Growing Number Of Middletown School Board Members Refuse To Pay Certain Legal Bills

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Drama continues on the Middletown school board, as a growing number of board members are refusing to pay the legal bills for both Weiner Law Group and Padula Law Group.

For the second meeting in a row, on Tuesday night, Dec. 16, three Board members refused to pay Weiner Law Group's outstanding legal fees; they are Mark Soporowski, Joan Minnuies and Leonora Lacqua-Caminiti.

Weiner's legal fees are disputed because in August of this year, the Middletown school board hired Weiner Law Group to sue Board member Joe Fitzgerald, because Fitzgerald was arrested in June and charged with six illegal gun crimes.

In their lawsuit, the school board tried to ban Fitzgerald from attending any BOE meetings until the criminal charges are resolved; the board wanted Fitzgerald physically banned from attending any BOE meetings, and banned from stepping foot inside any Middletown school buildings and grounds, including athletic games.

In November, a Monmouth County court dismissed the school board's lawsuit against Fitzgerald. Read more about the BOE suing Fitzgerald here: Middletown School Board Sued Joe Fitzgerald, Seeking To Have Him Banned From BOE, And Lost The Case (Dec. 2)

Ever since, Soporowski (who Fitzgerald campaigned for to get elected to the board), Minnuies and Lacqua-Caminiti refused to pay Weiner's bill.

"I am hoping that in the future we have the Weiner Group come and explain to us what's going on," Minnuies said Tuesday night.

"I second what Joan just said," Soporowski said Tuesday. "I would like an explanation from them."

Fitzgerald was not present Tuesday for what would have been his final meeting on the Middletown school board.

Also at Tuesday night's meeting, Deb Wright joined them in also refusing to pay the legal bills for Padula Law Group. Padula Law Group is the relatively new law firm started by former Middletown school Board lawyer Bruce Padula. Padula represented the Middletown school district when it was sued by the state of New Jersey for its transgender student policy.

Wright did not tell the public why she voted against paying Padula's legal fees. She, Lacqua-Caminiti and Minnuies did not answer when Patch asked.

Related: Middletown School District Will Likely Look For New Auditing Firm In The Spring (Dec. 1)

The school district agreed to hire a new auditing firm because HFA, the audit company used by the Middletown school district for the past several years, is treasurer of a political action committee (PAC) that handled campaign donations for school board candidates James Cody, Sara Weinstein and Chris Aveta (Aveta and Weinstein won seats to the Board this year). The PAC is Proven Leadership, a fundraising group that handles campaign donations for Republicans seeking elected office across the state.