Another Carmelo Garcia scandal? Somebody, keep count.
You know, GA likes Hoboken politico Perry Belfiore. In fact, I showed him my eggplant at ShopRite recently and he let me pet his hair. So, it is with sadness GA finds him at the center of the breaking "Hair-gate" scandal, although without him at the center, we'd have to call it something else.
Here it is.
Until recently, few Hoboken residents knew that 6th Ward candidate Carmelo Garcia's moronic "ethnic cleansing" lawsuit against the Mayor of Hoboken, hubby Stan, Councilman Dave Mello, HHA Chairwoman Dana Wefer and the prior HHA Chairman was still going on.
Not any more.
At 4:34 PM on October 21, 2015 PolitickerNJ dropped a bomb for Carmelo Garcia, timed within 3 hours of the final Hoboken City Council meeting before municipal elections on November 3.
What was it?
'Ethnic cleansing' Plaintiff Garcia unleashed 500 emails produced by Defendants in the discovery phase of his litigation to the media! Discovery emails are not public documents; they are exchanged by parties for use in depositions, and in the trial to support/prove Plaintiffs' or Defendants' case.
GA has a reasonable basis to believe that Garcia's litigation, launched in 2013, was in design a fishing expedition to abuse discovery in order to damage Mayor Zimmer and her administration prior to the 2015 election.
Well, it looks like the Dark Side gang was in on it. That is my OPINION. Defendants may need to issue a slew of subpoenas to depose parties who may have had knowledge of/or enabled this political operation to go forward.
There is no other reason than POLITICS, to have unleashed 500 discovery documents during the discovery phase of the litigation into the public domain.
Who got copies of Garcia's discovery emails, other than the press and when did they get them?
Enter, Hair-gate.
Perry Belfiore carried a manila folder up to the podium on Wednesday night to speak during the public portion.
Thank you Council. Since I’ve been involved in politics there’s been a raging question: what is the extent to which a sitting mayor can intrude upon the sovereign function of an independent body or board? What is that extent? Detractors of the mayor would say, “no”. Fans of the mayor would say, “as far as he could go, or she could go and then some.” The question has never been posed, what of the mayor’s spouse. What right does the mayor’s spouse have… (Council President Ravi Bhalla interrupts) You’re censoring me, Ravi… you’re censoring me...(Belfiore opens his folder and takes out one of the papers) I’m not gonna let you talk over me… (he takes out a second paper from the folder, is holding 'emails' in both hands) do you know that the mayor’s husband wrote a resolution firing Carmelo Garcia.. Here it is, right here (thrusts the paper in his right hand forward) … Here it is, right here… (moves paper into position to read… police approach Belfiore, Beth Mason protests to Ravi, Belfiore escorted out).Ummm...
Why did Hoboken politico Perry 'The Hair' Belfiore have custody of unpublished discovery emails produced by Defendants in Carmelo Garcia's litigation?
That's Hair-gate. GA would like to know the answer.
The choreography of this political operation is told in video stills: from the Mason political operative who filmed it, to 'The Hair' who waved around copies of Garcia emails from the podium, to the wriggling Beth Mason griming smugly in her chair until 'The Hair" is escorted out without executing his attempt to read one email into the public record.
GA Note: It's fascinating that Garcia, who was fired from his HHA Executive Director position for cause, an action supported by the trail of HUD reports, audits and ELECs in the public domain, thinks this stunt gets him elected.
In my OPINION, this email dump is the beginning of the end of Carmelo's 'ethnic cleansing' lawsuit. In my OPINION, this email dump has given all Defendants- including the City of Hoboken, a case for malicious abuse of process complaints against Garcia, and possibly others.
GA hopes the City moves to recover the $150,000 of taxpayer money spent to defend this garbage from whomever the Court deems liable.
Look, everyone can spin this all they want. But I just don't see any way that Stan beats Carmelo in the 6th ward.
ReplyDeleteJen might kick his ass though.
Just read Al Sulivan's story in the Hoboken Reporter and he tried very hard to make it one of his usual hit pieces but I think most people who even bother to read it will be sending thank you letters to those who helped prevent Carmelo Garcia from doing any more damage to Hoboken.
DeleteThose who in the also want to prevent him from doing any more damage should help get out the vote for Jen Gianttino on election day.
Aren't all of those e-mail public records? Mello, Stuiver and Lincoln were all commissioners discussing HHA business. The emails are public record.
