A Montclair councilman is complaining that the acting township attorney won’t respond to his inquiries about a whistleblower case and Montclair’s push to seal the matter from public view.
Peter Yacobellis, who is also an announced candidate for mayor, sent an email to the attorney, Derrick Freijomil, on Wednesday morning asking who he’s been “conferring with on legal strategy at the town” to get authorization for his request that a judge effectively padlock the courtroom and block the public from reviewing records or hearing arguments.
“Please be 100% clear that you do not have my support,” he told Freijomil.
Superior Court Judge Stephen Petrillo turned Freijomil down on Friday.
Yacobellis also wants to know who authorized Freijomil to move to strike statements he made last year regarding allegations that the township’s chief financial officer, Padmaja Rao, faced retaliation from municipal officials after
“I am horrified to be part of this government at this moment in time,” he said. “You may be representing certain members of the Council with perhaps the slimmest of majorities. But be assured, you’re not representing Montclair’s values when you’re speaking for us in the courtroom, and I believe if a public vote were held to affirm or oppose this course of action, a majority of the Council would oppose it.”
Freijomil, a partner at Riker Danzig, did not immediately return a call to his office seeking comment.
Yacobellis, who called for the ouster of Township Manager Timothy Stafford over Rao’s allegation of mistreatment and harassment, praised her for coming forward.
“We should be doing everything possible to protect whistleblowers and encourage speaking,” Yacobellis said.
Petrillo told the New Jersey Globe that he will permit the live streaming of the audio portion of a hearing scheduled for 8:45 AM tomorrow morning. Click HERE to listen.
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