Officer Ronald E. Freeman, III In Loving Memory

BIOGRAPHY

Ronald E. Freeman, III, 36, of Clifton, entered into rest on May 28, 2012. Born in Westwood, he lived most of his life in Clifton.

Ronald was a Police Officer with the Passaic Police Department for the past 16 years and was a member of PBA Local #14. A parishioner of St. Andrew the Apostle RC Church, Clifton, Ronald was a member of the Clifton Moose Lodge # 657.

Devoted father of Ryan. Loving son of Ronald E., Jr. and Connie (Bonfiglio) Freeman of Clifton. Dear brother of Christopher and his wife Charise of Lanoka Harbor. Cherished grandson of Ron and Virginia Freeman, Pal and the late Fred Bonfiglio. Loving uncle of Kaitlyn and Brianna. Cherished love of Valerie Sanchez.

Funeral Friday 10 AM at the Shook Funeral Home, 639 Van Houten Ave., Clifton. Interment, Ascension Cemetery, Airmont, NY. Visiting Thursday 2-4 and 7-9 PM at the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers, donations made to Christopher Freeman to be held in trust for Ryan Freeman’s Education Fund, would be greatly appreciated. http://www.ShookFH.com

VISITATION

Thursday May 31, 2012, 2-4 PM – 7-9 PM at Shook Funeral Home
Click for Map and Directions

FUNERAL SERVICE

Friday June 1, 2012, 10 AM at Shook Funeral Home
Click for Map and Directions

For more information or to donate, please click this link.

http://www.shookfh.com/sitemaker/sites/ShookF1/obit.cgi?user=644008FreemanIII&ref=nf

Honorable Cory A. Booker, Mayor, City of Newark, New Jersey Addressing: “The Future of Black-Jewish Relations”

Don’t miss it! A huge crowd is expected so please come early!! On Sunday, November 22, 2009, at 7:30 PM, Rinat Yisrael presents:
Honorable Cory A. Booker, Mayor, City of Newark, New Jersey
Addressing: “The Future of Black-Jewish Relations”

Moderated by Gary Rosenblatt, Editor and Publisher of the New York Jewish Week.

Mayor Cory A. Booker is an electrifying speaker with a deep and longstanding connection to the Jewish people.
While at Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship, Mayor Booker served as the
President of the L’Chaim Society, the local chapter of Chabad, and brought together a diverse community there. He became Mayor of New Jersey’s largest city in 2006. Elected with a clear mandate for change, his administration has been working to realize a positive vision for the city – that of setting a national standard for urban transformation by marshaling resources to achieve security, economic abundance and an environment that is nurturing and empowering for individuals and families. Mayor Booker has been cited by
publications like Time, Esquire and the NY Times as a national leader with innovative ideas and bold actions.
Mayor Booker received his B.A. and M.A. from Stanford University, as well as a B.A. in Modern History at Oxford and a law degree from Yale.

The public is invited.

