From The Press of Atlantic City — By ROB SPAHR — Deputy Mayor William Kennedy said he will sue the township after the Township Committee on Tuesday night did not reimburse him for legal fees from a May criminal complaint filed against him.
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.
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.”
21 comments:
Kennedy's friends can start a defense fund to pay his legal bills. It shouldn't be too hard to collect $1,500 for him.
As I recall, Chasey and Forman vowed to vote for the township pay Kennedy's legal fees from day one. They already had made up their minds long before the facts of the case came out. Perhaps this emboldened Kennedy to take it all the way to trial rather than agreeing to mutually apologize, as the judge had suggested they do.
Mr. Kennedy, In the first place, you were not found innocent of the charges. The case was never tried, witnesses never heard.
Secondly, you have been quoted as saying that you considered yourself, at the time of the altercation, to have been the mayor 24/7. During that verbal atercation, when you should have acted with the responsiblilty of mayor, and as a mature individual, you did neither. You have not taken responsiblity for your actions. Instead, you want the hardworking taxpayers to take your responsibility on. If you are the man that you think you are, then it's time to realize that you acted poorly when faced with a challenge.
You have been given a gift of almost one half of your fees for this indiscretion. Now, it is time for you to take ownership for yourself, and to pay the balance.
Mr Kennedy should not have the taxpayers pay for actions of his own doing, What an individual does regarding actions always involves consequences and the individual must accept these results as something he did. To have taxpayers take the burden to an already 1/4 million excess over caps and then now bring another lawyer in to the mix just adds to more expense. If you were man enough to defend your integrity be man enough to eat the bill. This just continues to add to the fees, the lousy reputation we have, the added work on the clerk and accountant and I guess we'll have another law firm besides the present on od Cody and Cody defend the town due to conflist of interest.
If Kennedy accidentally injured someone while he was acting as Mayor,like tripping and knocking a person down causing injury, I could see paying his bills. This was no accident. His conduct was despicable and embarrasing for the town. I am glad that two members of the committee showed some integrity by voting "no".
Go ahead, Bill!! Sue the town!!
Let's all go through this miserable shame again. Let's all read the multiple headlines about the Ex-Mayor who's crying that he wants his legal bills paid because he punched a citizen.
Who's going to advance your lawyer fees this time?
To poster 10:41. You forget that Kennedy was not acting in his official capacity as mayor during this altercation so it wouldn't have mattered if what occurred was "accidental" or intentional. He was neither invited to come and speak at the meeting nor was he the township liaison. He had no official reason to be there. His contention that his title of mayor somehow entitled him to indemnification for anything he did 24/7 is ridiculous.
Looks like Forman put another bug in Kennedy's ear. I doubt very highly that he would have thought about suing the town without her goading him into making those statements. Just another attempt on her part to waste taxpayer money and make the Dems. look like they did something illegal or wrong.
I'm thrilled that this bully won't get paid. At least it's some retribution for his actions. Maybe he'll behave himself in future and leave the citizens alone.
Janet's always bragging about how much she has- let her pay for the ass wipe's mistake and leave the tax payers out of it. Own up. Maybe then FCK will all learn how to straighten out and fly right. This way she'll look like the hero she thinks she is.
Ok, so according to him,he could be in a car at 3 o'clock in the morning "accidentally" run someone over,be cleared criminally but sued civilly by the person and expect the town to pay all lawyers and money damages to the hit person. All because he claims he's the Mayor 24/7.
That's BULL!!!
I agree with the last poster. Just because he shows up somewhere doesn't mean the town should be responsible for his actions 24/7.
Bill Kennedy,our great Ex-Mayor and now Deputy Mayor, has said"Damn right I'm going to sue" and that he is not worried about the taxpayers' money.
I am hoping this does go to court and it will be settled. We can't afford to have our officials of the future thinking that they can do anything they feel like and their bills will be covered. I don't think any clear thinking Judge will agree with Kennedy when they hear the facts of the case. Kennedy is just going to expose himself for what he is all over again.
MY good friend BILL KENNEDY will kick all your asses. He deserves the money so stop your BS and get on with the show.
Muskrat Willie
PS: I'll kick your butts too if you keep messing with my friend wild Bill Kennedy. Bug off!
Muskrat Willie,
Why does Bill Kennedy deserve my money? Because he was mayor?
Muskrat Willie
Bill Kennedy can't raise his leg to kick anybody's ass. Don't worry, he's safe because he looks half dead already and nobody would risk a manslaughter charge by kicking his ass. His mother should have did that 50 years ago and maybe he would have turned out better.
As for you, you're going to need more than your four furry feet to try to kick down this growing army of dissidents.
Why don't you go back to concentrating on your friend Levenson.
Kennedy said he'd sue the township, but he did it with the prodding of both Chasey and Forman. Chasey specifically said after the vote something to the effect of "Well Bill, you'll have to take the next step then." Kennedy, who fancied himself the most powerful man in Mullica, traded away all of his power to the two ladies after they voted to pay his last bill. Now they are encouraging him to sue the town. The only way to break up this corruption and distaste for the taxpayers is to sweep Chasey and Forman out of office in November. The voters need to send a message once a for all---we're tired of these scumbag career politicians.
WOW!! As of 7:52pm,there were 46 posts on the AC Press about this article. Alot of different opinions are being expressed.
I believe that Mr.Graebener and Mr.St Amour did the right thing in this case. No matter what the verdict maybe,I think they voted with integrity and concern for the town.
Yeah, but at least 18 were posts from Janet, our esteemed mayor, and she's traded in her !!!!! for $$$$$$$$$, but still hasn't learned to spell. Let's not forget Possum Pete/Muskrat Willie with his two anti-Levinson posts. So in reality, 26 posts on the Press were legitimate posts worth reading.
I'll take back my previous post and admit Muskrat Willie/Possum Pete, whoever he or she is, has grown on me, in that whacked out sort of way that has become amusing.
So 28 posts were worth reading.
The other 18 posts were just from someone who would benefit greatly from weekly ECT treatments.
I agree with the 1024 pm post. Definitely seems to be Janet Forman who just has to find some forum to fill out her venom filled hated toward Bernie and Mike. Going to be a very long year with the Madwoman of Mullica plotting, scheming, slandering, smearing etc but doing nothing positive for Mullica.She goes to meetings and takes notes(or doing something with a note pad) but hasnt done anything positive for 6 years.Hang in there Bernie and Mike cause you're all we got to hope for better days.Meanwhile as many folks are going broke paying these skyrocketing taxes she plots payback games.
He is amusing. I get this visual of a two foot high hairy creature following on Kennedy's heels constantly whispering "kick his butt, Bill. Kick his butt,Bill"
I read the 26 posts you refered to and they do contain all the identifiable markers of the person in question. It's only a matter of time before this boil of hatred will burst open.
Shock therapy would help with the tics, jacket tugging and pen twisting. Did you see her at the meeting the other night with that pen? I swear I heard it ask her for a cigarette at the end of the meeting.
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