Yesterday, I received the following letter from John Barbato’s attorney; John Barbato sits on the Board of Education for the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District until he gets ousted in next year’s election.
Dear Mr. Warren:
It has been brought to my attention that on April 21, 2008, [sic] you have caused to be published on your website false and liabliss [sic] statements concerning Mr. Barbato with respect to his position on the Matawan Borough Board of Education. [sic]
1) You have falsely accused Mr. Barbato of not attending a meeting that was a planned debate, which was moderated by the League of Women Voters, which was held for Candidates. You are aware Mr. Barbato is not a Candidate for re-election and had not been invited to that meeting.
2) You talk about the damage Mr. Barbato has done to the district in his “insane grab for power at the expense of the people.”
3) You also accuse him of providing patronage jobs, which is false and unfounded.
4) Further, you accused him of crossing the line “in his latest fundraising attempt” and you posted an email Mrs. Rubino sent out knowing that he had nothing to do with that.
5) Finally, you accuse falsely accused [sic] him that “he uses the school district as a personal playground,” without providing any grounds to support the accusation.
At the time that you published the Website, you knew that the statements were unfounded, false and you have entertained serious doubt as to the truth thereof.
With respect to all of the above, you acted with reckless disregard for the standards of truth and verocity [sic] ordinarily followed by a responsible person.
As a result of the false and misleading information contained in your website, Mr. Barbato has been liabled [sic], held up to ridicule and Mr. Barbato’s reputation has been greatly damaged.
THEREFORE, THIS IS TO PUT YOU ON NOTICE that you are to immediately cease and desist from any further actions against Mr. Barbato.
Very truly yours,
Gerald A. Del Tufo
The letter was signed by Mr. Del Tufo’s secretary.
Following is my response.
Dear Sir,
I am sorry to hear you had to be informed of the article as I would have preferred you be a regular reader of my blog like so many others. I am also saddened, though not surprised, that Mr. Barbato has chosen to defend himself through an attorney for I cannot imagine any more lame or cowardly response from a public official.
Regarding my statements on April 21st, I have not yet had an opportunity to make any though I will endeavor to do so as to not make a liar out of you.
As for your other items, I shall respond point by point.
1) I did not “falsely accuse” Mr. Barbato of not attending a scheduled debate among candidates. He wasn’t there. I was.
2) How would you characterize his “grab for power at the expense of the people” if not “insane”?
3) If Mr. Barbato denies providing patronage jobs, let’s see to what former Superintendent Quinn and other school officials testify under oath.
4) In Ms. Rubino’s public election filing, she could neither spell “Monmouth” nor determine what month it was. I do not believe she was capable of crafting that email without support from her aligned board members.
5) Please define “personal playground”. Once again, I am eager to hear Mr. Quinn’s testimony.
As for any “damage” to Mr. Barbato’s reputation, I assure you it was all self-inflicted.
We all know that it is nearly impossible for a public official to sue for libel; you could never prove my statements were false, with malice, and caused financial loss. Nor would you ever try. (As a piece of advice, the next time you instruct your secretary to write a cease and desist letter, you should advise her to use the spell check. At the least, she should learn how to spell “libel”.)
In summary, please inform your client that he can take his letter and shove it where the sun don’t shine! I’m not some weak-kneed administrator who’s going to be intimidated by an ethically challenged blowhard. I ain’t backin’ down. Not now. Not ever!
I shall not cease from writing what I believe to be the truth. I shall not desist from attacking Mr. Barbato so long as he continues to poison our community. I shall not be silenced.
I remain respectfully and without malice,
Your friendly neighborhood blogger,
Joseph Warren
A.K.A. Aberdeener
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Thursday, April 10, 2008
Barbato's Yellow-Bellied Response
Posted by Aberdeener at 12:57 AM
Labels: barbato, school board
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30 comments:
Good job Aberdeener, I love it!
Brian in Aberdeen
Well shocking Mr. Barbatos ego is bruised. Barbato needs a hug.
Poor baby !
Man up you moron.
The people are tired, very tired of you and yours BS.
The end is coming and your own actions will be your donwfall.
I love it.
"the sun don’t shine!" SHOULD READ "DOESN'T"
i'm michael o'kane, i left the last comment. i wasn't being a coward not leaving my last name, i did so because i do not have a blogging identity. i liked your article.
