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I am an attorney
who practices in Middleboro, MA, New York, NY, and Ann Arbor, Michigan. I am also a second term, sitting
Middleborough Selectman. I grew up in New York City and left as a young adult to attend the University
of Michigan. I returned to New York after completing my Bachelor’s degree to attend law school at
Saint John’s University. I worked as an associate with Coudert Bros., as a court attorney in New
York Civil Court and eventually became a partner in the firm of Stumpp & Bond, a firm specializing in Securities and Commodities
Law located in lower Manhattan. For More Information On My Legal Practice go to:
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As I mentioned earlier, I sit
on the Board of Selectmen in the town of Middleboro. Over this past summer, the town brokered a deal with
the Mashpee Wampanoag to build a resort-casino in the town. I had a large role in, not only the negotiation
process, but the public relations aspect of this agreement. I was assigned the job of dealing with the
press, and as a result people saw a lot of me this past summer. I understand that there are a certain number
of people who will never be able to separate me from this particular political position, more so than any other sitting Selectman.
That is what comes from putting yourself out there – and so be it. But, in the process, I
learned how important the press is to any debate—and there are a lot of issues to debate! It is my intention that Coffee Shop Talk will stimulate some honest
and productive debate on the issues facing our communities. I will focus on the casino issue in the beginning
weeks of this show. There are two reasons for this: 1) it is probably the single largest issue facing the
state of Massachusetts today, and 2) I have an intimate knowledge and understanding of at least one portion of this issue.
I also plan to cover other issues that, on their face, appear more specific to individual towns (the proposed power
plants in both Brockton and Walpole spring to mind). It is my opinion that all of these issues are inter-related.
They all grow from the same parent: a state government that is unable to sufficiently provide economic support, leaving
the towns to fend for themselves in attempting to abide by State mandates. The end result of unfunded mandates:
towns wooing commercial business to close budget gaps and, unfortunately, creating chasms between neighbors.
I hope that Coffee Shop Talk will do what its real life counter part does everyday; close some of those distances between
us. After all, a little mind java never hurt anyone.
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 I am often asked how a New York
City attorney wound up in Middleboro, MA. So, I'll explain: On September 11th, I went to vote and then headed downtown
to work. The subway stopped running at 14th Street, and I got out and started walking the rest of the way (like everybody
else on the train). While making my way, I watched the towers fall. It was a shocking and heartbreaking sight, and like so
many others that day, it left me in shock. I walked back uptown to my wife and our apartment. My office was closed for about
two weeks, as the area around the site was cordoned off. I volunteered with the Red Cross during that time and drove rescue
workers to and from ground zero. When I finally got back to work, my wife and I started making plans to move out of New York.
My wife's family is from Massachusetts, so we started looking here. It was my father-in-law who suggested we look in Middleboro.
The location seemed ideal, as it was equidistant from all of my wife's relatives. And so, that is how my wife and I wound
up in Middleboro from Manhattan. We have made this town our home, welcomed a daughter here, and we love it. There have been
some profoundly ridiculous and downright silly suggestions that have been made regarding how I came to Middleboro. I hope
that this clears things up for those who were truly wondering.
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