08/04/2010 // West Palm Beach, FL, USA // Tara Monks // Tara Monks
West New York, NJ – West New York Mayor Sal Vega and other town commissioners are facing a lawsuit brought by political rival Dr. Felix Roque for alleged defamation of character, as reported by The Jersey Journal. The suit was filed in Hudson County Superior Court Friday, July 30, 2010.
Dr. Felix E. Roque is the leader of Together We Can, an organization that attempted to recall the town’s current administration earlier this year.
His complaint accuses West New York First, an organization that supports the current mayor, and Royal Printing Service of printing and dispersing a “defamatory mailer” that claimed Roque broke state election laws, submitted thousands of illegal signatures and committed fraud.
The bilingual mailer, mailed out to registered voters on July 23, stated, “Felix Roque is very rich…but not very honest.”
The Jersey Journal explains that Roque went before Superior Court Assignment Judge Maurice Gallipoli in April of 2010 to contest town clerk Carmela Riccie’s determination that Roque was hundreds of signatures shy of the 5,256 needed to recall each commissioner.
The judge dismissed the case and ruled that Roque’s team failed to adequately challenge or provide evidence against Riccie’s allegations that Roque’s petitions included forgery, false affidavits and two signatures of dead people, among other violations.
Roque’s attorney claims “Those were inflammatory statements of a personal nature.”
Roque wants Vega’s administration to issue a new letter to residents of New York apologizing for the defamation.
Vega’s team stands behind their mailer. Paul Swibinski, spokesperson for West New York First said, “We stand beside this mailing. Every word of it is true and we’re not going to be intimidated by [Roque’s] legal tactics.”
Roque plans to run for commissioner in next year’s election. He claims he never committed fraud.
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