A veteran Jersey City police officer who is coming off a 90-day suspension is now facing charges of breaking ethics rules in his other job as a first-year Jersey City Board of Education member.
School board President Natalia Ioffe filed an ethics charge against Dejon Morris Wednesday that says Morris lobbied too “vigorously” for the school district to hire a Newark law firm as special counsel to the board.
The complaint comes less than 48 hours after Morris, who was elected in November, attempted to pressure the board to vote on the hiring of Souder, Shabazz and Woolridge Law Group during the caucus meeting Monday.
Despite pushback that a discussion related to the law firm was necessary, along with concerns from Ioffe, Morris continued to question why the resolution couldn’t be brought to vote at the board’s caucus meeting.
“If we have a quorum today, why can’t we vote on it today?” Morris asked Business Administrator Dennis Frohnapfel.
Ioffe cut off Morris so that the discussion could be held during the closed session, but Morris continued to speak. “Do not cut me off, madam president,” Morris said. “I am going to finish.”
Ioffe’s complaint — that Morris has “vigorously” lobbied for the law firm over the past month — was filed with the state’s School Ethics Commission. Morris first reached out to the board president about the law firm in November after meeting them at the New Jersey League of Municipalities conference in Atlantic City.
“This is my choice because I feel very strongly that I have a moral obligation to do so,” Ioffe said about filing the ethics complaint. “Knowing the facts before me and seeing this situation unfolding as it is and the obvious wrongdoing.”
In the complaint, Ioffe claims Morris as a board trustee has made “persistent attempts to facilitate the hiring process for the Souder, Shabazz and Woolridge Law group.” She alleged that he met with the law group privately and publicly acknowledged the meeting, which indicates a possible “personal promise or private action” that compromises the board.
Morris defended his actions to The Jersey Journal, claiming that although he had been elected at the time he met with the law firm, he had not been sworn in yet. He also said he was unaware that it would create potential issues.
He called Ioffe’s actions hypocritical, claiming she had lobbied similarly for Adams Lattiboudere Croot & Herman, LLC, which is defending her, Superintendent Norma Fernandez and Vice President Noemi Velazquez in ethics complaints filed against them.
“I don’t know how I could have influenced a vote for a law firm way back in November before that RFP (request for proposal) existed and was going out,” Morris said Wednesday. “The notion that I somehow had a relationship with this law firm is unsubstantiated … I have no connection with these people and I have never had a case where these people represented me.”
Morris said he has endorsed the law firm because of its ethnic diversity and he noted that it would be independent of the administration. The board had put forward an RFP in January for a new special counsel.
Ioffe denied lobbying for Adams Lattiboudere Croot & Herman, which she says was hired by the insurance company representing the board in the ethics complaints against the superintendent and two board members. She declined to comment on the ethics charges filed against her.
A spokesman for the law firm Souder, Shabazz and Woolridge Law Group could not be reached for comment.
If Morris is found to have violated the ethics code, the commission will recommend a penalty to the state commissioner of education “which may include reprimand, censure, suspension, or removal of a board member, a member of a board of trustees, or an administrator.”
A Jersey City police detective for 20 years, Morris was suspended without pay from the department after failing to secure video evidence of a crime involving a stabbing, according to the JCPD’s 2023 major discipline report. He failed to notify his supervisor of the evidence “and failed to transport the victim of a crime.” He also spoke to the complainants in “a discourteous, arrogant and condescending manner.”
Morris was elected in November along with Alpa Patel and George Blount as part of the Education Matters slate, which was endorsed by the Jersey City Education Association.
But JCEA President Ron Greco told The Jersey Journal Wednesday the executive board regrets the selection of Morris after watching his behavior Monday. He believes not only is Morris eager to become the president of board, but also plans to attempt to oust Ioffe, Velazquez and eventually Superintendent Norma Fernandez.
Greco and Ioffe said Morris has been bragging about bringing the law firm to the school board in recent months.
“It is a disgrace,” Greco said about Morris’s behavior. “You go around town telling people it is public knowledge that you are bringing in a law firm you met in Atlantic City, that is very suspicious to me. (Morris) is dying to be the president of the board.”
Morris denied Greco’s claims, saying that the president is “overworked and (has) a lot of responsibilities, so I am trying to figure out how that is a position that is desired.”
