Assemblyman Garcia to his Wire: "I will now be shutting down"


The Hoboken Reporter,  April 18, 2013

As if you haven't had enough excitement with new disclosures about what Governor Christie knew and when he knew it....

Here comes the 33rd District Assemblyman Carmelo Garcia's secretly recorded lunch meeting with the mayor's husband, Stan Grossbard and attorney Bernie Kenny!

Yep, yesterday's Jersey Journal published the actual audio of the lunch meeting that Garcia had convened with Grossbard on January 6, 2013; GA has embedded it here for your listening pleasure:



The most fascinating aspect of the entire secretly taped lunch meeting is the end of the recording. That is where Garcia says goodbye to his old friend, Bernie Kenny, gets in his car and talks to his wire.

Yep, the audiotape ends with chit-chat to his recording device.  That's where we learn WHY Garcia secretly taped the meeting, a meeting which he convened.

Garcia tells his wire that "his goal was accomplished"  and that "much of what you heard today"  involves "them" (the mayor, her husband)  "assuming control of my board" to "steer contracts" and "bid rigging", and one of  the contract steering claims: "for special counsel to be eventually the firm of Kenny and Florio"

Yikes.  Bernie Kenny was an old friend and mentor to Assemblyman Garcia 

GA says "was" because there's nothing like accusing a pal of contract steering to kill a friendship.  Try it!  You'll see.  Not to mention the secret tape-recording part.

Anyway, GA has transcribed the last minutes of the audiotape.

And in my non-actionable and First Amendment-protected opinion, this is where Garcia suggests the 'purpose' of the recording is to set-up the mayor, her husband and an HHA commissioner for the litigation to follow.

 Here are 33rd District Assemblyman Carmelo Garcia's last words to his wire: 

Okay so, getting into my car now... it is 3:20, and I'm exiting the parking lot, I will now be shutting down, but clearly this goal was accomplished with respect to proving my theory and in fact acknowledging what they're all about.  What the bottom line is, it's politics, politic at its worse and what they want to use the housing authority for clearly they are unaware of, where the uh, uh, where the uh, appointing authority powers lie, and where, I uh, my...(pause)... ability on the principles and on what I've been trained and taught to exercise as the statue is what I have to use so that I do not- as I will be consistent to a fault-  I do not waiver in my practice so hopefully uh,  the federal government, HUD, OIG and those parties that are there to help me will recognize that I was right all along, with  , the uh connection of these dots, the mayor having control over all the other boards, and assuming control of my board,  and thinking they are in fact the appointing authority, and that by virtue of their powers, they carry out the agenda of the administration, and the mayor.  Much of what you heard today, involves them wanting the professionals picked by their people, the majority of four, Jamie Stuiver, Dave Mello, Greg Lincoln and Judy Burrell, which in fact leads to a steering of a contract,and a rigging of a bid, to ah give  who they want which is the firm of Chasen Leyner & Lamparalla Joe Garcia to become general counsel  and for special counsel to be eventually the firm of Kenny and Florio. That's where I think this is all about.  To establish that trust so that their bulldogs, they can call off their dogs, and you know, not try to defame me and saying that the executive director has something to hide. So with that I will close, and hopefully uh, I look forward to a vindication, I look forward to a-uh, means to an end, which is the righteous uh, stance of I know what I've been talking about all along, I've been uncomfortable, it's been a hostile work environment, and it's all been about politics and what they want.  Thank you.
What do you think?

GA wonders how the press got a copy of the audiotape; why would Zayas go public with this?   Simply put, the audio guts his complaint- and his client's credibility- like a fish.    One example, the claim that Zimmer had her own "Vision 20/20" plan is disproven by Garcia's taped narrative of how he shopped his Vision 20/20 to Director Brandy Forbes with no mention of the mayor pushing an  "ethnically-cleansed" version.  

The bottom line is, nothing in this audio is helpful to Garcia's case nor his reputation.

Moreover, now that he's an elected NJ State Assemblyman, why remind his peers in Trenton that he wears a wire?

Perhaps his Trenton peers should consider purchasing a R.A.T. (Recording Affidavit Touchscreen). 
 

