An addendum that arrived Friday shows another $9,667.50 bill for the political
firm Cleary Giacobbe.
Lodi is being billed excessively for completely
unnecessary research. Certain board
members are using the attorney for basic research that is readily available online
to any member of the public. Certain
board members are using the attorney for general questions that can be answered
through services covered by the school boards association.
Cleary Giacobbe has been deceitful from day one beginning
with its contract that never came before the board. Clearly Giacobbe attorneys have been
shamefully unprofessional at board meetings, especially Matthew Giacobbe and
Joseph Garcia (a former Paramus Councilman that hops from firm to firm with
Joseph Lagana).
The Lodi taxpayers are being ripped off. Cleary Giacobbe seized on an opportunity of instability
and incompetence. Its attorneys took advantage of
Lodi not having any superintendent for most of July and a committee that opted
to not use a search firm. Its attorneys took
advantage of interims interested in receiving fat pay checks to do the bare
minimum if anything at all. It took
advantage of board members too timid to hold anyone accountable.
I had issues with other firms representing Lodi as you
can see in past blog posts. With that
said, Cleary Giacobbe is the worst of the four firms over the last three years. I truly regret ever voting with four other board
members to reach out to Giacobbe for board attorney. I never voted on the contract for Giacobbe
and was willing to terminate them as soon as their first bills came in.
Prior to hiring this firm, I spoke to some board members
expressing my opinion that someone else gave a better presentation and is well
respected in the area. I wanted someone
that was strictly school law and was not engaging in pay-to-play abuses across
New Jersey. Unfortunately, a board
member that was not present for any of the attorney presentations during the
last two years lined up enough board members to vote for Giacobbe.
Marc Schrieks, Nancy Cardone, and Donald Scorzetti voted against hiring Giacobbe because Quatrone asked them to hire someone else. These three are aware of how much more Lodi is paying in legal costs with Giacobbe. However, they will keep Giacobbe because a partner at the firm, Joseph Lagana, gave Marc Schrieks a large campaign contribution and the firm was doing a lot to help Nancy Cardone with her recent political campaign.
