Lodi isn't Fighting to Get Back its Millions in Illegal Payouts Because the Lodi Mayor and Council, All of Their CFOs, and All of Their Borough Managers Orchestrated the Theft. Nancy Cardone, Sharon Salvavion, and Donald Scorzetti Voted With Conflicts of Interest to Carry it Out for Quatrone on the BOE Side.

Link to article today on nj.com about Palisades Park:

https://www.nj.com/bergen/2026/07/nj-official-paid-himself-an-extra-244k-town-says-how-it-fought-to-get-the-money-back.html

Link to past posts about blatant theft (illegal payouts) in Lodi:

https://lodioverhaul.blogspot.com/search?q=Sick+day+payouts&m=1

Palisades Park Still Has a Problem with Illegal Payouts Because it Made the Mistake of Hiring Matthew Giacobbe in 2021 to Investigate the Problem (Post Date: December 7, 2024)

It's shocking that Matthew Giacobbe posted this article on his law site as though he is proud to have failed the Taxpayers of Palisades Park:

https://cgajlaw.com/palisades-park-will-again-investigate-possible-vacation-sick-time-overpayments/

Palisades Park Definitely Hired the Wrong Special Counsel, Matthew Giacobbe, to Review Waste, Abuse, and Illegal Sick Day Payouts (Post Date: April 7, 2021)

Matthew Giacobbe was hired by Palisades Park to review the Comptroller's report provided in the link below:

http://lodioverhaul.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-state-comptroller-issed-report.html

A special counsel should be hired by each Board of Education and Municipality that uses Matthew Giacobbe and his firm to review the waste, abuse, and pay-to-play issues stemming from the firm itself.

After what Matthew Giacobbe did with Frank Quatrone’s sick day payout, you would think he would be the last person hired by any town to review illegal sick day payouts:

https://lodioverhaul.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-giacobbe-firm-filed-multiple.html

https://lodioverhaul.blogspot.com/search?q=giacobbe+quatrone

Palisades Park is paying Matthew Giacobbe $150/hr.  The Lodi Board of Education is paying Matthew Giacobbe $165/hr (an amount initially decided by Bob Brown and Matthew Giacobbe without any board negotiation or approval):

https://lodioverhaul.blogspot.com/2019/09/once-again-lodi-was-deceived-and-taken.html

https://lodioverhaul.blogspot.com/2020/07/last-year-mathew-giacobbe-and-bob-brown.html

 

 

 

Lodi Has Done a Lot Worse with Its Unlawful Payouts than What Appears in the Pleasantville Report. Tony Luna, Vincent Caruso, Frank Quatrone, etc., Have Received Unlawful Payments. The Phil Murphy Administration Has Covered for Them. This Blog Has Been Reporting on Lodi's Illegal Payouts Since its Start in 2013.

Link to letter from the Comptroller:

NJ Office of the State Comptroller - Letter Regarding Pleasantville's Wasteful Sick Leave Payment and Severance Policy

Past blog posts using the search: “illegal sick payouts”

Lodi By The Numbers: Search results for illegal sick payouts

Where Was Lodi's CFO and Treasurer When Vincent Caruso Far Exceeded the Sick Day Cap Over and Over Again?

Sunday, October 10, 2021

It Never Ends. Vincent Caruso Receives Another $35,543.95 in Special (Illegal) Payouts.

Click on image above to see more clearly.

Another special payout of $35,543.95 for Vincent Caruso after he is gone. 

Link to previous post on Vincent Caruso's Special Payouts (not compliant with State law):

https://lodioverhaul.blogspot.com/2021/01/extreme-greed-its-outrageous-that.html

Vincent Caruso Headline in 2014:

Karen Viscana Should Publicly Apologize to the Taxpayers of Lodi for Breaking the Law When She Was Appointed Mayor, Costing Lodi Taxpayers Millions in Illegal Payouts, and Then Lying About it for Over a Decade...

