PARSIPPANY — Parsippany Focus confirmed today with the Internal Revenue Service that the controversial Super PAC, America’s Future First (AFF), has still not filed any 2015 quarterly reports per federal law. In what residents are colloquially calling “Parsippany PAC-Gate” or just “PAC-gate”, this paper previously reported that virtually all donors to the Super PAC had contracts or ties to the Township of Parsippany Troy-Hills.
One of the smaller donors to the Super PAC was the law firm of Archer & Greiner of Haddonfield, NJ; a firm the Star Ledger reported as being one of the largest legal clients of New Jersey under Governor Christie. When Parsippany Focus originally noted that Archer & Greiner was an AFF donor, there was no apparent connection between the law firm and the Township.
It has since been revealed that Archer & Greiner has been retained by computer forensic expert Matthew Ferrante and his firm Aurora Information and Security Risk, a company which has billed the Township nearly $1,000,000 for imaging the computer hard drive of former Parsippany Police Captain James Carifi. Aurora has since negotiated their bill down to approximately $220,000.
Ferrante and his computer firm have been named as one of the defendants in a lawsuit Captain Carifi filed against the Township, Mayor James Barberio, and Township Attorney John Inglesino.
The Super PAC that Ferrante’s attorney donated money to is the same organization which supported Councilman Michael dePierro and his running mates this past spring. The Super PAC spent nearly $200,000 in trying to oust Carifi’s brother, Councilman Paul Carifi, Jr. in the June primary. Paul Carifi, Jr. ultimately won the most votes in the hotly contested GOP primary.