For more info contact djacobow@gmail.com

Passaic cop blames politics

CLIFTON — Officer Erica Rivera, one of the two Passaic police officers suspended in connection with a case of alleged police brutality, spoke publicly Thursday for the first time since a video was released of her partner striking an unarmed man with his fist and a baton. Buy this photo Rivera, who is seen on the video pacing around her partner, Officer Joseph J. Rios III, as he wrestled with the Passaic resident, did not speak about the incident itself but said her suspension was a result of political wrangling in City Hall. Specifically, she and her attorney, Miles Feinstein, said Mayor Alex D. Blanco suspended Rivera without pay because she is married to former Mayor Samuel Rivera’s son. “I think at this time, it’s personal, and Rios was suspended with pay for something more serious,” Rivera said in an interview at Feinstein’s Clifton office. “I think they should have looked at all the positive things I’ve done for the last six years and [I] should not have been suspended.” On May 29, Rios struck Ronnie Holloway in the face with his fist and used his baton several times, according to the video, which sparked a protest in front of City Hall against police brutality. The video shows Rios throwing Holloway against the hood of his cruiser and then throwing him to the ground, at which point he punches Holloway in the face and strikes him with his baton as Holloway lies on his back. Rios was first suspended with pay, but Blanco — under intense public pressure — changed his mind and issued Rios’ suspension without pay. Rivera was immediately suspended without pay and Feinstein believes it is because she is related to former Mayor Rivera, who is in federal prison on corruption charges. “The differential could very well be her last name,” Feinstein said. City spokesman Keith Furlong declined comment on the Rivera family allegations from Feinstein, but issued a statement from Blanco. “The administration is confident that they have taken the appropriate disciplinary action and we’re certain that all facts will come out in the ongoing investigation,” he said. Rivera declined to comment through Feinstein about whether she thought Rios acted properly or about her actions during the incident. Rivera did not physically get involved with Holloway, but she allegedly filed a false police report of the incident, saying she was struck several times with Rios’ baton by accident. The video appears to contradict that report. Neither Rivera nor Feinstein commented on the charges filed against her. The Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the incident. During Thursday’s interview, Feinstein said Blanco acted hastily when he suspended his client, which cast a veil of guilt in the public perception. “To take away the presumption of innocence is an absolute disgrace,” Feinstein said. “What concerns us at this point is the suspension without pay. It came at a time when she has not been charged criminally. She still has not been charged criminally.” Rivera’s interview on Thursday comes more than a week after Rios held a news conference claiming he did nothing wrong. “On behalf of Officer Rios, our position is that neither Officer Rios nor Officer Rivera did anything wrong and do not deserve to be suspended without pay,” Rios’ attorney, Anthony Iacullo, said Thursday. E-mail: macinnes@northjersey.com

Troopers, First Responders Struck By Police Cruisers On I-80 Due To Ice At Accident scene.

A chain-reaction accident involving six vehicles on an icy stretch of Route 80 eastbound near Exit 12 in Hope Township sent 11 people, including four State Troopers, to the hospital with injuries and shut the highway for several hours this morning.

None of the injuries were considered life-threatening and all lanes were reopened by noon, said Sgt. Stephen Jones, a State Police spokesman. Cleanup of the crash continued this afternoon on the shoulder due a spill of about 300 gallons on diesel fuel a tractor trailer, Jones said.Robert Sciarrino/The Star-LedgerA New Jersey State Police car hit by a tractor trailer truck is removed for the scene in Hope Township.
Two State Police cruisers and a Hope Township fire truck were stopped on the side of Route 80 eastbound responding to a one-car accident involving a driver who skidded off the road from black ice, Jones said. As they were tending to the injured driver, Floyd Berger Jr. of Mt. Bethel, Pa., another car lost control on the ice, Jones said.

A pickup truck being driven by Olando Ramos, of East Stroudsburg, Pa., slid out of control and hit a tractor trailer being driven by Francis Goodrich, of West Virginia, Jones said. The tractor trailer jack-knifed and slammed into the parked emergency vehicles on the side of the road, Jones said.

The chain-reaction accident sent the two police cruisers into the crowd of four State Troopers, three firefighters and three EMTs who had responded to the initial accident, Jones said. Several of the emergency responders were struck, Jones said. Berger, the driver who originally skidded off the road, sustained additional injuries in the second crash, Jones said.

“Fortunately, none of the injuries seems serious,” said Jones. “All vehicles involved received moderate to significant damage and were towed. The troopers’ vehicles were totaled.”

All 11 people injured were taken to Hackettstown Regional Medical Center. The four State Police troopers injured were Richard Mandragon, Louis Crisafulli, Tara Cumbo and James Hamill, all of the Hope Township barracks, Jones said. The names of the injured emergency responders were not immediately available, Jones said. NJ.com

New Jersey Gearing Up

TRENTON, N.J. – Road crews around the state are gearing up Thursday for a winter storm expected to drop as much as 10 inches of snow in northern New Jersey on Friday.

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm watch for Warren, Sussex, Morris, Passaic and Bergen counties for Friday morning through late Friday night.

Forecasters expect the storm won’t hit until morning rush hour, with the worst weather coming late Friday afternoon.

