TRENTON – “Radioactive Robin” was gaveled again at Thursday night’s meeting.
And now she may be getting censured.
Council members have been on edge for quite some time over Vaughn, who once booed a council member at a meeting.
But what apparently pushed them over the edge was her aggressive questioning of city water director Dr. Shing-Fu Hsueh.
Council president Kathy McBride felt Vaughn was “badgering” the witness who already answered the questions.
Tired of the constant “disrespect” toward herself and colleagues, McBride confirmed she plans to “confer” with city law director John Morelli over what can be done about the wicked councilwoman of the West Ward’s alleged violations of council decorum policies.
“Am I prepared to say I’m at wits end? Yes I am,” McBride told The Trentonian in a phone interview Friday. “I just don’t think that she’s working in their [constituents’] best interest. She started out going after the governor and DCA [Department of Community Affairs]. She goes from one extreme to the next. Every issue that comes before us doesn’t have to be dealt with on a scale of 10. You don’t have to go to war with everyone.”
Vaughn was caught off-guard when told of the plans of the president, who has been smacked down by others for her alleged dictatorial reign of the council.
“I have nothing to say about that,” she said. “I have no idea what her end game is. I’ll just wait to see what it all means. She’s the president. She can do what she wants.”
McBride wouldn’t commit just yet to putting the censure resolution together to formally reprimand Vaughn saying that would be “putting the cart before the horse.”
But the council president said she’s considering it because efforts to improve relations between Vaughn and the legislative body have been futile.
Council vice president Marge Caldwell-Wilson tried talking to Vaughn, McBride said, but she wasn’t having it.
“She took that as a direct insult. She declared it as an ‘act of war,'” McBride said.
Vaughn claimed Caldwell-Wilson never talked to her and she wasn’t at war with colleagues.
Most of Vaughn’s contentious conversations have been with McBride, who is big on order and was the driving force behind a change in council’s rules of procedures that capped civic comments to 10 minutes.
McBride has been criticized for cutting council members off and expelling a resident from a meeting for being critical of North Ward councilwoman Caldwell-Wilson.
That dynamic has set up an almost-constant showdown between McBride and the often obstinate Vaughn, who was the only person to vote against anointing McBride as council president.
Vaughn’s approach has not made friends on the seven-body legislative panel.
The council has voted down many of her measures, some which colleagues privately endorsed but wouldn’t publicly support because of the sponsor’s name on the bill.
That reluctance from council members to work with Vaughn has earned her the nickname “Radioactive Robin.”
Vaughn said she wasn’t too concerned about her rapport with colleagues.
“My relationship is with my constituents,” she said. “I just vote. All my constituents are very happy with me.”
Vaughn continued insisting “all” her constituents approve of her actions as councilwoman when The Trentonian brought up angry Facebook posts from fellow West Warders who complained of her alleged antics and her decision to block some of them from interacting with her on social media.
And that was before she went nuclear on at-large councilman Jerell Blakeley, vague-booking him in a Facebook post following Thursday’s meeting.
“Trentonians, about last night’s council meeting,” she wrote. “I was astounded that a sitting councilman did not know that the Salvation Army is a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)3 organization. He actually proceeded boldly to question the Salvation Army’s seasoned leadership about ratables and not paying taxes to the City of Trenton. As time passes, and the work begins, the empty suits will reveal themselves. At which time, we’ll separate the contenders versus the pretenders. #KnowWhenToListen #KnowWhenToSpeak #OnTheRecord 🙂
Blakeley, who has been one of Vaughn’s few allies on the panel, didn’t take kindly to the Vaguebooking, that is, Facebooking about someone without naming the person.
At one point during their over-the-top exchange, he called her a “lunatic,” pointing out her post was ironic because many colleagues feel the same way about her allegedly off-topic rants at council meetings.
“You should take your own advice regarding when to listen and when to speak,” wrote Blakeley, who declined further comment when reached Friday. “You regularly look foolish with your bellicose rhetoric and ignorance on municipal matters. Your attempts to insult people and bully the professionals who work in this city are making folks actually yearn for your predecessor.”
Playing coy with The Trentonian, Vaughn claimed the Facebook post wasn’t directed at Blakeley. But he was the one who brought up the Salvation Army’s tax status at the meeting.
Vaughn’s issues with Blakeley are relatively new, but her beef with the council president has been stewing for a long time, with Vaughn often arguing with the legislative leader on various topics.
South Ward councilman George Muschal, who previously accused the West Ward councilwoman of secretly taping council members, believes McBride must re-establish control.
“She [Vaughn] has to listen when the council president says, ‘cease,'” he said. “That goes for any council person.”
It finally reached boiling point Thursday night.
Vaughn, who showed up late to the meeting, was questioning Hsueh about an ordinance passed by council last June, right before new council members were sworn in, authorizing the city to issue more than $18 million in bonds for “acquisitions and improvements” to struggling Trenton Water Works.
Water quality is a topic Vaughn has focused on intently.
She has routinely, and vigorously, cross-examined Hsueh, a former Department of Environmental Protection bigwig and Mayor Reed Gusciora’s water quality guru, about whether he was meeting “deliverables” of an Administrative Consent Order.
Vaughn got another crack at the water director last night. But after about 10 minutes or so of letting Vaughn have at Hsueh, the council president wanted to move on.
“I was not finished,” Vaughn shot back. “You interrupted me.”
Vaughn continued talking as McBride grabbed her gavel and smacked it so hard, as if she was imagining paying a Robin Vaughn version of whack-a-mole.
The gaveling would have registered an 8.0 on the Richter Scale, which measures the intensity of earthquakes.
“I banged the gavel really loud,” McBride admitted. “She went over the gavel. I just think it’s a little disrespectful.”
McBride felt the West Ward councilwoman’s “brutal” questioning of the water doctor was off-base.
“It had gotten so bad last night with the disrespect of one of our finest directors. You can’t have it both ways,” McBride said. “You can’t say you want the administration to hire the best and then when you get the best, you want to them as if they don’t deserve respect.”
Council members said Hsueh tried his best to answer Vaughn’s inquiries but appeared exasperated by the end of the inquisition.
Asked if she felt Huseh, who was just confirmed not too long ago, way walk away from the job, McBride responded, “I’m hoping to god that’s not the case.”
At-large councilman Santiago Rodriguez felt his colleague was on point with her questions.
“Dr. Hsueh, he’s not the person we thought he was,” Rodriguez said, accusing the water director of not giving straight answers.
Rodriguez said he will not support any push to have Vaughn, who he described as “a little rough around the edges,” punished by the body.
“There’s some personalities going on there,” he said. “She is a very good asset to City Council. She is the most knowledgeable in City Council on finance. She has been doing a lot of work, a lot of research.”
He advised the council president and Vaughn to “sit down and make peace” before going the censure route.