Hey Aberdeener,
You must be new to Township politics. Don’t you remember King Murphy, Court Jester McNamara and Polito, Gartley, Devino, Jim Cox, etal? They almost bankrupted the Township and single handedly destroyed the republican party in the Township.
Now let me get this straight, you want to remove Scudiery, Norman, Vinnie, Gumbs, etc. and replace them with Adam Puharic, Harry Larrison, Tony Palughi, Merla, Hyer, Weldon, Zambrano or Iadanza and don’t forget Carton. Ooops, some are dead and others are away at the “Club Monmouth” summer camp. How about tracking down the unindicted co-conspirators? Who was Palughi’s, boss when he had his no show job? Anyone check out the State senator who was involved in the Matawan redevelopment plan at the train station? Probably not! Prince Adam and his crowd wouldn’t like that, huh Mr. Borg. To quote the great one, “I’ve had the honor to serve as Aberdeen Municipal Chairman, and in that time oversaw the unification of a divided, demoralized, and under-funded organization. I made many hard decisions, and numerous mistakes. One of those mistakes cost me an important friendship. I chose to use my power as Chairman to punish dissent, instead of healing, bringing people together, and fostering debate without resentment.” In the Feb 27, 2008 article in the News Transcript he goes on to say, "Political blogs are a destructive force dumbing down our political discourse in so many ways. Volunteers and ordinary citizens are discouraged from joining campaigns, appalled by the lies, innuendo and slander spread online from anonymous hate-writers. "As a result, people who gain monetarily or are mentally unstable make up the majority of political operatives available to a chairman as willing workers," he said. "Blogs also reinforce lying and slander because the most outrageous and untrue online comments are spread the fastest. If it damages you or your family it will move across e-mails very fast. "Finally, blogs are a form of mental retardation because those who post and reply only allow similar opinions to perpetuate on their sites - thereby reinforcing an already weak gene pool," Amen, Mr. Chairman.
Disgruntled Postal Worker
Aberdeener,
Talk about spell check, shouldn’t your moniker be Aberdumb or Aberdumber? Maybe the County Legal Counsel can help YOU out.
Tired of ALL Scum
Aberdeener,
I’m glad someone called you and your group from SOI on your comments, perhaps Mr. DelTufo will look into the separation of church and state. Everyone should pay taxes.
The Tax Man
Gerry Deltufo and Attorney.
The worlds biggest OXI-MORON, with an emphasis on MORON.
Barbato, Deltufo, Vinci, Manzo is it not strange that Kauff is the only one that does not end in a vowel.
ha ha
In response to greeniaberdeen's accusation that the disgruntled postal worker must be Mr. Manzo, I would like to disagree. Not only is the letter credited to Mr.Manzo, not his work, but it is nothing at all like the Mr. Manzo I know. You have the wrong disgruntled postal worker , you ignorant, insensitive jerk. Either you have a problem with Mr. Manzo for some other unrelated reason or you're just a vindictive ass.
Dear greeniaberdeen, thank you for your illuminating response. "bite me " seems rather defensive or is it just wishful thinking. Yes, there are a lot of disgruntled, or as you call ir "psycho" postal workers out there. However, I do know that Mr. Manzo is not in that category.He is nothing but a single-minded, concerned family man and resident of Aberdeen. As for your wish for me to "bite you", wrong person, but I'm sure you know other places for that.
What cowards we have as public officials. Criminals usually hide behind their attorneys. The stink is getting worse and worse; just keep feeding us this pertinent information regarding our elected public officials.
Great Job.
Michael,
Please forgive me if my "indignant" paragraph was not grammatically correct. I used some poetic license to get my point across.
As for what happened over ten years ago, my focus is ending the corruption and incompetence that plagues us today.
Why can't everyone play nice in the sandbox.
We are getting off track of the nature of the topic. Although I completely disagree with the campaign techniques going on here by the red sign people; the solicitation of campaign funds from district employees, the inappropiate use of power to hand out jobs and the dirty politics in all, everyone is forgetting the kids. Barbato and his camp are fighting like rats trapped in a box, trying to gain power back on a school board. An organization which looks out for the best interest of our children.
