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1495. 2. ?Reckless disregard for the truth??

by Taxes2high, 12/7/08 13:07 ET

2. “Reckless disregard for the truth”?

Is it wrong for Linda Cofer Hawkins, as a dedicated and loving mother, to devote her time and energy to Orange? - of course not. The situation is more complicated than you make it out to be and the "truth" not that simple.

Your statement implies that Franklin Baraff first met Mayor, Linda Cofer, after his firm was hired by the city of Orange; "When Baraff came on board, he was impressed with Ms. Cofer's knowledge of and relationships with the press"… "She had served as the City's volunteer conduit of information" (i.e. media and PR person); "Baraff asked her to continue in that capacity". That does not sound totally truthful to me based on the following; correct me if I am wrong:

By all accounts, Hawkins' mother was a driving force behind the Mayor’s campaign. She was more than just his proud mother, but a powerful and skilled spokesperson; a one woman PR firm. As the mayoral race intensified, long time political consultant Franklin Baraff came on board to coordinate the campaign’s public relations and media effort. Campaign documents show contributions from long time Hawkins family friend Richard Codey being roughly equivalent to the sums paid to Baraff for services to the Hawkins campaign. I have no reason to believe that Richard Codey hired Franklin Baraff and forced him on the campaign. It seems more likely that Hawkins' mother hired him.

Is Baraff (or anyone else) going to tell the Mayor’s mother what to do? I think not and neither does the State of New Jersey. That is why the NJ ethical standard guidelines reject nepotism, stating: "You may not hire, promote, or supervise a relative." I do not think it is ethical to have the Mayor]s mother working for the city whether she is earning one cent or $40,000.

Recent news releases and newspaper interviews Linda Cofer Hawkins, spinning the mayor’s failure to address the cities financial woes by blaming State legal requirements for "forcing" him to prematurely submit a grossly irresponsible budget, have all the earmarks of an over protective mother.

The professionally created, glossy political flyer recently sent to all Orange property owners, looks to be the handy work, not of the Mayor’s mother, but her assisting political consultant, Franklin Baraff. How can the mayor justify spending several thousand dollars for a citywide mailing, for a “forum” to look for ways to save money, three months after he submitted his irresponsible budget? Words fail me.

Many people, including DCC and orangevalley on this forum, also objected to the taxpayer funded political style mailing in times of financial duress.

The Orange City Council voted in the majority for the Mayor’s request to hire Baraff as a “communications expert” thinking that the firm would consolidate and coordinate City information distribution (That turned out not to be the case). I objected to this city expenditure as unnecessary and political in nature. I pointed out in my post 1483.1, that the real waste was the hiring of Franklin Baraff by the City of Orange.