THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2022 Page 7 articles that are at the center of the lawsuit about the DeMaria/ Cornelio joint venture on Corey Street, Resnek declared, “It’s from The Blue Suit.” “Okay, so if it’s from a Martian, you’re writing this entire article about the Corey Street project that Mr. DeMaria and Mr. Cornelio had gone into together; you’re writing about it in June of 2020, correct?” asked the attorney. “Yes, it is,” replied the reporter. Resnek stated that he only had anecdotal information about the Corey Street property deal, claiming that it was a fi ctional piece, but Robbins walked Resnek through his article which discloses facts about the property deal. Again, Resnek admitted to knowing all the facts about the property deal back in June 2020, disputing his previous testimony under oath. “So beginning no later than June of 2020, you had the information about the fact that Mr. DeMaria and Mr. Cornelio had gone into this venture on Corey Street together, correct?” “Yes, sir,” replied Resnek. “And you have yourself writing, ‘Do you really believe the mayor does deals like this? In other cities this would be considered a confl ict of interest. The kind you go to jail for.’ That’s what you write here,” asked Robbins about the article. “Yes, sir,” replied Resnek. Robbins pointed out that he (Resnek) had between June 2020 and Sept. 2021 to check with the City Clerk’s Offi ce and the State Ethics Commission on their opinion if DeMaria had made a disclosure of interest in the Corey Street property, or to contact the Everett Co-operative Bank or the second mortgage lender or any of the contractors regarding the property deal, to which Resnek admitted he did. But again, Resnek claimed he didn’t know that DeMaria and Cornelio were partners in the land deal before Sept. 2021, then he admitted he had over a year to investigate the claims and interview Cornelio about the property deal but failed to do so. Robbins then asked Resnek if he had made any notes pertaining to any conversations with anyone about the property deal prior to Sept. 2021 – but only notes created after he was sued, to which Resnek admitted was true. “And if I understand it, what happened is you created notes after the lawsuit was fi led, then you read the notes that you had created and you went back two or three times to modify the notes that you had created, correct? “Yes, sir,” replied Resnek. The attorney then provided Exhibit 29, an article written by Resnek about the mayor, but this time written in May 2020 about DeMaria’s property deal. It would be 16 months later that the Leader Herald published two articles about the Corey Street land deal between DeMaria and Cornelio as it was leading up to the election. “It was no coincidence that you wrote these articles in Sept. 2021?” asked Robbins. “There’s no coincidence in it,” replied Resnek. Robbins asked him if he and Philbin wanted the mayor to lose; Resnek admitted as such. “Philbin tells you – has been telling you for a long time – he wants DeMaria to lose, right?” “Yes,” said Resnek. Resnek then attempted to dismiss his stories riddled with allegations as “the stuff of dreams,” claiming they were all made up. Robbins asked Resnek if he discussed with Philbin the content of the Sept. 2021 stories that accused DeMaria of extortion, theft and threatening Cornelio’s life leading up to the primary election; Resnek said he did, as well as with DeMaria’s primary opponents former Councillor Fred Capone and Gerly Adrian. “I communicated every day with them,” said Resnek. “You communicated with Mr. Capone every day?” asked Robbins. “Yes, sir,” stated Resnek, saying they spoke about the mayoral campaign. Robbins asked him if he had told DeMaria’s opponents that he was going to write articles accusing the mayor of committing crimes; Resnek attempted to muddy his answer, saying “only if he had knowledge of that” but admitted he had made the accusations of criminal conduct by the mayor in numerous articles. Notes, who needs notes? Robbins then submitted Exhibit 30, a copy of a letter dated Aug. 20, 2020, written to the mayor from Attorney Brian W. Riley, which provided an ethics opinion and a confl ict of interest opinion with respect to the Corey Street land deal. Resnek stated that he had never seen the letter before today, despite a copy being in the City Clerk’s Offi ce that is available to the public. As in previous testimony, Resnek admitted he never bothered to investigate or make any attempts to retrieve any public information regarding the land deal between the DeMaria and Cornelio. When asked if there was a practice between him and his employer to review his stories before they were sent to press, Resnek replied, “From time to time.” “In Sept. of 2021, Mr. Philbin certainly knew that you were writing articles and editorials about Mr. DeMaria, correct? “Yes, of course,” replied Resnek. “And he made it pretty clear” – “Mr. Philbin wanted Mr. DeMaria defeated, correct? “Yes, sir,” replied the reporter. On Exhibit 33, a Sept. 8, 2021, article, “The $96,000 disgrace,” Resnek admitted to accusing the mayor in the article of threatening and demanding money from Cornelio; abusing his position, his authority and his power as mayor; and engaging in unethical and illegal conduct. Resnek, in the same article, admitted to recommending the U.S. Attorney’s Offi ce and the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Offi ce to review the Corey Street matter – as well as a review by the State Ethics Commission. “You made no eff ort to ascertain whether it’s true or false, correct? asked Robbins about the State Ethics Commission approval. “That’s correct,” replied Resnek. “You state point blank, as a matter of fact, that Mr. DeMaria’s involvement in the Corey St. project was, quote/unquote, “illegal,” correct?” “Yes, sir,” admitted Resnek. “And you urged the citizens of Everett on the basis of this Corey St. transaction to reject him – his reelection, correct?” asked Robbins. “Yes, sir,” said Resnek. “The primary was on September 21st, correct? asked the attorney. “Yes, sir,” replied Resnek. Robbins then asked him – aside from posting the Sept. 8 and Sept. 15 articles on the newspaper’s website – asked him if he had sent the articles to The Boston Globe, namely reporter Andrea Estes, in hopes of getting some attention. Resnek admitted to sending the stories to The Globe and Estes, as well as publishing infl ammatory quotes from his articles on the newspaper’s website. As an example, Robbins asked if he posted “The mayor scams $96,000 from the city clerk.” Resnek admitted he did make the post, among others, including calling the mayor a sexual harasser and an FBI informant. Again, the Leader Herald’s self-proclaimed “wordsmith” admitted to not having any consequential notes to back up any of his stories – including the two that are at the heart of the lawsuit, published in his Sept. 8 and Sept. 15 editions leading up the election – only the notes he created after the lawsuit was fi led in Oct. 2021. 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