“It looks like northern Jersey is definitely going to be hardest hit with the snow,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Bob Wanton. He said the southern half of the state would mostly see sleet and freezing rain.

State road crews said they were prepared to handle whatever the storm brings.

“We’re in a pretty good situation,” said Joseph Orlando, a spokesman for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, which also operates the Parkway.

“All of our equipment is ready to go; it’s not all worn and torn from an entire season of snow,” he said. “We’re pretty much just under full capacity for our salt.”

Alan Hicks, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said Newark Liberty International Airport was prepared with 500 tons each of salt and sand, as well as thousands of gallons of deicing fluids and snow removal equipment.

Free Parking In The City Of Passaic Starting The 15

Starting on December 15th and continuing until January 5th, the Passaic Parking
Authority in conjunction with Mayor Dr. Alex Blanco will offer free parking
throughout the city for the convenience of our residents, visitors and holiday
shoppers. We encourage everyone to take advantage of this yearly incentive and
visit our downtown area, do some holiday shopping and dine at our city’s many
restaurants.

The free parking program applies to the downtown parking malls and all of our
on-street parking meters. PCJN

Blanco Wins City Hall

THE election was over, but a campaign sign for Dr. Alex Blanco still lingered on the second floor above a corner barber shop a few doors down from his old apartment — a plywood square, painted white, with his name stenciled in blue like a school project, a humble remnant from a landmark vote.

“We made 20 of them in my backyard,” Dr. Blanco, 36, said, stopping his car in front of the two-family house on Myrtle Avenue where he lived until he graduated from college. “Ten sheets of plywood from Home Depot, cut in half.” NYTIMES

PassaicJews Moderator’s Car Towed in Passaic – Newborn Infant Stranded

Full letter with links to photos can be found at the end of this post.

Passaic, NJ — Forget to move your car for alternate side parking in Brooklyn, Newark, Monsey or Clifton – you will pay a moderate fine.

Forget to move your car in Passaic – you will pay a fine, have your car towed, run around Passaic for half-a-day, get the run-around at the police station, then pay towing and storage charges.

File photo of a car being towed.

Recently, the moderator of PassaicJews.com, a popular yahoo group with the Passaic Jewish community, had his car towed as it was parked outside a pediatricians office in Passaic, stranding his mother with his newborn baby. Their crime? Failing to notice an alternate side parking sign 200 feet down the street.

As the moderator of PassaicJews, Michael Feigin was able to immediately post an urgent message on PassaicJews and secured a ride for his mother and newborn daughter. However, Mr. Feigin questions what someone without access to the resources he had would have done.

About a year ago, the Passaic community was up in arms about the alternate side towing, and tried to get the policy changed, without any success. At that time, this reporter was present when Passaic City Councilman Chaim Munk was asked what it would take to stop alternate side parking in Passaic.  Councilman Munk’s exact answer was: “when (then mayor) Sammy Rivera stops taking bribes from Raineri’s.”

So we ask the obvious question: Does Counciman Munk’s previous quote mean that the towing will stop when current Acting Mayor Gary Schaer “stops taking bribes from Raineri’s?”

Maybe this incident and this article will cause Acting Mayor Gary Schaer to stop the outrageous towings in Passaic. Dare we hope?

The letter from the PassaicJews moderator, as posted on PassaicJews.com:

Dear PassaicJews members,

Yesterday, my mother borrowed my van with the car seat to take my newborn baby to the doctor. She parked on Pennington Ave in front of a sign that said not to park when it’s snow covered. She is from out of town and didn’t realize she had to walk all the way to the other end of the block to look at a second sign, facing the other direction, which looked identical to the first sign, to realize that it said it was street cleaning day.

The visit took five minutes. Yet, when she came out, the car was gone. My new baby daughter was stranded without a car seat while her mother was busy trying to recover from surgery.

While I have the ability to post my urgent messages directly to hundreds of subscribers on PassaicJews and my baby was soon brought home by a very generous person with a car seat, what if someone doesn’t have these resources?

