Township Sued Over Racial Taunting

A black township employee has sued the township for failing to put an end to alleged racial discrimination within the Department of Public Works.

Steven J. Brodie Jr. claims in the lawsuit that he was repeatedly subjected to racial taunts by supervisors Michael Dorazo Jr. and David T. Pomianek, and that his complaints were ignored by officials in part because Dorazo’s mother was a member of the township’s Human Relations Commission.

“Mary Dorazo took steps to shield her son ... from discipline regarding complaints and employment issues leveled against him,” the lawsuit states.

The suit also claims Human Relations Commission members and township officials “turned a blind eye” to Brodie’s allegations of racial discrimination, allowing “an atmosphere and environment for the discriminatory practice to continue.”

The lawsuit, filed on April 4 at U.S. District Court in Camden, names the township, the Human Relations Commission and a total of 18 people.

It seeks compensatory and punitive damages, and also seeks to guarantee a protective order barring future harassment and retaliation.

Pomianek was on charges of bias intimidation and official misconduct last December. He was sentenced to 270 weekend days in Camden County Jail on Jan. 21.

Pomianek said, “Thow a banana in a cage, he jumps right in,” after Dorazo allegedly locked Brodie, a public works laborer, in a cage in a township garage in April 2007.

Dorazo is awaiting trial on charges of bias intimidation, official misconduct and false imprisonment in connection with that incident.

The lawsuit notes Dorazo was charged in the late 1990s in connection with a “melee” that ensued after he allegedly directed racial comments at three black men outside of a convenience store.

Among those named as defendants in the lawsuit are Mayor David Mayer, former mayor Cindy Rau-Hatton, Public Works Director Len Moffa and Business Administrator Tom Cardis.