Tainted

The Administration of Trenton Mayor Eric Jackson made a good move yesterday. Mr. Jackson now needs to make another.

A resolution to grant a $20,000 contract for legal services to the law firm of Long Marmero & Associates LLP has been pulled from tonight’s session of Trenton’s City Council, due to serious allegations of ethical violations on the part of the firm, allegations filed by the Office of Attorney Ethics (OAE) of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Those allegations are serious enough that I can’t see the City moving forward with this contract proposal. That deal is Dead on Arrival.

The Administration pulled the resolution from tonight’s Council agenda after New Jersey blogger John Paff yesterday brought to light the complaint filed against the firm by the state on February 19 of this year. This filing alleges that a non-attorney administrator working for the firm spent over a 3-year period (2009-2012) nearly $200,000 of client trust account funds – funds which by law must be used only for client-related purposes – to pay other expenses for the firm. This included nearly $70,000 to cover bank account overdrafts (which is pretty remarkable!), a $27,000 payment to firm name partner Douglas Long, and $35K to cover a company payroll.

The firm responded in May with a formal brief filed with the state Supreme Court’s Ethics Committee in May, and the next step will be a hearing on the matter by the Committee. As of this morning, I have no knowledge that one has been scheduled.

In a separate statement reported this morning by Jenna Pizzi in her article for the Trenton Times, Mr. Marmero tried to minimize the severity of these charges, describing them as “several instances of bookkeeping in the past that did not meet technical requirements.”

Despite Mr. Marmero’s attempt to dismiss this as a “bookkeeping” problem, this is all serious stuff, which could lead to several sanctions against the firm, up to and including disbarment.  A quick perusal of disciplinary actions taken by the OAE over the last several years readily demonstrates that. Mr. Marmero is whistling past the graveyard if he thinks that repeated trust account violations over three years are just failures to meet “technical requirements.”

The City absolutely correctly concluded that a law firm currently tainted as it is by these charges should not represent the City of Trenton in any new legal matters, and was justified in pulling the resolution. I applaud that action by the City’s Law Department.

It is now up to Mayor Jackson to take the next logical step. During his campaign this Spring, Mr. Jackson’s election fund accepted a February 25 donation of $8,200 made by “ICE PAC,” a political action committee formally known as “Initiate Civic Empowerment,” an entity very closely – in my mind, too closely – associated with Long Marmero. Albert Marmero, the firm’s other name partner, was Treasurer of the PAC for several years, yielding that position to another Long marmero employee. The address for the PAC is the same as the firm. Based on the available evidence, ICE PAC exists primarily as the political action arm of the Long Marmero firm.

The payment to Mr. Jackson – the maximum allowed by State Law – was made less than one week after the OAE filed its complaint. Although no Long Marmero firm funds were included in the contribution, the close association of the law firm’s principals and employees with the PAC surely taints it. He should return the PAC money.

Mr. Jackson should also return $2,600 he received from the Bridgeton Democratic Organization in February. This organization made the contribution to the Jackson campaign mere days after receiving a donation in the exact same amount from ICE PAC.  Since the finances of the Bridgeton group are murky – having failed to submit required quarterly reporting to the state’s Election Law Enforcement Commission since 2008 – it is impossible to feel comfortable about this donation as well. I noted last month that the timing and sequence of donations from ICE PAC to Bridgeton to Jackson seemed too convenient to be coincidental. And that was before yesterday’s revelation of the state ethics complaint.

Both of these transactions have looked strange to me since April. The murkiness and the aroma have only increased since then. It’s not going to look any better any time soon. The Jackson Administration made a good move yesterday to cut ties with the Long Marmero firm. The Jackson Campaign needs to make a clean break as well. These two donations need to be returned ASAP.

I’ve repeatedly criticized Mr. Jackson and his campaign for this and other problems that the candidate, now Mayor, stubbornly refused to address. Despite some encouraging action and rhetoric coming out of City Hall from the still new Administration and its friends in county, state and federal government, incidents like these will cloud the Administration’s efforts if they continue to linger and are ignored until revelations like yesterday’s come into the light.

I also frequently quote Mr. Jackson’s own words on these matters, because they are true on their own, and because Mr. Jackson publicly and clearly set a high bar for his expectations for himself in office, and all those of his administration.

In March of this year, in the midst of the mayoral campaign, Candidate Jackson wrote, “[T]he next mayor has to lead by example. Municipal government is only as strong, ethical and transparent as its leader. The mayor must make it clear to every employee working for the city and its independent agencies that there is zero tolerance for corruption, personal enrichment or dishonesty.”

Mr. Jackson has an opportunity today to lead by example. He needs to show us what zero tolerance means to him.

He needs to return these two tainted donations.