To make matters worse, when I finally was able to secure another car and go to city hall, I specifically asked a police officer if I could park on a street where the signage was unclear (covered in stickers). He told me, “Well, the sign says no parking, but we really don’t enforce it around here. You’re on your own.” Just in case, I found another parking spot… but as I drove around I saw cars of city employees parked:
– in front of fire hydrants
– in front of crosswalks
– in front of driveways
– in front of within 25 feet of corners

Pictures of all of this with license plates of offenders are online at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PassaicJews/files/Selective_Enforcement_in_Town/

If you have trouble with the link, go to PassaicJews.com and click on “Yahoo Message Group” and then “Files” and then “Selective_Enforcement_In_Town” and then each individual picture.

… and don’t try and get your car back too quickly. The city won’t have the tow report! Missing a document? Go figure out where your car was towed to, get the document, and come back again. Driving someone else’s car? Better have them come to Passaic!

The towing of first time offenders, selective enforcement, and corruption in Passaic must be put to an end.

– Michael J. Feigin, Esq.
Moderator, PassaicJews.com
Patent and Trademark Attorney, PatentLawNJ.com

In a crowded Passaic field, Morales says she has fire in the belly

DENVER – You can’t stray far from New Jersey’s ward politics here, not if you’re at the Hotel Inverness, where Ritzy Morales told PolitickerNJ.com that she definitely intends to run for mayor of Passaic.

A longtime director of constituent services for U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson), Morales, 41, said she plans to submit 700 petitions to the municipal clerk in advance of the Sept. 12th filing deadline, and expects to have at least 400-500 of them certified to earn well over the required 200.

“The public has known me for a long time,” said Morales, born in Paterson and a resident of Passaic for ten years. “I have strong values, and I wouldn’t even accept a cup of coffee from someone as mayor, because of the negativity left by Sammy Rivera. I would definitely stop corruption.”

A judge sentenced Rivera on corruption charges earlier this month. Now Morales is one of seven people jockeying to win a special election on Nov. 4th to fill in for the disgraced former mayor. The field consists of School Board member Alex Blanco, city supervisor Vincent Capuana, councilman Jose Garcia, Councilwoman Maritza Colon-Montanez, real estate developer Jose Sandoval, bail-bondsman Carl Ellen, and Morales.

Latinos make up the biggest voting bloc at 52-54%, with the two biggest sub-communities split between Puerto Ricans and Dominicans. Puerto Ricans have the upper-hand numbers-wise – 2,000 to 800-900 registered Dominican voters – but they still don’t quite have the rock solid Election Day numbers that orthodox Jews possess: 1,800-2,200 votes.

“I see a lot of potential in Passaic, and a lot of growth opportunity to unite all of the communities in the city,” said Morales.

She’ll be in a dogfight for Puerto Rican base votes with Colon-Montanez. The latter will have another scrap on her hands in addition to Morales, meanwhile, as Colon-Montanez will be trying to shore up the remnants of Rivera’s political apparatus, even as Capuana tries to do the same thing from within the base camp of the old city guard.

A Dominican who is making his own big play to unite all parties, Sandoval is nonetheless a Republican who has fought the power on numerous occasions and lost. Ellen has the challenge of outleaping the reality of 12% African-American voter registration in Passaic, and appealing to base and new voters.

Then there’s Blanco, who is said to be close to Acting Mayor Gary Schaer, an orthodox Jew who with his endorsement can deliver a plurality of his own ethnic community. But Schaer remains coy about his pick, and Morales hopes she can gain his support.

She acknowledges that one of her chief challenges will be striking down her opponents’ attempts to depict her as an inner sanctum Pascrell plant.

She’ll have to fight the campaign mail piece, perhaps, that suggests she was tossed into the race simply to drain votes from fellow Puerto Rican Colon-Montanez so that Blanco – in the event he’s the back room establishment pick settled on by Schaer, Pascrell and Passaic County Democratic Chairman John Currie – can rely on a split Puerto Rican vote, and himself unite Dominicans, Jews and others, to scratch out a win.

But Morales insists there’s no stalking horse back story to her candidacy. She wants to win.

