Former Gov. Jim McGreevey, who was hired nearly six years ago to run a nonprofit that manages Jersey City's job training and prisoner re-entry program, was fired last night at a special meeting of the nonprofit's board.
The nine-member board of the Jersey City Employment and Training Program voted 5-3-1 in favor of terminating McGreevey at the tail end of a meeting that ran over two hours and featured pro-McGreevey testimonials from nearly 30 people.
McGreevey, 61, chastised board members for their decision when it became clear they were firing him.
"No one has given me the courtesy of a detailed reason why I am being dismissed," McGreevey said. "At a minimum I think in the interests of fairness and equity that I as executive director merit a reason for my dismissal."
Board members Sudhan Thomas, Rudolph Daniels, Jeremy Farrell, Stacey Flanagan and Mark Rowan voted in favor of firing the former governor. Bob Knapp, Jake Hudnut and Darrell Laval voted against. Anthony Lewis abstained from voting.
Thomas will take over for McGreevey for at least six months on an unpaid basis.
Those in favor of termination offered no explanation. Hudnut, who is Jersey City's municipal prosecutor, called the board's action "troubling" and said it could destroy the services JCETP provides.
"There are ways your concerns, our concerns, some of which are my concerns about JCETP can be addressed in a rational way," he said.
The board also voted in favor of hiring a board attorney and an auditor to review the nonprofit's finances.
Mayor Steve Fulop directed JCETP, a federally funded nonprofit, to hire McGreevey in 2013 when Fulop was elected mayor.
For a while, McGreevey acted as a political adviser for the mayor as Fulop considered running for governor in 2017.
The two men had a falling out at about the time Fulop announced he would seek re-election as mayor instead.
Last year, Fulop began taking more control over JCETP by appointing his allies to its board of directors and by withholding federal funds that the city had previously distributed to the nonprofit. Thomas, a Fulop ally, took over as the board's chair in July, replacing a McGreevey ally.
"We are hoping that tonight's actions will ensure that the focus of JCETP re-pivots to serving the unemployed, underemployed and out-of-school citizens of Jersey City," Thomas told The Jersey Journal following yesterday's meeting.
Fulop has publicly accused McGreevey in recent days of misappropriating funds, a charge McGreevey has denied and demanded Fulop retract.
A woman named Alma Colon was one of the dozens who urged the board not to fire McGreevey. An ex-prisoner, Colon said McGreevey was responsible for helping turning her life around. She said she was "appalled" when she read that McGreevey's job was in jeopardy.
"I was appalled and I was scared because he's the only one that looked at a person like myself as a human being," she said.