Patronage Hurts

by: Thurman Hart

Mon Sep 01, 2008 at 10:47:26 AM EDT

What would you think would happen to a lawyer like this:

Nealy was reprimanded by the state in 2001 for misappropriating $4,000 and failing to keep proper records, state documents show. In 2004 he was reprimanded for "gross neglect" after the state found he failed to file paperwork and misled a client.

The next line is priceless:

The city hired him as a part-time public defender in June 2007.

Now, it could be that Walter Nealy learned his lesson in 2001 and 2004. He could have come on board as a new lawyer and worked his tail off. He could have interviewed for the job and convinced them that he had turned over a new leaf.

Thurman Hart :: Patronage Hurts

But this is what he did:

Nealy is a former city councilman, city Democratic committee advisor, health board attorney and was a treasurer for Assemblyman Gordon Johnson's last council campaign. He also has a private practice in Hackensack.

And the pricelessness continues:

Johnson said the council did not know about Nealy's reprimands when they hired him. He called the failure to check Nealy's records with the state "an oversight."
"Why didn't anyone check it? I don't know," he said. "I was not proactive in checking his background. As part of the process now to select an attorney to represent a board or entity, I would check their background."

Yeah, Gordon. You're asking the right question. But it is always been part of any hiring process to check someone's background. Since you hired this guy to work on your campaign, you'd think someone like you would have asked someone to check on it.

Now we have this:

The state found last month that he misled a man with a murder conviction in into thinking an appeal was pending, when it had actually been dismissed. In addition, the state found that he did not return numerous calls from another client regarding a bankruptcy hearing.
Nealy maintains that he told the first client about the dismissed appeal, and returned the second client's calls.

These are people's lives we're talking about here. Oh, let's hire Walter, he's a good guy. We don't need to check his background, everyone knows Walter.

Oh. Maybe "someone" should have checked.