Town residents will be paying tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees for the defense of town employees that may be targeted in the state Attorney General’s investigation of corruption at the Department of Public Works

Last night the five member township board of commissioners agreed to an additional criminal attorney Brian Neary, in addition to the two criminal defense attorneys they hired two weeks ago to represent DPW Superintendent  James Wiley and others who have been targeted in a state investigation into possible misuse of department personnel who, according to media reports, may have been doing work at private homes and campaigning for Mayor Nick Sacco while on township time.

The attorneys were listed on the agenda has hires to do tort claim work. But under questioning during the Commission meeting’s public comment session, attorney Mario Blanch, who represents the North Bergen Concerned Citizens Group, asked the commissioners what kind of work the lawyers would be doing,

He was told that they would be defending Wiley and other personnel who have received subpoenas from the attorney general’s office. Wiley earns $117,000 a year and remains on active duty while the investigation continues.  At the previous commission meeting the town hired

Blanch said it was outrageous for the town taxpayer to pay for defense attorneys for employees who may be accused of criminal activity.

“It’s completely inappropriate for the town commissioners to put the financial burden of paying for the criminal defense of town employees on the taxpayers,” said Blanch.    

“Their defense could run to tens of thousands of dollars for each employee. How big a check is the town commission going to write to defend people who are being investigated for abusing the taxpayers’ money in the first place?” asked Blanch

Last night the town commission agreed to hire attorney Brian Nearywith offices in Hoboken and Hackensack. They also agreed to hire the firm of  McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter – a powerhouse firm with offices in Newark and Morristown that -- according to its website -- specializes in white collar crime and election and campaign law. No reason was given for the hiring of McElroy. Two weeks ago the commission hired  John D Lynch of Union City and Vincent J La Paglia of Hoboken, who, according to Blanch will be representing the DPW workers.

Blanch said with the town paying for the legal defense of the DPW  employees, they are less likely to cooperate with the state investigators and more eager to protect town officials who may be implicated in alleged wrongdoing.

“The attorney general’s office is attempting to get at the truth of the reports of abuses at the DPW; what the commission has done over the past two weeks will hinder the search for truth,” said Blanch.

Earlier this month, The Star-Ledger newspaper of Newark reported that:  Law enforcement officials confirmed the Attorney General is examining claims Wiley uses his staff as a political strong arm for the local Democratic Municipal Committee, deploying workers to tear down opposition signs, rip up flyers and bully residents and merchants who dare to express opposing views toward the committee.

Five former North Bergen employees have provided similar accounts to the newspaper, describing a public works department ruled by intimidation. The former employees said workers who refuse to follow Wiley’s orders are threatened with the loss of their jobs.

NBCCG co-chair  Marissa Suarez noted the citizen organization reported misuse of DPW workers on behalf of the Sacco re-election campaign last spring. NBCCG members recorded DPW workers gathering political literature left at homes by Sacco’s opponents.

A DPW supervisor was also videotaped coercing a store owner to take down a political sign endorsing Sacco’s opponents.   

‘The commissioners should be working to get to the truth and correcting the problems at the DPW; instead they seem to be orchestrating a cover up,” said Suarez.