This blog was reporting on illegal sick day payouts in Lodi long before the New Jersey Comptroller's Office touched the subject.  Karen Viscana viciously attacked me for my reports.  

Lodi is worse than all of the other towns audited by the State because the Lodi Mayor and Council and the Lodi Board of Education were publicly informed that they were breaking the law years ago.  They were provided State statutes showing them that they were breaking the law years ago.  

Other towns are pleading ignorance of the law, claiming the discussion had not come up.  The discussion definitely took place in Lodi at public meetings, emails, news articles, etc.  Lodi knowingly broke the law.

Karen Viscana was on the Lodi council in 2007 and 2010- the two years in which the laws addressing the payouts were enacted.

I was right. Karen Viscana was wrong.  

Karen Viscana broke the law and then lied about it for over a decade.

Karen Viscana cost the taxpayers of Lodi millions of dollars in illegal payouts.

Karen Viscana owes the taxpayers of Lodi a public apology.

 

Lodi Police Chief Donald Scorzetti Has a Long History of Using Lodi Tax Dollars to Target People that He Doesn’t Like. Lodi Police Chief Donald Scorzetti Has a Long History of Covering Up Abuses Committed By Himself and His Political Organization. He Only Has Double Standards.

 

Donald Scorzetti's Only Standards are Double Standards

I spent two years with Donald Scorzetti on the Lodi Board of Education.  Here is a summary of what Donald Scorzetti did during those two years:  he had his girlfriend hired at his first meeting.  He did all special favors for members of the Lodi mayor and council and their relatives that were employed in the Lodi schools (how he became “Chief”).  He always voted with conflicts of interest.  He voted on contracts for the Lodi Police Chief’s brother and fought for his illegal sick day payouts.  He regularly cursed during closed session meetings.  As Board President, I asked him to act professionally during one of his cursing fits aimed at another board member.  Donald Scorzetti responded by calling me a “F---ing Retard”.

One week before my Election, Donald Scorzetti and Marc Schrieks worked with Matthew Giacobbe to hire Mathew Giacobbe’s former law partner to go after me and this blog.  They attempted to use Lodi tax dollars.  Their effort failed when they were only able to get 4 YES votes.  Think about this:  the Lodi Police Chief was voting to use Lodi tax dollars to go after this blog one week before an Election.  What do you think the attorney that they voted to hire and pay for with Lodi tax dollars was going to say about me and this blog?  Do you think that the attorney was going to be objective?  Of course not.  Political hack attorneys say and do what they are paid to say and do. 

Time for the double standard. A Deputy Attorney General subpoenaed the offices of the Lodi Board of Education for information pertaining to Dominic Miller and his misappropriation of public funds (Miller also was caught using Lodi tax dollars to target this blog and lying about it on tape).  Donald Scorzetti voted to NOT COMPLY with the Deputy AG’s subpoena.  He voted to NOT turn over the requested records.  He clearly had a conflict of interest in the matter pertaining to Dominic Miller.

Summary:  Lodi Police Chief Donald Scorzetti voted to hire an attorney (using Lodi tax dollars to target this blog).  Lodi Police Chief Donald Scorzetti also voted to NOT comply with a government subpoena in order to protect his close personal friend and subordinate Dominic Miller.  Do you see the glaring double standard?  What is worse: my blog posts or Dominic Miller’s misappropriation of public funds?

Let’s apply this lesson to Donald Scorzetti in his role as Lodi Police Chief.  What would a GPS in Donald Scorzetti’s publicly funded Tahoe tell us about his theft of public funds or the fraud committed by the Lodi mayor and council when they certified to the State that Scorzetti doesn’t use the Tahoe for personal use.  Scorzetti was all over social media driving his Tahoe around the shore with family and friends.  Why wasn’t a GPS placed in Dominic Miller’s vehicle?   If there were never any complaints from any contractors about Captain Grillo, why was a GPS only placed in Captain Grillo’s vehicles and not the vehicles of everyone else?    A problem didn’t present itself to Donald Scorzetti.  Donald Scorzetti went in search of one.  That is what Donald Scorzetti does when he wants to target someone that he doesn't like.

