Here are the facts:
In 2012, then Lodi Borough Manager Anthony Luna named himself the “Acting Treasurer” of Lodi while awarding a very expensive non-competitive contract to Charles Cuccia (through his newly created business “Treasury Services”) who would employ and pay Tony Luna’s daughter. The arrangement was illegal, unethical, controversial and unorthodox. The minutes for the August 2012 meeting of the Lodi mayor and council show Tony Luna being named the “Acting Treasurer”. The minutes do not show that he was hiring his own daughter. The minutes show me questioning the mayor and council about the secretive hiring of relatives. I was tipped off about the illegal arrangement taking place that night. I was trying to push the mayor and council to disclose their arrangement that night because they were intentionally hiding it from the public. The minutes do not reflect that the conversation was specifically about the Luna/Cuccia arrangement. Debra Mella Cannizzo Ciliento was the Clerk at the time. She was always unprofessional and acted as an overpaid political operative and nothing more. Debra Ciliento’s actions and statements since retiring from Lodi should tell you everything you need to know about her and how she conducted herself as Borough Clerk. From the August 2012 minutes:
Link to the August 8, 2012 minutes:
2012-08-21-council-lodi-min.pdf (lodi-nj.org)
Since 2013, this blog was covering the arrangement:
An OPRA response from the State showed that two complaints were submitted to the State about Tony Luna’s actions around 2013/2014:
Tony Luna was fined $1,000 by the State in 2018 for ethics violations:
Charles Cuccia was fined $1,200 by the State in 2018 for ethics violations:
Since 2018, the Lodi Mayor and Council have been spending tens of thousands of Lodi tax dollars to appeal the fines for Tony Luna and Charles Cuccia. They went out of their way to hide this misappropriation of public funds from the public:
Phil Murphy, his former attorney general, and other high-ranking members of his administration have interfered in many ethics cases involving Lodi. They assisted in settlements for Joseph Licata and Dominic Miller and then tried to hide the Licata/Miller reprimands from the public. They interfered on behalf of the NJEA in going after my blog and free speech rights. Because of those reasons, I submitted an OPRA request to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs on June 6th to see if the Murphy Administration either secretly settled with Tony Luna and Charles Cuccia or if either of them paid their fines which should have been paid in 2018. The response from the State is shown below:
“The Division of Local Government Services has been forwarded the below request seeking
“Anthony Luna and Charles Cuccia (Borough of Lodi) were fined by the Local Finance Board in 2018 for ethics violations. The Lodi mayor and council have spent tens of thousands of dollars to appeal those fines. I am requesting any decisions, settlements, or other actions pertaining Anthony Luna and Charles Cuccia with respect to their appeal during the years 2020 thru June 6, 2022. I am requesting receipt of any payments made by Anthony Luna and Charles Cuccia to the State for their fines.”
This case is still pending at the Office of Administrative Law. Therefore, the Local Finance Board has no initial or final decision or settlement in this matter. In addition, Mr. Luna and Mr. Cuccia have not paid any fines.”
How can a case from 2014 still be pending over 8 years later?
How much in Lodi tax dollars is the Scott Luna administration willing to spend to appeal a $1,000 fine for the Mayor’s father?
How badly is Phil Murphy going to interfere on Luna’s behalf? Every Administrative Law Judge is selected by the governor. The office of administrative law is part of the State government. ALJ’s are not subject to complaints for judicial misconduct or governed by regulations and standards applied to real judges.
Who from the State will be defending the Local Finance
Board’s decision to fine Tony Luna and Charles Cuccia for ethics violations?
