Twp. attorney asks AG to investigate councilman Municipal attorney alleges Councilman Pizzi leaked privileged info BY JAY BODAS Staff Writer Edison Township Attorney Jeff Lehrer has asked the state attorney general's office to consider investigating Councilman Salvatore Pizzi for allegedly disclosing confidential information from a township council closed-session meeting. "A letter has been sent to the state Attorney General's Office," Lehrer said. Lehrer is requesting an investigation on the grounds that Pizzi revealed confidential information to resident Burton Gimelstob, a regular attendant of council meetings. "An OPRA request was made by [Isaac] Fajerman a day after a recent council meeting," Pizzi said. "In the request, it said to contact Sal Pizzi with any questions." Fajerman is president of Business Automated Technologies, a computer services company that brought a recent lawsuit against the township for allegedly mishandling contract bid protocols. "The same morning, [Burton] Gimelstob was talking about things on a radio show that were discussed in closed session," Lehrer said. "Then more recently, Gimelstob requested certain documentation from the township clerk. When he was asked to pay for it, Gimelstob called Sal Pizzi, telling him they were making him pay for it." The information was eventually obtained by Pizzi. "Pizzi came and got the documentation and gave it to Gimelstob, as council members are allowed to receive certain information for free," Lehrer said. "That is when the township clerk told Pizzi that he was circumventing the process. Pizzi then slammed the $15 on the desk." Lehrer said that this practice was not appropriate. "I thought that this was an inappropriate use of his office to an advantage of a private citizen," Lehrer said. Gimelstob said that he has never received any confidential closed-session information from any member of the Township Council. "I have never received anything confidential or inappropriate from any council member," he said. "Any information I discussed on the radio show was all publicly available information. I spoke to the vendor, Isaac Fajerman, and I met him at his office. There I got a copy of the lawsuit and gave it to the township clerk to give to each and every council member at no charge." Gimelstob said that has "many, many sources." "I am telling you I have many, many people call me," Gimelstob said. "How they get my number, I don't know. But I never go forward unless I check something out. People actually stop me in the street to tell me things." Pizzi said that he had not yet read the complaint made by Lehrer against him. "I haven't seen the complaint, and I don't know the nature of the complaint about revealing information from a closed session," Pizzi said. "I know I did nothing wrong, and I will be exonerated by anyone looking into it. I can tell you that I never reveal anything from a closed session. It is just the way I am, so I feel very confident that it never happened." Pizzi said that the actions by Lehrer appear to be "retaliatory" for his own recent request to the state and county prosecutor's office for a criminal investigation into the administration's handling of the bidding procedures in the Trikaya matter. Superior Court Judge Robert Longhi ruled on Nov. 16 that the bid process involving Trikaya and BAT was flawed and ordered the process to be done over. Four days later, at an Edison Council meeting, Pizzi and Councilwoman Antonia Ricigliano requested the state Attorney General and the Middlesex County Prosecutor investigate the administration's involvement in the flawed process. Pizzi said that Lehrer's timing is suspect considering Pizzi's request against the mayor. "The incident he mentions happened a month or two ago, and after I released some information to the prosecutor's office that I felt was questionable, he comes up with this," Pizzi said. "I think it is an attempt to impugn my credibility, and it is not going to work." Pizzi also said his original request for a criminal investigation was not driven by any personal grudge against Mayor Jun Choi. "If you look at my voting record, there are matters that I voted for the mayor," Pizzi said. "I have no axe to grind with the mayor... but I also have to be responsible to the people, and if I see things I don't agree with, I will vote that way. It is just the way I am." Lehrer defended his actions. "I had written this letter a month-and-a-half ago, but I decided to take the high road and not send it then," Lehrer said. "My position is to let the attorney general conduct an investigation."