Let's start with the recent Supreme's ruling on "honest services". I'm not a lawyer and can't pass any legal judgment on what this ruling actually means for many of the NJ pols caught in the web created by this federal law. But apparently, this past Friday was Joe Ferriero's birthday and some Bergen County "worker bees" thought the court ruling was a great gift for their Chairman. Hence Mr. Ferriero's "Wall" on his facebook page which is available for anyone to see - even if you're not a "friend" to the former Democratic Chair. A few Ferriero minions, and current employees took time to wish "their Chairman" a happy birthday and to celebrate their joy and implicit hope that he will soon be back! They were almost giddy in their excitement. Folks like a former Freeholder, a relative of a County Prosecutor, a young employee slated for future promotion, etc. How disappointing. The legality of Mr. Ferriero's situation will soon be sorted by the judicial system. But why do so many think that the kind of behavior evidenced by Mr. Ferriero should be celebrated? He and Dennis Oury hid their ownership of a grant consulting company hired by several Bergen communities over which they had an undue influence. Actions which caused embarrassment (and legal expenses) to some of the elected officials in those towns and certainly to our party. A cause for celebration? Certainly for him on a personal basis, but for government and for our party....certainly not!
More News To Make You Feel Sick. Family planning funds! I assume that by now most of you know that the Governor removed every penny of the $7.5 million dollars used to provide health services to uninsured and underinsured women in our state. Outrageous! Along with several of my democratic women colleagues in both the Assembly and the Senate, we've been fighting to get these dollars restored. Look back to Thursday's Assembly Budget Committee hearing on our supplemental bill. Assemblywoman Linda Stender and I appeared along with several advocates and professionals from the family planning centers. There sat Assemblyman and Republican State Chair, Jay Webber! In response to testimony on how many unintended pregnancies are avoided through services provided by these agencies, (yep, that means birth control) Republican State Chair Jay Webber went on to say how offended he was about reducing the cost of children who could have been been born had these families not avoided pregnancy. Children important to our future. This is the second decade of the 21st Century and I was sitting there in my "mature" years arguing about uninsured women's right to practice birth control! An issue that was fought and won early in the last century. Outrageous indeed!! In watching the clip of my "exchange" with the Republican State Chair, my anger is evident, but not nearly as evident as what I felt. Where are the good Republican women (and some of the great guys who sit alongside them)? They must speak out against moving women back to a time when they had so little control over their reproductive lives. This is not about abortion. It is about access to birth control.
And then there was the clip of the Governor on 101.5 being questioned by Eric Scott about women's health services as he protested several times "this has nothing to do with mammograms" or with women's health. HIV testing, breast exams, birth control, pap smears, pre-natal exams, and pregnancy counseling has nothing to do with women's health? How insulting. He went on to argue that he supposed these funds were "not important" or they would have been reinstated. What crass treatment of the women of New Jersey. We will be fighting this today during our Senate and Assembly sessions. I am confident we will have the necessary votes to move the bill. However, without the help of Republican women, we will not have the votes to override a possible veto by the Governor. The bill makes it clear that the money cannot and will not be used for abortion services, and it provides a clear funding source without addition to the bottom line of the budget. Maybe the Governor will hear from enough women across the state so he will join us in recognizing that these programs are not Democrat or Republican, Conservative or Liberal programs. They are about Women's Health!
And so today is the time when we stand up for our core ideals and vote on a Republican constructed budget which cuts taxes for millionaires and increases taxes for low income workers in New Jersey. A budget which makes New Jersey one of only 5 or 6 states that does not fund family planning centers. A budget which cuts school and municipal aide by hundreds of millions of dollars, increases the cost of commuting on our buses and rails, does away with senior property tax rebates, and increases a myriad of fees. Enough to make all of us sick.
One bright spot of the week was Saturday night's elegant Garden State Equality Dinner. Great to watch Senators Nia Gill, Ray Lesniak and former Senator Bill Baroni being inducted into the Garden State Hall of Fame. Even sweeter joining Senator Frank Lautenberg on stage as he received the "Loretta Weinberg Lifetime Achievement Award" (that was a shameless commercial) and announced to the 600 folks in the audience that the Docs said his cancer was in remission. Hooray, and may he continue his outstanding service for many more years to come!
As news of Zisa's arrest and separation from the department spread throughout the city, some of his critics rejoiced.
One of the strongest critics, Bobby Egan, owner of Cubby's Restaurant on River Street, flashed an electronic message below his sign that said "ZISA ARREST" four times.
Then a message scrolled across the screen: "POLICE CHIEF KEN ZISA ARRESTED FOR FRAUD HASTA LA¬VISTA CHIEF ZISA GOOD BYE GOOD RIDDANCE."