As adults, do we have to call people names, make personal attacks which are offensive and use such foul language? Please no more vulger comments and personal attacks.
Aberdeener, excellent response to this attorney
Aitken, you have my vote based upon what you stand for.
Ron of Aberdeen
Dear Mr. Warren,
On behalf of other public-minded people who care about our community, thank you for creating and managing this public forum. While I don't alsways agree with your conclusions, it seems that you do more research for your pieces than any of the local press. You usually attatch original documents and/or references.
My own conclusion is that even if it were possible to libel a public official, you cannot libel or slander people of the ilk of Kauff,Drapkin, Barbatos, Sobel, and Raymond. Do do so you would have to imagine things that are worse than what they have done to this community.
Even if you give the current Kauff Gang credit for getting the last bunch out; it is now clear that we have replaced what may have been incompetence with a much worse corruption by people who appear to have a disdain for open government,democracy, and public service. It is time to ignore the political parties and vote for people that actually care about us residents. The only incumbent that does not seem to be tangled in Kauff's web of corruption is .Mr. Tom Perry.
We need people like him on Council, and Ken Aitken on the School Board. These are people who have the conscience to follow through on the promisses made to get them elected. We all need to stand up for progress on election day. We need to stand up for our childrens' honor, even if it means hurting some bloke's feelings.
I apologize to all my readers for not acting sooner to remove some of the above comments. I am extremely reluctant to delete comments as I realize that this is one of the only places where people can freely vent. However, when the conversation degenerates into offensive gutter talk or when private individuals are targeted, I am forced to act.
I have been very lax in censoring comments because I prefer to trust my readership to use their good judgment. Out of respect for others, please refrain from defacing this blog with vulgarity (whether spelled out or insinuated) or attacks on private citizens.
I greatly appreciate everyone who takes the time to read this blog and/or contributes his opinion. I believe, together, we are making a positive difference.
ABERDEENER
While I understand that you should have deleted the comments it shows a level of frustration and mistrust for the likes of John Barbato and an Attorney who should have known better. John Barbato is an elected official who has violated the trust of many for his and his co-horts self interest and grab for power. power which once achieved, failed the students and penalized the taxpayers with the mis-spending of millions of dollars 38 to be correct. Then Barbato pushed for a football field rather than computers and instruction to satisfy the Maroon and Steel parents who in my opinion fail many other activities and sports teams other than their protected football team. Fair is fair and truth is truth.
Barbato and his cronies hide from the truth.
Let us see what happens on April 15th. Too many RED SIGNS means they gave away and promised too much.
Ken Aitken does not promise HE DELIVERS with responsible and individual leadership.
Tell everyone to vote...
BRAVO
Comments should not be divisive and hurtful, but then again so to should be leadership. A lesson that Mr. Barbato along with his selected group of cohorts and puppets do not seem to be bothered by.
I also see the red signs all over the place and worry that a man like Ken Aitken will be under appreciated for his intelligence, ethical behavior and dedication. We should not allow Ken Aitken to be plowed asunder by those who sell the taxpayers short with contempt and far worse.
When did leadership become a trait to be pushed aside for power for those who fail to lead.
Only a few days left Matawan and Aberdeen. While many spent a great deal of time years ago stopping the likes of Brian Murphy and were disheartened by the lack of accountability of our elected officials the Board (bored) of Education and Town Councils in our district must be shown for what they are. Feeding troughs for the connected and greedy that need to be shown for what they truly are, criminals yet to be caught and indicted for crimes against the taxpayers and impressionable youth who watch us adults bicker and argue.
Send them a message on 4/15/08.
Send Ken Aitken and Mr. Kenny back where they deserve to be, as leaders representing the best interest of our community.
In response to "Disgruntled Postal Worker":
there is nothing wrong with political blogs or public discussion in an open forum. Those
who would censor free speech will eventually be doomed to slavery. To quote an old song: "soon you will obtain the stability you stive for, in the only way that it's granted, in a place among the fossils of our time" - Jefferson Airplane - Crown of Creation
Mayor Sobel recently stated at a council meeting something to the effect that "free speech can be taken too far". I am sure he feels justified and comfortable in saying this, but he should look back at all that has been gained in this great democratic experiment called America and recognize that open discourse, no matter who it inflames, is the only path to salvation and the only hope for humankind.
