Monroe & Blooming Grove Need New Legal Representation to Successfully Fight Clovewood, Corruption

Brian Nugent of Feerick Nugent MacCartney, PLLC represents both Towns, but clearly isn't up to the task of leading an Article 78 proceeding against the DEC concerning the Clovewood development.

Above: Mr. Brian Nugent, representing Feerick Nugent MacCartney, PLLC, can be seen here pretending to work very hard on behalf of the Town of Monroe, while Councilwoman Richardson makes the same face we all do whenever Mr. Nugent speaks.

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The Town of Blooming Grove and the Town of Monroe share an attorney, Mr. Brian Nugent, and law firm, Feerick Nugent MacCartney, PLLC.

Over the last year, The Monroe Gazette has documented numerous instances of Mr. Nugent’s poor legal judgment and conflicts of interest.

This attorney, for example, allowed the Town of Monroe to implement a 90-day blanket FOIL response policy, which was only dropped after the New York State Committee on Open Government informed Mr. Nugent that the policy was illegal.

One would think a municipal attorney would have known better.

But Mr. Nugent’s track record says otherwise.

Mr. Nugent also allowed Town of Monroe Supervisor, Tony Cardone, and 2X Loser, Dorey Houle, to use contract negotiations with the IBEW to retaliate against a Deputy Town of Monroe Highway Supervisor. One who ran against Houle and Cardone’s friend, and noted office predator, James “Pat” Patterson.

Mr. Patterson still serves as the Highway Superintendent for Monroe, and Mr. Cardone just gave him a big raise.

All the while, Mr. Nugent has actively participated in covering up credible claims of Mr. Patterson’s sexual harassment of a former Town of Monroe employee.

According to the New York State Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), had the former Deputy Highway Supervisor wanted to file a PERB complaint against the Town — which, like the FOIL lawsuit, would cost YOU money — they would have solid legal ground to do so based on Mr. Cardone and Mrs. Houle’s actions.

And then there’s everything — including fake police reports — against Monroe Town Councilwoman Maureen Richardson, who has consistently (and sometimes is the only) person speaking up on behalf of Town of Monroe residents.

For example, during the November 7th, 2024 Town of Monroe Board meeting, Councilwoman Richardson was the only elected official to ask Orange County Legislator Peter Tuohy about the Hydrogen Sulfide situation we reported on last month.

Mr. Tuohy proceeded to lie, first by stating he couldn’t release the data detailing the hydrogen sulfide situation because it was “proprietary.” This is not true, according to the attorneys we spoke with. It’s also a false statement because this information was shared by Tuohy to Cardone, among others, in an email exchange retrieved via FOIL by The Monroe Gazette.

To this day, Orange County has refused to release any information concerning the hydrogen sulfide levels and current infrastructure issues involving Orange County Sewer District 1.

Earlier in the day, Legislator Tuohy also told Councilwoman Richardson that he had sent that data to The Monroe Gazette. This was also a lie, or if we’re being generous, deceptive.

The Monroe Gazette was provided with only the emails sent between Legislator Tuohy and Supervisor Cardone. We were not provided with any of the attachments included with those emails, one of which included the data detailing the hydrogen sulfide levels at Crane Park and Airplane Park.

Without Councilwoman Richardson on this board, Monroe residents would continue to be in the dark on an issue involving the area’s children breathing in high levels of a known poisonous gas.

Mr. Nugent offered little help at this meeting when asked by Mrs. Richardson and did not bother to fact-check Legislator Tuohy about the hydrogen sulfide levels being “proprietary.”

(Mr. Tuohy declined to respond to emails requesting comment.)

Then again, Cardone is buddies with Crooked County Executive Steve Neuhaus, and Mr. Nugent works for Mr. Cardone, not the Board, so that could explain his lack of interest in this important public health emergency.

Also according to attorneys we have spoken to over this year, since February, Houle-Scancarello-Cardone have all engaged in behavior the attorneys uniformly described as illegal.

None of which Mr. Nugent could be bothered to put a stop to.

