Readers say , “no money need change hands for a conflict of interest to exist. It even looks worse when you see it all in writing. NJ Law states that a conflict of interest need not be financial in nature but merely a perception of partiality to the issue in question. This is clearly more than a perception, it is a reality. Gwenn morally should have recused herself but since she hasn’t , the Council should have asked her. It is their right and also protects the reputation of the governing body.
Ms. Fraser was more than an employee of Valley, but also an officer. And yes, she was already an officer at the time of the donation.
Can anybody donate to a cause they approve of? Sure. But Ms. Hauck was running for a representative elective office that was going to make important decisions about the hospital. Even merely to protect her from any taint of a conflict (political donations are in the public record), most people would not donate to the campaign. The fact that that happened was one of many indications of how confident they were about being immune.
Regarding Bernie Walsh, I don’t get it. Any candidate can express an opinion. That means she never pretended to be neutral. or lied to get votes, unlike some. And no money changed hands.
Ms. Fraser is of course entitled to her opinion but would have done better to protect her favored candidate by not donating to her campaign. Council members of a different stripe might have urged such a person to recuse. The killer is that recusal is entirely a matter of conscience.
As for Mr. Albano, why do you think a call was made (in my opinion, not an email message) to Mike Sedon’s employer claiming a “conflict of interest” (which did not exist) to try to force him choose between his job and his council candidacy, leaving the field open to candidate Albano?