Bomgaars Cannot Recover from Getzendanner Mishandling

To the Editor:

“Here Come Da Judge”

The big report that the residents of Summit have been patiently waiting for has finally arrived and the results are in.  Summit Councilman Tom Getzendanner is guilty of having asked City Solicitor Barry Osmun to backdate billings on a claim submitted to the city’s insurance company. And yes, Mr. Getzendanner by his actions wanted the city to commit insurance fraud. How do we know this? His Honorable Judge Edward Beglin, Jr. told us so.

Back in December it became obvious to Council President David Bomgaars that if he continued to sweep this tawdry affair under the rug the residents of Summit would have his head. Bomgaars, prodded by Councilwoman Nuris Portuondo, hired Judge Beglin to insure that there would be an impartial review of Getzendanner’s alleged improprieties.

Everyone waited at the last Common Council meeting for the esteemed Judge Beglin’s verdict to be announced. Council President Dave Bomgaars delivered the Beglin report and it landed like a marshmallow hitting the carpet. In short, what we got from the good Judge Beglin was a poorly written rehash of what everyone in town already knew. Getzendanner did it!

Mr. Bomgaars invited the public to take a copy of the report from a stack placed unceremoniously on tables in front of those assembled. After weeks of investigation, at three hundred dollars an hour of taxpayer money, Summit was presented with a document that from all appearances looked like Judge Beglin wrote it in his pajamas while watching “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning.

What we didn’t know was that Mr. Bomgaars, still frosted that Councilman Michael Vernotico leaked the story to the media, convinced Judge Beglin that Vernotico’s offense should get top billing in the report, too. In what reality does insurance fraud and tattle tailing hold equal sway?

When everyone was done reading the report and scratching their heads in bewilderment, Mr. Bomgaars spoke. He said he was taking definitive action on the matter by having all members of the Common Council attend an ethics class in addition to requiring them to attend a city sponsored taxpayer funded retreat.

Councilwoman Portuondo who dazzled us with her promise to champion an impartial look at Getzendanner’s behavior, spit the proverbial bit when the time came to act on Beglin’s findings. An irony considering that she publicly accused Vernotico of playing politics.

So what happened to Tom Getzendanner, the guy who was the target of the investigation and who the Judge said in the report tried to have the city commit insurance fraud? He got another term on both the Finance and Law Committees and a bird’s eye view of Mr. Bomgaars thumbing his nose at the people of Summit.

Judge Beglin came to the task as the “Great Oz” and turned out to be nothing more than the little man behind the curtain. He ought to wear a paper bag over his head when he goes to cash our check.

Bomgaars has demonstrated to the residents of Summit that he is incapable of leadership. He will never get past the stench he created by his lack of insight and inability to do the right thing on the Getzendanner issue. His weak response to Judge Beglin’s indictment of Getzendanner’s actions was akin to sentencing OJ to attend a knife-handling course.

Getzendanner has shown the people of Summit that he has a moral compass that spins in the wind. He’s incapable of seeing that the people of Summit have lost their faith and trust in him. To expect someone of his stripe to resign over this is folly.

Somewhere in town there is a group of influential Summit residents sitting around a table coming up with a plan to get Getzendanner out. They know how great this town is and how it can be. They’re not about to let the likes of Getzendanner and Bomgaars take that away.

Tom Graham