At-large Councilwoman Jasi Edwards offered a grand mea culpa for her part in the controversial appointment of Arch Liston as Trenton housing and economic development director. City Council members last week allowed the Mayor Reed Gusciora administration to walk on the resolution to make Liston, the mayor’s former chief of staff, director of housing and economic development. The process excluded the resolution from the Docket which bypassed public comment and included blatant untruths that an investigation had cleared Liston of making controversial comments to Lt. Alexis Durlacher, a Jewish police officer. Durlacher, who filed a lawsuit on this matter, alleged Liston had laced a past conversation with references to “Nazis” and “concentration camps.” Edwards saturated her online post with regret and included an assertion that members of city council had been bamboozled by Mayor Gusciora and his administration of bamboozlers — aka persons who confuse, deceive, and perplex others through trickery or cunning methods. “Back to the walk-on, I do feel blindsided and a bit bamboozled too by the walk-on and moving forward I know how to handle it,” Edwards wrote. Of course, Edwards’ accusation of bamboozling activated a film memory that involved Denzel Washington in his role as Malcolm X and these famous lines. “Oh, I say and I say it again. Ya been had! Ya been took! Ya been hoodwinked! Bamboozled! Led astray! Run amok!,” Washington assessed. (Let me try). Ya been flim-flammed. Ya been fleeced. Ya been tricked. Hornswoggled. Humble-pied. No matter the accusatory words, this Trenton event continues a lack of transparency and distortions connected to city government. Edwards forged a flurry of commentary about the Liston upgrade, although she alleged being misled. Here’s her unedited social media post. “Honestly, we can only go by what we are told and our professional experiences with him. We were told that the “investigation” was “unsubstantiated.” In my experience with the Economic Development subcommittee, he seems to know what he’s talking about, is taking the advice of council in terms of what the administration needs to be prioritizing with clawing back properties that people have been sitting on since they purchased it; Homeownership opportunities, addressing abandoned commercial and residential properties, etc. “I cannot repeat what was told to us in executive sessions regarding any of these lawsuits and accusations. But I can speak to the findings as it was public, and the result was recommended sensitivity trainings, etc. I don’t like that he said that, but I try to give people the benefit of the doubt in not being intentionally racist or antisemitic. “Maybe I am naive because I don’t know the man personally to accuse or condemn him of such. As I’ve said before, his comments were insensitive and I agree that no one should be making references like that at all. In realizing he comes from that old school era where people said things like that to compare things in that way was acceptable—Examples like this is exactly why trainings were created. I sympathize wholeheartedly with the person he said that to or in front of(not sure how that went) because things like that were said around me about my ancestors, both indigenous and African, so I would never say they don’t have a right to feel the way they do. “This administration lacks trainings in ethics, sexual harassment, workplace rights and responsibilities, and more. Which is what I endlessly have been very vocally advocating for since I ran for office and will continue to push for it so we can prevent things like that. Was it grounds for termination or a write up and disciplinaryi action is the debate. According to the mayor, DCA recommended Arch after interviewing several others. “As it was a walk-on, none of us had a chance to fully consider his appointment and dig for information. I’ve received advice that I could have gotten had this not been a walk-on and now I wish one of us had thought to request an extension instead, but that was an afterthought as this was like a blitz move by the administration. When I was first told there would be a walk-on, I asked multiple times what and it was not fully disclosed to exactly what until the very last minute, but that his 90-days was up. “I made the mistake in assuming it was to request an extension like we’ve done before because I knew they were looking for someone permanently. It wasn’t until I got there and it was given to us on the dais for a permanent Director. “This is exactly why I am anti walk-on unless it’s an emergency situation. It not only gives council absolutely no time to fully consider, but it also circumvents public comments and due process. I can say I regret not thinking to ask for an extension instead. I know he wants to be retired from what we were always told, so I didn’t think it would be to appoint him to director, so I was taken aback by that, but we didn’t have any other viable candidates according to the mayor in his presentation. “In regard to public comments, we added an additional one; one for docket items only, and the other for general. To allow separate times for people to speak to dockets items as well as whatever else they want to speak about. This actually allows people more time, being that both slots are for 5 minutes. That was the recommendation of DCA according to the clerk. “Back to the walk-on, I do feel blindsided and a bit bamboozled too by the walk-on and moving forward I know how to handle it. This was a lesson learned, and I would feel better if all the litigation wasn’t happening in which like I said claimed to be unsubstantiated. “I made my decision based on my experiences with him and I do like what he is working on with economic development, and the fact that it was said the accusations were unsubstantiated. “After conversations I had with a few people today, I don’t feel like council is told the truth of things entirely or maybe even at all, but at this point he was appointed. Therefore, I will do my best to encourage the best from him and his department and work closely to ensure they are doing the right thing. I have a lot of experience and knowledge in economic development that can be very helpful. “I don’t know everything and don’t pretend to either. None of us are perfect but I sure learned a lot these past few days, and two years. My eyes are wide open now and thanks to this group, I will make better decisions. “Moving forward, when we are presented with a walk-on, if it’s not a true EMERGENCY, I will motion to table it for the next meeting to allow council time to do their due diligence in researching what’s presented to us. More importantly to allow the public an opportunity to know what’s going on and to be able to express their favor or opposition. That’s what’s fair and what’s right. “I will probably receive backlash for this comment lol but right is right!” L.A. Parker is a Trentonian columnist. Find him on Twitter @LAParker6 or email him at [email protected].