Hoboken political operative found not guilty of harassment


HOBOKEN — Matt Calicchio, a sometimes controversial young Hoboken political operative, was found not guilty Thursday afternoon in Union City Municipal Court of a charge that he harassed Hoboken Board of Education member Theresa Minutillo.
In the past, Calicchio has worked for candidates who have opposed allies of current Mayor Dawn Zimmer. When Zimmer was running for council in 2007, Calicchio and Zimmer exchanged charges after Calicchio took a picture of Zimmer walking her dog.
Minutillo is part of a school board faction that is allied with Zimmer.
In Thursday’s hearing, Calicchio faced allegations that he yelled at Minutillo while she was picking up her daughter at Wallace Elementary School.
While Calicchio was found not guilty, Judge Sixto Macias openly expressed that he did not believe Calicchio, who had denied the allegations during testimony.
Calicchio said in testimony that he is an employee of Hoboken Councilwoman Beth Mason’s “civic league.”
Last week, Calicchio declined to comment about the matter. For more on this story, see the upcoming print edition this weekend. See links below for previous stories on this matter, including here. –Stephen LaMarca

© 2000, Newspaper Media Group