Parker: Yaede fighting for her political life hiring Lord
Attorney Robin Lord defends alleged killers, cutthroats, gangsters, plus, a litany of other underworld-like characters described as menaces to society.
Mayor Kelly Yaede retained Lord for the defense of a Mercer County Prosecutor’s charge that she and campaign manager Dan Scharfenberger, controlled a website that published the expunged records of Dave Henderson who lost a Republican mayoral primary race to the incumbent. The mudslinging showdown failed to engage voters about Hamilton Twp. issues but that’s a column for another day.
Hamilton Twp. Republican Committee Chairman Dennis Pone entered the frayed political discourse conversation with a bone-headed comment that underscored his disrespect for the law and any consistency in his core values, offered this opinion.
“Kelly and Dan are charged with a disorderly (persons offense) punishable by a $200 fine. The equivalent of a traffic ticket! Dennis Pone texted The Trentonian on Wednesday. “Big difference, if it is even true.” The aforementioned comment tethered his thought that events leading up to the political corruption conviction of former Hamilton Twp. Mayor John Bencivengo and the alleged issues regarding Yaede and Scharfenberger exist as apples and mosquitoes. During Bencivengo’s decline, Yaede and Pone wanted her predecessor to step down or take a leave of absence.
Listen up, people. Robin Lord does not do “disorderly conduct” cases or a “traffic ticket”. Period. Just an arrangement for a meet with Madame Lord is equivalent to being seated for tea with Queen Elizabeth. And the retainer price? Man, we’re talking significant coinage. So, when Pone says this situation registers as no big deal, running a red light or rolling through a stop sign, it’s just another grandiose white lie.
Getting Robin Lord to defend such an alleged itsy-bitsy, teenyweeny offense, amounts to finding a top surgeon to remove a hang nail or pushing bulldozers against molehills.
Attendance at a recent party for a friend’s six-year-old turtle (will wait until the laughter subsides in one, two, three) cultivated a conversation about politicians. The main voices were a husband and wife who sounded like Republicans but then again, they could have been Democrats or even worse, Socialists.
“The thing about politicians is that they think that we’re all stupid,” the wife said as her husband seconded the emotion.
Lawyers work with similar disregard for truth. Accomplished lawyers use shtick, smoke and mirrors, deflection, trickery and mouths that move faster than hands dealing Three-Card Monte aka Find the Lady. For instance, Lord offered these insights after The Trentonian published an article that featured a Hamilton Twp. police officer accused Mayor Yaede of being “corrupt”.
“We are not going to dignify it with a response. If this anonymous source had credible, valuable information he wouldn’t be anonymous. Cowards behind keyboards are not unknown in today’s day and age unfortunately,” Lord observed.
Lord, with a history of fighting against the thin blue line of police prejudice and sworn brotherhood, knows that retaliation can occur when officers speak out against brass brethren and political administrations. In fact, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s complaint identified Marty Flynn, Yaede’s chief of staff, made an anonymous open public records request for three police records, allegedly connected to Henderson’s expunged records case.
No observation less than incredible seems worthy if Lord disregards a police officer’s anonymous comments but accepts Flynn moving through cloak and dagger shadows as an operative for Mayor Yaede. Lord loves the spotlight and saying almost anything while winning this one for Lady Yaede will enhance further the defense attorney’s resume.
The Yaede family hired the famous defense attorney not because she faces jail time or death row, but because they know that the incumbentmayor is in the fight for her political life.
L.A. Parker is a Trentonian columnist. Find him on Twitter @LAParker6 or email him at LAParker@Trentonian.com.