Well. I didn’t think I touched a nerve with my last post. But I suppose I did.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Council President George Muschal noted that, in a departure from past tradition, there would be no Trenton Christmas Tree outside City Hall this year. “This is a disgrace,” the Councilman was quoted as saying Tuesday night.
In a rare flash of instant response to the concerns of Council, the Administration whipped into action. Lo! and Behold! a tree was procured for City Hall, which should be arriving soon to take its place beside other festive holiday displays hurriedly arranged by staffers. Councilman Muschal, in last night’s Council session, pronounced himself pleased. “The good news is, I was informed we are going to have a tree,” he said according to the Trenton Times.
But (and this is Trenton, there is always a but!) there is a downside. Councilman Muschal again: “The bad news, I think, is that I was informed that there is a price tag coming with the tree.”
The price tag is $450, in fact. Not a huge amount of money in the course of Trenton Municipal Finance, but an amount that was not budgeted, for an item that does not usually incur any costs at all, being usually donated to the city according to Councilman Muschal in the Trentonian’s coverage.
Without a donated tree, and in the absence of any other alternatives the Administration could find, the City used its fallback, default mechanism for these sorts of things: let the taxpayer pay for it! From The Times:
The city will use Community Development Block Grant trust funds set aside for the recreation department to pay for the tree, said business administrator Sam Hutchinson.
Hutchinson, who previously worked for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which administers the CDBG program, said he and the city’s CDBG coordinator Marc Leckington signed off on using the federal funds for the tree.
Hutchinson came under fire last month when council members learned that Hutchinson had been inappropriately paying a clerk in his office with CDBG funds.
City Council grumbled at this last night, with Wes Ward rep Zachary Chester questioning the need to pay for holiday decorations. But Council basically agreed to let Mr. Hutchinson and Mr. Leckington buy the Tree with Federal funds.
This morning, I took exception to that and suggested that our current Council members and potential candidates help out the City and its Federal grant money, and offer to reimburse the City from their campaign accounts. I mean, it’s only $450, right? Why couldn’t all of them say, “The Taxpayer Bucks Stop Here? We’ll take care of this!”
It was a somewhat flippant suggestion, but only partly. Current regulations allow public office holders – such as all of our Honorable Council members – “iii) The making of donations to charitable or non-profit organizations or
activities that promote the welfare of constituents, such as the sponsorship of
a neighborhood sports team.” This falls under the category of “permissible ordinary and necessary expenses of holding public office,” namely “Costs of communications to constituents.”
I figured, If funding a little league team counts as “constituent communications,” surely a holiday tree does too, right? Current candidates seeking office may not be able to use their campaign accounts to pay this kind of expense – they don’t have constituents yet – but there’d certainly be nothing to prevent them from writing a personal check.
Remember, we’re only talking about $450. Split several ways, it’d be what – $50 to $60 each?
Naively, I thought that my suggestion would embarrass the lot of them, or at least the more politically astute among them, sensitive to the potency of a small but important symbol.I kind of thought they would be tripping over themselves offering up their checkbooks to save the public exchequer. Only $450!!!
There are surely more pressing issues and critical problems facing this town and Council. I have no argument there. But here at least was one small issue that could be quickly and easily resolved, saving the city’s Federal Housing and Urban Development grant a couple of bucks, and showing the personal and civic generosity of our public officials, and wannabe public officials. During the holiday season. And for a Christmas Tree!!
Slamdunk, right?
Wrong.
After posting my note this morning, I heard a response from only one council member, Marge Caldwell-Wilson, and that was via Facebook. That she took the time and energy to engage with me on this is something I appreciate, and thank her for.
But as to the content of that engagement? Oh, boy. Let me re-post that dialog here, from both my personal page and the page of “Friends of Trenton’s Irresponsible Blogger (FOTIB).”
My page:
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Marge Caldwell-Wilson Kevin, donations to my campaign account are supposed to be used for the campaign, I would love to donate to the tre, but do I ask my donors if that is ok
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Kevin Moriarty Marge, ELEC states you can use campaign funds for “iii) The making of donations to charitable or non-profit organizations or activities that promote the welfare of constituents, such as the sponsorship of
a neighborhood sports team.” You can explicitly do this as “permissible ordinary and necessary expenses of holding public officeI would respectfully suggest that if you can sponsor a little league team with a campaign account, which you can clearly do, then I see no difference from a municipal holiday tree that, this year at least, there are no funding sources other than CDBG to pay for, and which will promote constituent welfare and good will.
