PARSIPPANY — In a letter obtained by Parsippany Focus, addressed to the Acting Mayor and Members of the Rockaway Township Council, Former Parsippany-Troy Hills Council President Louis Valori wrote “It gives me great pleasure to send this letter of support for John Inglesino to become Rockaway Township’s next Township Attorney.” (Click here for endorsement letter).
This endorsement comes as a surprise, since Mr. Inglesino characterized Lou Valori at a public Council Meeting “Bad people like Lou Valori prey on that cynicism to lie about good, decent public service.” Valori was not content to simply having his big lie play out in the press as a, he said, she said. In order to give his big lie credibility he knew that he had to up the ante, so Valori demanded an investigation and then he took to the microphones to announce that the Somerset County prosecutor’s office was investigating the mayor, the council president and the township attorney. Valori’s big lie was proceeding according to plan, but the Valori made the big miscalculation…” “Personally, I anticipated that Valori would announced his lies to this level after all, he is a former police officer, trained and initiating and conducting investigations,” said Inglesino. (Click here to view video tape).
During the famous Sunday Night meeting on January 13, 2013 at Parsippany-Troy Hills Town Hall, Valori alleged that Barberio, Inglesino and former council president Brian Stanton offered to give him a $50,000 township job if he’d stay out of the township’s GOP primary.
Valori secretly recorded the Sunday Night meeting which can be heard discussing a potential job. (click here to listen to bribe tape supplied by Mr. Valori). Valori’s job would have paid about $50,000 a year, and he would have served as media liaison for the police department, Valori said.
That year, Valori ran for and won his first council seat, amist a voter fraud campaign. A campaign worker Jordan Valori, testified that she got a stack of vote-by-mail ballots off a desk in James Vigilante’s office (Candidate for Morris County Clerk) before he told her to sign them so he could drive her to the county election board to drop them off. Jordan Valori is the daughter of Dr. Louis Valori, a retired Parsippany police sergeant who won the Parsippany GOP primary council election with running mate Robert Peluso. (Click here to listen to audio). (Editors Note: This audio tape was recorded by NJ.Com reporter Brendan Kuty).
On April 1, 2013, Parsippany-Troy Hills Township received a Grand Jury subpoena issued by the Superior Court of New Jersey, Somerset County. That subpoena was to compel production of certain specific documents from the township clerk.
On March 20, 2013, “Valori said he had spoken with representatives from the state Attorney General’s Office and that they were investigating his allegations.”
In a May 9, 2013 letter provided by Inglesino, the Somerset Prosecutor’s Office said criminal prosecution wasn’t “viable” after various interviews and reviews of documents, including a secret recording Valori made. It also said no further investigation was warranted. At that time “Valori said he was disappointed with the investigation.”
On March 4, 2014 it was stated in a story titled “Inglesino’s lucrative Parsippany job on the line, pair allege ‘egregious’ ethics violations” appearing in NJ.com “…Valori said “1099 forms from Inglesino’s law firm show he’s received nearly $3 million for legal services from Parsippany since he took his post in 2010.” (Click here for article)
In April 2014, a story appearing in NJ.com “Parsippany to investigate its own attorney, John Inglesino,” stated the council voted to establish itself as a committee to investigate Inglesino over various alleged conflicts of interest and violations, under a resolution read by Councilman Louis Valori — one of the leading figures in the anti-Inglesino camp.
In November 2014, Former Parsippany-Troy Hills Mayor James Barberio said “Lou Valori is seeking revenge because I would not promote him to lieutenant prior to his retirement from the Parsippany Police Department.” This comment was in reference when “Parsippany council sues mayor, says he’s sending big bucks to politically connected attorney.” (The suit is targeting what it terms “excessive payments” to Township Attorney John Inglesino) (Click here for article).
On February 12, 2015, in an article published on nj.com, it was stated “Also at issue is a 1099 tax form submitted to the township that lists $822,382 in “nonemployee compensation” to Inglesino’s law firm for 2014. Valori, leader of the effort for the audit, said Aurora has billed the township for 3,500 hours of work. “Really?” Valori asked. “3,500 hours? For one computer?” More than $1.4 million is now in question in the two areas — the billings from the Aurora firm and Inglesino’s legal bills. Aurora’s billing records became public following an Open Public Records Act request by Frank Cahill, editor and reporter for the online news site Parsippany Focus.”
In March 2015, “Valori said that Inglesino has racked up exorbitant legal fees from the township, and that he improperly circumvented the council approval process for hiring a company — Aurora Information Security — to evaluate the computer records of the council president’s brother.
“Inglesino has already put Parsippany taxpayers are on the hook for $900,000 in legal bills paid directly to his law firm and $700,000 for Aurora Information Security and Risk Services with Mr. Inglesino circumventing the mandated council approval process when retaining Aurora,” Valori also said in his statement. “The amount of money spent on Aurora and Inglesino, Parsippany could have re-turfed both High School Football Fields,” said Valori. (Click here to read article).
Then Valori flip-flopped and supported Inglesino. Many residents questioned why?
Valori ran for re-election to the Township Council in 2017 and lost. A resident stated “A majority of people wanted him (Inglesino) removed, and were willing to remove the Mayor and the town council (Louis Valori) to do it.”
At the council meeting of Tuesday, December 19, 2017, residents were voicing their opinion over the dissatisfaction of the resolution presented by Township Council President Louis Valori in a final attempt to save Township Attorney John Inglesino from being replaced by the new Administration at the annual reorganization meeting. Council President Louis Valori introduced Resolution No. 2017:187 at the regular Council meeting held on Tuesday, December 19. (Click here to read previous article on Resolution 2017:187)
Resolution No. 2017:187 was approved 3-0 with two members abstaining. Council President Louis Valori, Councilman Michael dePierro and Councilwoman Loretta Gragnani voted to approve the resolution to keep Inglesino as a holdover.
“I feel the voters spoke. We want a new attorney. We don’t want a holdover appointment,” said Parsippany resident Julia Peterson.
Brooklawn Drive resident Bob Venezia asked several questions including (1) How does the resolution benefit Parsippany residents and (2) Where is the conflict of interest in Carifi voting on the new Twp Attorney?
“Your mayor, James Barberio, promised a smooth transition, so you are usurping the power of both mayors, the present mayor and the elected Michael Soriano,” said Lake Hiawatha resident Nick Homyak.
“How about Inglesino’s conflicts with his developers buddies. After Waterview this guy is no friend of the people of Parsippany. If Barberio refused the past council’s vote to remove Inglesino then the new Mayor should have same privilege to remove any attorney” said Nicholas Homyak.
“John Inglesino is a political parasite feeding on the body politic of Parsippany,” said Glacier Hills resident Brian Tappen. “Jamie and you both lost your election because of your association with John (Referring to Council President Louis Valori). A majority of people wanted him removed, and were willing to remove the mayor and the town council to do it.”
Resident Ken Dolsky said “The Carifi cases are not the most important issues in this town. The council can’t deny the will of the people for years over this one issue. I did not hear anyone from the public speak in favor of keeping Mr. Inglesino as the town attorney.”
Current Parsippany-Troy Hills Mayor Michael Soriano campaign promise was to replace Township Attorney John Inglesino. Soriano replaced Inglesino on January 1, 2018, after he was sworn in as Mayor.
Valori is currently the Chairman of the Parsippany Republican Committee.
