Lawsuit Over Jailed Hoboken Mayor And 2009 Election Is Finally Dismissed

HOBOKEN, NJ — Hoboken's heated political campaigns may seem like they go on forever, but none of them have lasted as long as a just-dismissed lawsuit related to a 2009 mayoral election.

Fourteen years ago, Angel Alicea of Hoboken ran for City Council on a slate headed by mayoral candidate Peter Cammarano, who at the time was an attorney and an incumbent council member.

Alicea lost his council race, but Cammarano won election as mayor.

Then, in a political scandal that was shocking even by New Jersey standards, Cammarano was arrested a mere three weeks after his July 2009 inauguration, as part of a statewide sting to snare politicians accepting bribes.

Cammarano resigned and Council President Dawn Zimmer became mayor.

Four years later, the state's Election Law Commission, which can work slowly, hit Cammarano's slate with alleged campaign finance violations.

According to Law 360, five years after that — in 2018 — Angel Alicea sued Cammarano and Cammarano's then-law firm for malpractice, complaining that Alicea had had to spend money defending himself against the ELEC charges.

Late last month, state Superior Court Judge Joseph Turula dismissed the case.

According to Law 360, the judge said the suit was time-barred, or filed too late. Law 360 says Judge Turula "decided in an oral opinion that the plaintiff, Angel Alicea, should have been able to know he had run afoul of campaign finance law when he began getting communications from [ELEC]."

Alicea's name may sound familiar because he won a major suit against the city of Hoboken.

Back in July of 2009, the newly elected Mayor Cammarano appointed Alicea as the city 's public safety director. But Alicea was asked to resign in 2011, he has said. Alicea filed a discrimination suit against Zimmer's administration and won more than a million dollars.

The case was ultimately settled for $700,000.