A Democratic candidate for Secaucus Town Council is battling in court with her business partner, but the head of the local party does not believe that the matter will hurt the Democratic slate in the June primary or the November general election.
Nancy Mateo, the Democratic candidate for the 2nd Ward Town Council seat, has been accused by her business partner, Laura Maffei, of allegedly stealing $32,000 from Fifth & Front, a bar and restaurant located at 780 Fifth St., which the women co-own.
But Mateo’s attorney Gerald Miller called the charges “trumped up” and said they have no basis in any evidence. The Hudson County Prosecutor has downgraded the case and has referred it back to the Secaucus Municipal Court.
“That’s a personal issue between [Mateo and Maffei].” – Vincent Prieto
________
The case was downgraded in January of this year, Miller said. The matter was never referred to a grand jury.
Mateo remains a co-owner of the bar/restaurant as she and her partner decide how to resolve any outstanding financial issues, but she is not involved in the day-to-day operations.
Stems from ongoing business dispute
Maffei’s criminal complaint against Mateo stems from an ongoing civil suit between the two women. Several years ago, when Maffei and Mateo decided the dissolve their business partnership, they began a series of lawsuits and counter suits against one another.
Maffei refused to be interviewed for this story, although there is three years’ worth of paperwork on the matter.
According to court documents, when Maffei and Mateo were dissolving their business partnership, Maffei believed she discovered that Mateo had allegedly written several checks against the restaurant’s account. Maffei claims that Mateo wrote most of the checks to herself; at least two other checks were allegedly written to other people.
The checks allegedly total nearly $32,000.
Town Prosecutor Karen Boylan recently said one reason the case has not reached a resolution was because of a conflict that Boylan had with one of the women’s attorneys.
“As it turned out, [Mateo’s] attorney is also my personal attorney. So I had a conflict,” Boylan said.
The Secaucus Municipal Court has now brought in a special prosecutor, Rackesh Desai, to hear the matter.
‘No bearing’ on election
Last month, Secaucus Democratic Committee Chairman Vincent Prieto announced that Mateo would run for council along with 1st Ward candidate Robert Zych and 3rd Ward candidate Mark Bruscino in the June 8 Democratic primary for Secaucus council. The winners will face Independents and possibly Republicans for three seats in November.
Mateo is actually running unopposed in her ward in June for the Democratic nod. Bruscino will compete against current Board of Education Trustee Michael Makarski. No one else is running as a Democrat in June.
In November, an Independent slate will be backed by current Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli. Mateo will likely face Gonnelli ally and current Independent Councilman Jim Clancy for the 2nd Ward seat.
“To be honest, I don’t know much about the case,” Prieto said recently. “That’s a personal issue between [Mateo and Maffei]. So that should have no bearing whatsoever, because anything that you would hear right now is going to be hearsay from one person or another.”
The dispute, Prieto added, “was not an issue whatsoever” when he and the rest of the Secaucus Democratic Committee vetted potential candidates for the party slate.
Candidate responds
As the criminal case continues to drag on in court, Mateo is gearing up for her first run for elected office as one of the “new faces” Prieto said he wants the party to promote.
Like the Democratic chairman, Mateo believes she can effectively run for office despite the court case.
When asked whether she believes voters will ask about the legal matter while she’s on the campaign trail, Mateo said, “I really don’t think this [the case] has any bearing on the election.”
Her attorney isn’t concerned either.
Miller said that Maffei “isn’t going to be able to sustain her burden of proof in the criminal case because there’s nothing to support her allegations.”
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.