Ethics Complaint Against Brick School Board Member Dismissed

The New Jersey School Ethics Commission has dismissed a 16-count complaint against Brick Township Board of Education member Michael Conti, rejecting a Brick resident’s claim that Conti’s mortgage-writing job was a conflict of interest.

The ethics accusation first came to light at a Brick school board meeting in late June, when George Scott -- a regular at both school board and Township Council meetings -- raised the issue, questioning whether Conti should have voted on the installation of Richard Caldes as the district’s interim superintendent.

Conti, a mortgage loan originator with Assured Mortgage of Manasquan, wrote the mortgage for Caldes and his wife when the couple purchased their home in February. Conti’s term on the school board ends Dec. 31; he ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Township Council earlier this month.

Scott alleged that Conti stood to gain financially when Caldes was named interim superintendent in May in the wake of Superintendent Walter Uszenski’s arrest. At the meeting, and then again in his response to Scott’s complaint to the School Ethics Commission, Conti said he gained nothing financially from Caldes’ appointment and the raise Caldes received, because Assured sold the mortgage to another company at the end of February, ending Assured’s relationship with Caldes.

The ethics commission, in an eight-page decision adopted Nov. 24 and released Monday, sided with Conti, saying Scott failed to prove that Conti had violated ethics laws in voting to approve Caldes as interim superintendent and in voting to approve a raise for Caldes.

The commission ruled that Conti’s work as a mortgage broker, on salary, did not put him in “substantial conflict” because he does not own 10 percent of the company, nor does his wife or children. Though Assured Mortgage is owned by Conti’s father, the commission said that does not put Conti in conflict.

The commission also noted that because Assured sells the mortgages right after a home sale is completed, the company does not maintain an ongoing relationshp with any of the clients Conti has written mortgages for -- including Caldes.

With respect to the appointment of Caldes, the commission’s ruling said: “Any notion that future benefits may inure to the Respondent (Conti) or the Interim Superintendent is purely speculative ... The Respondent performed the identical singular service for the Interim Superintendent as he would have to the public at large,” adding that Scott provided no proof that Conti in some way did something special for Caldes that benefited himself. And it said that Scott provided no proof that Conti used his position to specifically convince district employees to use Assured for their mortgage needs.

The additional 15 counts of the complaint -- relating to Conti’s work writing mortgages for teachers and other district employees -- were dismissed as well.

“Obviously I’m very pleased with their decision,” Conti said by email. “ I take an immense amount of pride in my work, both professionally and volunteer. I hold myself to a high ethical standard and to have that under attack and made a focal point of campaign literature was disappointing to say the least.”

“I am extremely happy and satisfied with the efforts of my legal counsel, they were nothing short of excellent. I’m happy that this is resolved and behind me. I am proud of my board service and honored that, 3 years ago, the residents of Brick Township selected me to represent them,” Conti said.