From Northjersey.com:
Lodi’s school population is a fraction the size of
Ridgewood’s. Lodi’s legal bills for this
year are on a trajectory to surpass the amount listed for Ridgewood.
Lodi’s legal bills for this year will probably double the
amount of last year’s. You can see from
the invoices that I posted that “Cleary Giacobbe” is billing crazy amounts for
research on stupid questions from certain BOE members that should never even
made their way through Robert Brown to get to the firm.
Matthew Giacobbe has been nothing but dishonest with the board
from day one regarding his contract and everything else. The problem with the firm and its bills will
only get worse. Soon, you will see
budget transfers on the meeting agendas diverting money away from education
purposes to pay more for legal services. All unnecessarily.
The problem should have been addressed in September. The contract signed by Robert Brown and Matthew Giacobee (circumventing the board) should have been
terminated immediately. The board never voted on the contract. The other board members
failed the Lodi taxpayers by not holding anyone accountable and continually voting to pay the bills.
Side note: Before forming “Cleary Giacobbe”, Matthew
Giacobbe was an attorney at Scarinci Hollenbeck where he worked with Joseph
Ferriero and learned all about pay-to-play for public contracts.
Below are some campaign contributions from Matthew
Giacobbe (Scarinci Hollenbeck or Cleary Giacobbe listed as his employer):
Below are other campaign contributions listed at
Matthew Giacobbe’s home address and using a relative’s name:
Post date: February 10, 2020