“I have a loyalty to Bill and to the party, but I am an independent person,” said Morales. “They affiliate me with Bill. Bill has taught me how to be independent, and he taught me how to care about people. This was a hard decision for me to make. When I spoke with the congressman, he definitely opened the door to allow me to do this. But ultimately this is for me to decide. I have a fire inside my belly to help people.”                By Max Pizarro  Politickernj.com

Ex-Mayor of Passaic Gets Nearly 2 Years in Prison

TRENTON (AP) — Samuel Rivera, the former mayor of Passaic, N.J., was sentenced on Friday to nearly two years in prison and fined $4,000 for accepting cash bribes in exchange for influencing city contracts.

Mr. Rivera, who was caught in a corruption scheme that netted 11 public officials, resigned last year after pleading guilty to attempted extortion.

Mr. Rivera, 61, admitted taking $5,000 in exchange for using his official influence to help a company become the city’s insurance broker. The company turned out to be an F.B.I. front.

The only explanation Mr. Rivera offered on Friday for his role in the scheme was “poor judgment.”

A former police officer, Mr. Rivera is among nearly two dozen New Jersey mayors charged with corruption since 2000.

Among the most well known is Sharpe James, the former mayor of Newark, who is set to surrender to prison officials next month. Mr. James was ordered to serve a 27-month sentence and pay a $100,000 fine for his role in the sale of city-owned properties at a discount.

We at PCJN wish our former Mayor the best of luck. And we acknowledge all the great things he has done for our city.

Ex-Passaic mayor awaits sentencing for corruption

TRENTON, N.J. – Former Passaic Mayor Samuel Rivera is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court in Trenton Friday.

Rivera resigned last year after he pleaded guilty to attempted extortion. He faces up to two years behind bars.

Rivera admitted he accepted $5,000 in cash to influence government contracts.

The former mayor was snared in an investigation that began in 2006 amid evidence of corruption in the Pleasantville school district near Atlantic City. The FBI established an undercover insurance company that employed two cooperating witnesses and undercover agents. News Source  Newsday/pcjn

Passaic Resident Taxed for Basements and Attics they are Not Allowed to Live in, Gary Schaer Thinks it’s Fair.

By MEREDITH MANDELL, STAFF WRITER | 08/08/08 04:02 AM

Dorothy Blostein sits in her attic on Ascension Street in Passaic. She has lived here for 44 years and says a recent reassessment that includes her attic is unfair. (KEVIN R. WEXLER/Staff Photographer)

City reassesses space in 1,000 homes

PASSAIC — Roughly 1,000 city homeowners will be paying hundreds more in their quarterly tax bills this year because the city has adjusted its assessment for basements and attics that have been untaxed for more than a decade.

Tax bills sent out in July reflect the changes, and some residents are complaining that the city failed to give them advance notice.

City Tax Assessor Thomas Poalillo said that, because of a computer error, for 16 years about 1,000 homeowners had been paying a lower amount in taxes than they should have as a result of their property being incorrectly assessed.

Poalillo said Appraisal Consultants, the company that did the city’s last revaluation in 1992, put the wrong amount of livable space these residents have into the city’s tax assessments computer database.

Poalillo said that last year he decided to correct the error by 2008 and add these people’s attics and basements as part of their assessments.

“From 1992 to 2008, these people weren’t paying taxes on the correct assessment,” he said.

“It’s my job to treat everyone equally. Now everyone is being assessed correctly. Now everyone is on the same playing field.”

Dorothy Blostein has been living in her two-story house at 168 Ascension St. for 44 years and said she never has been assessed for her attic.

The assessment on her home went up $15,000 this year, which translates into a tax increase of $909 a year under the current tax rate.

Standing on the stairs of her dusty wooden attic on Thursday, the 79-year-old Blostein said she was shocked in July when she received her third- and fourth-quarter bills for 2008.

“You can see it’s not finished,” Blostein said, looking at the various objects she keeps in her attic: suitcases, a box of photo albums, an old computer and speakers. “It’s just junk,” she said, her voice beginning to rise.

Will Gary Schaer really run for Mayor this coming November?

