The chair of the New Jersey State Senate Judiciary Committee is under investigation. WNYC has obtained a copy of a subpoena that seeks records relating to Union County’s Nichoas Scutari, whose post gives him the power to confirm the appointments of judges and prosecutors in the state.
The subpoena requires the records custodian in the town of Linden to appear before a state grand jury and turn over records related to the salary and job performance of Scutari, who was the town prosecutor until last year. The subpoena is signed by a deputy Attorney General in the Division of Criminal Justice’s Office of Public Integrity and Accountability.
The subpoena requires the records custodian to appear before a grand jury in March with Scutari's time off, court logs, prosecutor appearance logs, Scutari's annual salary, his pension payments, and the list of lawyers who were hired to fill-in for him.
The mayor of Linden, Derek Armstead, has long been seeking an investigation of Scutari. He has written letters to the state Attorney General and the federal prosecutor in Newark with allegations that Scuatri used his position as town prosecutor as a no-show job.
In addition to his position as state senator, Scutari is also the chairman of the Union County Democratic Committee. He says this is merely a political attack by Armstead.
But an investigation by an auditor hired by the Linden City Council found Scutari had missed more than half his days at work over a two-year period, and the cost of that lost time to the city was more than $147,493.93 in salary, payroll taxes and pension benefits.
"The facts speak for themselves," Armstead said. "We’ve settled a lawsuit already because of his absenteeism in a previous case."
That 2010 case involved two brothers who were convicted and sentenced to jail for burglary and marijuana charges, but their case was overturned because there was no prosecutor or defense counsel present at their trial. Linden then settled a civil lawsuit by the brothers.
A similar lawsuit was filed recently against the city of Linden and Scutari for a similar scenario in which a mother of three was sent to jail over a petty dispute after a trial was held with no defense attorney. Scutari was absent, and a private lawyer who allegedly had a conflict of interest in the case acted as the prosecutor.
Scutari is chair of the powerful state Senate Judiciary Committee, which has the authority to confirm judges and prosecutors. Scutari has denied that he failed to show up for work as the municipal prosecutor and has previously threatened to file a lawsuit against Linden for slander.