Cruise raises cash for Paterson mayor’s legal fees
Tickets for a cruise on the Hudson River cost $150 to $250, with the money going to help Joey Torres fight corruption charges.
PATERSON – Mayor Joey Torres held a Hudson River harbor cruise on Thursday evening to raise money to pay his defense lawyers in the corruption case pending against him.
“It was well attended,” said Torres in an interview on Friday. “I believe we confirmed 300 people.”
The mayor said premium tickets for the event cost $250, while the second-tier price was $150 per person. But he declined to reveal exactly how much he had raised.
New Jersey does not require elected officials to disclose the names of people who contribute to such “legal defense” funds, according to the state Election Law Enforcement Commission.
Torres and three city employees – Joe Mania, Timothy Hanlon and Imad Mowaswes – are the targets of six-count criminal indictment accusing the mayor of having the men do renovations at a beer distribution business owned by his daughter and nephew while they were being paid overtime by Paterson taxpayers.
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The Attorney General’s Office has offered the three employees deals under which they would get five years’ probation if they testified against Torres. The employees have until Sept. 1 to decide whether they will take the deals, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
In contrast, Torres would have to serve five years in prison if he took the deal the state offered him, according to the lawyers in the case.
The mayor said he would probably hold another fund-raiser for his legal defense in July.
In 2014 and 2015, Torres had hosted harbor cruises to raise money for his reelection campaign. In 2016, Torres did not hold the cruise, which he attributed to a problem with reserving the boat. But Torres did use his limited liability corporation, Urban Solutions, to run a golf outing last spring that political insiders speculate was geared toward his legal defense.
A state grand jury began investigating the mayor in March 2016 after NBC aired video showing the employees doing odd jobs at his home and at the beer business.
Torres said he plans to run for reelection next year. State records say he has $84,430 remaining in his campaign fund as of January. The mayor said that in addition to another defense fund event, he would probably hold a campaign fund-raiser in July as well.