Call it karma or a self-inflicted wound, but the pushback Councilwoman Beth Mason received today from the object of her calculated rage, Councilman Ravi Bhalla, may have serious legal consequences- for her.
In a press conference held in his office this morning, Mr. Bhalla produced a 'smoking gun' document, Mason's signed and certified true ELEC report from her 2009 mayoral campaign, which appears to show the illegal use of 'street money', a fourth-degree felony punishable by 18 months in prison.
Specifically, NJ statute 19:44A-11.7 prohibits candidates from distributing actual currency, or hard cash, to individual workers. Campaigns are prohibited from issuing bank checks made out to cash, which the law considers the functional equivalent of cash.
Now see for yourself, below on Mason's ELEC filing, the following checks made out to "cash" (highlighted in yellow):
Next, "Attachment 2" is a list of names with addresses of money recipients corresponding to checks made out to "cash". Notice that in numerous cases, multiple recipients are 'splitting" the amount on a single check (circled).
Finally and perhaps fatally, the certification that the above disbursements are true, signed by Beth Mason and officers of her campaign:
Arguably, had Ms.Mason not chosen to hack away at Mr. Bhalla's character, then take it to the next level by demanding his resignation, coupled with a high-handed attack on his ethics, counter-charges may not have come to the fore.
But she did, then he did.
And Mason's allies, including the cretinous 411, were licking their chops at the Mr. Bhalla's embarrassing, but not felonious, ELEC filing oversight. That was then.
This is altogether another matter. A very serious one. Should the State Attorney General's Office or the Hudson County Prosecutor decide to pursue charges.
In a press conference held in his office this morning, Mr. Bhalla produced a 'smoking gun' document, Mason's signed and certified true ELEC report from her 2009 mayoral campaign, which appears to show the illegal use of 'street money', a fourth-degree felony punishable by 18 months in prison.
Specifically, NJ statute 19:44A-11.7 prohibits candidates from distributing actual currency, or hard cash, to individual workers. Campaigns are prohibited from issuing bank checks made out to cash, which the law considers the functional equivalent of cash.
Now see for yourself, below on Mason's ELEC filing, the following checks made out to "cash" (highlighted in yellow):
(click to enlarge any image)
Next, "Attachment 2" is a list of names with addresses of money recipients corresponding to checks made out to "cash". Notice that in numerous cases, multiple recipients are 'splitting" the amount on a single check (circled).
Finally and perhaps fatally, the certification that the above disbursements are true, signed by Beth Mason and officers of her campaign:
Arguably, had Ms.Mason not chosen to hack away at Mr. Bhalla's character, then take it to the next level by demanding his resignation, coupled with a high-handed attack on his ethics, counter-charges may not have come to the fore.But she did, then he did.
And Mason's allies, including the cretinous 411, were licking their chops at the Mr. Bhalla's embarrassing, but not felonious, ELEC filing oversight. That was then.
This is altogether another matter. A very serious one. Should the State Attorney General's Office or the Hudson County Prosecutor decide to pursue charges.
Mason's ELEC report is a cross between a pulp horror novel and a car crash and I can't stop looking at it. Camp Mason has some explaining to do....
ReplyDeleteHe had to fight back - Mason was totally out of control with her attack on Bhalla. And it didn't appear that she was EVER going to stop - Frankly, I expected to hear her start putting forward resolutions at the council meeting where we had to hear debate about whether Bhalla was seen j-walking, getting parking tickets, and cutting in line at the supermarket,
ReplyDeleteMason has a 164 page elec report. Lots to see on that report. Reads like Raia's. Matt Callichio gets lots of cash and there's the typical multiple page list of $50 checks going out to "admin workers". Raia paid $35 per "worker."
ReplyDeleteYou would think after throwing her money away 3x, she'd give it up. The public isn't buying what she is selling.