Weiner lawyer: The party “line” is for sale in Bergen County
/By Rubashov
Does the Bergen County Republican Organization (BCRO) sell its party line in GOP primaries? Apparently, top Bergen County GOP operative Matthew Gilson thinks so. In a 2020 text exchange with congressional candidate Frank Pallotta, Gilson said as much. Here is what he wrote:
"Buy the line... Either give the money now or don't cry to me when u didn't get the line... I negotiated to give u the line if u gave money... All we can do is tell you how to get the line..."
Gilson, an advisor to the congressional campaign of Nick DeGregorio, was recently made a partner at the Weiner Law Group. Two weeks ago, the Weiner firm announced:
Weiner Law Group LLP is proud to announce that Matthew E. Gilson has been named a Partner of the firm.
While Matthew concentrates his practice primarily in redevelopment, land use and municipal law, he also serves as counsel in a variety of roles to municipalities and public entities. Additionally, he serves as the election law attorney handling disputed elections and ballot issues and has been recognized by several publications for his role in the political arena.
The Weiner law firm – formerly Weiner Lesniak – was prominently mentioned in a Sunday “Watchdog” exposé that appeared in Gannett publications throughout northern New Jersey, including the Bergen Record and New Jersey Herald. The article was investigated by an impressive line-up of New Jersey political writers – Ashley Balcerzak, Dustin Racioppi, and Charlie Stile – and titled, “FBI raided home of political operative for info on murder-for-hire and dark money, docs show.”
The article notes: “That federal investigators are being assisted by a veteran operative who has intimate knowledge of the below-the-radar world of political campaign financing has set the tightknit world of New Jersey politics on edge.
And details in the 2019 search warrant are likely to heighten the anxiety. The document indicates that investigators were not only looking into the murder-for-hire scheme, but also the flood of largely-unregulated political cash that flowed through a constellation of accounts linked to 44-year-old Caddle when he was working for influential Democratic state Sen. Ray Lesniak of Union County.”
The article contains this interesting tidbit…
In addition to murder-for-hire evidence, during the 2019 raid on Caddle’s home federal authorities wanted “documents, records, correspondence, memoranda, and notes” since 2013 related to Lesniak’s former law firm, Weiner Lesniak, his gubernatorial and campaign accounts, and a handful of independent political groups linked to Lesniak.
…Lesniak’s former law partner, Paul Weiner, declined to comment on authorities seeking information between the firm and Caddle.
Federal authorities also were looking for records tied to nearly two dozen campaign funds and political party accounts, two unions, a town department of finance, Caddle’s consulting firms and more. They demanded information from Caddle about a Harrison-based treasurer named Gianni Donates, who formed a majority of the super PACs and nonprofits linked to Caddle, and his tax preparation firm, ATG.
There are a lot of investigative journalists from a lot of media outlets working on this story so, as always, stay tuned…
“In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
George Orwell
