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Beth Mason tells seniors at Fox Hills she has two Mason Civic League employees who do her bidding in court.
Judge Sixto Macias didn't believe a shred of testimony from either of them. |
Talking Ed Note: Tania Garcia, her son's uncle being BoE Trustee Carmelo Garcia and an employee of Beth Mason claims not to know the political camps of the respective officials. Credible?
Then Matt Calicchio's lawyer Elise DiNardo, paid for by Beth Mason over months questions the witness:
Q = Questioner - Elise DiNardo A = Answer by Tania Garcia
Q
How long have you worked for the Mason Civic League?
A Since January of 2012.
Q
Of 2012?
A Uh-huh.
Q
And the head of the civic league is a councilwoman. Is she a councilwoman in Hoboken?
A Yes, she is.
Q
What do you do for the civic league?
A Just secretarial work.
Q
Have you ever seen Ms. Minutillo in the civil league
office?
A I've seen her outside our office. I've never seen her
actually inside my office.
Q
Have you ever worked with her on any projects with the
Mason Civic League?
A No.
DiNardo then questions Matt Calicchio about his work for the Mason Civic League:
Q Mr. Calicchio, do
you reside in Hoboken?
A Yes.
Q
And how long have you lived in Hoboken?
A Since I was about six.
Q
And that's how many years?
A About eight -- about 17 years.
Q Are you currently employed?
A Yes.
Q By whom are you employed?
A Mason Family Civic.
Q
And how long have you been employed by the Mason
Family Civic?
A Since June of last year.
Q
And what do you do for the Mason Civic League?
A I work in their Gallery 1200.
Talking Ed Note: Notice the lengths to which the avoidance of any connection to the political aspects of working for Beth Mason and the attempt to solely emphasize a gallery - a gallery that is hardly open to the public.
Exactly how many hours a week can you hang up the same pictures for no one to see?
===
In Elise DiNardo's closing remarks, she addresses the nature of the political aspect of the case but she doesn't address it in terms of political jobs. Instead she makes an accusation against the BoE official, that her complaint against Matt Calicchio is political in motivation.
MS. DI NARDO: Judge, I
would essentially renew my
argument from earlier with regard to the
allegations
that the State has failed to prove beyond a reasonable
doubt that my client harassed Ms. Minutillo on October
the 18th of 2011 outside of Wallace School.
As your
Honor has already stated, you're very much well aware that
this is a political case, that there's some political
motivation here... Clearly this complaint
was filed strictly for
political purposes.
The judge's remarks would flatly dispute that contention:
Like most every political case the core
is worse than the incident. I -- I am
really taken
aback by -- by the testimony of Ms. -- Ms. Garcia. It's completely incredible. I do not believe one word
of what she told me. I -- I -- I believe
that if instead
of reading the blogs, I think if you're going to
bring somebody to court to testify on your behalf you
should at least get your stories together.
Talking Ed Note: In other words if you are going to blatantly lie and perjure yourselves, at least make sure your lies add up.
The judge continued...
I believe beyond a reasonable doubt that on the 18th
of October the defendant was in the -- in the -- in the
playgrounds of Wallace Street (sic).
That the
complainant walked by him. That the
second time the
complainant walked by the defendant the defendant told her I will get you. I'm coming after
you. April is around
the corner?
I think
that -- I -- I believe that beyond a reasonable
doubt. I -- I also believe that the
whole testimony
of Ms. -- Ms. Garcia and Mr. Calicchio -- Calicchio
were fabricated. It -- it is
unreasonable to believe
that two individuals can take off from work anytime
they want to pick up a child. Two
people. At a serious
political job, and I understand this is Hudson
County. But that's beyond what I'd --
what I think
political jobs are.
Anytime
they wish to make -- that she could walk into
that job any time she wanted to according to her
testimony. Afternoons, mornings. And -- and really
evasive. The defendant was asked, you
know, what did
he do for -- at his job. He said I work
for Gallery
400 (sic) - Gallery1200...
Talking Ed Note: So Judge Sixto Macias doesn't believe Matt Calicchio is doing civic work in his employment at all. He calls his employment a "political job."
The judge adds in his closing:
I should be able to walk
through Union City without people accosting me because of
my job. Same way that -- that the complainant (BoE Trustee Minutillo) should be able to walk through Hoboken without
anybody -- anybody bothering this woman.
Now as to
the allegations or the situation that --
that -- that it was politically motivated for this
complainant to file a complaint against this defendant
is completely garbage. He's not a
candidate (for the BoE election) He is
nobody in the political system of Hoboken.
He might
think he is. He's being used in exchange
for a job...
(The judge mentions bullying...)
I -- I -- I personally, not as a judge, I -- I find it
very disturbing, very uncivilized. Very
-- it's like
bullying somebody...
And the judge closes...
You're just a fool
that's been used by -- by -- by whoever (Beth Mason).
And what I find
really, really, really, really disturbing is that
people lied in that, you know, after swearing that they would
tell the truth. People lied. Openly lied, which is
-- which is worse than -- than a harassment charge,
you know.
I would
have -- I would have taken a charge of
harassment better than somebody calling me a liar....
Talking Ed Note: The judge felt committing perjury under oath was worse than the original harassment charge but the Mason Civic employees apparently thought differently and perhaps so did their boss who underwrote the eight month legal case where a BoE trustee only wanted an agreement she and her child would be left alone.
What's clear in the testimony is the attempt to hide the political nature of the work under the Mason Civic League. The judge's assessment has significance for both the IRS and other Federal agencies who would have an investigative interest in investigating the possible criminality of using a charity for political work.
Beth Mason has some 'splain to do.
