Linden Mayor Derek Armstead, who was caught on tape warning of keeping his community from “being taken over by guys with big hats and curls,” apologized Wednesday for his remarks that became public when a former school official filed a whistleblower lawsuit last week accusing him of antisemitism.
At the same time, he accused Paul Oliveira, who served as Linden’s assistant school superintendent — along with Oliveira’s attorney — of attempting to extort $950,000 from Linden taxpayers and students in connection with a proposed settlement offer that the mayor termed a “ransom note.”
In a statement, he also questioned “the timing and motivations behind the leak of the recorded conversation, particularly given Armstead’s prominent position in the Democratic congressional primary.”
The mayor is among a large group of Democrats running in a special election this summer to finish the unexpired term of U.S. Rep. Donald Payne Jr., D-10th Dist., who died in April.
Armstead said school officials reported the “alleged extortion claim to the Linden Police Department, triggering a potential criminal investigation by the Linden Prosecutor’s Office.” In addition, he said he was calling for a criminal investigation by the Union County Prosecutor’s Office.
In a phone interview, the mayor apologized for comments referencing Hasidic Jews as “guys in big hats and curls,” and said he remained “staunchly committed” to diversity and inclusivity in the community.
“Private remarks can be foolish and offensive,” he said. But he added that what was said “was a far cry from being antisemitic.”
Meanwhile, Armstead said that his wife received a threatening call in the middle of the night and that he has received “quite a few nasty emails” in the wake of the lawsuit. He also spoke with a number of those from the Orthodox community who he has known for years regarding the context of his remarks.
Responding to the mayor’s accusations of extortion, Oliveira’s attorney, Armen McOmber of McOmber McOmber & Luber in Red Bank, called Armstead “a bigot” who has “absolutely no business leading any city anywhere.”
He said Armstead had illegally sought to control the hiring practices of the city’s board of education.
The attorney confirmed that he had sought a $950,000 settlement with the city and the board of education over Oliveira’s claims before the lawsuit was filed, and that the request was rebuffed.
“Last week the mayor said our client’s allegations were ‘hogwash’ and that he should ‘go to hell,’” said McOmber. “This week, and hidden within his ridiculous, inaccurate and defamatory press release, is a pseudo-admission and apology by the mayor for his use of antisemitic language.”
Instead of actual contrition and an attempt to understand and comply with anti-discrimination laws, the attorney said the mayor “unfortunately attempts to deflect attention from his own misconduct by attacking Paul — literally threatening him with prosecution.”
Oliveira’s lawsuit, filed in state Superior Court in Union County, claimed that Armstead and other school officials had specifically sought potential job candidates of African-American or Haitian descent and that Jewish individuals were to be excluded.
Armstead, in response, said those claims lacked evidence of any Hasidic Jewish candidates ever applying for positions and said he had been advocating for a workforce that reflects the diversity of the student body. Some of the 32.4% Black students in Linden’s schools are of Haitian descent and only speak Creole, he said, creating the need for Creole-speaking teachers.
The lawsuit said that “while it would be laudable” to undertake efforts to recruit staff members of diverse races, nationalities or backgrounds, the mayor and others “had a very different agenda in mind — namely, an antisemitic and illegal hiring scheme…to literally, keep Linden from being ‘taken over’ by Jews.”
Oliveira, who is not Jewish, according to his lawyer, worked in the Newark school system for more than 20 years before taking a $180,000 job as Linden’s assistant school superintendent in 2023, accused Armstead, as well as school board president Marlene Berghammer, Superintendent Atiya Y. Perkins, and others of blatant antisemitism in what was called an effort to deliberately exclude Jews from employment with the schools. He also alleged acts of retaliation in violation of New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination and New Jersey’s Conscientious Employee Protection Act.
In the filing and on recordings made available to NJ.com, Armstead during that Jan. 22, 2024 meeting with Oliveira and Berghammer — who was participating by phone — warned that “Linden will go the same way as Roselle, Irvington, Newark if we don’t manage this thing the way that we’ve been trying to manage it, and that’s having full and complete control of who gets hired.”
“It’s been mismanaged for years, you know, and nobody, nobody’s taking the time to try to figure out how to fix it,” he said.
The recordings were made in secret by Oliveira, his lawyer said.
Much of the conversation focused on whether prospective hires, including hall monitors, para-professionals, teachers and other staff, were from Linden, which the mayor said should be the top consideration.
“I don’t care what they are,” Armstead said on the recording, in response to the school board president’s call for Black or Haitian candidates. “If they’re from the general area here, that’s what we’re trying to build here. That’s what has to happen in order to keep our community being taken over by guys with big hats and curls and I’m just keeping it real. And if people don’t understand that, you know, we are really trying to save our community here.”
At one point, Berghammer asked “do we have demographics” as to the race or ethnicity of applicants.
“You can almost figure that out by the name sometimes,” Armstead suggested.
Oliveira said he was sidelined over his objections to the discussion and was the subject of criticism of his work performance via emails and formal memoranda, “creating a work environment so unbearably hostile” that he was forced to take protected medical leave to deal with stress and anxiety.
Ultimately, he claimed he was the subject of “constructive dismissal,” resigning as a result of a hostile work environment.
Armstead said that while on protected medical leave, Olivera secured a five-year appointment, at $190,000 per year plus potential bonuses, as the chief administrator at the Academy For Urban Leadership in Perth Amboy, contradicting his assertion that he was unable to work.
The lawsuit seeks back pay, attorney fees and unspecified damages.
Read the lawsuit against Linden
__
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.
Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X @TedShermanSL.