Comments

  1. The JJ has been embarrassing itself lately by publishing "stories" that are nothing more than press releases sent to them. Most of the time they don't bother to include details...previously published in the JJ.

    What I wouldn't give for a real newspaper in New Jersey. A weak 4th estate allows the corruption and nepotism that runs rampant locally and at the statehouse to continue unabated.

    Thanks to GA, Da Horsey and other bloggers for picking up the slack!

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  2. This guy's ramblings are often incoherent, wtf is is point half the time? Also, only a dark sider would equate a majority vote with "steering" and "rigging." Um, no, it's just a majority decision on a topic.

    He may be crafty but, as it turns out, not very bright.

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  3. Carmelo the Ethic Colon KlenzFebruary 1, 2014 at 12:04 PM

    If you listen to the extensive discussion on the tape about the role of the HHA Board under the law and the requirement any professional satisfy the credibility of its members and connect that to Carmelo's obtuseness, we can now ALL see what's happened.

    Carmelo Garcia doesn't care about the law. He thinks he's a DICTATOR and the board should be a rubber stamp (hopefully with as many uneducated residents he can see capitulate to him as their landlord) to his self-appointed greatness. End of story.

    Did you know the federal agency HUD "reveres" Carmelo. He tells everyone who will listen and says so repeatedly on the tape.

    Even with the explanation of the law, how boards function and how he was "trained" to think of himself - a mere hired contractor serving at the pleasure of the HHA board - he can't accept it.

    He wants to be dictator. He thinks he deserves to be the dictator and the idea he has to have professionals acceptable to the HHA board is clearly unfathomable to him.

    He obviously showed that as he has tried to ram through Charlie Daglian what more than a half dozen times with the HHA Board of Commissioners voting it down each time.

    In the real world, a Board would call this insubordination and he'd be fired the second time he pulled this stunt, if not after the first.

    That he sued people including a former commissioner and the HHA itself because they won't allow him to be dictator, well that's just additional grounds for termination of a contract.

    Oh and what he did to the former State Senator, there's a special place in hell for Mr. Carmelo
    .
    What a self-absorbed megalomaniac scumbag.

    He obviously thinks the poor HHA tenants are his peasants. No wonder Jessica Coco and others have gone through hell.

    Guy should be in jail not contracted to run an agency.

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  4. This all came about because Carmelo hired Charles Daglian as HHA attorney without any public input or any public hearing. Daglian then wrote a $150k contract between the HHA and Carmelo with no public input or public hearing. The Mayors stance through her appointees was that such business should be conducted in public and with public input - no matter who was eventually hired as HHA counsel. Carmelo's entire ploy here was to try and say the Mayor was pushing a specific firm - which is Carmelo's conclusion; not the conclusion of anybody reasonable.

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  5. Are those Joe Branco's white loafers underneath the rat?

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    Replies
    1. Fun to watch Mr. Carmelo's cheer boys try to put lipstick on their pig with the non-stop press releases.

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  6. I could not get past the first minutes of the disgusting dreck on the tape. Carmmie's talk with Kenny about Kenny's family and college transfer of credits juxtaposed to Carmmie's brutal accent and phony caring was nauseating. Only a true scumbag sociopath asshole could have such an intimate and personal conversation with an old friend at the same time be taping the conversation. What a complete an utter jerk. I hope that everyone of his colleagues in the Assembly get wind of how odious this asswipe is and that he is avoided like the plague.

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  7. Mayor Stack must be so proud to have chosen this race baiting, dirt bag hater as his Assemblyman.

    Did Garcia record Gov. Christie when he mad the deal to endorse him ?

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  8. He took Jake under his wing? Really? He sounds so trashy and foolish. Notice how at the very beginning he feigns concern and admiration for Kenny's son then within seconds turns the conversation to himself. Reform had been on to this cad for years and they haven't hidden it either. They distance themselves from him, no eye contact given and certainly no kissing God forbid there is a photo op no one wants to be caught in a picture with him.

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  9. Gonna listen to this a the gym tomorrow. Thanks GA!

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