City Council Election 2014
*File Photo by Carolyn Maxwell 10/19/2014
The game is over. Even a blind man can see it.
May 2008: Wilda Diaz, Fernando Gonzalez, and Ken Balut defeated 18-year incumbent Mayor Joe Vas in a surprise upset landslide victory of 58% to 42%. Fast-Forward: November 6, 2012: Mayor Diaz gets reelected with running mates Fernando Irizarry and Lisa Nanton. Neither Irizarry nor Nanton had run for a Council Seat before. Fast-Forward November 2016: Mayor Wilda Diaz is reelected for a 3rd term. Running mate Fernando Irizarry was reelected, and Helmin Caba was elected for Council. Caba had previously run unsuccessfully for Council in 2014.
Here is the thread: All the people who were running mates of Wilda Diaz secured a seat on the Council. I believe those candidates knew that Diaz had the star power and the backing (take it any way you want to) to help them secure a seat on the Council.
Let’s fast-forward to the last couple of years where it got ridiculous. At the last Council Meeting, all I heard from both sides of the podium was: “You are a liar! You are a liar!” This had to do with secret meetings and accusations being hurled by some council members and the Mayor that flew left and right.
Personally, I’m not on Facebook. When I do look on Facebook, it’s on a public page. I’ve yet to have an account or to be “friends” with anybody. Facebook can be great to share information, but when you get to insulting parts, it gets really nasty. To tell you the truth, there have been people on both sides of the fence who have engaged in a lot of nastiness.
People have come before the Council and have made comments and talked about people who were City employees and had made derogatory comments about Perth Amboy residents. I think the whole world knows about the comments and postings on Council President Petrick’s Facebook pages.
Here’s a little fact that people try to hide – sometimes some of the most derogatory comments made about certain ethnic groups are made by those of the same ethnic group!
On one of my trips to Mexico, I remember saying a tour driver that he was driving too fast and that he might hit some of the pedestrians. He said to me that he would be doing the government a favor because there are too many people here. I was taken aback. You want to hear some really derogatory comments, and I don’t want to put people in a pigeonhole, but it’s lovely hearing some young people walking out down the street after school referring to people with the “N” word. Isn’t that lovely?
I have a friend who had an expression: “Here’s a dollar. Go buy yourself a clue.”
Some people should have a handful of dollars in their fist.
In 2018, there was a big blowout pertaining Council President Bill Petrick’s Facebook page where he liked some posts that were sent to him. Mayor Diaz responded with a rally at City Hall Circle where a small group of people were protesting with signs and speeches were made demanding Petrick’s resignation.
This year there were protests again inside and outside City Hall and Petrick’s business.
Then there was a woman who worked for Governor Phil Murphy who made derogatory comments about certain religious groups and there was silence. Some of our leaders should have called her out on it. She was part of a group that would support Mayor Diaz.
Despite all the protests against Petrick to resign. Guess what? He and his running mates had a decisive victory over their opponents including the Diaz endorsed tickets. This is the first time that Diaz’s candidates for the Board of Education and the Council did not win a single seat.
Here’s the bottom line: Apparently, the voters do not have time for all of this nonsense going on. You can scream misogyny, racism, sexism, whatever. The people spoke at that election loud and clear. They were over it. Enough already!
We know what is going on with these games, (positions being defunded). It’s called tit for tat.
People came up to speak and said that it’s Puerto Rican women who are being discriminated against. All of the people who worked in the Mayor’s Office had been Puerto Rican women, except for the late Marian Brehan (former Mayor’s Secretary who was already in place). Every other person in that position after Brehan was a Latina woman. Other than that, the only men in the Mayor’s Office were Hector Bonilla and Irving Lozada who were both the Mayor’s Aides. Many people felt it was unnecessary when a Chief of Staff position was established with a considerable salary attached to it.
It was stated at the last Council Meeting of the over 400 City employees, over 300 are Hispanic.
I can understand these women being frustrated about being moved to another position. There have been other City employees that were transferred to other departments from positions they really liked. It had nothing to do with defunding. I would not be surprised if in a few months those women would be right back in the office that they were in, maybe under a new title.
When I worked for the phone company, there were several times when I had to be relocated because of restructuring of departments. One department was being moved from New Jersey to Colorado. This department had around 30 employees. These employees had the option if they wanted to keep their jobs in that department, all they had to do was move to Aurora, Colorado. About 15 employees opted to do so, while the rest of them decided to find positions elsewhere either within or out of the company.
So, here we go again. With the protests, the signs, the shouting, misogynists, white supremacy, no justice – no peace, racists, etc.
Many people are struggling in their own situations. Look at all of the temporary agencies that we have in town. Sometimes it’s hard for people to sympathize, especially knowing you will still will be gainfully employed.
I remember all those successful Latina businesswomen that were with Diaz in the beginning that I no longer see.
2020 is just around the corner. I wouldn’t be surprised if a Darkhorse candidate comes in and rises to the top. People get fed up. Remember 2016. Let’s see how this all plays out. C.M.
City Council Election 2014
*File Photo Submitted 2014
