Mullica Won't Pay Ex-Mayor's Legal Fees in Harassment Case
On May 13, township resident Lou Vitale filed a criminal complaint against Kennedy that alleged the then-mayor punched him at a school board meeting. Kennedy then countered with a harassment complaint against Vitale.
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After a Folsom judge dismissed all the charges, Kennedy asked the committee to add his $2,500 fees from Pleasantville attorney Steven J. Feldman's to the township's bill list.
"If I had been found guilty, I wouldn't have brought it up," Kennedy said Tuesday night.
State law allows governments to "indemnify" a public official, paying legal bills and damages, provided he or she was acting in the public capacity in the context of the case.
The committee approved Kennedy's $1,000 down payment to Feldman in December, by a 3-1 vote.
But a 2-2 vote Tuesday night essentially denied Kennedy, who abstained, reimbursement for the remaining $1,500 in legal costs.
Committeeman Bernard Graebener, who was the swing vote after voting yes on the previous payments, said reading the recently-released court transcripts changed his opinion of Kennedy's role in the incident.
"I do not believe he was acting in a public capacity," Graebener said. "I feel bad, because I wouldn't have voted yes the first time if I had had all the information."
The two Republicans on the committee - Mayor Janet Forman and Committeewoman Kathy Chasey - voted to pay the fees for Kennedy, a Democrat. The Democrats - Graebener and Committeeman Michael St. Amour - voted against it.
Forman said she feared this would spark another lawsuit against the township, because it paid the first set of legal fees.
Graebener said it would be up to Kennedy "to do the right thing and not cost the taxpayers any more money."
But Kennedy was certain about what he will do next.
"Damn right I'm going to sue," he said. "They (Graebener and St. Amour) are the ones costing the taxpayers money by voting no. They should be worried about that, not me."
E-mail Robert Spahr: RSpahr@pressofac.com
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