Roselle Council President Jamel Holley -- instrumental in the 'shotgun' firing of Plainfield Councilor Adrian Mapp as that borough's chief financial officer -- may yet walk in the vote tampering case lodged against him by the Attorney General's office.
Word in the street is that Holley is being lined up for the state's pre-trial intervention program (PTI) in which, in exchange for a guilty plea -- and giving up his seat on the Roselle Council and forgoing future public service -- he would avoid jail time.
Holley, the former chief of staff to disgraced ex-Assemblyman Neil Cohen was quickly moved from that office (which is shared with State Sen. Ray Lesniak and Asm Joe Cryan, who is also chair of the state Democratic party) to a job with Union County's Office of Economic Development after allegations of ballot fraud arose in the 2006 election.
Scores of absentee ballots were examined and though Union County Superior Court Judge John Malone dismissed the complaint, he was reversed on appeal. The case went to trial before a different judge and 31 of 54 absentee ballots were invalidated as a result.
(I am told by someone who was involved in recounting the 2006 ballots that those in question were identifiable at a distance as Holley's signature and other information was filled out with a light blue felt-tipped pen.)
A puzzle to many has been why Holley was able to avoid the taint of indictment (unlike with high-profile vote fraud cases in Atlantic City and Essex County), though both the Ledger's Auditor (see here) and New Jersey Today (see here) point out that Holley has a powerful friend in state Democratic party chair Joe Cryan.
Whether there are mysterious machinations may only be known by a Higher Power, but one thing that seems certain is that Holley's actions in getting Mapp fired may expose the taxpayers of Roselle to a costly lawsuit and the prospect of a financial award to the former CFO for breach of contract.
- NJToday -
- The Auditor: "Kicking accused politicians out of office"
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1 comments:
Holly, who has been charged with a serious crime, may get PTI but everyone knows he's guilty. Look at everyone else in the 20th legislative office:
Neil Cohen: indicted
Rosemary McGlave, his treasurer: indicted and PTI
Joe Cryan: under investigation by the attorney general for questionable
real estate dealings
Charlotte DeFillippo, Democratic chairwoman, head of UCIA (the Monarch's redevelopment agency), former Cohen aide: under investigation for questionable real estate dealings and for being a pension-padding no show "aide" to Cohen
Who else has some questionable real estate dealings where they made over $700,000 for selling a property to the UCIA for a development that will never get built?
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