Did Jackson Officials Openly Lie to the Court? Did Calogero Design Jackson Dorm Ban to “Keeping the Hasidics Out”? OPRA documents tell shocking tale of Official Misdeed

“Denied.” That was the curt response by Jackson Township to the Agudath Israel of America lawsuit seeking to strike down a Jackson law, hurriedly passed this March, that banned dormitories from anywhere in the 100 square mile town.

The Agudath Israel lawsuit claims that the ordinance was illegal and discriminatory, intended to stop Orthodox Jews from living in Jackson. Jackson officials responded to the court that the law has nothing to do with Jews, and in what appears to be a bald face and brazen lie, that eliminating dorms was not a “dorm ban” at all.

Now, a trove of emails released reviewed by the Vaad following an OPRA request, seem to prove that Jackson lied to the court. It also appears as the smoking gun proving intent of the anti-dormitory ordinance – that it was carefully planned as a tool to keep Jews out of Jackson.

The OPRA emails show the following. On March 6th 2017 Jackson residents Ralph and Darlene Rue of Ambassador Way sent Councilman Barry Calogero a blatantly anti-Semitic email with the subject line “Hasidics – UGH!,” urging him to support the dormitory ban ordinance, explaining “I would just like to keep these Hasidics out of our town…”.

Councilman Calogero responded with agreement and ardent support and enthusiasm to the Rues’ email. “I support a total ban on ALL dormitories in Jackson.” He signed off to these haters with the signature of “Respectfully.”  Despite knowing this, Jackson officials responded to the court, stating that the “ban” was not a ban.

Just ten days after confirming that the ordinance was a ban and after seeming to consent that the ordinance was intended to keep “Hasidics” out, Councilman Calogero apparently lied in public, and then adding insult to injury, accused those devoted to fighting racism as being bigoted. Calogero words in Jackson’s Town Hall were: “The reality is this ordinance is not against any race or religion and only a bigoted person would think as much.”

The Rues Calogero email exchange appears to fully confirm the biased nature of the ordinance and, worse, that Jackson officials openly lied to the court, as Calogero admitted in his email that it in fact was a “ban,” despite the Township’s vehement denials in court documents and the media.

Adding insult to injury is the fact that many Orthodox residents reached out to Councilman Calogero respectfully sharing their concerns over the ordinance and asking for constructive discussions regarding the matter. The Councilman refused to respond to any of those emails – treating Jews as pariahs.

“It boggles the mind that elected officials perjure themselves in court, and that they are not afraid to use their official powers to discriminate,” says one Jackson resident. “Hopefully, the day will come when our elected officials serve all residents, including so called “Hasidics” with honesty, integrity and fairness. We also hope that Federal and State authorities, and the court will not allow this travesty of justice to stand.”

This content, and any other content on TLS, may not be republished or reproduced without prior permission from TLS. Copying or reproducing our content is both against the law and against Halacha. To inquire about using our content, including videos or photos, email us at [email protected].

Stay up to date with our news alerts by following us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

**Click here to join over 20,000 receiving our Whatsapp Status updates!**

**Click here to join the official TLS WhatsApp Community!**

Got a news tip? Email us at [email protected], Text 415-857-2667, or WhatsApp 609-661-8668.

16 COMMENTS

  1. Wow just wow! Unreal the amount of hate people have. It is really sick. I wondered how can council members speak to such sick people yet refuse to talk with anyone Jewish?! I think the answer is obvious after seeing all these emails the last little while…. They are exactly on the same page as the haters of all things orthodox and/or Jewish.

  2. What the above incidents show is some evidence of animus not conclusive proof as the article’s author wants everyone to believe… let the legal process work without jumping to conclusions…

  3. wow..I heard there are thousands of more documents many contain bomb shells Wait until the AG comes Mahwah is nothing compared to this..i ” HOPE” he comes fast

  4. COnfused, the emails do not explicitly say what you are claiming. A constituent expressed anti-Semitic feelings. The councilman did not confirm those feelings but did express support of the ban.

    Is that legal proof of the bans intentions?

    Although I believe its anti-Semitic, an argument could be made that the township of Jackson does not want a yeshiva in every neighborhood like they see in Lakewood. I personally love living near yeshivos, but I can see why someone else may not feel that way. You can live in Jackson without having a yeshiva dormitory next door.

    Also do the people who moved to Jackson for the quiet really care if yeshiva dormitories can be built there?

  5. Darlene is just another anti Semite. She posts about it on her Facebook page. “Those people are disgusting, stop populating and go take a shower”

    Sickening!!

  6. Yes those of us who moved for quiet do care of dorms can be built. We don’t need one on every corner but it is unreasonable that we should forever need to rely on lakewood. Why couldn’t rules be made in regards to a yeshiva dorm etc instead of outright bans?

  7. he only answered her but ignored 100 frum emails…all politicians know you dont answer bigotry..plus the town in legal answer said..not a ban..barry calogero called it a ban

  8. My goodness this is bad. Really bad. Mr. Calogero, you refuse to have a conversation with respectful Jewish residents yet you reply to an open, unabashed, venomous anti-Semite?? You sign off “respectfully!?!?” Would you have signed off “respectfully” if the email was titled with a different minority and then “UGH”?! My gosh, which self respecting politician would ever respond to an email with that headline?? This is so crazy I originally thought I was mistaken when I read it. I hope people understand why there are those that allege discrimination, these emails paint a very dark picture which show us as clear as day as to what the true motives with these ordinances are. The good residents of Jackson, Jewish and Non-Jewish alike deserve a lot better than this pre Civil rights era bigotry. America has come a long way let’s not go back to those ugly chapters of our history.

  9. I am blown away by the amount of hate spewed from these racists in Jackson. They should all be ashamed of themselves. What low lives!!!!
    Having said that, there is only ONE thing that will stop these bigots. Pick 3 of the biggest noisemakers and NEVER buy their homes. NEVER give them the satisfaction of cashing out after their clearly racist ways. Don’t let these cowards ever be able to sell at the overinflated prices we pay. Watch how quickly this stops…

  10. With all of their bigotry, people are still buying there. Can they not win at the ballot box? They can hold their breaths for a couple of years, and vote to strike down the onerous ordinances.
    Even by now they should be a swing voting bloc. As long as there are two viable people running for office, they should be able to have their concerns heard.

    Revenge is arguably the most foolish way of reacting. Drown the cat in milk if necessary.

  11. Why isn’t our local Fake news-paper the asbury park press reporting this? If this had occurred in Lakewood against another group do you think it would have been print worthy? Do you think that there might be some anti Semitism within their editorial board?

  12. The Asbury Fake Press is too busy trying to get their Pulitzer by figuring out if SCHI complied with all 2,723,497 state and federal regulations and made sure to properly register with the federal burrau of federal bureaucrats who sit on their tuchus on non-holidaus and think up ridiculous regulations all day.
    They cannot be busy turning their attention to what is going on in Jackson (besides to write a token piece how “some” Jews feel these laws are an effort to keep demographic issues from spilling over from Lakewood).

Comments are closed.