Acting Mayor And Assemblyman Gary Schaer

Editor’s Note  We at PCJN believe that Acting Mayor and Assemblyman Gary Schaer has to much to lose to run for Mayor in November. If Gary Schaer would run for Mayor, and win he would only be Mayor for several months, and have to give up his Assembly seat. If he gives up his Assembly seat and lose the Mayor Race next year he is pretty much out of politics’s.

 Why would Gary Schaer pretend to run for Mayor?  Gary Schaer would pretend to run for Mayor to build him self up for the Mayor election next year in 2009.

Also interesting to note that Gary Schaer may try to put a weak Mayor in, this way he can run for Mayor next year and win the Mayoral seat easily.  PCJN Exclusive

Passaic woman charged after leaving tot in SUV

A 33-year-old Passaic woman was charged with endangering the welfare of a child yesterday after she accidentally left a toddler inside her SUV for about three hours in Clifton, police said.

The 2-year-old boy, also of Passaic, was not breathing and had al most no pulse when she finally no ticed him and got help, but the toddler was expected to fully recover, Clifton Detective Sgt. Robert Bracken said last night.

Meira Lebovitz spent part of the day carpooling six children, including several of her own. Later, after dropping off five of the children, she stopped at the Home Depot in Clifton at about 2 p.m., not realizing the 2-year-old was still asleep in the back, the detective said.

While in the store parking lot on Bloomfield Avenue, Lebovitz suddenly noticed she had forgotten to drop off one child, who had fallen asleep in the rear of her Chevrolet Suburban sport utility vehicle, Bracken said. Lebovitz, a friend of the boy’s family, rushed the child into the store, the detective said.

The child was dehydrated, had a temperature of 102.6 degrees Fahrenheit, was not breathing and did not have a noticeable pulse, Bracken said. The boy ap peared to have advanced heat stroke, he said.

Two customers in the store began cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the child as they waited for emergency rescue crews, according to the detective. Nj.com

Squad leader claims ‘harassment’

Letter says Jewish group not up to code

PASSAIC — The city has told one of two Passaic-based Orthodox Jewish volunteer ambulance squads that it must shut down because the squad isn’t up to city code.

But the squad’s founder called the city’s action “harassment” and questioned why the other Jewish squad wasn’t scrutinized.

On Monday, the city sent a letter signed by its law firm, Scarinci & Hollenbeck, to David Kaplan, 26, founder of Hatzolah EMS of North Jersey, saying the squad wasn’t in compliance with city law.

The letter said Hatzolah must shut down operations by the end of the day on May 19 if it did not fulfill the requirements of proving that all volunteers are qualified and that the squad has insurance that covers any legal action against the city up to $2 million. The requirements are outlined in a 2004 ordinance.

Kaplan said his squad does meet city requirements and showed necessary proof to the city last September. A letter to Kaplan from former Mayor Samuel Rivera, dated Sept. 12, states that Hatzolah is qualified to provide emergency medical services in Passaic and that a certificate remains in effect for two years from that date.

But Acting Mayor Gary Schaer said to the best of his knowledge Hatzolah had not met all the city’s requirements.

Hatzolah is licensed to operate by the state’s Department of Health and Senior Services, although a license is not necessary to operate, said spokeswoman Marilyn Riley.

As of Wednesday, Hatzolah had not provided documentation to the city, Kaplan said. But Hatzolah is continuing operations anyway, he said, because Kaplan believes the city’s letter is unfair and unfounded.

To complicate matters, a second Hatzolah ambulance service with a similar name — Hatzolah of Passaic/Clifton — has never been used informally by the city and is not on the list of squads the city uses. Hatzolah means “rescue” in Hebrew. The squads are local chapters of a worldwide organization that has volunteer ambulance squads in Jewish neighborhoods.

Greg Hill, the business administrator, said the city has not checked whether the second Jewish squad is violating city law. Schaer, an Orthodox Jew, said he asked Hill on Tuesday to verify that all private ambulance squads comply with city law. Passaic has only the two Hatzolahs as private squads.

