Somerset County Republican chairman censured for legal ethics violations

The chairman of the Somerset County Republican Party has received a censure from the state Supreme Court for violating a rule of professional conduct for "wholly deficient recordkeeping."

It is the third admonition for ethics violations given by the state Disciplinary Review Board to Tim Howes, a Peapack-Gladstone resident who has a law office in Raritan Borough.

Howes declined to comment on the ruling.

This latest ethics violation dates to Feb. 17, 2021, when the state Office of Attorney Ethics (OAE) received a notice from PNC Bank of an overdraft in Howes' attorney trust account. The OAE opened an investigation and wrote to Howes asking him to provide a written explanation of the overdraft.

On April 26, 2021, he responded to the OAE, explaining that on Jan. 13, 2021, he had deposited in his trust account a $120,984.22 cashier's check from a client in connection with a real estate closing, court papers say.

The next day Howes wrote a check on the trust account to a title company which was to hold the money in escrow until the closing.

The title company deposited the check later that day before the cashier's check had cleared, causing an overdraft in the trust account. PNC Bank honored the check to the title company and did not assess an overdraft fee. The closing was not affected.

Howes was not charged with an ethics violation because of the overdraft, but because of his responses to the OAE which began reviewing his financial records.

Court papers say Howes failed to meet an initial deadline to provide the OAE with the records of his trust and business accounts from January 2020 to May 31, 2021. Howes told the OAE that he had tried to send the records by email, but the email did not go through.

The OAE set another deadline for submitting the records, but Howes did not meet that deadline either. Court papers say he then failed to submit the missing records after the OAE sent three more letters asking for them.

In all, the OAE sent Howes six letters asking for the records.

But based on an audit and the incomplete records, the OAE "identified numerous recordkeeping deficiencies" in Howes' account, including failure to perform three-way reconciliations of his client ledgers, journals and checkbook.

The OAE then filed an ethics complaint, alleging he violated recordkeeping rules and failed to cooperate with the OAE's investigation which determined Howes' "wholly deficient recordkeeping" resulted "in no identified harm to his clients."

Elections 2023: Moench, Hayes will battle in race for Bridgewater mayor

The OAE wrote in court papers that a reprimand is the baseline discipline for the violations.

However, the OAE noted that Howes had received two prior admonitions for violations more than a decade ago for lack of diligence, misrepresentation, gross neglect and failure to keep a client reasonably informed about the status of a matter.

Howes' "multiple encounters with the disciplinary system should have engendered heightened awareness of his obligations pursuant to the Rules of Professional Conduct," the OAE wrote.

In addition to the censure, the state Supreme Court, which reviews the OAE's findings and discipline recommendations, ordered Howes to complete a recordkeeping course approved by the OAE, submit all previously requested records and submit monthly reconciliations of his attorney accounts for two years.

Howes, whose term as party chairman ends on June 27, 2024, has also faced an internal challenge to his leadership from Vice Chair Tracy DiFrancesco Zaikov.

In May, 155 members of the Somerset County Republican Organization signed a petition requesting Howes call a special meeting to hold a no-confidence vote in him and to compel an accounting of the party's financial records dating back to July 23, 2020.

Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com

Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Somerset County NJ Republican chairman censured for ethics violations