After taking $96k from city clerk in real estate deal
By JOSH RESNEK
The mayor and his cabal of relatives and hired guns are plotting to have City Clerk Sergio Cornelio removed from his office.
Cornelio’s election as the president of the City Clerk’s Association of Massachusetts – an award given for only the most outstanding clerk – will not mitigate the mayor’s effort to have Cornelio removed.
The effort is already underway, according to a wide variety of sources.
The mayor and his closest supporters and the holders of his secrets claim Cornelio is a traitor, that “he has left the nest,” by coming out publicly in order to recover the $96,000 the mayor recently took from him.
It was revealed last week that Cornelio was forced and coerced to pay the mayor $96,000 as a result of the sale of Cornelio’s wholly-owned property on Corey Street.
Until the time of the sale of the property by Cornelio, the mayor had no legal ownership interest in the Corey Street property, according to records on file in the Southern Middlesex Registry of Deeds.
Two local developers were told to stand aside by the mayor when they expressed an interest in buying the property from the city clerk, sources said.
The mayor did not contribute a dime to the purchase, the maintenance or the interest and principal payments Cornelio was required to make for a year and a half – an experience which left him in debt.
Those developers and potential buyers would have nothing to do with purchasing the property after the mayor apparently made it abundantly clear to each of them that “this is mine.”
Cornelio has secured legal counsel to represent him against the mayor, according to sources who wished to remain unnamed.
At the same time, the mayor is allegedly using his cousin, Councilor Anthony DiPierro, to lead the charge for a possible city council vote to remove Cornelio from his job.
Such an act of retaliation by the mayor would be consistent with the mayor’s public and private efforts to ridicule the city clerk following revelations that the mayor coerced him into approving the $96,000 payment after first threatening to ruin Cornelio’s life if he didn’t pay.
Removing Cornelio requires a majority vote of the city council.
DiPierro would have to send in a motion asking for an emergency meeting to City Council President Wayne Matewsky to remove Cornelio. It would be up to Matewsky to approve such a measure or to deny it.
Matewsky told the Leader Herald he would not vote to remove Cornelio.
“For what?” he asked.
Councilor Mike Marchese said he would be no part of such an effort.
“Cornelio is doing a great job. Why should he lose his job after the mayor forced him to pay him $96,000! That is an outright, absolute outrage,” Marchese said.
Last week, DiPierro apparently led an effort to reduce Cornelio’s oversight of the coming primary as required by his statutory duties as the city clerk.
No city official has commented on this situation. However, both the mayor and the police chief issued orders for increased oversight because of Cornelio’s absence after a visit to the city clerk’s office.
Cornelio is on maternity leave.
The mayor continues his effort to be considered the aggrieved party by Cornelio.
Cornelio revealing the mayor’s dealings to secure a $96,000 payment from him is perceived by the mayor as Cornelio trying to hurt the mayor, not the mayor trying to hurt Cornelio.