What Will It Take To Stop Her?

What do you call someone who

• has 9 unpaid parking tickets
• argued her way out of getting her car towed over unpaid parking tickets
• didn't pay a $3000 veterinary bill until a collection agency came calling
• lives in housing designated for families with incomes a third of what she, as a single woman, makes
• oh, and strikes a cyclist with her SUV and, after he and his bike tumble over her hood and onto the street, drives away--and doesn't report the incident for six hours?

Answer:  a Jersey City Council member.  At least, for now.

This isn't some grim joke among cynical New York-area political reporters.  This is the story of Amy De Gise, daughter of Hudson County Executive Tom De Gise, one of northern New Jersey's most powerful politicians.

As I reported in an earlier post, she didn't even slow down, let alone stop, to see whether the cyclist, Andrew Black, was OK.  Rather, she hid in her cozy lair until the other night, when nearly everyone at a Jersey City Council meeting called for her resignation.  To date, she hasn't so much as apologized to Black, let alone offer to reimburse him for whatever the crash may have cost him. (Thankfully, he suffered only minor injuries although his bike was trashed.) And her father is, in essence, telling people to stop "picking on" his daughter.

Her case has been moved to a neighboring county, Essex (which includes Newark) out of fears that she won't get a "fair" trial.  So far, it seems that the only people, inside or outside Jersey City or Hudson County, who don't think she should resign are her father and a few other local politicians.  That isn't surprising when you consider that Jersey City's corruption has long stood out in a state noted for its political corruption--and that Ms. De Gise is, at least for now, the heir apparent to her father, who is retiring.

The Roman poet Juvenal could have had someone like Amy DeGise in mind when he wrote, "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"--Who will guard the guardians?

Update: Michigan And Jersey City

Today's post is a follow-up to two recent posts.

The cyclists who were killed in a Michigan charity ride, and the driver who ran them down, have been identified.  

On Saturday, Michael Salhaney of Bloomfield Hills, a Detroit suburb, posted a Facebook Live video telling his viewers that he faced a "tough day in the saddle":  112 miles through the middle of the state. Ann Arbor resident Edward Erickson was participating in the annual Make-A-Wish ride for the ninth time and, according to his participant website page, exceeded his fundraising goal of $3500.  He was riding on the team Salhaney captained.

From Edward Erickson's participant webpage.

"I hope we are able to ride together in 2022!" Erickson wrote.  He added that he was committed to raising money for Make-A-Wish Michigan to grant the wishes of children with critical illnesses.  "A wish replaces fear with confidence, sadness with joy and anxiety with hope.  And hope is essential for these courageous children, more than ever," he added.

Salhaney was a partner at a litigation law firm and a former prosecuting attorney at the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office.  It looks like his counterparts in Ionia County, where the ride ended for him and Erickson ended, are doing their job, so far:  Local resident Mandy Marie Benn has been arraigned and charged with two counts of operating while intoxicated causing death, operating a vehicle under the influence of a controlled substance, and a second notice of operating a vehicle while intoxicated.  She is being held on a $1 million bond in Ionia County jail.

I hope that Jersey City Council Member Amy De Gise is similarly held to account.  Two weeks ago, around 8 o'clock in the morning, she struck cyclist Andrew Black.  Although he caromed off the hood of her Nissan Rouge and his bike was trashed, he wasn't seriously hurt.  Still, De Gise continued on her way as if a pigeon ricocheted off her roof.  

A petition with around 5000 signatures calls for her resignation, which she resolutely refuses to do.  So far, she hasn't even acknowledged the hit-and-run incident.  It seems that she's been shielded, directly or indirectly, by her father:  Tom De Gise, the powerful longtime Hudson County Executive. 

I think that she should not only resign, she should also apologize and pay for any expenses Black has incurred (whether through medical costs, lost wages or his bike) from her own purse, not through some government insurance plan or slush fund. 

In the Michigan charity ride tragedy, three other cyclists, all men from the eastern part of the state, were injured. One is in critical condition but expected to recover; the other two were treated at a local hospital and released.  

Driver Rolls Coal, Cyclists Treated Like Invasive Species

A recent incident has cyclists "arguing that consequence-free way to kill someone in Texas is to do it with a car."  

So wrote Dug Begley in yesterday's Houston Chronicle.  He was referring to the inaction of law enforcement officials against a 16-year-old who "rolled coal"--accelerated and passed a group of cyclists in order to blow black exhaust on them--then whipped around and plowed into another group of riders, injuring six of them.

The driver stopped and talked to police, but it's clear that his actions were intended to at least intimidate, and at worst to maim or kill, cyclists.  He cannot plausibly claim he "didn't see them," as Begley describes the road as "ramrod straight" and the weather was sunny, with scarcely a cloud anywhere, on Saturday morning when he struck.

Cyclists on the Bluebonnet Express Ride in 2012, near the site where a young man plowed into a group of cyclists on Saturday.  Photo by Patric Schneider

While other jurisdictions are starting to take incidents against cyclists more seriously, BikeHouston executive director Joe Cutrufo says that cyclists in his area are "treated like an invasive species" when, in fact, we "have every right to use the roads."

I hope that Waller County police and prosecutors acknowledge as much, and to treat the driver as someone who committed assault with a deadly weapon.