Based on a release from the plaintiff’s attorney, Flavio Komuves, the five Hoboken resident plaintiff’s request for a court order suspending the printing of ballots in the June 4th Democratic primary was granted this morning by Hudson County Superior Court Judge Peter Bariso.

The order means no ballots will be printed until a hearing scheduled next Wednesday.  The court will weigh the eligibility of Carmelo Garcia as a candidate for the NJ Assembly’s 33rd District.

The restraining order signed by Judge Bariso means the five Hoboken residents have passed the initial threshold questioning Garcia’s eligibility based on state and federal law.

Yesterday in an exclusive interview with MSV, Garcia expressed confidence he would be the eventual primary and general election Assemblyman-elect after the November general election.

Executive Director Carmleo Garcia at the HHA meeting last night

Talking Ed Note: No conclusion should be drawn from the initial ballot printing stoppage before next week’s hearing when the matter will be heard on the merits.  Election law in NJ is complex and the Hoboken residents who filed this challenge present serious obstacles to Garcia’s eligibility from both a state and federal standpoint.

It’s a legitimate challenge for the courts to sort through.  Assignment Judge Peter Bariso is the same judge who walked the City Council through a proper vote on filling its open council seat last fall.  He ruled on February 1st that the “gamesmanship” in the manufactured lawsuit by the Hoboken Sopranos should not decide the outcome.

Judge Bariso upheld the third and final vote appointing Jim Doyle.

Last October, council members Beth Mason and Michael Russo staged consecutive absences over two council meetings setting up their lawsuit against the City and People of Hoboken.  The bill, running into the tens of thousands piles up as they have appealed Judge Bariso’s ruling against them to the NJ Appellate Court.

At the last City Council meeting, Councilwoman Terry Castellano twice declared she and her colleagues won the lawsuit and the City could end the matter by standing down.  She also claimed Hoboken resident Phil Cohen, a lawyer himself, was wrong on everything criticizing their lawsuit.

How exactly do you appeal your own court victory?  No one asked Castellano after her remarks and apparently Beth Mason’s attorney’s did not inform Castellano of their defeat or the true nature of the existing appeal by the Hoboken Sopranos. (sarcasm off)