LETTER: The cost of Jeff Meyer to Bayonne

In a letter to the editor, Bayonne political activist Peter Franco raises serious questions and allegations of misconduct regarding city spokesman Jeff Meyer.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Having read the title I bet you are wondering “Who is Jeff Meyer?” Meyer is a jack of all political trades having worked as a treasurer and fundraiser for political organizations and even founded a political action committee of his own. Feel free to browse his LinkedIn profile here.

While Meyer has had some questionable relationships with Hudson County politicos before he never landed in Bayonne until recently.

This past September, Hudson County View documented former city council candidate Washington Flores speaking to the city council about Jeff Meyer’s role in the city. He repeatedly asked the council if Meyer, whom many in the media refer to as the city spokesperson, was being compensated. The council stated he was not a Bayonne employee and neither himself or his firm was being compensated by the city. Flores made the council aware of Meyer’s storied past with Burlington County Democratic Committee, New Frontier PAC, and two former mayors in Hudson County, Peter Cammarano and Jeremiah Healy.

The council was unaware but said they would look into it. Business Administrator, Joe Demarco, said Meyer was not formally charged with anything at the present time. However, Flores reiterated there was an 8 count election complaint presently under review in Trenton.

On January 7th, 2015 The NJ Election Law Enforcement Commission concluded that Jeff Meyer was in violation of election laws. As a result of the violations Meyer was fined – that can be viewed on Bayonne Local.

Since September, Meyer has appeared in print and online news media as well as television interviews under the title “city spokesperson,” covering topics ranging from water main breaks to FBI investigations.

Oddly enough, Mr. Joe Ryan is listed as the spokesperson according to city hall documents. If Ryan is listed as the city spokesperson why is Meyer giving statements? This is not once or twice but dozens of times Meyer has given statements and produced press releases from city hall on behalf of this administration.

After Council-members said they would look into Meyer’s questionable background and even after the fines levied at the start of this year, Meyer is still seen speaking on behalf of our city. So this begs the question, what has been looked into or reviewed? Where does the council now stand on Jeff Meyer’s relationship with our mayor and our city?

From those questions even more concerns grow. Why is a man who headed up a Political Action Committee and Treasurer of a large organization “volunteering” his time in Bayonne? A man that’s residence is listed in Burlington County driving 3 hours a day, 5 days a week, to work in Bayonne for free.

According to Meyer’s own LinkedIn profile (see 1st paragraph) he’s listed as a Business Development Specialist related to Civil Engineering. So he works full time in Hillsboro and then volunteers in Bayonne? Upon further review of Mr. Meyer’s internet resume, he works for Carroll Engineering. I found it a little coincidental that Carroll Engineering was designated as a qualified special project engineer during last council meeting:

Until this recent designation, Carroll Engineering had not received a contract from Bayonne. Could it be that Mr. Meyer’s compensation is filtered through his company?

In a perfect world we would have recorded statements or video tape confessions but with all this coincidence surrounding this administration and the lack of transparent answers, all we have is a boatload of coincidence and speculation. Emma Bull once said “Coincidence is the word we use when we can’t see the levers and pulleys.” Remember that word Transparency? We heard it a lot last spring. Wouldn’t it be nice if it made an appearance explaining these coincidences and quelled the speculation behind the cost of Jeff Meyer.

Peter Franco

Bayonne Political Activist