TRENTON — Mayor Reed Gusciora, whose term has been defined by constant upheaval and a rocky relationship with city legislators, is adding a no-confidence vote to his resume.
Council on Thursday will consider a resolution to expel the third-year mayor, who is fresh off bruising revelations that state authorities are investigating his administration’s alleged corrupt procurement practices.
Councilwoman Robin Vaughn signaled weeks ago that she’d call on Gusciora to step down, citing escalating gunplay in Trenton, which tallied a record 40 homicides last year under ex-police director Sheilah Coley.
With three months left in 2021, under new director Steven Wilson, Trenton stands at 24 slayings, while another person clings to life in the hospital.
The unsigned resolution points to recent developments in Trenton: a whistleblower lawsuit filed last month by Ben Delisle, the city’s former housing and economic director, that city officials said attracted the attention of the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.
In recent weeks, the city has been hit with at least two subpoenas from state authorities, regarding allegations of corruption in the city’s “abandoned property abatement program” and construction of a telecommunications tower on South Broad Street that Gusciora claimed predated his administration.
The probe, officials said, is partly focused on allegations raised in Delisle’s lawsuit.
He claimed he was forced out because he wouldn’t fast-track illegal demolition projects that Gusciora wanted razed as part of a campaign promise, as the mayor seeks a second term in 2022.
The ex-director said the administration wanted to classify the demolitions as emergencies so they could bypass onerous public bidding mandates.
Officials allegedly told Delisle that he’d have “cover” from construction code officials who were “on board with declaring the buildings to be imminent hazards” so they wouldn’t have to bid the projects.
Gusciora and his cronies are accused of blatantly violating the Local Public Contracts Law by awarding deals to a “small, select group of contractors” that Delisle claimed were invited to bid for the demolition work, according to the resolution.
Trenton was already disgraced after enduring the “pervasive publicity” blitz that ensued when former Mayor Tony Mack and his crew were convicted and jailed in a federal bribery scheme, according to the resolution.
Vaughn, the ghostwriter, says Gusciora’s needs to resign in the “best interests” of Trentonians.
“It is imperative that Trenton’s residents have faith in the integrity of their mayor, and that their elected representatives are free from the taint and distractions of defending themselves from untoward conduct in order to be able to effectively represent their constituents and discharge the obligations of their office,” the resolution outlines.
Gusciora, who survived a previous recall effort after he was caught on tape hurling insults at Vaughn during a coronavirus call last year, called the resolution “garbage” and said he won’t step aside.
“I consider it a badge of honor coming from a Councilwoman who has consistently voted against her constituent interest including Princetel and just about every economic development proposal that the Administration has put forth,” he wrote in a statement. “This also comes at a time when the clerk rejected 28 important proposals to be considered by Council but had time for this nonsense. I look forward to the Councilwoman demonstrating anything she has done in three years except cause dissension and division among the City’s governing bodies.”
Three of the city’s seven legislators said they’ll vote against the measure, calling it a needless distraction when the city should be focusing on a spree of weekend shootings that claimed two lives.
“I think that if people don’t like Reed, they should run against him next year,” at-large councilman Jerell Blakeley said.
He added that the resolution was a “waste of time.”
South Ward councilman George Muschal has had a topsy-turvy relationship with Gusciora in his first term.
The ex-cop famously no-showed one of Gusciora’s State of the City addresses in protest of the hiring of former Trenton Police Sgt. Carol Russell as police director.
Despite their differences over the years, Muschal called it cowardly of Vaughn not to put her name on the bill.
“She talks all that nonsense,” Muschal said. “If anyone should have resigned, it should have been her. Mean what you say, say what you mean.”
East councilman Joe Harrison called the resolution laughable.
“You’re talking about no confidence. We should have no confidence in this council,” he said, pointing to Vaughn’s issues in office.
The embattled councilwoman resisted calls last year from some of the state’s top Democrats, including Gov. Phil Murphy, to resign from her seat over an epic homophobic meltdown that she directed at the openly gay mayor during a coronavirus briefing.
Audio obtained by The Trentonian showed the West Ward councilwoman railing against Harrison’s family and accusing him of sucking the mayor’s “d*ck.” She also claimed that Gusciora was a pedophile who ran “young boys” through City Hall.
Fed-up residents in her district tried to force a vote to recall the West Ward leader but didn’t garner enough signatures.
“The girl does nothing but start trouble,” Muschal said. “She’s worried about Reed. She should worry about herself.”
But one legislator who is challenging Gusciora for the mayor’s seat said the mayor’s time has come.
“It’s a lot of stuff going on,” at-large councilman Santiago Rodriguez said, referring to the ongoing AG probe. “I don’t have any confidence in our mayor. I gave him the benefit of the doubt at the beginning.”
Rodriguez was referring to the inquiry into the city’s relationship with MPS Communications, which was contracted in 2013 to set up and operate the radio system that Trenton first responders rely on to respond to calls.
The city encountered problems with the system, including a highly publicized gaffe that allowed a bank robber to get away on bike during a $10,000 heist.
Last week, city officials said that the AG’s Office was the agency that issued the subpoenas. The Trentonian filed a public records request to obtain copies of the subpoenas to try to confirm that.
It appears that at least one of the subpoenas, which was recently obtained from a source, was served by the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation (SCI).
Created by state lawmakers in 1968, the SCI investigates political corruption, organized crime and matters of “public peace, public safety and public justice,” according to its website.
The four-person commission, which can compel evidence and testimony and grant immunity to witnesses, often issues reports about “waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayers’ dollars.” It is required to turn over evidence of any crimes it uncovers to the Attorney General’s Office.
The SCI subpoena was issued to Trenton business administrator Adam Cruz, who was required to testify during a Sept. 8 hearing.
The commission’s attorney, Lisa Nichols Cialino, wrote that the agency was looking into claims that public officials and city employees were “subverted, corrupted, or otherwise distorted by questionable, inconsistent, and/or improper conduct.”
The business administrator was sworn to secrecy, according to the subpoena, which demanded copies of contracts, plans, permits, bidding and inspection documents, council and planning board minutes and resolutions related to the construction of a South Broad Street radio tower.
Investigators also sought emails, letters and voicemails between Trenton officials and MPS Communications President Steven Budassi, according to the subpoena.
MPS Communications said in a recent letter to city officials that it built the South Broad Street tower to address Trenton’s ongoing problems with the radio system.
The company has threatened to sue Trenton over $218K in outstanding fees by the end of the month.
“That’s the way it started with Tony Mack,” Rodriguez said.
