A Few Years Ago, I Showed How Joseph Lagana Was Using His Campaign Account for “Cleary Giacbobbe” Pay-to-Play in East Brunswick. This Year, the Law Partners Tried A New Method to Hide Their Contributions but the Council Candidate Showed them Anyway.

In New Jersey, a reportable contribution is now defined as over $200. 

So look at what Matthew Giacobbe, Joseph Lagana, and other law partners of their firm are doing for the 2026 East Brunswick council election.

Joseph Lagana, Principal Partner

Matthew Giacobbe, Principal Partner

Salvatore Alfieri, Principal Partner

This fits a pattern. Just look at this Middletown news report (where the Giacobbe partners thought their names would not be disclosed).

They are all giving $200 in hopes that their names don’t appear on any searchable data base.  Some candidates report them anyway.

Lodi By The Numbers: Matthew Giaccobe Has Been Giving Money to BOE Candidates During the Term of His Contract. A "Reportable Individual Contribution" is Now Defined as Over $200 so Look at What Matthew Giaccobe and His Managing Partners Did in Middletown...

Here is a past post on Joseph Lagana and East Brunswick pay-to-play.

Lodi By The Numbers: The Politician Run Law Firm “Cleary Giacobbe” Has Been Using Joseph Lagana’s Campaign Account to Funnel Money into Political Campaigns Throughout New Jersey in Return for Public Contracts. These Campaign Contributions are Not Showing on the ELEC Website When People Search by Contributors. (Post Date: September 5, 2022)

How can any qualified, competent, honest attorney compete for public contracts if they don’t bribe local candidates with campaign cash and who knows what else? 

In Lodi, Nancy Cardone, Sharon Salvacion, Michael Apicella, and William Thomas did not report who contributed a large amount of their campaign cash.  You can bet it came from the Giacobbe law partners that have been ripping off the district for years. 

 

Saint Vincent, Patron Saint of Brothels, Leads a Procession of County Politicians...

 

My Car Insurance Just Went Up 23% Year to Year Thanks to Lodi’s State Senator Joseph Lagana…

 

Nothing changed in my policy. There were no accidents or other driving issues and my premium just increased more than 23%.

Joseph Lagana is the Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee where he is directly responsible for our soaring car insurance rates.

Lagana did not operate in a fair and practical manner.  His ELEC reports show that he was receiving large amounts of cash from both the insurance lobby and personal injury attorneys at the exact time he was pushing legislation and voting to approve legislation to benefit both groups at the total expense of the New Jersey rate payer.

ELEC reports show that Joseph Lagana took his big insurance money and other special interest money and spent it on trips to the Borgata casino, restaurants near his home and work, and pay-to-play for “Cleary Giacobbe” public contracts.

Joseph Lagana Cannot Have it Both Ways. "But while the Senate panel’s chair, Sen. Joseph Lagana (D-Bergen), conceded that using socioeconomic factors to set insurance rates could have “a discriminatory impact,” the committee did not act on the bill."

 

Link to story:

Critics say bias is behind NJ car insurance rates, urge lawmakers to act • New Jersey Monitor

It does seem discriminatory to make someone pay more for car insurance based on zip code, education level, etc.  After all, we have seen in recent years that the wealthiest, most over educated liberals seem to be the most reckless and foolish of any demographic. 

People should pay premiums based on driving records.

Joseph Lagana votes and acts based on who is paying him the most at any given time. 

He gets away with it because the Bergen County Democrat Organization cares more about money and less about discrimination.

He gets away with it because the Bergen County Republican Organization basically is the second-string Democrats.  They don’t run campaigns on any big issues or expose their opponents’ conflicts of interest, ELEC abuses, terrible records etc.  They just send out mailers with three boring generic talking points and are fine losing.

He gets away with it because failing local news sites like northjersey.com and nj.com don’t do their jobs in holding elected officials accountable.  They lack investigative journalism.