The city’s paid squad, which has two ambulances, is overseen by the Police Department. When both vehicles are in use, the city calls other municipalities and private squads to ask if they can dispatch an ambulance immediately. Andy White, police spokesman, said Kaplan’s Hatzolah has been called in recent months after the Clifton squad and a private company based at Hackensack University Medical Center.

Last week, the City Council entertained a resolution that would formally add Kaplan’s Hatzolah to the city’s list of mutual aid services. But the resolution was defeated by a 3-3 tie vote. A tie means the measure is rejected.

The three Orthodox Jewish council members voted against the resolution, while the three Hispanic members voted in favor.

Schaer, who proposed the resolution, said he voted against it because he believes Hatzolah was stoking ethnic divide in the city.

“Picking up an ambulance group that’s working primarily in one part of town — I don’t think it’s a good idea, if we’re continuing our fight to unite Passaic,” Schaer said.

Kaplan said Hatzolah serves the entire city, not just Jews.

“It’s ludicrous, because the whole point of doing 911 is we service anybody. We don’t ask them, ‘Are you Jewish? Are you Orthodox?’ when someone calls,” Kaplan said. “Gary Schaer has furthered the stereotype that we only want to help ourselves.”

Hatzolah gets an average of 600 calls a year to its direct line, Kaplan said. He did not know what percentage was Jewish.

Councilman Gerardo Fernandez said he supports the squad.

“We never had a problem before. We voted for it. I voted ‘yes’ because they’re providing a service with the community. They’ve been doing it all along,” Fernandez said.

On Tuesday, Schaer said that the letter sent to Kaplan was purely out of concern for public safety.

“It’s not my personal feelings at play here. This affects the health and welfare of city residents,” he said. “What’s relevant is what’s in compliance.”

Reach Karen Keller at 973-569-7158 or kellerk@northjersey.com myheraldnews.com

Assemblywoman Angelini to Seek Legal Opinion on Dual Office Ban as Schaer Assumes Third Public Position and Violates the spirit of the law

Saying Assemblyman and Passaic City Council President Gary Schaer’s new role as acting mayor of Passaic seems to violate the spirit of the Legislature’s ban on dual office holding, Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini said today she will request a legal opinion on the matter from the non-partisan Office of Legislative Services (OLS).

“As we are all well aware, the Legislature passed a feeble dual office holding ban last year which grandfathered in dual officeholders who were elected before February 2008,” explained Angelini, R-Monmouth. “This allows Mr. Schaer to serve as a state lawmaker and local councilman. However, now that he has the powers that come with being acting mayor of Passaic as well, it seems he may be violating the spirit of the ban on dual office holding. Since it’s a gray area, I will be requesting a legal opinion from OLS.”

Schaer, D-Bergen, Essex and Passaic, assumed the role of mayor late last week, following the resignation of Mayor Samuel Rivera who pleaded guilty to extortion in federal court.

Angelini questioned the viability of one person serving in three primary public roles.

“How can one person serve their constituents with excellence when you are juggling three different government positions?” she asked. “There aren’t enough hours in a day to make that possible. The bottom line is you cannot serve two masters. Somewhere in that mix, your constituents will be short-changed.”

Angelini said Schaer’s situation is a prime example of the need for an immediate and comprehensive ban on dual office holding and for stringent ethics reform in general, noting that the city attorney who ruled that Schaer could assume the mayoral office is the law partner of Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero.

“This entire situation is a web of ethical conflicts,” stated Angelini. “Not only did Assemblyman Schaer abstain from voting on legislation that prohibits newly elected public office holders from simultaneously holding more than one elective office, but he also serves as vice chair of the Assembly State Government Committee which promulgates these rules.

“Legally, this particular situation may very well fall through a loophole, which is troublesome in itself,” she continued. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s just plain wrong. And as a representative of the people, it’s my responsibility to protect their best interests.”

Angelini suggested that the Assembly State Government Committee debate and vote on bill A-1443, sponsored by Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, R-Monmouth and Mercer, which would eliminate the grandfathering clause within 30 days of enactment, when it meets on May 22. Politickernj.com