Instead, like the recent resolution banning Mrs. Richardson from attending Slippery Sal Scancarello’s Fascist Food Truck Spectacular, Mr. Nugent has simply informed the board that such a resolution is entirely unenforceable, and even that explanation can charitably be described as half-hearted at best.

Everything I just described for you, as well as a litany of other examples, demonstrate Mr. Nugent’s lack of character and willful ignorance of the law. Reason enough for residents of the Town of Monroe to reach out to the Grievance Committee of the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division’s Ninth Judicial District and request that Mr. Nugent be disbarred.

(That request can be emailed to ad2-grv9@nycourts.gov, for what it’s worth. Feel free to send them this article. I’m happy to provide the committee with a lot more than what’s listed here too.)

Mr. Nugent’s behavior representing the Town of Monroe should absolutely worry residents in the Town of Blooming Grove, and it arguably explains why a member of a local hate group is still sitting on your Town Board, despite months of investigation by Mr. Nugent’s firm.

If Mr. Nugent can’t be expected to apply the law in the Town of Monroe, how can Blooming Grove residents expect him to do the same?

Back in Monroe, Mr. Nugent repeatedly said he works for the Town Board and not for Tony Cardone specifically.

But here is the second-largest political donation Brian Nugent has ever made. Can you guess who it went to?

The Town of Blooming Grove and the Town of Monroe need new representation. The stakes are too high to allow Mr. Nugent and Feerick Nugent MacCartney, PLLC to represent you.

Here’s why …

For Monroe

This November, Dorey Houle and Tony Cardone are going to be on the ballot in Monroe.

I am legitimately afraid that they are not going to leave office upon their very likely election defeat, and Mr. Nugent will do nothing to stop that, despite the recommendations issued by the American Bar Association.

I think Mrs. Houle’s behavior during the November 7th, 2024, Town of Monroe Board meeting validates this concern.

For just over two hours, you see someone looking to lash out at anyone and everyone who cost her the election.

At one point during the budget discussions, Mrs. Houle — whom I remind you bragged about being a tough Cop’s wife in campaign ads she spent nearly $400,000 to produce and air — got up and stormed out.

You saw Mrs. Houle’s poor behavior on full display, along with Mr. Cardone’s repeated attempts at embarrassing Councilwoman Richardson during the meeting, which included playing a recording of the Councilwoman, and having a friend of his read a “prepared statement” also criticizing her.

Can you imagine how desperate and sad you must be as a person to have your friend sit at a Town Board meeting, for nearly two-hours, waiting to read a prepared statement criticizing your political opponent just to make Mrs. Houle feel better about herself?

Well, that’s exactly what happened. (And I believe this individual needs better friends than Tony Cardone.)

The good news is, Mrs. Dorey Houle is a BFL (the first letter stands for Big, the third stands for Loser, you can figure out what the F stands for on your own. It ain’t “Flipping.”)

The better news is that “Town of Monroe Councilperson” is the highest office Dorey Houle will ever achieve in her life, and that’s something we should all celebrate.

But there’s bad news too, which is that as demonstrated at this week’s Town Board meeting, Mrs. Dorey Houle is also a sore loser.

So we can expect this behavior at every Town of Monroe Board meeting between now and Judgement Day (Election Day 2025 for Cardone, Houle, and Clovewood Kathryn over in Woodbury.)

See for yourself:

(Mrs. Houle was contacted about her behavior and asked to comment, but did not respond.)

For Blooming Grove

If the Town of Blooming Grove chooses to pursue an Article 78 proceeding against the DEC, Mr. Brian Nugent and his firm will lead that charge on your behalf.

I believe everything documented in today’s post should give residents of Blooming Grove pause about this.

It’s clear that Mr. Nugent has an “interesting” interpretation of the law and lacks the grit and stamina to stand up to bullies like Monroe Town Supervisor Tony Cardone.

What then can we say for Mr. Nugent’s chances when he finds himself up against South Blooming Grove’s De Facto Mayor, Joel Stern, and that law firm that routinely declares everyone in Southern Orange County is antisemitic?

(That would be the Whiteman, Osterman, and Hannah LLP playbook that’s been in use since the late ‘90s. They are currently using it again in Washingtonville.)