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Marge Caldwell-Wilson I do not sponsor anything out of my campaign account, it comes out of my own pocket -
Kevin Moriarty Fine, Marge, that is a personal decision that you have made. All I am saying is that you are entitled to do this under the ELEC rules, as I read them, and that I consider this as an alternative to paying for this tree using CDBG funds.
In that case, would you offer to pay a share of this tree, and encourage your colleagues to do so, out of all your personal funds if you think this inappropriate to use your campaign account?
Are you and your colleagues willing to say, in this small but I think highly symbolic way, “The Taxpayer Buck Stops Here!”
Or will you prefer to let Mr. Hutchinson let HUD pay for this?
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Marge Caldwell-Wilson And I will make that decision if necessary. I have more important things on my mind right now other than the Christmas tree at City Hall
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Kevin Moriarty I’m sure you do, Marge! I know you do.
But this is a symbol of what’s going on down there. I didn’t raise the issue of the tree. The President of Council did.
I didn’t scramble to put up a tree, the Mayor and his minions did.
I didn’t inform the City that I was going to pay for this tree with Federal funds, Mr. Hutchinson did.
But I didn’t listen to Mr. Hutchinson and not raise any objection to him using HUD money to pay for a tree that is usually donated. You did, and your colleagues did.
And I have not considered this whole thing newsworthy. The newspapers have.
What I am doing, and I freely admit to it, is to point out the heavy symbolism in this decision of the Administration, and Council’s passivity to it, in yet another instance, small but highly visible, of clearly wasting taxpayer funds, Federal funds this time.
Maybe I am making a bigger deal out of this than it’s worth. But I would think that, as a public official and a politician, you would recognize that this is one occasion – one small but meaningful occasion! – where you can actually protest this kind of waste.
And for only $60!!! Marge, this is a great opportunity for some Ho! Ho! Ho! Good Cheer!
I appreciate your engaging with me on this. You are the only member of Council to do so. BThat means something.
But since I can see you are so resistant to the very idea of making this kind of gesture here. You are simply oblivious to the issue here. And I am sorry to see that.
And from the FOTIB page:
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Marge Caldwell-Wilson I do not and will not use my campaign funds for Christmas trees and the likes. If I decide to donate it comes out of my pocket and that would be my decision
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Kevin Moriarty OK, Marge, will you do so? Will you encourage your colleagues to do the same?
Tell you what, I will put my money where my mouth is, even though I hold no office, nor am I running. I will write the City of Trenton a personal check for $60 as my share.
Can you get your colleagues to match that? That’s $480 from all 8 of us. The tree was $450.
What do you say? Do we all pitch in, or does Mr. Hutchinson let the US Department of Housing and Urban Development pay for it?
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Marge Caldwell-Wilson No, I am not going to organize this Kevin, I really do have other pressing issues to deal with
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Now, I have to say, I did not expect that, at all.
Since those exchanges, I will say that other Facebook friends on the FOTIB page jumped right in and made their pledges of $50. Without any effort, ordinary citizens recognized the importance of making this small, but symbolic gesture.
But not Councilwoman Caldwell-Wilson. She refuses to even entertain the idea that this would be something worth considering as a public official.
What a mindset! How telling is that, that the Administration just made this decision and Council refused to stop it, or to offer an alternative.
I really find this hard to stomach. These guys really are The Grinches Who Let HUD Pay For Christmas!
But, not all of them! As of this afternoon, I did hear from one person who agrees with me. One person who Gets It!
Ladies and Gentlemen, the next Mayor of Trenton!
I would like nothing more than to show the Administration, and Council, what real civic spirit is this holiday season.
On Monday, I will call the City and find out how I can send my check to help pay for the City Christmas Tree, to reimburse it for the HUD funds they are all to willing to spend.
There are a half dozen Trentonians in on this already.
Jim Golden is in on this.
On Monday, I will let you know how to join in.
And, if there are any other Council members or other candidates interested, that would be great!
Have a great weekend. Happy Holidays!
i would have been happy to not have a xmas tree at city hall.
why, when i think xmas, i dont think trenton.
when i think trenton, i think mack-corruption, mack-incompetence, and mack-stupidity.
so, Xmas in trenton, better not to think too much, some things just dont go together.
Xmas in trenton will begin when his honor pleads guilty and saves the taxpayers some real xmas money.