The leak of a confidential memo regarding former Hoboken city director Leo Pellegrini could be investigated by the City Council, a proposal spearheaded by an administration critic on the council who claims the document was released for one reason — to help Mayor Ravi Bhalla’s congressional campaign.
The City Council is set to vote Wednesday on a resolution that would create a committee with subpoena power to probe the leak of a document that said Pellegrini, the city’s former health and human services director, had “engaged in unlawful, corrupt conduct in the course of his city employment.”
“(The leak of the memo) was used for purposes of supporting (Bhalla in his primary election race) and fighting off other people’s comments about the allegations (Pellegrini) made (in his lawsuit),” said Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher, one of the sponsors of the resolution to create the committee.
The leak stemmed from the report of a lawsuit filed by Pellegrini, who resigned from the city administration last year, alleging that Bhalla and his administration had engaged in unethical behavior ranging from helping the approval of a cannabis dispensary to blacklisting certain councilmembers.
“The council can, at any time, create any committee of their choosing; however, the releasing of the memo was in fact a demonstration of the administration’s transparency, given the misinformation from the disgruntled former employee’s complaint that was littered with false claims,” city spokeswoman Marilyn Baer said.
Hudson County View, which first reported the lawsuit, had posted the 2023 confidential memo on social media on May 7. The memo is a note from Matthew Boxer, a former state comptroller, to city Assistant Corporation Counsel Alyssa Wells about Pellegrini’s alleged conduct. The memo was quoted almost word-for-word by a Hoboken spokeswoman in response to Pellegrini’s lawsuit last month.
“The City Council has received a separate memo from outside counsel reaffirming that Mayor Bhalla, in his authority as the mayor of Hoboken, has full authority to waive attorney client privilege on behalf of the city and allow his administration to share the Boxer memo with the public, which was done so, and clearly states that the former director’s actions should be referred to law enforcement,” Baer said Tuesday.
The allegations by Pellegrini and the resolution come in the final leg of a high-profile campaign by Bhalla to unseat Rep. Rob Menendez Jr. in the Eighth District Democratic primary Tuesday.
Fisher, who is one of Bhalla’s most vocal critics and has endorsed Menendez Jr., said since the memo was clearly stamped “confidential,” it should not have been made public. She also claims the document was leaked to aid Bhalla in his election. She did not say how many people would be on the committee or who could be subpoenaed.
Councilman Paul Presinzano, another critic of Bhalla, also supports the creation the committee, saying that “if confidential information is coming outside of City Hall, that’s a big issue for me.”
Councilman Phil Cohen, an ally of Bhalla, didn’t say how he will vote, but expects there will be enough votes to create the committee.
“This is just another example of political theater at its finest, by members of the city council running for mayor in 2025, who choose to spend their time grandstanding on non-issues rather than working constructively with Mayor Bhalla,” Cohen said.
Councilman Jim Doyle, another ally of Bhalla, said that “if there’s a basis to explore this further, I have no problem voting to empanel the investigative committee ... if it’s purely a vindictive move, then I might be less likely to support it.”
