Jersey City Ward E Councilman James Solomon rolled out his anti-corruption plan today, which includes a municipal inspector general with subpoena power if he’s elected mayor.
By Daniel Ulloa/Hudson County View
“ … We believe this will lower your property taxes, lower your rent, and it’s an anti-corruption plan,” Solomon began at a press conference in front of the steps of City Hall, noting it was his first policy proposal for the non-partisan November 4th race.
“So, New Jersey, Hudson County, Jersey City has a culture of corruption. That culture of corruption leads to developers building higher than they otherwise might, getting to build more luxury housing versus affordable housing than they should. It leads to worse city service with unqualified and incompetent folks getting contracts because they made a donation to the right account.”
Solomon said that sort of culture decreases the overall quality of life, calling it a “corruption tax” for lesser city services. He added that the culture of corruption in Hudson County runs deep.
“We saw it with our United States Senator Bob Menendez sentenced last week for selling out the public trust with gold bars. We’ve seen it with our school board President Sudhan Thomas arrested for literally stealing money from our children.”
He also chided the legislative efforts in Trenton to gut the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) and increase campaign donation limits.
Solomon continued that he’s proud of his record as a councilman, declaring that “I feel that there’s no councilman in the entire State of New Jersey who has done more to root out waste, fraud, and abuse.”
He mentioned the audits from his office that showed non-compliant “boat payments” at the Jersey Board of Education and municipal utilities authority, as well as the Hudson County School of Technology, as well as cracking down on the payroll tax.
He also mentioned fighting the county line by joining then-U.S. Rep. Andy Kim’s lawsuit last year (he is now a U.S. senator).
“We know it’s not enough. We have to do significantly more to root out corruption in our city. So that’s why we’re releasing this plan: This plan, once implemented, will be the strongest anti-corruption plan of any town or municipality in the State of New Jersey,” Solomon stated.
The downtown councilman vowed to end practices such as nepotism and pay-to-play, increase transparency, and empowering small donors over large special interests.
“We will establish the first municipal inspector general in the State of New Jersey here in our local municipality. They will have subpoena power to go after corruption, waste, fraud, and abuse across the entire city,” he explained.
“Again, that will lower your property taxes because we will find hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars in corrupt practices that save you dollars.”
He said they would also not pressure city employees to work on campaigns, give our grants to support local journalism via an independent body, noting the need for a strong press core with the demise of The Jersey Journal, and voluntarily the full list of OPRA requests regularly – as well as streaming all public meetings with hybrid access.
He also declared that they would have New Jersey’s first database for public contracts.
Finally, Solomon wants to empower small donors through a matching system public financing system.
“It will change the incentives of campaigning so you’re actually building a grassroots,” he argued.
Solomon said it would also curb special interest groups and encourage more people to run for office.
“We know the special interests will spend a lot of money to stop us from doing this,” he said.
“To date, nine months before an election, our opponents have taken nearly $500,000 from developers and machine bosses across the State of New Jersey. They expect a return of investment through your property taxes. They intend to raise your taxes so they can line their pockets.”
He said that in contrast, his campaign has received money from 900 donors from Jersey City.
Solomon explained a Jersey City Inspector General would be like the New Jersey Sate Comptroller, who is tasked with examining finances and contracts to expose corruption and waste. They would also issue reports and work with law enforcement.
“If folks know they’re being watched, they will not engage in the type of corruption that now often occurs,” he argued, also noting that he feels millions of dollars are being wasted currently by awarding contracts to politically connected firms and vendors.
Solomon is running against Hudson County Commissioner Bill O’Dea (D-2), Council President Joyce Watterman, former Gov. Jim McGreevey, and ex-Board of Education President Mussab Ali.
Is there legislative authority for a city to do this? I seem to recall that one of the issues with civilian oversight boards of police is that the boards can’t have subpoena power. Or is this just another campaign promise to prove he’s a reformer? If there’s illegal activity and evidence, why not take it to the county prosecutor or state officials? Especially if there’s that much that it requires an inspector general.