Outgoing Holmdel Mayor Sues Twp. Committee For Censuring Him

HOLMDEL, NJ — Outgoing Holmdel Mayor Eric Hinds — who is wrapping up his final days in office this December after nearly a decade as an elected official — is now suing Holmdel Township after three of his fellow Township Committee members voted to censure him earlier this fall.

In his suit, Hinds wants the majority of the Township Committee to take back their censure vote against him.

Hinds' filed his civil lawsuit last week in Monmouth County Superior Court. Holmdel Twp. is named as the only defendant. Committeeman Rocco Pascucci said he and the rest of the committee were informed about the lawsuit last week, from Holmdel's Township attorney Michael Collins.

"He told us we were being sued," Pascucci told Patch Tuesday morning. "I think he wants to scare us to rescind the censure, which I will never do. His lawyer is trying to scare us."

Interestingly, Hinds' lawyer is Larry Luttrell, the chair of the Holmdel Democratic party. Luttrell made the surprising decision to support Hinds, a Republican, throughout the censure proceedings.

Luttrell provided Patch with a copy of Hinds' lawsuit. In it, Hinds accused the other elected officials of holding secret meetings in violation of the Open Public Meetings Act, and lying about him in the form of the censure vote. He is seeking to have the censure vote voided.

Hinds complaint seeks to "void Resolution 2019-322 that was adopted by the Holmdel Township Committee on October 22, 2019 seeking to 'censure' Mayor Eric Hinds."

"The resolution is one of the worst abuses of political power I have witnessed in my 20 years of practicing law," said Luttrell. "Not only is it contaminated with one misrepresentation after the other, it was snuck into the October 22, 2019 public meeting from — which Mayor Hinds would be absent — without ever being placed on the published agenda; a clear violation of the Open Public Meetings Act. Doing so ensured that Mayor Hinds and his supporters would be unaware of and thus unable to defend what was essentially an orchestrated political hit."

Luttrell and Hinds argue that the fellow Twp. Committee members should have notified the public 48 hours in advance they intended to vote to censure Hinds at the Oct. 22 meeting.

"We never met secretly," countered Pascucci. "He was censured fairly. I don't think we did anything inappropriate."

Pascucci also dismissed the lawsuit as sour grapes from Hinds.

"This is all about Eric, as usual. He didn't get elected and now he's crying about it. He's a crybaby," said Pascucci. "I'm really disgusted. This is gonna waste God knows how much taxpayer money. Come on, Eric, just end this. He didn't get re-elected. Just end it."

Pascucci said he will "never" rescind the censure vote he led against him. Pascucci was an outspoken critic of Hinds this fall and he initiated the vote to censure him.

2019 was a dramatic year for Hinds: Since he first became involved in local politics nine years ago, Hinds had never lost a re-election campaign in Holmdel. He also ran with the full backing of the Monmouth County Republican Party, and still lost.

In October, just three weeks before the Nov. 5 election, the Twp. Committee voted 3-1 to censure Hinds for allegedly misappropriating $2.1 million in taxpayer money. Committeemen Mike Nikolis, Greg Buontempo and Pascucci accused Hinds of trying to re-direct public funds to build soccer turf fields at the Holmdel swim club, without majority approval from the committee.

Committeeman Tom Critelli did not vote to censure Hinds.

Hinds denies the allegation, and said it was politically motivated to hurt him.

"The taxpayers should be spared the cost of defending this injustice by an immediate rescission of Resolution 2019-322 (the censure vote) by the Holmdel Township Committee," said Luttrell.

The censure vote did indeed appear to have cost Hinds at the polls: He came in last place in November's four-way race, receiving 2,066 votes, and also lost Republican single-party control of the Township in the process. Republicans had enjoyed single-party rule of Holmdel for the past ten years. But come Jan. 1, 2020 Independents Cathy Weber and Prakash Santhana will now sit on the Holmdel Twp. Committee.

Pasucci also said Hinds will likely be subject to a deposition (testifying under oath) if his lawsuit proceeds.

"I can't wait to depose him, "said Pascucci. "He's the key one that knows everything that happened. I can't wait and I am looking forward to him being deposed."

Related: Holmdel Mayor Eric Hinds Censured Over $2.1M Turf Field Expense (Oct. 23, 2019)

Weber And Santhana Oust Hinds In Holmdel Twp. Committee Race (Nov. 5, 2019)

Holmdel Reeling: Republicans Lose One-Party Rule After 10 Years (Nov. 6, 2019)

Weber, Santhana Beat Liu, Hinds In Holmdel Recount Race Results (Dec. 9, 2019) - (Because the election was so close, Santhana requested a recount and these are the final results.)

Correction: Patch originally reported that Pascucci, Nikolis and Buontempo were named as defendants in the lawsuit. They are not. Only Holmdel Township is named as a defendant.