Posted on 04/25/2005 9:59:52 PM PDT by Coleus
Christy Davis-Jackson was hired last August to serve as a $156,000 vice president and full-time legislative lobbyist for the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
While on the public payroll, though, Davis-Jackson continues to be registered with the state as a private lobbyist representing business clients that include a casino industry association - an outside interest that UMDNJ officials said would violate their conflict-of-interest policy.
UMDNJ on Thursday said Davis-Jackson reported to them in August that she had "discontinued her interest" in her firm - Davis & Partners LLC on Halsey Street in Newark.
But a receptionist at the private firm on Thursday told a caller that Davis-Jackson was at a meeting and would return the call today; her secretary at UMDNJ also said she was at a meeting when called a short time later.
Davis-Jackson, who has worked at UMDNJ since August, said Thursday that it's all a misunderstanding - "all smoke, no fire."
Davis-Jackson acknowledged she had not filed the proper paperwork to inform the state that she no longer represented private clients. But she maintained she has not been associated with her firm nor represented outside interests since being hired at UMDNJ.
She said she didn't know she had to file paperwork. She added that the receptionist at Davis & Partners must have been flustered in saying that Davis-Jackson was in a meeting.
Davis-Jackson also said she can't figure out how to change the phone mail at Davis & Partners, where the recording at her extension says she is away from her desk. "We had a very sophisticated telephone system,'' she said. She said two former employees are still in the phone mail system but that workers can't figure out how to remove them.
Davis-Jackson said she has put her "assets in trust" and retains "no day-to-day managing authority" at the firm she founded. Her name remains attached to the firm because "my political background had more marquee."
Davis-Jackson is a former Democratic strategist and campaign aide to U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine. She is married to the Rev. Reginald T. Jackson, president of the state Black Ministers Council.
Lobbyists are required to register with the state Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC). Davis-Jackson said she will file the necessary paperwork today to inform ELEC that she no longer represents private clients. A "notice of termination" is required, said a commission representative.
As of the first quarter of 2005, Davis was listed in ELEC records under her maiden name, Christy Davis, as representing five clients: the Casino Association of New Jersey, Babyland Family Services in Newark, Mr. Beal, NARAL of New York and PKF Mark III Inc., a Pennsylvania-based contracting firm with large contracts in New Jersey.
John J. Petillo created the position of vice president of government affairs at UMDNJ shortly after he became interim president in June. Petillo became president late last year. He is set to be formally inaugurated on Tuesday.
Davis-Jackson was in the middle of a controversy at the university last week after she approved a $10,000 grant to an organization run by Newark Councilwoman Gayle Chaneyfield-Jenkins. The group, Women with Hats on for the Cure, is not a registered charity. The money went toward a reception for breast-cancer awareness scheduled for the Robert Treat Hotel in Newark this fall.
The university subsequently put a moratorium on charitable donations and Petillo said they would be handled differently in the future, perhaps by the university's non-profit foundation.
Calls to Petillo about Davis-Jackson's job were referred to Maryann Master, vice president of human resources. Master said any outside lobbying on Davis-Jackson's part would have been a violation of the university's conflict-of-interest regulations. Employees are required to fill out conflict-of-interest forms.
"She [Davis-Jackson] followed the procedure, completed the form, and followed through in freezing her assets at the firm and she discontinued her interest in the firm," Master said.
In addition to her salary, Davis-Jackson also gets the use of a late-model Dodge Durango.
Questions about the university administration and spending practices have been mounting in recent weeks. UMDNJ officials acknowledged Tuesday that tighter controls are needed at the sprawling university, which is composed of three medical schools and has an annual budget of $1.6 billion.
Petillo said he will review all no-bid contracts above $50,000 and provide a monthly list of bid waivers to the university's board of trustees. The move came after journalists requested copies of no-bid contracts from 2002 to the present. The university released a list of 2002 waivers on Tuesday that totaled more than $126 million, and included more than $900,000 in fees for outside lobbyists.
Petillo and the university board moved to initiate an outside audit of spending practices. They are negotiating with retired state Supreme Court Justice James Coleman to conduct the review.
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NARAL Lobbyist and former Corzine staffer's top job at state-run UMDNJ comes under scrutiny. Read about the latest financial controversy with UMDNJ . . .
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It was revealed late last week that shortly after Mr. Petillo, a former Catholic Priest and ally of former Gov. McGreevey, not a Medical Doctor and is paid $600,000 per year, was named to the top job (At UMDNJ), he created the $156,000-a-year position of vice president for government affairs and hired lobbyist Christy Davis-Jackson to fill it. She is a former aide to Sen. Jon Corzine, D-N.J., and the wife of the Rev. Reginald Jackson, arguably the most powerful black leader in the state. Was the job really needed, or was this a question of patronage and connections? That's what an independent investigation must determine. (Note: She was also registered as a lobbyist for NARAL, the leading pro-abortion group in the nation.) |
Investigation of two Universities slated to run the NJ Stem Cell Institute. Read more . . .
