i remember stuffing envelopes when i was like 9 at his election office on bergen ave.

Gerry Mccann complimented my bon jovi and poison posters in 1988. true story.

You got to love Gerry.....lol lol

Rutherford candidate accused of tampering on mom's ballot

Tuesday, January 5, 2010
BY NICK CLUNN
The Record

RUTHERFORD ? A Republican has accused a Borough Council member of unlawfully handling an election ballot on behalf of her mother who lives in Ireland.

The allegation against Maura Keyes, a Democrat, surfaced in court papers filed this week in what has become an vicious legal dispute over who really won a November race for council.

Lawyers for Republican Todd Hennessey raised the issue to convince a judge to void Keyes? mother?s vote in a tight race in which every ballot mattered.

Hennessey is challenging his defeat to Democrat John Parnofiello in state Superior Court, Hackensack, after a recount showed that he placed third in a race for two seats. Hennessey lost by a single vote. A hearing before Judge Estela De La Cruz is set for Thursday morning.

Keyes could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. But Parnofiello supporters are outraged over the lengths that Hennessey has gone to find ballots that were cast improperly.

They are particularly troubled that Hennessey allowed Gerald McCann, a former Jersey City mayor who served time in prison for bank fraud, to help determine the legitimacy of some ballots by knocking on the doors of voters to ask them questions about their vote.

Steven Kleinman, a volunteer attorney assisting Parnofiello, accused McCann in court papers of ?engaging in a scheme to target and harass Rutherford?s senior citizens, as well as people with significant health problems, with respect to their absentee ballots.?

Kleinman further stated in a legal filing that McCann ?does not clearly state the purpose of his visit or that he works as an investigator for the Republican candidate.?

Lawyers for Hennessey are seeking to disqualify the vote of Keyes? mother, Elizabeth Kelly, on the grounds that her mail-in ballot was handled by a candidate. Kelly, a former resident, still is registered to vote in the borough. Keyes, who lost reelection, is specifically accused of signing her mother?s name on an application for the mail-in ballot, and the ballot itself, according to a legal brief filed Monday. Lawyers for Hennessey may call a handwriting expert to testify.

For all the back and forth between Hennessey and Parnofiello, the stakes are relatively low. Republicans will either maintain a 4-2 council majority or gain a seat depending on the outcome. Parnofiello, who was sworn in Friday, would have to step down if Hennessey prevails.

Meanwhile, Neither Kleinman nor Parnofiello accused McCann of breaking the law.

But the argument from Kleinman, which included details of McCann?s 1991 conviction, led De La Cruz to order on Christmas Eve that representatives of both Hennessey and Parnofiello identify themselves as such when they contact voters.

McCann admitted to not always disclosing his affiliation with Hennessey to get voters to speak freely about their vote ? especially if they voted for Parnofiello. McCann said Tuesday that he sometimes introduced himself as a Jersey City school board member and an election investigator.

But the former mayor of the state?s second largest city said his chats with voters were appropriate and stemmed from a desire to seek the truth. He accused Kleinman of wanting to smear his name to distract the public from a weak legal defense and the allegations against Keyes.

?I will be back here in Rutherford for as long as this thing takes because they?re motivating me,? McCann said of the Parnofiello camp. ?They?re motivating me because they?re lying.?

E-mail: clunn@northjersey.com

Former Jersey City Mayor McCann targeted in local Rutherford Borough battle

By MAX PIZARRO,
PolitickerNJ.com

Gerry McCann, was the Mayor of Jersey City from 1981 to 1985, and again from 1989 until his criminal conviction in 1992.

Lock the doors. Gerry McCann's in town.

That's the message of the John Parnofiello camp, still in campaign mode in Rutherford a month and a half from election day, bearing down on a Jan. 7th court date and - they believe - handed a gift in the form of the perpetually toxic McCann.

The former Jersey City mayor said all he wanted to do was help an old pal grind through the after shock of his election and do some intelligence gathering for him that might reverse the outcome.

The politician who once declared, "I'm a simple man: You hit me, I hit you," didn't figure on a big flare-up when he volunteered to check on the absentee ballot signatures of John Parnofiello and Parnofiello's ticket mates.

But now that he's in a battle with the other side charging him with completely inappropriate tactics targeting seniors, he doesn't mind fighting back.

"Their council president committed a crime, voting for her mother for the last four years," McCann said of Councilwoman Maura Keyes, an ally of the other team's.

"I was going to give the woman a pass, but now they're trying to make it seem as though I'm the problem," fumed the former mayor. "This is a crime. This is exactly what happened when they indicted an Hispanic American freeholder in Essex County. How do you indict him, and not indict this? Thank Kleinman. Because of Kleinman, now all they got me is mad."

The Rutherford Borough Council battle between John Parnofiello and Todd Hennessy was already sufficiently pitched.