Just based on the Town of Blooming Grove’s lack of success in getting their own FOIL requests fulfilled with the Village of South Blooming Grove, you already know the answer to that question: Mr. Nugent is not up for the job.

Not to mention, we’ve seen Mr. Brian Nugent whiff two other times on things directly related to South Blooming Grove.

So, there’s the lack of progress on the Town’s FOIL requests to South Blooming Grove. The Town has been trying to get building permits from South Blooming Grove for years now. You figure Mr. Nugent would have recommended an Article 78 action by now and get the documents desperately needed by the Town of Blooming Grove government. But he HAS. NOT. DONE. THAT.

Then there’s that Hydrogen Sulfide issue I just mentioned.

Mr. Joel Stern is directly responsible for making that problem much worse than it was before he came into office.

(The problem predates Mr. Stern, but like with the municipal water infrastructure problem, Mr. Stern just dumped a barrel of gasoline on what was initially a small fire in a trash can.)

So far, the Town of Monroe has taken zero action against the Village of South Blooming Grove over the Hydrogen Sulfide issue, despite the fact that the Clovewood project would only make the hydrogen sulfide issue far more dangerous than it already is.

That means that Mr. Nugent is already batting 0-2 against Clovewood. Doing nothing for the Town of Monroe on the Hydrogen Sulfide problem. Doing nothing for the Town of Blooming Grove on getting the Town’s FOIL requests fulfilled for the South Blooming Grove building permits.

But in truth, Mr. Nugent has already struck out.

Below is the video from the October 21st, 2024, Town of Monroe Board Meeting.

During that meeting, many of YOU wrote letters asking for the Town to join the coalition of municipal governments taking action against Keen Equities and Joel Stern.

How do you think Mr. Nugent reacted to this letter?

Well, let me tell you.

After Councilwoman Richardson read the letter you all sent in, the Town of Monroe decided to remove the letter from the actual video of the meeting, which … Yup. You guessed it. That’s also illegal.

Mr. Nugent is a terrific attorney, isn’t he? I wonder if he took notes from this clown.

This video edit can be observed starting at 1:26:53 in the below video where Cardone moves to Public Comment:

So, if you’re concerned about Clovewood, and if you live in the Town of Monroe and the Town of Blooming Grove, here’s what you need to do:

1. If you live in the Town of Monroe, it’s time to prepare for battle. Just like we did successfully in Woodbury. Thanks to readers of The Monroe Gazette and the many individuals who went door to door and organized together — as a bipartisan coalition — we were able to stop Tyler Etzel Jr. and John U. Keleman from taking office. Now it’s time to take down Cardone and Houle.

And as you’ve seen from this week’s meeting, those two idiots aren’t going to go down without a fight. They may not even leave office at all.

So it’s up to you to ensure the guard rails of democracy are not removed by them and Mr. Nugent.

What is the first thing that a new administration will do in the Town of Monroe?

Fire Brian Nugent and Feerick Nugent MacCartney, PLLC

2. Thankfully, over in Blooming Grove, Supervisor Robert Jeroloman is not Tony Cardone. But he does still have Brian Nugent on his payroll. That needs to change, first with Clovewood, but more importantly, with the Town itself.

I am going to urge you to attend the next Town of Blooming Grove Board meeting, 7 pm at Town Hall, 6 Horton Road and request that Mr. Nugent and Feerick Nugent MacCartney, PLLC NOT represent the Town in any legal proceedings against Clovewood.

Mr. Nugent is not up to the job for all the reasons explained here.

The Town should seek outside counsel, preferably featuring attorneys who haven’t already whiffed on taking legal action against South Blooming Grove three times (Town of Blooming Grove FOILS for SBG building permits is the big one.)

There will be a time and place to discuss Feerick Nugent MacCartney, PLLC's being relieved of its duties as the Town of Blooming Grove’s law firm, but one step at a time.

The most important thing we can all do is ensure that the Town of Blooming Grove put its best foot forward to stop the Clovewood project.

And that first step comes from you attending this meeting and making sure you loudly and emphatically share that Mr. Nugent is not the right man for the job.