Last week, Judge Max Baker's selected
councilman from the 3rd Ward in Atlantic City, Craig Callaway, violated a myriad
of city ordinances, State Laws and simple decorum of decency.
Callaway accomplished all of this when he conducted
blatant political activity on city property, during working hours of all
times!
To make matters worse, Callaway
did this with the assist of The Press of Atlantic City and TV 40 Television
Station, all of whom were so appalled in the recent past at what they
had all attempted to purport as political activity at City Hall just last
year.
To begin this history in a proper way,
I must take you back to March of 2004. It was at this time
that Craig Callaway began to exhaust many thousands of dollars,
countless man and woman hours, the State Judiciary, and the people of Atlantic
City in his fruitless political witch hunt against the sister of
Mayor Lorenzo Langford.
Craig Callaway attempted to make a
State and Federal case with his frivolous complaint against the Mayors sister,
who's only "real crime," was that she is the sister of the Mayor of Atlantic
City.
On March 24, 2004, Callaway stated that
he "could prove," that the Mayors sister conducted political activity on city
property, during working hours, and that this was against the law.
The truth of this matter is, Callaway's
only "proof," was realized through testimony in his Kangaroo
Court-like Hearings, from a few of his paid cronies within city
hall.
Callaway continued this charade for
seven months, padding the pockets of his political allies, such as Dan
Gallagher, Esq. This wrongful process became so time consuming
and expensive to the taxpayers of Atlantic City, that Callaway had to
orchestrate an increase in legal services funds for Dan Gallagher on October 8,
2004, in order that the political witch hunt could carry
on.
After nearly seven months of fraudulent
hearings and political posturing, Callaway "fired" the Mayors sister from her
long-standing position as an employee with the city of Atlantic City. This
was in spite of the denial to her of all rights to due process, and
without any legal authority to do so. This was an act by
Callaway that would have made the witch-hunters of ancient Salem, or some
of the old gang members of Atlantic City's Salaam's, truly
proud.
The only problem for Callaway, he never
held legitimate hearings with regard to this matter, and never had jurisdiction
over this employee, (the Mayor's sister), to begin with.
On October 28, 2004, Atlantic
County Superior Court Judge, Valerie Armstrong, ruled that the firing of the
Mayors sister by Callaway was "arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable." The
Judge further ruled that Callaway had no legal authority to take any action
against this employee.
This was all to move a frivolous
complaint and a retaliatory act against the Mayors sister. A complaint by
Callaway that Judge Armstrong ruled to be ARBITRARY AND
CAPRICIOUS. This is defined as -- (Absence of a rational connection between
the facts found and the choice made. A clear error of judgment; an action not
based upon consideration of relevant factors and so is arbitrary, capricious, an
abuse of discretion or otherwise not in accordance with law or if it was taken
without observance of procedure required by law. ( 5 USC. 706(2)(A) (1988).
Plainly spoken, one would say that
Callaway abused his position and most likely violated the rights of a fine
citizen/employee of Atlantic City. The very same type of activity that gave Jim
Whelan his walking papers more than 3 years ago.
So the lesson here: if you are
really going to attempt to fire someone, than do it on good cause, in
good faith, and with an employee that you are authorized to exercise
control over. This was never the case, with Callaway's retaliatory actions
against the Mayors sister, who has a lengthy and honorable record of service to
the people of Atlantic City.
How many thousands of dollars were
wasted on this blatant political activity, conducted at the Atlantic City
taxpayers expense? How much did Dan Gallagher, Esq. make for his "expert"
representation of Callaway? We have already established that Gallagher billed
the city so much for this political stunt, that Callaway had to make a special
appropriation of city funds to give Gallagher more money.
Now, having said all of this, let's
examine some truly real and documented "Political Activity" at city hall,
that occurred just last week.
On Thursday, February 24, 2005, Craig
Callaway appeared at the Office of the Mayor of Atlantic City, armed with
writers from the Press of Atlantic City and TV cameras and reporters from
TV-40.
The purpose of the political ambush
upon Mayor Langford was to deliver a political campaign challenge, more
specifically for a political circus stunt to challenge the Mayor
to sign a Campaign Pledge that vows to wage a positive, issue-oriented
campaign.
Shouldn't this political
activity have been properly done at a Campaign Headquarters somewhere,
and not on city property at the Mayors Office? Are we to believe, that suddenly,
Callaway and his allies in the media did not perceive their conduct as
"political activity"?
Is this not the same Callaway, Press of
Atlantic City, and TV-40 that feigned such outrage at the false accusations
against the Mayors sister, just one short year ago relating to the bogus
charges of conducting political action on city property? This was so important
an issue, that they spent more than 7 months wrongfully persecuting the Mayors
sister for what she did not do. Could Callaway sustain this same level of
scrutiny?
Now, not only are they all not outraged
anymore about this type of "politically criminal" activity, they are the
ones, in fact, truly perpetrating it upon the citizens of Atlantic
City.
It is against the laws of the State of
New Jersey and the city ordinances of Atlantic City, to conduct political
activity upon city property at any time.
Is there any doubt that interrupting
the Mayors business day in city hall, (where he was recognizing many business
members of the community who have advanced prosperity and good causes in and
around Atlantic City), to present a "Campaign Pledge," would be defined as
conducting political activity on city property?
My only question now, where are the
charges, the complaints, the hearings, the media reports from The Press and
TV-40? Where's the outrage, in a true case of violating the laws of the state
and the city? Where is Dan Gallagher when you need his billable
hours?
These are just a few of the questions I
will leave you with. Think about it, Callaway wasted a year, when real business
could have been conducted, to use his selected position to retaliate against the
Mayor of Atlantic City and his family on just this one non-issue. How
much more of your money and time has been wasted on other selfishly driven
agenda items such as these by Callaway?
What Atlantic City needs, is for people
like Max Baker to stop selecting members of their governing body and permit the
people of Atlantic City to elect real leaders of council in free and fair
elections.
It's almost a week later, now and
I'm still waiting for the outrage and for the complaint, the City Council
Hearings and investigations against Callaway, which must be coming
for improper activity such as this. I'm not holding my breath,
however.
Writers
Note: If you take note, I have intentionally left the name of
the Mayors sister from this entire story. Because who she truly is,
(which is to say a good, decent and honorable lady), was never
really the issue. It is only that she happens to be the sister of the Mayor
of Atlantic City, that made her the true victim of all of this
uneccesary,and mean-spirited retaliation against her.
A real man would never
exercise a grievance upon an innocent women, if his problem was with the
brother. The moral, in my view, BE A MAN! Or at least try to act like
one.
