Mayor’s suit alleges libel against himself and his wife
By: Purvi Desai
WASHINGTON Mayor Dave Fried filed a lawsuit in Mercer County state Superior Court last week against the union representing township firefighters, its president and other unnamed persons, based on a complaint filed by the union to the state’s Local Finance Board and leaked to area press outlets earlier this month.
The mayor’s suit, filed Friday, alleges that the complaint contains libelous statements about himself and his wife, Kathryn, said the mayor’s attorney, Richard Collier.
Mr. Collier said the May 2 complaint, filed by union President Jason Palmer, contains numerous falsehoods that Mayor Fried said defamed and slandered his character. Mr. Collier’s office demanded Mr. Palmer "cease and desist from making such statements."
Some of the allegations in the union’s complaint state that there is a close business or personal relationship between Mayor Fried and Joseph Dibella, the township’s broker-of-record who is employed by Commerce National Insurance Services, according to documents from Mr. Collier’s office.
The union complaint also states that Mayor Fried and Mr. Dibella, who is mayor of Howell Township, are "close friends" and that both Washington and Howell townships switched to private health-care insurance during the same time "with possible ethics violations and conflicts of interest."
Other allegations made by the union, according to documents from Mr. Collier’s office, state that Mayor Fried has a partnership with Sharbell Development Corp. and that Mayor Fried’s company, Tricore Inc. of Robbinsville, does not pay rent to Sharbell for its office space at 1 Washington Blvd.
The union’s complaint also states "Under the ethics complaint about Fried, Sharbell and Bonani Realtors, it has come to light about certain campaign contributions may have exceeded the allowed limits by township ordinance."
The complaint alleges that Mrs. Fried worked for Commerce Insurance, a broker selected by the administration and Township Council last fall to bid the township’s insurance coverage. It also states that Mrs. Fried works for Bonnani Realtors.
"Those statements are false," Mr. Collier said. "The union and Mr. Palmer, on a lot of these allegations, could have found out the truth by simply picking up the phone."
Mayor Fried had given the union until May 10 to retract the statements they had made about him. When the union did not retract, the mayor filed suit.
Township Administrator Mary Caffrey said last week that the people threatened with the lawsuit included Mr. Palmer, former Mayor Doug Tindall, former committee member Ed Diefenbach, union Vice President Jason Belmont, and union members Dennis Symons and Keith Kemery.
Mr. Palmer and the union have not responded to several calls made by The Messenger-Press.
Mark Roselli, the township’s attorney, said the "ethics complaint" and accusations are a result of Mayor Fried’s wish to dissolve the fire district. Mayor Fried has expressed an interest in dissolving the fire company and shifting it to township’s control, saying that the $3 million operation is too large to be left in the hands of five volunteers, namely the fire commissioners of the district.
"This is not a slight on the commissioners, but it is a big operation," he said.
Ms. Caffrey sent a township response to the complaint to the Local Finance Board, in which she lists possible "motives" the union could have in making the allegations they have. Chiefly, she said, the motives could include a situation surrounding two unnamed firefighters who have tested positive for drugs, were fired and then rehired. One of them is still working for the district, she said.
Other issues Ms. Caffery cited include the fire district’s reluctance to share third-party billings from ambulances used by the district, which the township owns, inappropriate reimbursements for LASIK eye surgery and $180 Oakley sunglasses under the district’s eye plan.
Peter Marsch, chairman of the fire commissioners, said in an e-mail May 9 that the guidelines for reimbursements for items such as the surgery and sunglasses are provided for in the current collective bargaining agreement, which expires at the end of the year.
"In preparation for new collective bargaining (agreement), the board has begun to identify areas that are lacking in detail and explanation," he wrote.
Mike McGowan, a fire commissioner who is the only one on the commission in favor of dissolving the fire district, said the laser eye surgery and purchase of designer sunglasses "was stuff clearly out of our policies."
"We’re entrusted to taxpayer’s money," he said. "We can’t be buying $180, nonprescription Oakley sunglasses."
Ms. Caffrey also states in her response to the Local Finance that she viewed tapes of fire commission meetings where "two current commissioners, Greg Zalenski and Mr. Marsch, are heard in taking part in a discussion of how to rehire a fired firefighter who failed a drug test and "alter district records to cover the lapse in service."
Copies of those tapes, she states, can only be released with the permission of the Mercer County prosecutor’s office and were not available to the Messenger-Press by press time..
Ms. Caffrey said that she was contacted by Mr. McGowan regarding what to do with the tapes. She said she told Mr. McGowan to take them to the Police Department. The police, in turn, handed them over to the prosecutor’s office.
She said they have been forwarded to the state attorney general’s office.
"We have received a referral from the Mercer County prosecutor’s office about the Washington Township Fire District," said Peter Aseltine, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office, on Tuesday.
He said he could not specify what the "referral" was or whether it was the tapes, but they received it this week and they will investigate the matter.
Mr. Collier said that once the court clerk completes the initial paperwork and sends it back to his office, the summonses and complaint will be served on the union and Mr. Palmer.
"Under court rules, they have 35 days to respond," he said. "The parties then engage in what is called discovery, involving document production, deposition, subpoenas to third parties for depositions sworn testimony taken by the attorney but the courts are not there and the answers have to be given under oath."
Mr. Collier said that if the union had filed the complaint with the Local Finance Board and left it at that, they wouldn’t have been sued. But, he said, they gave the complaint to the press.
"They got a little bit too smart for themselves," he said.
As to his thoughts on possibly dissolving the fire district, Mr. Marsch said he thinks the district has the best shot at correcting the perceived management problems now with the additions of commissioners Joanna Lasky and Chuck Lynch than it ever has.
"Ms. Lasky and Mr. Lynch bring a great deal of experience to the district and they provide new insight into the running of the Fire Department," he said. "My concern as chairman, however, is that the department has sustained a great deal of damage."
Ms. Caffrey said the management issue is something serious and there is a strong likelihood that the council could vote affirmatively to dissolve the district.
"The district has not taken a stronger role in the management decisions of the district," she said. "The commissioners are publicly continuing to let the union beat up the mayor and me."
Ms. Caffrey also is mentioned in the fire union’s complaint for allegedly "violating ethics." Mr. McGowan said the union made a mistake in running to the press and that the matter could have been handled better if the regulatory commission had been involved.
"The mayor is willing to work with the fire commissioners and union to come up with something acceptable to everybody," Mr. Roselli said. "Any elected official is charged with the responsibility of doing what’s in the best interest of the township."
Mr. Marsch said the dissolution of the fire district will absolutely not hinder in any way the department’s services to the community.
"The residents and visitors to Washington Township will continue to receive the high level of public safety they have come to expect," he said.
Mr. Collier said Sharbell Corp., named in the union complaint, has sent a letter demanding retraction of statements made about them by the Fire Department. Whether a similar suit to Mayor Fried’s is filed has yet to be seen.
"I believe that several of the other people who have been under attack by the union are looking for representation," he said. "There are people actively looking for attorneys, and several have approached me, but I’m representing the mayor so I can’t represent them."