--Paul Rinear
Very true Paul, but I hate to stray from the subject upon us now, THIS SCHOOL BOARD ELECTION.
I just finished reading Ken Aitken's updated web site. I not only appreciate the fact that he actually has GOALS,(I haven't heard any from the other two candidates), I equally appreciate that he puts it all out there. In writting for ALL TO SEE!
I love the idea of a "Citizen Advisory Committee". And televising the "Board of a Whole Meetings". THANK YOU MR.AITKEN'S FOR RESPECTING THE INTELLEGENCE OF YOUR FELLOW CITIZENS.
Why haven't I heard one word from either Jan Rubino, or Marty Ruprecht, and their ideas?
I hate to bring my comment down to this level, but both their names on the same RED sign as if they are a team, NOT INDIVIDUALS, AND NOT ONE IDEA BETWEEN THEM.
The fact that the red signs are representative of the PTO pressure tactics or maybe those who were given jobs or stroked by the Barbato and Zavorskas team?
If Rubino and Ruprecht had a real thought or idea between them they would have shown up on candidates night.
The fact that they chose not to attend is another of the "they pick on us whiners that Zavorskas personifies.
It is getting old Kathy!
Your and Barbatos time is short!
Mr. Rinear,
I guess you missed the point of the blog. To quote Mr. Puharic, "Blogs also reinforce lying and slander because the most outrageous and untrue online comments are spread the fastest. “ Political blogs are a destructive force dumbing down our political discourse in so many ways.”
This was very obvious in the fervor that was shown toward a Mr. Manzo which caused the blogmaster to REDACT the comments. Isn’t liberty great? As long as you are in charge.
Still Disgruntled but a kinder gentler postal worker. God save the Queen.
Anonymous would that be QUEEN ZAVORSKAS? She conducts herself as though she is the monarchy of the Matawan and Aberdeen School District.
Her reign as self appoointed Queen and the Court Jester that is John Barbato should start looking for the writing on the wall. Their TOAST next time around.
She is most certainly not a Queen, a wicked wit_ _ maybe.
O'h I should stop before I upset a postal worker. Keep working through it...GOOD LUCK...
Through rain through sleet through dark of night shall not keep this opinionated mailman from his plight...
Middlesex Jim
Aberdeener, It appears that election time, on any level, brings out the worst in people. The fact they resort to such low levels indicates they can't discuss the current issues.
Forget politics, let's vote for the best person for the School Board. One who is not backed by a political party but stands on his/her own platform in the best interests of educating the children. Once County political monies enters municipal school board elections, the question of repayment of "favors" become an issue. Matawan Borough is currently dealing with the financial repercussions of the "special election" and Mary Aufseeser's unsuccessful campaign.
Thank you for your informative blog. Keep up the good work.
We remain loyal readers.
Barbato and Deltufo perfect together. Like I care what some lawyer says. And as far as an Esq. appearing after any attorneys name, it must stand for EVERY SINGLE QUARTER, that they can get out of a client. I am sure that Barbato did not pay, after all maybe Barbato gets to wash Jerrys car for him and cut his grass.
O'h wait, I forgot such manual labor would not be suitable for a John Barbato. He is special !
Yes John you are despised by many, many more than you think like you.
Are you looking for the writing on the wall JOHN. Maybe your lawyer can give you some advice. By the way is Deltufo going to represent Rubino, and Ruprecht in the ethics and fund raising inquiries? That might be a conflict of interest for them as he is your lawyer after all and he will be busy defending your part of an illegal and unethical fund raising plan. Since you may also be questioned and hopefully indicted, I do not think that Deltufo should represent you alone. Then again Jerry might be a little busy himself having to defend such a letter as received by the Aberdeener advising him to cease and desist in front of the legal practice review board of New Jersey.
You see genius you are unfortunately an elected official subject to harsh, cruel, accusatory, slanderous and last but not least TRUTHFUL statements from the public. Truth however is something you and your co-conspirators know nothing about.
Maybe your lawyer can explain the truth. O'h I forgot your lawyer is Jerry Deltufo, the truth never enters his legal practice, certainly.
His father must be so proud.
Middlesex Jim
So, Mr. Disgruntled Postal Worker, are you such a coward as to not reveal your identity? You know who I am.
--Paul Rinear
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