Why are Hoboken 4th Ward ballots on the desk of the state Attorney General?

November 22, 2010  The Jersey Journal

Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio has asked the office of the state attorney general to step in on the case of alleged fourth ward election fraud, but his reasons for doing so have as much to do with politics as usual in Hoboken as they do the ballots themselves.

"These cases are very difficult because people have their own political motivations," DeFazio said in a phone interview earlier this afternoon.

Last week, the county Board of Elections moved 190 mail-in ballots and four criminal referrals to DeFazio's desk in response to challenges made by the campaign of Mike Lenz, the incumbent who was defeated by Tim Occhipinti in the Nov. 2 election.

Councilman-At-Large and Lenz campaign attorney Ravi Bhalla told The Jersey Journal he hoped the case would move up to the Bureau of Corruption of the Division of Criminal Justice, a subdivision of the state Attorney General's office.

In response to this story, DeFazio said he was "under the impression" that the Lenz campaign would make contact with the attorney general's office.

"That went into our reason for sending it to the attorney general," he said. "Bottom line is, we want one hand to know what the other hand is doing."

Bhalla said the campaign has not made contact with the attorney general's office.

"It's a very encouraging development," Bhalla said of the partnership between the county and state law enforcement agencies.

As of now, DeFazio added, there is no "criminal investigation" into the case, but is only a "review" of the allegations and findings of county Superintendent of Elections Marie Borace who conducted her own investigation on election day at the ruling of Hudson County Superior Court Judge Maurice Gallipolli.

Lawyers for both campaigns appeared before Gallipoli on Oct. 29 in response to a complaint filed by the Friends of Michael Lenz For Council accusing Occhipinti and his campaign team of paying 78 campaign workers for mail-in votes. Bhalla and Mayor Dawn Zimmer's husband Stan Grossbard challenged over 200 ballots on election night and turned over their evidence to Borace to supplement her investigation.

"We're confident that the process... will run its course," said David Cruz, communications director for the Occhipinti campaign. "Tim is concentrating on doing what he was elected to do which was serve the people of the Fourth Ward."