MAYOR SHAW FILES COMPLAINT AGAINST HOLLEY, DEVINE AND MCCORMICK FOR MULTIPLE ELEC VIOLATIONS

ROSELLE – Citing multiple ELEC violations, Roselle Mayor Donald Shaw today filed a formal complaint against candidate Jamel Holley and his long-time collaborators James Devine and Lisa McCormick.  The complaint, filed with the Superior Court of New Jersey Law Division in Union County, lists multiple instances of Holley distributing political communication promoting his campaign for Mayor as well as instances of Devine and McCormick helping Holley with paid communications in his campaign for Mayor in this upcoming Primary Election, without filing any of the paperwork required by law.

Of course, this is not the first time these defendants have come under fire for illegal activity.  Holley was previously charged with tampering with ballots in the 2006 primary election and forced to enter an intervention program as the prosecutor accused him of violating “one of the core requirements of our Democracy”.  Even after this, Holley continued to serve in elective office with grave consequences to the Borough and its taxpayers. During his time in office in Roselle, municipal taxes increased 58%, rampant mismanagement resulted in a state audit that turned up hundreds of thousands of dollars spent insuring dead people, and there was a relentless stream of political malfeasance.

Devine and McCormick have repeatedly come under fire for breaking the law.  Among Devine’s lowlights are false attacks on a variety of public figures, oftentimes using various aliases, and the use of websites and materials to make false claims while purporting to be the candidates he is hired to work against.  Most recently, Devine was charged by the Attorney General’s Office with submitting almost 2,000 fraudulent petitions with the Secretary of State’s office to nominate McCormick on the ballot as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor in 2021.  Devine was in court for this matter yesterday and is scheduled back on July 27^th.

“Jamel Holley has continuously failed to follow election law and will go to great lows to win an election. His failure to file 2023 primary campaign reports outlined in the law shows that he has learned nothing from his 2006 election fraud charges. His association with a repeat election law offender like Jim Devine is proof of his desperation to reboot his political career,” says Mayor Donald Shaw.

Among the materials cited in the complaint are t-shirts, signs, a billboard in the Borough, a Mother’s Day pamphlet paid for by “Holley for Mayor”, a sample mail-in ballot titled “Team Holley’s Plan”, another political advertisement mailed to Borough residents stating “Vote Team Holley” and “Jamel Holley for Mayor” and a mailer sent to residents by Holley declaring his plan for the Borough.  Devine and McCormick have contributed to Holley’s mayoral campaign by financing political communications in the form of an illegitimate newspaper with outlandish political attacks on elected officials and oppositional candidates. It is clear that a significant amount of money was raised and spent, yet Holley and his associates have failed to report those activities as the law requires. “One can only wonder what the Holley campaign is trying to hide,” says Council President Brandon Bernier. “The track record shows that former Mayor Holley had trouble following the rules before he was Mayor, while he was Mayor, and now as he runs a desperation campaign to try to get back into any elected office he can. There is zero indication that his behavior would change if elected, and our Borough simply can’t afford to take that step backwards.”