ReplyDeleteNo. Grossbard is a private citizen. They are not public record, just like your emails- no matter what you are discussing.
Deleteelected officials get advice from the public all the time. They get sent resolutions. by lawyers, interest groups, citizens like lane bajardi.whatever stan wrote in 2013 was never used and irrelevant to what happened in 2014 when the no-bid contracts and campaign contributions by hha vendors were uncovered. GA maybe you can publish Garcia's termination resolution so everybody understands how and why he got canned.
DeleteWhen all is said and done, Stan has the strongest case to recover punitive damages for being dragged through the mud on malicious prosecution, especially if there are impacts to his business. NJ has stronger first amendment protections than the US constitution. He is a private citizen, a Hoboken resident and a taxpayer. He can give his opinions and write whatever he wants to whoever he wants. These idiots sue first and ask questions later.
DeleteGrossbard and Zimmer are two of the largest donors to council member campaign funds. If you can criticize donors, why not when it's Stan.
DeleteSpin all you want, if his name was replaced by any other spouse you'd all be going crazy.
GA all mail to city council members and commissioners discussing city business are public record from the side of the public official. You should know that
DeleteResolutions are one thing. Directions to fire someone no matter how bad is not a public discussion.
DeleteImagine a member of the public colluding with BOE members to fire a teacher who wasn't Rice noticed ?
The commissioners and council should not have been discussing personnel matters with a Stan if he is just "Joe Public" which he is kinda not.
The “Rice Notice” exception to the Open Public Meetings Act is found at N.J.S.A. 10:4-12b(8). It states that a public body may go into closed session when discussing: “Any matter involving the employment, appointment, termination of employment, terms and conditions of employment, evaluation of the performance of, promotion or disciplining of any specific prospective public officer or employee or current public officer or employee employed or appointed by the public body, unless all the individual employees or appointees whose rights could be adversely affected request in writing that such matter or matters be discussed at a public meeting.”
Courts have held this to apply to both current and future employees, and to apply in issues involving discussions of qualifications, hiring, firing, promotion, etc.
There has been no direct statement by the courts as to whether someone can “have their cake and eat it too,” meaning they can opt for a closed session and still attend. The only mention of such an action was in 1991 where the facts indicated that an effected employee attended a closed hearing, but that was not an issue in the case and the Supreme Court did not discuss the propriety of such an action.
If someone opted for a closed meeting but still wished to attend, I would discuss with your municipal attorney the pros and cons of excluding them and decide from there.
Anon @ 7:45AM- yes, of course I know that- public officials' email is OPRA-able. A private citizen's email is NOT. We don't know WHICH defendant the emails came from since discovery requests are served to individual parties. It sounds like you may know, in which case you have seen documents which were improperly released.
DeleteYou (and others) ignore the point: 500 court-supervised discovery documents were dumped in the public square by the PLAINTIFF during the discovery phase of the litigation. Your side is too giddy over taking a swipe at the mayor to understand the serious consequences.
Have at it!
It is great that Carmelo Garcia reminded everyone in the 6th Ward what a real low life he is and all the low lives he hangs with.
ReplyDeleteThis is the Dean of Admissions.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who has seen the movie "The Social Network," about Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's creation of his company at our esteemed campus, may recall a scene in which the Winkelvoss twins, from whom Mr. Zuckerberg essentially stole the idea for his business, participate in a rowing race.
This has much to do with our esteemed alumnus at the crux of this article. For one, he is often in the practice of stealing credit for things with which he had little to do. For another, like the river in which the Winkelvoss twins row, our esteemed alumnus is in the practice of flooding our lives with his endless stream of diarrhetic bullshit. And the less said about the streams down George Ortiz's doorstep, the better.
Belfiore certainly dragged himself into this litigation.
ReplyDeleteI have a question about this "Carmelo" character, and about his supporters.
ReplyDeleteThis character is running for the 6th Ward Council seat, a paid government position, correct?
He is also a public employee in the City of Newark, correct?
Currently, he is still a paid member of the New Jersey State Assembly, is this correct?
Had he not been removed, he would still hold the public, high-paying job of Executive Director of the Hoboken Housing Authority, is this correct?
He also holds, I believe still, an "aide" position to the Board of Chosen Freeholders of the County of Hudson, with a five-thousand-dollar stipend, correct?
And amid all this, until fairly recently, sat as a member of the Board of Education, is this also correct?
