Bill Watson files tort claim against Trenton, Vaughn over Parking Authority controversy
The brother of Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman is done taking it on the chin.
William “Bill” Watson filed a tort claim notice with the city this month, laying out his intent to sue councilwoman Robin Vaughn and the governing body amid an ongoing ethics probe.
He’s accused of exerting his influence as chairman of the Trenton Parking Authority’s Board of Commissioners to get a political pal a lucrative gig.
Watson claims that Vaughn “recklessly defamed and slandered” him by suggesting corruption is afoot at the TPA, in a tort claim notice obtained by The Trentonian through a public records request. The city received the notice March 5.
Tort claims notices are precursors to lawsuits and must be filed within 90 days of an actionable claim against a public entity.
Watson must wait six months from after filing the tort claim before bringing suit.
The chairman pointed to comments that Vaughn made at a Feb. 4 meeting as council debated moving forward with a measure removing Watson and another commissioner from the board over misconduct claims.
“The other thing I want to say … the resolution to address the corruption that is going on at the Trenton Parking Authority, I am in total agreement with what the Commissioner Evangeline
Ugorji expressed in her public comment, and I just hope that my council members really take the time to examine, since we’re looking to add 30 to 60 more days before the resolution returns.
“I really hope the council members do their due diligence and read through the issues, and the laws, and the policies and procedures that govern that body and our powers to interject and remediate.”
Council voted to postpone the expulsion hearings, but Watson still believes the city is on the hook for Vaughn’s alleged slanderous statements especially since the probe remains ongoing and he hasn’t been found to have violated any ethical rules.
He attached a letter from Hill Wallack, the law firm representing TPA in the ethics investigation, that warned council it was stepping into a thorn bush of legal issues surrounding commissioners’ due process rights.
Watson claimed that Vaughn’s “intentionally inaccurate statement” that he and other commissioners were “corrupt has caused me reputational and other injury, in violation of my constitutional rights and are grounds for a defamation claim.”
Fellow commissioners Anne LaBate and Ugorji wrote to the Trenton Ethics Board last year, complaining that Watson orchestrated a workaround the city ethics rules in order to get ex-commissioner Perry Shaw III a job with TPA.
Shaw couldn’t work directly for TPA since he was a commissioner, so he was hired by KEJ Associates, which is owned by Kim Jackson.
The firm was founded a day after TPA opened up the executive directorship for proposals, also known as a Request for Qualifications.
Jackson is described in the ethics complaint as one of Watson’s acquaintances, and they were photographed together at an event in 2014 for then newly minted Trenton councilman Duncan Harrison.
The whistleblowing commissioners raised concerns about the fairness of the solicitation process and Shaw’s qualifications to serve as TPA executive director.
The Maley Givens law firm had been authorized to issue subpoenas to Watson, Shaw and KEJ Associates to determine whether they coordinated to help the consulting firm land the $120,000 contract.
But the investigation was halted after the city council opened up bids for another law firm to take over and finish the investigation.
Council members expressed dismay about why the Maley Givens firm was still working on the case after its contract had expired.
And they accused the firm of taking too long, after LaBate and Ugorji filed their complaints with the ethics board in February 2020.
Watson, who in his only interview with The Trentonian maintained he did nothing wrong, has since fallen silent and hasn’t responded to multiple phone calls seeking comment.
A former prosecutor told The Trentonian that the TPA deal deserves further scrutiny from investigators.
The ethics probe captured the attention of Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri, but he said in a previous interview that his office would wait for a referral before deciding whether to investigate possible criminality in the way the alleged patronage deal came together.
West Ward resident Mike Ranallo told The Trentonian
that he wrote to Onofri asking him to investigate the alleged shady deal. He provided a trove of documents to investigators and was waiting to hear back from them.
“It’s something that needs a closer look just because of what’s evident. It kinda raises your eyebrows. You go hmmm. On its surface, it smells bad. And this is Trenton, so of course everyone is going to have a little heightened awareness.”