • Re: DeGise misuses taxpayer dollars Ohhh please! 08:48:02 09/30/03 (1)
      • DeGise Needs A Shower Needs More Than That 10:40:10 09/30/03 (0)

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: Cunningham's biggest failing: Dividing the city 

: 
: I can totally understand how two elected officials playing "dueling letters" can become tedious to the public, but a lie left unchallenged can be accepted as fact. So I reluctantly must respond to Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham's latest attack upon me, my office and my organization. 

: County government has suffered some huge blows in the last several years. Misdeeds by its elected leaders and political feuds have dominated the headlines. It is easy and convenient to beat up on county government in order to deflect scrutiny on the failings of city government. I would like to simply point out that the first act I took upon taking office 10 months ago was to establish the county's first ever Ethical Standards Board - at the very time the city was simultaneously disbanding the one I helped to establish in my tenure as City Council president 
:      
: It is curious that Cunningham criticizes me for defending by mail the hard choices county government was forced to make thanks to the mess his hand-picked crew left behind. 

: It was his unfair attack on me, mailed at taxpayers expense, that prompted my response. 

: I wonder if the mayor will be so eager to defend his massive spending of taxpayer dollars on a race-baiting publication called the Urban Times News, or on the numerous junkets he has attended at our expense, or his attempt to raise his pay as soon as he took office - an attempt the state blocked. 

: I could point out many of the policy failings of this Cunningham administration. His innovative "refinancing" was a masking of the saddling of Jersey City with tens of millions of dollars of new debt to cover operating expenses. I could point out that Jersey City is desperately lacking in the delivery of vital services. Our streets are dirty and pockmarked with potholes. Community-based policing is nonexistent. The dismantling of the neighborhood improvement districts has left a total void in the city's response to quality-of-life issues. 

: But Glenn Cunningham's greatest failure as mayor has been his refusal to work to bring people together. Consensus is not in his vocabulary. I have never seen Jersey City as divided as it is today. The mayor's attitude, ego, rhetoric and fingerpointing style of management has divided people along racial, economic and geographic lines. Jersey City needs a leader of skill and vision to move us forward. Glenn Cunningham seems determined to pit us against each other and hold the city back. 

: I'm going to continue to do all I can to improve the lives of the people I work for, and part of that is why I won't let Glenn Cunningham bully me. I've deeply cut the amount county government spends on taxpayer-paid-for public relations. If anyone wants to sue for that offense Glenn Cunningham ought to be the defendant. 

: 
: THOMAS A. DEGISE Hudson County Executive 


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