The following is the text of a press release.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Our City Administration has spent over $175,000 in legal fees fighting your right to a referendum on the Trenton Water Works sale! Amazing!
And this is not the first time this Administration has used your money to fight you!
According to documents obtained through an Open Public Records Act [OPRA] request, Council at Large write in candidate Jim Carlucci has calculated that the law firm of McManimon and Scotland has billed the City $177,354.13 to fight your right to a referendum on the Water Works sale.
“Mayor Palmer claims the City is financially strapped and needs the proceeds from the Trenton Water Works/New Jersey American Water deal to hold down taxes. Then he spends $177,000 in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent citizens from having a say in the matter,” says Carlucci. “All the while, he points fingers at the citizens behind the petition and claims they are the cause of dramatic tax increases, when in fact it is the irresponsible behavior of the Mayor and the lack of independent oversight by City Council that has consistently cost the City money it doesn’t have.”
Just last week, Palmer was quoted in the Trentonian as saying, “I believe it’s in the best interest of the taxpayers to have a referendum. I’m asking that City Council waive their 20 days and since Mr. McGrath is here I’m making a request that he waive the 10 days.”
The next day the Times reported that, “Before the vote, Palmer asked them to waive the waiting period ‘so we can get this issue resolved and in front of the voters.’”
“Then why did he spend a year and all that money trying to stop a vote on the matter?,” Carlucci asks.
Incredibly, Palmer lost a similar case in October of 2006 when he tried to deny you your rights to a referendum on the elimination of the Deputy Chief positions in the City Police Department. How much of your money did he waste that time?
“The mayor should have known better,” Carlucci asserts, “and so should have City Council! This is what happens when we let ego and personal interest unduly influence the decisions of our elected officials. Think of all the money wasted by officials trying to circumvent the law: Residency cases, blocking referendums. It’s irresponsible!”
Was your money also wasted on defending the Administration’s abuse of eminent domain? Stay tuned!
Carlucci, in his third bid for a Council seat, is a strong proponent of a common sense approach to good government.
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