A plan to prove Craig Callaway was breaking the law in Atlantic City’s elections was illegal, Callaway charges.
The one-time Atlantic City political leader told BreakingAC that he is going to pursue criminal charges and file a civil suit against Mayor Don Guardian and the two private investigators who gave a voter a wire to try to record him doing something illegal.
Guardian held a press conference that included audio from a wire worn by Rodney Cotton who claimed Callaway
paid him $30 to sign for a messenger ballot of someone he never met.
“It’s a violation of the law,” said Callaway, who is in the process of getting a lawyer in the case.
While New Jersey statute allows conversations to be taped as long as one person involved knows it’s being recorded, it does not allow for public dissemination, he said.
A Northfield attorney agreed with Callaway’s assessment.
“Under New Jersey law, you can certainly record anyone as long as your party to that conversation,” said Steve Scheffler, speaking as a law expert. “But I think you crossed the line when you pay somebody to record a conversation that you’re not a party to.”
He said there were likely other violations as well.
“They tried to entrap Craig into doing something illegal, which he didn’t,” Scheffler said. “That’s a violation of the Criminal Coercion Act. Certainly they violated his civil rights.”
Callaway, who served 40 months in federal prison nearly a decade ago for bribes and a blackmail scheme against then-Councilman Gene Robinson, noted that one of the charges in the Robinson case was having someone videotape Robinson without his consent.
“They should be held to the Callaway standard,” he said of Guardian and private investigators Lou DiJoseph and Tim Witkoski. “Had I taped Don Guardian’s people without their permission and disseminated it, I would be criminally charged by now.”
Callaway plans to hold a press conference after he signs an agreement with a lawyer. And he will be going to Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon Tyner with his claims.
Guardian’s lawyer had a meeting with representatives from the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office about their allegations. But that’s where it should have ended, Scheffler said.
“Instead of handing off whatever he believed was wrongdoing, he decided he was his own law enforcement entity,” Scheffler said. “He tried to entrap Callaway and people who were on a mission to get out the vote.”
Guardian did not immediately return a request for comment.
https://breakingac.com/packet-outlines-atlantic-city-voter-fraud-allegations/