Note: Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey have been hand-picked by former NJ Governor James McGreevey and Acting Governor Richard Codey to jointly run the NJ Stem Cell Institute to be based in New Brunswick, NJ. Scientists Wise Young from Rutgers University and Ira Black from UMDNJ have been the leading lobbyists pushing for the legislation and public funding for the NJ Stem Cell Institute. Acting Governor Codey has appointed both Young and Black to co-direct the Institute. The Stem Cell Institute is currently under construction. Acting Governor Codey is presently pushing to use $380 million in public bond money to fund the NJ Stem Cell Institute.
THE GROWING scandal at UMDNJ is a festering boil, and the State Commission of Investigation had better lance it quick.
The SCI, an independent watchdog, announced last week that it is going to investigate spending and hiring at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark as a part of a wider look at state universities.
That's great, so long as the SCI begins its work with a comprehensive investigation into the alarming allegations of patronage, no-bid contracts and other insider deals at UMDNJ. With every passing day, new questions of impropriety arise about the management of the school, which gets $200 million in state funding.
Until that SCI probe is completed, it makes no sense to go ahead with the inauguration of University President John Petillo, who makes $600,000 a year. The elaborate festivities are scheduled for Tuesday, but at this point, too many questions about the college persist. Who knows what other skeletons will be found in the medical college's closet - especially in light of this independent probe into its contracts and hiring.
The scandal began to emerge in March, just after it was announced that Mr. Petillo's inauguration and related events were going to cost more than $100,000 - at a time when the state is facing a multibillion-dollar shortfall. Mr. Petillo became president last November after a $350,000 nationwide search - a search that ended with the selection of the inside candidate. Once the media started looking deeper, an outrageous pattern of no-bid contracts, dubious charitable donations and woefully inadequate financial oversight emerged.
Here's a sampling of what has turned up so far:
It was revealed late last week that shortly after Mr. Petillo was named to the top job, he created the $156,000-a-year position of vice president for government affairs and hired lobbyist Christy Davis-Jackson to fill it. She is a former aide to Sen. Jon Corzine, D-N.J., and the wife of the Rev. Reginald Jackson, arguably the most powerful black leader in the state. Was the job really needed, or was this a question of patronage and connections? That's what an independent investigation must determine.
Put all these items together, and you get the clear picture that UMDNJ's management is on one huge gravy train, with Mr. Petillo as the engineer and the taxpayers paying the freight.
Despite it all, a spokeswoman for Mr. Petillo says the inauguration will proceed as planned because it's an academic tradition that also celebrates UMDNJ's "accomplishments and its new direction."
New direction? Not only has Mr. Petillo done little to clean up the mess at UMDNJ, but he has given the university a few more black eyes to boot. The SCI probe can't come soon enough.
And her first task will be to mandate medical students and residents commit murder ("abortion training") over any religious or moral obligations or face expulsion. Just as the NARAL thugs did next door in NY City.
NARAL thugs >>
Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Mayor Michael Bloomberg lost all my respect.
abortion, corruption, money, paybacks, patronage and state jobs
In New Jersey? The coverup and whitewash are the only things that will be quick.
New Jersey voters are putzes. I live there and it has to be the most corrupt place on earth. And yet, we keep voting for the same criminals election after election.
Jersey can only change if two things are done. Look at each name on the ballot for every position. Vote for the name you do not recognize.
Second, audit every contract the state has.
We have the highest taxes and the worst services. We pay tolls and taxes on pretty much everything. Well, you get what you pay for.
Since the 'Rats took over, the whole freaking place is one huge festering boil. That would be quite a lance job, no?
Sounds like the "State Commission of Investigation" is going to need more than the usual amount of whitewash for this job.
The thesis of moral relativism appears to be that mankind exists in a guiltless vacuum, and is merely the sum of its private parts.
Relativism demands that all of society kneel in obeisance to its incessant need for gratification.
The language of laws, societal customs, and cultural institutions must be gutted and should exist only to feed this carnal obsession.
The abortion savages, ACLU, NARAL, Planned Parenthood, together with left liberal and church-separation groups, are employed in this destructive objective.
>Casino Association of New Jersey
I wonder if this has links back to AbScam?
>>>>Mr. Beal, NARAL of New York and PKF Mark III Inc., a Pennsylvania-based contracting firm with large contracts in New Jersey.
UMDNY = RWJ = ties to Woodside Hospice = also PA ties
TYPO
UMDNY was suppose to be UMDNJ
The public universities. Where Dem hacks go to cash in...
A budget of over one billion?
Some states don't have budgets much bigger than that.
People from Woodside go to RWJ (of UMDNJ) to teach. RWJ Foundation is a donor to Woodside.
Got it.
'Follow the money'.
Don't overlook the NARAL connection either. Same philosophy of Hospice.
Thanks!
Amazing how they all come together!!
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