Donald Scorzetti has done a lot worse than anything he alleged in his complaint against Captain Grillo.  Yet, we don’t see any hearings against Donald Scorzetti.  We don’t see articles against him in the Star Ledger.  We don't see him dropped five ranks.  We only see the Lodi Mayor and Council rewarding him and his family over and over again. 

The NJ Office of the State Comptroller Was Aware that Lodi Was Violating State Law for Years with Blatantly Illegal Sick Day Payouts. Yet, Lodi Wasn't Included in this Audit. The State Covers Up for Lodi.

Link to report posted today:

https://www.nj.gov/comptroller/reports/2021/20220707.shtml

I was fighting illegal sick day payouts in Lodi for years. I was fighting alone. The State is useless. They issue reports like this to pretend like they are doing something. They do nothing.  They are all talk, no action.  They ask for tips, acknowledge people are violating the law, and then they do nothing.

Lodi politicians/employees illegally took millions from Lodi in sick day payouts just in the last few years. They got away with it. The State did nothing. Lodi taxpayers got screwed.

Matthew Giacobbe is complicit. Nancy Cardone is complicit. The entire Lodi mayor and council- Scott Luna, Vincent Martin, Emil Carafa, Albert DiChiara, and Joe Leto are complicit. Marc Schrieks is complicit. Borough Attorney Alan Spiniello is complicit. Lodi CFO Charles Cuccia is complicit. Lodi Police Chief Donald Scorzetti is complicit. Frank Belli is complicit. Many others in Lodi are complicit as well. 

This report shows that I was right all along. I was ignored and Lodi was robbed. Lesson learned: there is no justice and there are different standards for different people. The Lodi politicians and their politician run law firms have many close connections in the State that continually cover up for their lawlessness and theft.

The State Comptroller Released a Report about Illegal Sick Day Payouts in Palisades Park. The Report Should Have Been Written about Lodi.

Link to Comptroller’s Report about Palisades Park that was released today:

https://nj.gov/comptroller/news/docs/palisades_park_final_report.pdf

Link to story on nj1015:

https://nj1015.com/nj-flags-abuse-and-waste-in-towns-sick-leave-gas-card-payouts/

Last year, I took some heat for questioning Anna Belli’s sick day payouts. Click on the two links below:

https://lodioverhaul.blogspot.com/2020/05/special-payouts-total-secrecy-time-for.html

https://lodioverhaul.blogspot.com/2020/05/can-boro-hall-please-explain-additional.html

Anna Belli’s payouts cleary violated State law.  Karen Viscana should step away from Facebook for a few minutes and read the Comptroller’s report released today.  Karen Viscana was wrong as usual.

Vincent Caruso’s annual $10,637 sick day payouts clearly violate State law.

https://lodioverhaul.blogspot.com/2021/01/extreme-greed-its-outrageous-that.html

And of course, Frank Quatrone’s contracts and payouts were ILLEGAL.  I never witnessed such a corrupt process full of lies and illegal acts by so many:

https://lodioverhaul.blogspot.com/2020/01/did-frank-quatrone-have-agreement-with.html

https://lodioverhaul.blogspot.com/2020/08/you-probably-wouldnt-know-that-lodi.html

https://lodioverhaul.blogspot.com/2020/09/matthew-giacobbe-billed-lodi-taxpayers.html

The report released today shows how a Mayor and Council or a Board of Education can easily and blatantly violate State laws by approving illegal contracts and then following through with ILLEGAL payouts.

Some of the most blatant violations can be found in Lodi.  Yet the Lodi politicians continue to be protected, and the Lodi taxpayers continue to be robbed. 

Governor Phil Murphy has used his influence to cover up multiple investigations that were ongoing for Lodi when he took office.

 

 Post date: March 2, 2021