June 7, 2008 (Harrison NJ).  Harrison Mayor Raymond McDonough urged Councilman Steve McCormick to "Oh get with it, will ya?" at Thursday's Mayor and Council meeting.  McDonough was frustrated with being questioned by Councilman McCormick about the use of the Mayor's town hall phone number and the town hall address on the Harrison Democratic Committee's letterhead and the manner in which fundraiser tickets are distributed to town employees.   McDonough then proceeded to move to adjourn the town meeting.  McCormick stated "I'm not finished".  McDonough's response was to get up as he stated "I'm finished."  McDonough then stood for four minutes despite a suggestion by Councilman McCormick that he retake his seat.  McDonough appeared to be waiting for other councilman to join him in walking out of the meeting.  He eventually was joined by Councilmen James Doran, Francisco Nascimento, Mike Dolaghan and Councilwoman Carol Mandaglio.    As Councilman Doran was just about to exit the council chamber, he returned to the public podium to grab the public microphone and state  "Steve, you're full of it!  You care about Steve McCormick and that's all you care about."  Doran went on to make other comments about why McCormick had not paid fines imposed by the building department to which Councilman McCormick stated that the fines were being contested in court.  Doran was eventually pulled away by Councilwoman Carol Mandaglio who stated "You're playing into his hands, Let him talk."  At the same time, Councilman Francisco Nascimento waiving his finger as if admonishing a child picked a fight with former First Ward Council Candidate Maria Camano arguing over whether all the new housing proposed by the redevelopers was going to overcrowd the town's schools.

It is hard to believe that Mayor McDonough would find it necessary to walk out of a council meeting to avoid answering questions about the Harrison Democratic Committee fundraiser.  McDonough is the committee's chairman.  McDonough's statement that Councilman McCormick "Oh get with it, will ya?" says it all.  McDonough is used to winning over Council members.  Other councilmembers' loyalty to McDonough was evident as they followed his lead and walked out of the council meeting.  McCormick has shown that he will be independent. Thursday's council meetings will undoubtedly go down as a "classic" Harrison Mayor and Council meeting including McDonough putting up his vanilla file folder to shield his face from being filmed by Joseph Wood as he walked out of the council chambers.  If Mayor McDonough had taken Councilman McCormick's suggestion that he retake his seat, McDonough might have had to answer some tough questions but  he would not embarrassed himself.  It is clear that McCormick was onto something why else would a career politician immediately call to adjourn a council meeting. 

What's next?  There isn't a scheduled council meeting until September so the public is left with reruns of past Mayor and Council meetings courtesy of Joseph Wood's website www.HarrisonMeetings.com.  Script writers could not have written a better cliffhanger for the final episode of a television series.  The junior independent Councilmember manages, with a couple of questions, to have the career politician Mayor walk out of a council meeting followed by two loyal council members chastising and making personal attacks against the junior independent councilmember and a former councilmember candidate.  What will happen on the next episode in September?  Or will the Mayor call a special Friday at 5 p.m. council meeting?  Stay tuned.

It will also be interesting to see if the New Jersey Election Commission (ELEC) will bring a complaint against Mayor McDonough for a clear violation of election law: use of public funds to run a political campaign.  Clearly, town employees are opening mail and answering phone calls made to town hall.  McDonough admitted that the Harrison Democratic Committee was using the town hall address and phone number on the committee's correspondence and that the practice had been ongoing for a number of years.

More interesting will be whether the New Jersey State Attorney General Anne Milgram public corruption unit will investigate the allegation that Mayor McDonough distributes fundraising tickets to town employees with their pay checks.  The clear implication being that one is expected to purchase a ticket.  Mayor McDonough did not admit to the practice but it would be fairly easy to establish whether the allegation is true by interviewing under oath a sampling of town employees. McDonough did admit that he gives tickets to friends who are town employees for them to distribute and he mails the rest.

Joseph Wood must be commended on his continued efforts to video tape Harrison's Town Meetings.  Wood is using the power of new technology to further the democratic process.  If you don't believe the above article, watch it for yourself by visiting Joseph Wood's website.   Kevin Canessa has also written an excellent article on Thursday's meeting on his website www.thehudsonline.com   Let us see whether the Star Ledger,  Kearny Journal and /or the Observer cover the meeting in next weeks newspapers.