If the last two Town Council meetings are any indication, then the upcoming meeting on Tuesday should continue a feud between Board of Education member George Heflich and Town Administrator Anthony Iacono over the latter’s cellular telephone records.
Heflich wants to look at the log of telephone calls made on Iacono’s town-issued cellular telephone to determine if any of the calls did not involve town business. Town records show that bills for one of the cellular telephones issued to Iacono ranged from $60 to $120 per month over the last year, with most months slightly under $100.
The matter is not without precedent, as years ago, Iacono actually challenged Heflich’s own cell phone calls when Heflich worked as a fire official.
Heflich has current ammunition against Iacono in the form of a recent report issued by a federal monitor of a local union.
In late 2002, Iacono, a former member of Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union Local 69, was banned from union activities because he "Knowingly associated with John Agathos Sr. in violation of the Union’s Ethical Practice Code," said investigator Kurt Muellenberg in a report. "Mr. Iacono permitted Agathos to use three different cell phones registered in Iacono’s name to make calls from Florida to New Jersey during a period when Mr. Iacono was working at the Meadowlands Sports complex. The board also found that Iacono had obstructed and impeded its efforts to learn why Iacono permitted Agathos to use [these] cell phones."
John Agathos Sr. was ejected from HERE Local 69 in 2001 because of alleged ties to organized crime, at which time Muellenberg was appointed as a federal monitor.
Iacono admitted a friendship with Agathos, but declined to answer other questions because he had resigned from the union in 1999 to take up a position in management and felt it would be improper to get involved with an investigation of the union.
Board of Education Member Tom Troyer has asked the town to follow up on the Muellenberg report, citing it as an ethical matter. But Town Attorney Frank Leanza refused to investigate the matter on the grounds that the action of the union had nothing to do with Iacono’s position.
Heflich, Troyer and other administration opponents are swarming on the issue, demanding to see the record of Iacono’s town-issued cellular telephone use – which is a public record.
"I have a list of requests," Heflich said. "Including a total breakdown of salary that Mr. Iacono gets for all of the jobs he holds in Town Hall."
Records show Iacono’s salary as town administrator is $84,271 with a small stipend for a few thousand dollars covering several other posts he holds. For most of the other dozen positions Iacono holds, he receives no salary.
Heflich’s request has a rich political history that goes back to 1997, when Iacono brought charges against Heflich for misuse of the town’s cellular telephone when Heflich still served as the town’s fire official.
In October, 1997, when Heflich ran against the Democrats in a race for the 1st Ward council seat, Iacono ordered the suspension of Heflich’s cellular phone privileges. At the time, Iacono said Heflich had made 25 calls to a Jersey City tavern over a four-month period. Iacono said Heflich’s phone bill during that period was $1,400 – a figure Heflich disputed. Heflich at the time explained that he was a member of the Horseshoe Club, which met at the bar.
The charges were dropped after the council election.
Heflich called the event one in a series of political attacks. In early 1998, Iacono recommended that Heflich’s position as a fire official be made part-time. The move eventually led to Heflich’s retirement, and prompted him to become one of Iacono’s most outspoken critics.
"So far they have not given me a breakdown of the phone calls I’ve asked for," Heflich said. "So I intend to go to the meeting and ask for it again."
Should taxpayers pay for an attack ad?
Councilman John Bueckner protested the use of taxpayer’s money to pay for an advertisement that attacked a private citizen.
During the June 24 meeting, Bueckner questioned a $550 expenditure for an advertisement that said, "Shame on you, Frank MacCormack."
The advertisement defended a vote the Board of Adjustment had taken approving variances for a Central Lane house.
MacCormack, frustrated with the approval, ran an advertisement asking for the removal of the board members.
Mayor Dennis Elwell said the Board of Adjustment ran their advertisement in answer to MacCormack’s charges. Elwell and others on the council said MacCormack had misstated critical facts when attacking the Board of Adjustment.
"I have no problem with the facts, but I think the advertisement was abusive," Bueckner said. "We cannot go attacking citizens who speak up at meetings. If he has the facts wrong, then say that. There is no reason to use lines like this: ‘After all the lies he’s [MacCormack] told…’ That goes beyond stating the facts."
Bueckner refused to vote to approve the payment of the bill and asked how the board could have approved such an advertisement.
"They have a $5,000 budget," Elwell said. "If they vote to approve to spend money to take out an ad, they can do it."
Councilman Bob Kickey, however, agreed with Bueckner, saying, "the board should have acted more responsibly."
Kicky also voted against the measure.