Bayonne Law Director Jay Coffey says he’s “going out with his sword” in a secretly recorded conversation about Business Administrator Melissa Mathews, where he also says “f*** her.”
This recording of #Bayonne Law Director Jay Coffey is making the rounds & seems to show serious bad blood between him & BA Melissa Mathews.
“F*** her: I’ve been here 30 years, I’m not gonna kowtow to this jerk … I’m going out with my sword with this lady, not my shield.” ⚔️🛡️ pic.twitter.com/oIuakQYrPD
— John Heinis (@HeinisHardNews) June 30, 2021
“F*** her: I’ve been here 30 years, I’m not gonna kowtow to this jerk … I talked to my wife about this: I’m going out with my sword with this lady, not on my shield,” Coffey says while speaking to another employee in February.
“We have all of City Hall rowing the same way right now, except for one person, well there’s four: her, Sharon [Nadrowski], and the Smiths.”
It’s not clear who recorded the conversation, but New Jersey is a one-party consent state, meaning that only one party needs to be aware of the recording – as long as it is not made with criminal intent.
The audio recording was independently obtained by HCV after being published on Soapbox Blog last night and Coffey declined to comment, citing pending litigation with Mathews.
Back in April, Mathews filed a gender discrimination suit against the city and several employees, including Coffey, where she also said that abuse of public office allegations were ignored, as HCV first reported.
The recorded phone conversation took place after Mathews had just returned from a medical leave of absence.
As for Nadrowski, the city council president, she is a rumored challenger for Mayor Jimmy Davis ahead of the 2022 municipal elections.
While she hasn’t declared her intentions one way or another yet, she recently spoke out against a $4 million waste removal contract granted to a vendor after he made a $64,327.59 donation for the office of emergency management to purchase a new truck.
Coffey argued that the donation had been rescinded long before the council voted on it earlier this month, while Nadrowkski asserted that the council never voted to rescind the gift, nor were they ever informed of such an action prior to the vote on the waste removal contract.
