O'Leary: Allegations, rumors are baseless
BY JACQUELINE DURETT Correspondent

SOUTH AMBOY — While Mayor John O'Leary was on vacation in St. Maarten last month, an anonymous multi-page letter was being circulated around the city accusing him of wrongdoing.

According to published reports, the letter alleged that O'Leary and other city officials were under investigation for corrupt activity. The letter, which has been accompanied by widespread rumors and postings on Internet forums, claimed that some of the wrongdoing was tied to O'Leary's private insurance business.

The letter had a return address to a person or organization called "South Amboy Clean Government," but used the address of City Hall. O'Leary, upon returning from vacation, said in published reports that the claims were false, and challenged the source of the allegations to come forward with evidence.

O'Leary did not honor a scheduled appointment for an interview with the Suburban and did not return numerous phone calls for this story.

"I spoke with Mayor O'Leary and he assuredme he was not involved with any wrongdoing," state Assemblyman John S. Wisniewski (D-19) told the Suburban. "I don't have any first-hand facts on any of the allegations."

Wisniewski is running with O'Leary on the Democratic ticket for the 19th DistrictAssembly seats. O'Leary is running for the seat held by Joseph Vas, who withdrew from the ballot after being indicted by a state grand jury in March on charges he conspired to steal money from Perth Amboy for personal use when he was mayor of that city.

Wisniewski said he became aware of the letter making allegations against O'Leary "because there's so much buzz on the street" about it.

"I don't really think the letter deserves to be commented on," he said. "When you hold public office, people write and say things about you. It goes with the territory unfortunately."

O'Leary, who operates an insurance businesswith his brother Tom, who is also director of the South Amboy Housing Authority, told news outlets that the city did receive a subpoena

in recent weeks. He said that state authorities were looking at whether his private company had conducted business with the city, which he said is not the case.

The state Attorney General's Office, reached by the Suburban last week, said it could not confirm or deny if it was conducting an investigation in South Amboy, where O'Leary has been mayor for more than two decades.

Wisniewski, who said he speaks to O'Leary often since they are running mates in the November election, added that the controversy should not affect O'Leary's Assembly run.

"The mayor has said he's done nothing wrong, and if that's the case it should not have an impact," he said.