Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla faces criticism over new law firm gig - The Hudson Reporter
A number of Hoboken council members have called on Mayor Ravi Bhalla to provide more transparency about his position at a law firm he joined at the end of last year, a firm in which the city’s assistant corporation counsel also serves.
Council members Michael DeFusco, Tiffanie Fisher, Jen Giattino and Ruben Ramos have asked the mayor to release all information and documents related to his joining the Schenck, Price, Smith & King law firm as counsel.
“If there is nothing to hide, then there shouldn’t be any issue with providing access to these records,” said the council members in a joint statement. “Hoboken residents deserve to know the truth of who may be influencing the Bhalla administration.”
New law firm gig
Bhalla joined Schenck, Price, Smith & King on Dec. 30, 2021, two days before he was sworn in for a second term as mayor. The firm issued a press release that day, but the news had not been publicized by either the mayor nor the city. The matter was brought up over the weekend by former City Council candidate Paul Presinzano.
The press release from the firm said, “In his legal career, Ravi has developed a reputation as a results-oriented litigator and trial attorney, concentrating in the areas of commercial litigation, white-collar criminal defense, labor and employment, and land use and redevelopment law.”
The firm said Bhalla will help them in diversity and inclusion efforts as a member of their Diversity & Inclusion Committee. He will earn a salary of $60,000 there, along with his current salary of $116,950 as mayor.
“Over the past four years, Mayor Bhalla has demonstrated that he is a full-time, around the clock mayor, who is dedicated to Hoboken and performs his mayoral responsibilities at the highest level and he did so while serving as ‘of counsel’ to a law firm,” said Rob Horowitz, a spokesperson for Bhalla.
When asked about why the mayor didn’t publicize his new role, Horowitz said that “since the fact that the mayor has been serving in the very limited role ‘of counsel’ to a law firm has been public for the past four years, the movement to a different firm in our view didn’t require a separate announcement from the mayor.”
Bhalla had previously served as counsel at Lavery, Selvaggi, Abromitis & Cohen, P.C., taking the job a month during his first term as mayor in 2018. He had also come under criticism over that gig, with the city council seeking to have him report his income from the job, as well as clients or contracts.
Concerns over conflict of interest
Schenck, Price, Smith & King is the law firm where Assistant Corporation Counsel John Allen, who was Bhalla’s former Chief of Staff, also serves, which the council members say is a potential conflict of interest.
“This once again reignites our long standing concern that Mayor Bhalla’s second job with a politically connected law firm will compromise the city’s interests in favor of his own,“ said the council members. “Mr. Allen may have solicited work for the firm in question, but the administration has blocked access to public records which would prove or disprove this accusation.”
The council members had brought up past concerns over other previous conflicts of interest regarding Allen, where he had formerly served as an attorney for the city’s Alcohol Beverage Control board.
Fisher and Giattino had been vocal about how last year, Allen’s firm had clients that were heard by the ABC board, as well as Giattino saying that he was a “liaison to the mayor for bars and restaurants.” The two had sought a probe into Allen last October.
Horowitz said in response to a potential conflict of interest that “Schenck Price will not solicit nor be retained by any Hoboken government entity.”
For updates on this and other stories, check www.hudsonreporter.com and follow us on Twitter @hudson_reporter. Mark Koosau can be reached at [email protected] or his Twitter @snivyTsutarja.
source: https://hudsonreporter.com/2022/02/01/hoboken-mayor-ravi-bhalla-under-criticism-over-new-law-firm-gig/
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