HOBOKEN –Second Ward Councilwoman Beth Mason sent out a press release Monday calling for the city’s newly hired special counsel, attorney Paul Condon, to resign because she believes at least one councilman voting for his contract may have had a conflict of interest.
Condon shares a law office with 2nd Ward Councilman Ravi Bhalla, who voted on his contract. Mason said that Bhalla’s vote was a “blatant” conflict.
Mason said, “Councilman Bhalla and Mr. Condon rent the same law office on River Street and share operating expenses totaling tens of thousands of dollars. If Mr. Condon can’t pay his share of those expenses, this directly affects Councilman Bhalla’s personal finances. This is one of the most blatant conflicts of interest I have ever seen.”
Bhalla responded by noting that he and Condon are not law partners. He said they don’t even pay rent together; their payments are separate. “That’s a theoretical, not an actual conflict of interest,” he said. “There’s simply no conflict of interest that would preclude me from voting on that resolution. We pay separate rents. We’re not a firm so we don’t intermingle any funds whatsoever.”
Bhalla also noted on Monday and in an interview with the Mile Square View blog over the weekend that he had asked the city’s attorney before the meeting if he could vote on the contract, and was told that he could do so.
However, Mason says that this was bad advice. In her release, she says she is “ ‘very concerned’ that Corporation Counsel Michael Kates told Bhalla he could vote for Condon’s contract. ‘I am very interested in learning how any qualified and impartial attorney could not see this blatant conflict of interest,’ Mason said.”
Mason said she believes the matter should be investigated by the New Jersey State Division of Local Government Services and the New Jersey Bar Association. She said that if Condon does not resign, she will introduce a resolution to fire him at the next council meeting and consider taking legal action on her own.
Condon was hired to deal with a recent situation involving suspended Hoboken Police Lt. Angelo Andriani. Condon’s contract is for $29,000.
Bhalla said Monday that Condon was hired because he had handled aspects of the Andriani case for the city during the previous administration of Mayor David Roberts, so the city took advantage of his knowledge of the case by hiring him again. He said that it was first the Roberts administration who hired him.
“I take it as a personal attack, especially the suggestion that she’s going to contact the state bar association,” Bhalla said in response to Mason’s release. “It’s unfortunate. It’s a distraction at a time when we’re trying to pass a budget and at a time when we’re trying to review serious issues related to the police audit.”
When asked if it might have helped to reveal his relationship with Condon before the vote, Bhalla said, “In hindsight it might have been better to publicly ask corporation counsel whether I was permitted to vote, just so the public was aware. But I think at end of the day it would have led to the same result.”
Mason also added in the release that she sees another conflict. She said Councilman Peter Cunningham has a conflict in his vote because his wife and Condon’s wife work together in real estate. She also said that Condon donated $750 to Cunningham’s campaign.
Mason, who has run against Mayor Dawn Zimmer for office before, could not resist a comment on Zimmer, who is a close ally of Bhalla. She said: “I ask that Mayor Zimmer, who recommended Mr. Condon for the position of Special Counsel, join me now in asking for his resignation. The Mayor and her City Council majority must not refuse to give the people of Hoboken the open, honest government they deserve. This cronyism is nothing more than business as usual in Hoboken politics and certainly not the kind of government they promised.”