Then Hudson County got in on the action, as attorney Steve Kleinman of Hoboken and McCann lined up on either side of the fray.

For Kleinman, who represents Parnofiello gratis, McCann has become the issue in the contest, essentially by virtue of his political infamy. The former mayor of Jersey City left office disgraced and did time on 15 counts of fraud and tax evasion. Now he's surfaced as a political ally of Hennessy's.

"Maura Keyes is not named in the lawsuit," said the attorney. "She's not in the election contest. That's trying to change the subject."

Each in their respective corners as they vied for a seat on the council, Parnofiello and Hennessy went through all manner of contortions on Nov. 4th watching the machine returns come in, which showed first one of them up, then the other - then the reverse - before Parnofiello, a Democrat, finally edged his Republican rival by one vote to presumably land a seat on the 4-2 Republican-controlled governing body.

After the hand ballot count, the results stuck, with still just one vote separating Parnofiello (2,719) and Hennessy (2,718).

Contesting the election with a suit that comes to a head in Bergen County Superior Court on Jan. 7th of next year, Hennessey brought in McCann, whose power operator presence on the Rutherford streetscape and alleged subtle doorbell bully stylings prompted cries of "foul" from the Parnofiello camp.

"I am extremely disappointed in the tactics Mr. Hennessey's campaign is using to discredit the votes of hand-picked Rutherford citizens," said Parnofiello, the 24-year old employee of a media company. "...I am baffled by the involvement of someone from Jersey City taking the lead on overturning an election in Rutherford that has been properly certified twice. I ask that these efforts cease immediately and that we get on to the real issues that face our borough."

In a press release issued yesterday, Kleinman outlined McCann's movements in support of Hennessy.

"McCann visits a senior or ill Rutherford resident who voted by absentee ballot and is a member of the Democratic Party. He identifies himself as a Democrat and attempts to strike up a friendship. Once he does so, he shows the person his or her absentee ballot paperwork and tries to have the voter admit a technical mistake in filling out the ballot. McCann then expresses sympathy for the mistake and leaves the impression that he is there to help their vote to count. But the truth of the matter is is that he is secretly using that information to have that person's legitimate vote thrown out.

"...So far, Todd Hennessy has already used Mr. McCann's efforts to legally challenge the votes of an 89-year old man with health problems, a woman with bone cancer and her 87-year old mother, and an elderly woman who lives alone."

Some of the elderly people said they were so rattled by McCann that will never vote by absentee ballot again - that is if they're around to vote next year.

McCann says Hennessy and Kleinman know that McCann can prove some of the absentee ballots obtained by their allies are illegitimate and can swing the election around in Hennessy's favor by 21 votes. They just want to change the subject by invoking the boogieman clause, says the former Jersey City mayor.

But Kleinman asserts that McCann has taken the silver-haired slippery guy act a step too far as he door to doors it Rutherford.

"That will be something the judge has to deal with," said Kleinman, when asked about the supposed illegitimate votes McCann says he's uncovered. "We are looking at all the votes cast, but the point is in no way is John Parnofiello going to be doing signature matches on the elderly to see if they received assistance."

Although he's a Republican and McCann's a Democrat, Hennessy said he isn't ashamed or embarrassed to rely on McCann.

A 45-year old Hoboken food business owner, Hennessy's originally from Jersey City and goes back a lifetime with "Gerry."

As for the tactics descried by his opponent, Hennessy said, "This is a standard practice. If you think things are not done right, you have to present it to the judge. I don't think Gerry is going after older people. I think more younger people who don't live in town recorded violations. I'm looking at people who voted for John Parnofiello who don't live in town."

Now a middle and distance track coach at St. Peter's Prep and a member of the Jersey City School Board, McCann said, "I've worked 14 cases like this. You want to overturn an election, I'm your guy. Look, I've worked with Kleinman. We were on the same side when (Hoboken Councilman Carlos) Campos challenged (Hoboken Mayor Dawn) Zimmer. He didn't have a problem with me then. I know what to do and where to find people. I do it, in this case, because I want to do it."

Negative, fires back Kleinman.

"I was representing the City of Hoboken in that case," said the attorney. "I completely deny that. We were neutral. Was I friendly with Gerry McCann, sure; but we were not 'on the same side.'"

Even as they trade Hudson County barbs on Bergen soil, McCann, like Kleinman, said he is working for free.

"Zippo," he said, when asked how much Hennessy's paying him.

As for the charge that he's a big city interloper here, "I owned property in Rutherford," said McCann. "I paid taxes in Rutherford. I have a dozen relatives in Rutherford. I got married - yeah, since divorced - at St. Mary's Church in - where?

"Rutherford."

Max Pizarro is a PolitickerNJ.com Reporter and can be reached via email at max@politicsnj.com.

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