So what I would really like to know is, of those who are currently supporting his run for City Council, among them Michael Russo, Beth Mason, Theresa Castellano, Ruben Ramos, and, presumably, political operative James Barracato, how do they reconcile their support for this character in his various public-trough-feeding endeavors, after having waged their "Dual Job Dawn" single-issue campaign against Mayor Zimmer when she held the legally-required simultaneous roles of City Council President and Mayor of Hoboken?
I would very much like to hear from these people, and see them asked "early and often," any explanation they may be willing to offer to reconcile these seemingly polar-opposite positions.
Great point!
DeleteEasy they are hypocrites.
DeleteCG , in all likelihood, just destroyed himself and perhaps others with him . I don't like Carmelo but did he factor in his family when, publicly and without court authority , release discovery in an active judicial matter ? His case is blown to smithereens and he exposed himself to liability and others with him .
ReplyDeleteThey're going to deny being the leak. But the documents are tagged. Handing them over to Belfiore was moronic. It is ever the case that people only try cases in the media when they can't win them in court.
DeleteBingo. That's the part of the story the press- even HCV who has done a great job, missed so far. Litigation is not sexy- it is tortuously slow, tied up and bound in rules. For example, I can't/won't discuss or reveal anything related to the notice of Appeal filed by (pro se) Appellants Lane Bajardi and Kim Cardinal. In my OPINION, the Belfiore appearance was the tip-off that Garcia's discovery docs were circulated without court authority, days prior to a city election, and others- possibly members of the City Council received copies.
DeleteIn short, Carmelo spit on the court of law to be vindicated in the court of public opinion. Well, they shot their load. We'll see if it paid off on Nov. 3.
The irony is, in my opinion, the person most injured in the eyes of the law is the one private citizen, a named Defendant in Carmelo's lawsuit. Yes, Grossbard is a private citizen, his emails are not public documents and dumping them to the press in the middle of litigation is, in my opinion, a violation of his civil rights for which he may have a claim. But hey, I'm not a lawyer.
Following that I believe the City was right to shut Belfiore down. If Corporation Counsel thought otherwise, she would have spoken out. The 'other side's' "First Amendment" argument is trumped by a DEFENDANT'S FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS not to have non-public documents read or discussed at public meetings DURING LITIGATION and to be tried in a COURT, not in the PRESS.
Every taxpayer in Hoboken ought to send Bhalla a Thank-you note.
Stan Grossbard is not a private citizen!
DeleteHe was a defacto member of the rent control ordinance committee!
Council candidates all must meet with him
Spin it all you want, Stan Grossbard sent emails to Dave Mello, so if someone brings up Mello's email it's PUBLIC DOMAIN!!!
moron@10:20...wrong, on all counts, but you knew that. It's hilarious that you guys don't realize this email "scandal" DOESN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO with the 6th ward and does nothing to help Garcia there. Voters there DON'T FREAKING CARE!
DeleteSounding pretty desperate, not much fun when a "bombshell" blows up in your face, huh?
By my count the the bad guys have had two smear operations blow up in their faces just this week. That whole phony tax group the manufactured collapsed under the weight of the lies they made it out of and this latest hot steaming mess just reminds people that Garcia is a real creepy guy. That certainly helps Jen Gianttino in the 6th Ward.
DeleteIs the city paying for The Mayor and her husband's legal defense ?
ReplyDeleteOf so... he's a PUBLIC figure
No, it is not paying. But you knew that, troll.
DeleteNo I did not. either.. Sorry I didnt get the email.
DeleteThey eventually acted on Stanley's advice! this is not the lil ol lady asking to have a tree put in front of her house.
ReplyDeleteWhen Roman brings up Ricky Mason at the council he wasnt escorted out by cops.... why is that ???????????
Spouses should butt out.
ReplyDeleteWith the exception of Doyle's wife (another former city vendor),the rest of the council members spouses and family do not director attempt to influence the government.
They are public figures, speaking in the public square. GA, if Michele russo was caught doing this your head would explode. Lets be honest
So your saying that you think some private citizen's should give up their constitutional rights because who they are married to ?
DeleteLet's be honest. Since you brought it up, Michelle Russo if the news reports are correct was alleged to have extorted kick backs from the Pino Towing while her husband was mayor and she was appointed to a board.
Just for fun if you live in the 3rd Ward and thought of voting for Michael Russo makes you want to vomit, write in Solomon Dwek.
ReplyDeleteIt won't change a thing but will really piss off one cafone (gavone) family when the votes get reported.