Any story not full of glowing praise for the Jersey City Medical Center. Scott Ring, publisher of the Jersey Journal is a member of the Board, so you will not read in the Jersey Journal that the Jersey City Medical Center is part of Organized Crime and routinely gets away with murder. The Medical Center is busily engaged in income tax fraud, insurance fraud, medicare fraud, contractual fraud, misappropriation, just to hit a few bullet points. By the way, they also kill people and then cover it up by perjury. You will not read any of that in the Jersey Journal. The paper itself has its hands full being fair and balanced.

But Earl is too busy with Really Big Stuff, like concert tickets, and mailboxes and Maggie’s phone bill.

You are unlikely to read about the Hudson County Improvement Authority. Over at the HCIA, about $390 Million of taxpayer money has been frittered away on patronage and payoffs and outright theft over the years since the 1989 when three Musketeers have been on the scene, Janiszewski, Menendez, and Scarinci. Financial transactions “masterminded” by Dennis Enright have resulted in one disaster leading to another fiasco and getting paid for advice that is not only worthless, but has a negative value, costing the county’s taxpayers Millions over the years and one Nursing Home. The Nursing home transaction is being investigated by the US Attorney.

Unfortunately, just when it looked like Ugly Duckling would get a little breathing room to work on some of these situations, a really major scandal erupted. Radio talk show host Pat O’Melia got fired for publicly bad mouthing his boss at the Jersey City Parking Authority. Hold the presses, tear out the front page, and make way for “the Hat.”

O’Melia had a job as public relations person for the JCPA and through a personal animosity with the Director, his boss, the two wound up sideways. O’Melia took his complaint to the City Council knowing that the Council is highly antagonistic to Mayor Glenn Cunningham. It was Cunningham who approved O’Melia for the plum job, against much advice to the contrary. O’Melia then appeared at a recent City Council Meeting and demanded that the council investigate the Parking Authority and the management methods of the Director, his boss, James King, also a Cunningham supporter.

We have a different notion of what a public relations officer should do and publicly denouncing the head of the agency whose image you are supposed to enhance and the agency itself does not fit our idea of the job description. Yet this is exactly what O’Melia did. O’Melia publicly denounced King and the agency and, incredibly, did not plan to resign. Of course, his boss, King, fired him. O’Melia is now thinking about suing King, the Parking Authority and the City of Jersey City and Mayor Glenn Cunningham. So far all of that is just in the planning stage. If O’Melia goes ahead with his suit he says his attorney has advised him to base it on his first amendment rights relating to the content of the radio show that he hosts each week.

The show is a call-in talk show based on Hudson County Politics and that of course means Jersey City politics too. King sees the issue a little differently and said that though O’Melia’s job requirements are light they do require attendance to duties during hours that conflict with the time of the show. Needless to say, King’s view of things prevailed and O’Melia is history.

Never one to take things lying down, O’Melia circled back to the agency’s next meeting following his firing to inform the commissioners that he had been terminated. Besides formulating a plan to sue for his termination, getting to be a Hudson County tradition, O’Melia enlisted the aid of none other than the Ugly Duckling. There followed a meeting of the Parking Authority which Director King did not attend but which turned into a one and a half hour melee, the last 25 minutes of which were dominated by the Ugly Duckling himself. In fairness, Earl has been attending Parking Authority meetings regularly, but this time in contradiction to all known precepts of journalism, interjected himself and became part of the story.

O’Melia thoughtfully taped the proceedings. The meeting in its entirety can be heard on demand at www.getnj.com on the Hudson County Politics board where visitors will find a link to the recording of the entire hour and a half meeting. Not content with Earl’s scathing expose in the Jersey Journal, O’Melia appeared at the Jersey City Council Caucus Meeting armed with recording and tape player. Apparently by previous arrangement with Council President L. Harvey Smith, the Council heard from the highly agitated O’Melia as he related the “out of control” state of affairs at the runaway Parking Authority. One critic said that it was a production orchestrated between O’Melia and Morgan was “A production that would astound a Warhol or even a Pirandello! Includes appearances by Pat O'Melia, Carmine Venezia, and a virtuoso performance by Earl Morgan! “

Cued up by Uncle Harvey, Earl “the Hat” furiously scribbling notes, O’Melia implored the council to hire an investigator “An independent private investigator,” to look into the agency spinning wildly out of control. O’Melia had previously asked for an investigation but the Council took no action other than to indicate their shared concern for the future of the Parking Authority.

The Council had recently and at the suggestion of legal advisor Alex Booth empowered itself to investigate allegations in the operation of another city agency not controlled by the Hudson County Democratic Organization. It seems clear that Earl will now throw himself wholeheartedly into the fearless search for truth in the realm of parking citations. Ugly Duckling, journalistic scourge of wrongdoers everywhere, will now root out evil at the Jersey City Parking Authority. Earl will have a healthy assist from Talk Show Host Pat O’Melia, and a smarting Uncle Harvey. Harvey will be looking for a little payback for the public humiliation he just took along with running mate Fat Joe Doria of Bayonne in the recent primary.

We will, of course update you on Earl’s progress in this developing situation.

Follow Ups:

• Re: "NOTHING PERSONAL," EARL MORGAN, PAT O'MELIA, AND UNCLE HARVEY TEAM UP FOR HARD-HITTING INVESTIGATIVE EFFORTS Unknown Poster 19:01:22 07/02/03 (1)
  • Re: "NOTHING PERSONAL," EARL MORGAN, PAT O'MELIA, AND UNCLE HARVEY TEAM UP FOR HARD-HITTING INVESTIGATIVE EFFORTS Money ,money ,money ,got to have it! 19:37:14 07/02/03 (0)