<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal">I arrived at the Port Authority offices at 225 Park Ave at about 4:15PM. I was awaiting a call from Couselor Steven Gorelick, attorney for Stern &amp; Kilcullen representing the Port Authority. However, Mr. Gorelick failed to call me to advise me to confirm if we were still on for 4PM. Therefore I made an assumption that things were still a go. It was good that I did.</p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal">I was greeted by Port Authority attorney Jay Selcov. He was very gracious and polite. He spoke with me for a while, as we waited the current deposition to complete.<span> </span>I found Mr. Selcov to be the polar opposite of Mr. Gorelick. To meet Mr. Selcov is to meet a man who is congenial, seems to enjoy life, and has an easy going way about him. Mr. Gorelick, however, plays the part of a crafty/weasely/conniving lawyer straight out of Hollywood central casting. Short in stature with a direct manner with he had a smile that you just can’t seem to bring yourself to trust.</p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal">Also present with Mr. Gorelick was another attorney, Howard Tat. Other than appearing to handle the paperwork he spoke little. Representing the BLRA from McManimon &amp; Scotland was Attorney Jamie Placek.</p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal">Mr. Gorelick did not let me down in his performance once the deposition began. I had suspected that my deposition would have little or nothing to do with the current case of Port Authority v. BLRA and everything to do with attempting to discover information that might allow the Port Authority to try and have my case dismissed. This soon became apparent to Mr. Placek as well, who, to his credit (and in his client’s interest) began a surprisingly heated exchange with Mr. Gorelick. He was adamant that Mr. Gorelick’s line of questioning had nothing to do with the current case. He instructed Mr. Gorelick that he should be advising me, as a witness without representation with a Pro Se complaint pending against Mr. Gorelick’s client that the questions he were asking me could potentially harm my own case, and that if the judge were aware of the tactics that Mr. Gorelick was attempting that he might not approve of such actions. Mr. Gorelick said that he was under no obligation to advise me of such, so Mr. Placek went on record and advised me of such, and then further stated that he would be objecting to the questions Mr. Gorelick would be asking me for the rest of the session.</p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal">Mr. Gorelick attempted to “Trap” me into admitting that I knew of the 45 day time limit on my ability to file. However, following the heated exchange between he &amp; Mr. Placek,...

neilbarton

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'">As I mentioned earlier, the Port Authority subpoenaed me to a deposition that was due to happen today at 3:30PM in Newark, NJ. At expense to myself I left work early from Manhattan in order to make it to the deposition on time, only to be told that they had served me the wrong subpoena. </span><span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'">They requested I come back tomorrow at 12:30 in the afternoon, I explained to them that this was not possible. I am now tentatively scheduled to be deposed in the Port Authority offices in Manhattan on Friday at 4PM. </span>

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'"><o></o></span><span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'">I complied with their order to produce any documentation that I had in relation to the case I filed. That documentation consisted of my original and final legal drafts and a short email exchange with city Law Director Jay Coffey, with whom I contacted after writing a letter to the Judge that presides over the PA v. BLRA case expressing my dismay/inability to have a greater voice as a citizen. In that conversation Mr. Coffey informed me that I was incorrect in my assumption that I was unable to get legally involved (as I detailed in the letter to the judge) and provided the legal statues that existed. </span><span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'">Other than that email chain, all other communications other persons happened either on this website or in person. </span><span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'"><o></o></span><span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'">As always I hide nothing and continue to press for open &amp; informed debate. I cannot imagine what the PA lawyers would need to know from me beyond this as it is all recorded here. I will post again after my deposition, if it occurs on Friday. <o></o></span>

neilbarton

The big subject of the day over at the nj.com Bayonne forum is attempting to solve the question: How much did the Bayonne Economic Development Corporation, a quasi autonomous agency, pay out in it's recent lawsuit settlement. You can read about it here.

Well folks, file this one under "RumorMill" because I don't have any hard evidence as of yet... but here is what I have heard from speaking with a few people. The estimates that were mentioned on NJ.com that have varied between $200K &amp; $400K may be high. I have heard that it is more likely that the number is lower, under $100K.

However, even if I were to file an OPRA request to the agency, I will be unable to yield the actual dollar amount won in the suit, as an insurance agency most certainly paid out the bulk of the sum.

Based on this fact alone, I would make an educated guess that the amount of money actually paid by the BEDC was around $10-20K in the form of a deductible insurance payment.

I am going to attempt to follow up on this story however, as I have been told that there may be some interesting information that might be gotten from using OPRA to get a copy of the original complaint.

neilbarton

Stan Writes: Hi Neil, as the Public Advocate how come you rarely write anything? Just curious!!!

Hey Stan, yes I have been more quiet lately, but that doesn't mean I have stopped caring about the website or it's mission. There are a number of things in the works right now that have taken up a lot of my attention.

As I mentioned last week I am due to be deposed tomorrow by the Port Authority lawyers. Part of my subpoena was to gather documents related to my case, which I have been doing.

In addition to that, my job has been busier than usual. What most people are unaware of is that when I started this website I was between jobs, which meant I had much more time to devote. Since then I have taken on a new consulting opportunity that has been more demanding than I first expected.

Another reason is that I have been looking to improve the format of this website for a while in order to facilitate an easier exchange of ideas. I know that many like how easy it is to use nj.com despite its deletions &amp; censorship. I originally had one redesign idea in mind, but I have sine been in discussions with the owner of http://www.thejcboard.com, who happens to be a friend of mine. He created that website around the same time I created this one. We think that we might be able create a partnership, and I am thinking of utilizing the software that he is using on his website. This would give us more of a discussion board feel, and it would also link up with other area boards. What is taking me time is that I do not want the front page to look the way his does, I want to try and maintain a simple style similar to what I have. Also obviously I want to make sure all the content gets migrated over. Feel free to take a look at his site &amp; play around with it! The discussion forum is here.&lt;

Also, I am still committed to bring an interview with each potential mayor candidate to this website answering public questions. If I can manage it, I may also try to organize a debate, however I need to see what other people would be interested in being involved &amp; helping out.

Finally, I truly appreciate the comments &amp; opinions that everyone brings to this site. It is why I set it up. I think that when I started it was with the intent of being way more opinionated than I have been. However, if I have slowed down in opinion it is only because I realize that I need to listen to everyone else's thoughts more before speaking out.

HappyPolski

Shortly after the council meeting started one member of the RAT pack informed me that someone who could be Mr. David was sitting in the back. I got up and asked if this stranger was Mr. David. IT WAS! Since the budget meeting was still in progress I just introduced myself and we chatted for about a minute. While I would have liked to speak with him after the meeting I was focused on a couple of questions that I forgot to ask during the meeting. Hopefully we’ll see more of Mr. David.

HappyPolski