What I find interesting about last night's BCDO convention - besides reluctance to put somebody up against Scott Garrett - is that of about 1,350 county committee members, only about 800 showed up to vote, and 14% didn't bother to vote for McNerney. Ruh-roh! - - promoted by Rosi
This year, the BCDO power players really did panic, but they circled the wagons effectively for their Joe Ferriero candidates.
The two Congressmen in BCDO territory currently are Garrett and Rothman. The BCDO put up NOBODY for Garrett's seat. They don't even pretend to care anymore.
First, the preliminary (not verified) results:
Total votes (voters): 800
McNerney: 710
McGuire: 710
Carroll: 592
Calabrese: 659
Hogan: 620
Belfon: 174
Kovic: 159
McCall: 157
Unspecified number of write-ins for Wilson
District 9:
Rothman: 479
District 5: no votes because the BCDO doesn't want to waste precious money on Congress.
Lets start at the beginning with the event that threw the BCDO into panic. Freeholder Thomas Padilla announced he is stepping down. That one event caused an election where a third seat needed to be filled. When voting for three seats, the top vote getters in the pool get the nod. You don't just vote for each seat separately. So, more candidates in the pool, the least popular ones will lose. Everyone knew that James Carroll, the most identifiable Joe Ferriero supported candidate was the most endangered incumbent this year.
With Julie O'Brien, the defeated candidate from last year in the mix, as well as the popular Mayor Birkner of Westwood, who was endorsed by Senators Loretta Weinberg and Paul Sarlo, and Maywood Mayor Eustace, as well as Ferriero-crat Cid Wilson in the pool, the chances of a Carroll win went down exponentially.
And so, in order to really make sure that their incumbents were safe, the other candidates were made to sign a promise that they would NOT run in the Dem Primary in June if they lost at the convention. In fact, they had no choice. In order to attend the convention and throw their hats in the ring, they had to give up any right to run off the line in the Primary.
Now the stage is set, to avoid the Dem voters of Bergen County having a choice that wasn't made for them at 50 Main St. in Hackensack.
BUT, that damned third seat. They still had to fill it. What to do, what to do. They had to PICK the third guy. That is what Joe would have done. But this is the NEW BCDO. Can't have the sheep thinking that the decision was made for them already. So, the other candidates start suspiciously dropping like flies. Eustace, O'Brien, Birkner. We won't tell them who to vote for, we'll just take their choices away in the name of "unity" which Joe Ariyan brings up while extolling the virtues of Birkner as a "unifier" who puts his party ahead of himself. That's BCDO speak for he dropped out due to BCDO pressure. When O'Brien dropped out and Ariyan read her email at the Candidates Night, she mentioned that Hogan was the Chairman's pick - to the utter dismay of Kasparian, who was hoping to appear as neutral as Switzerland.
So, OBVIOUS pressure to clear the field for the two incumbents. Then the snowstorm hits and Hackensack shows a tremendous reluctance to cancel the Convention last Thursday. After all, the only folks that matter are in Hackensack, THEY can get to the convention. But after some Committee members call them on it, they relent and reschedule the event to this Thursday. It is telling that they refused to put up a Candidate against Garrett, because they thought it would boost Rep turnout and hurt their "local" candidates". Who knew big Jim Carroll was so precious that he would prevent us from putting up a candidate to possibly win the seat of the Social Darwinist against Evolution? They obviously like low turnout elections and were hoping there would be one last Thursday, but they had to have a real convention.
This week, really only three Ferriero-crat choices, and only three non-Ferriero-crat choices. The goons had their marching orders and they executed perfectly. The "outsiders" Belfon, McHale, Kovic lost to the "insiders".
The really interesting thing is the numbers:
Out of 800 voters, the results show a less than lock step following of orders. McGuire and McNerney did well, but Hogan, the new candidate got more votes than Carroll. Carroll would probably NOT have gotten the nod if the others had not dropped out and Hogan was not touted as the Chairman's pick.
What I find fascinating is the spread between Calabrese and Carroll. It appears that their are cracks in the armor there. Perhaps a realization that dual-office holder Carroll is the most visible standard bearer for the Joe Ferriero legacy. Some BCDO members appear to realize that the Convention is just one battle. To win the war, you need to let the voters actually do the choosing in November.
The BCDO thinks they can control everything, right down to making sure there is an uncontested primary, but they cannot control the fact that the Chairman they adored and emulated and loyally followed to the bitter end, is now a convicted felon. They LOST two seats last year and by not picking a fresh face, they are sealing their fate in November.
There were reports of some folks voting who did not have the correct paperwork. However, Lynn Hurwitz and friends stacked the deck enough in their favor that it wouldn't have changed to outcome. Joe Ferriero would be proud.
BCDO convention is now Thursday of this week. - - promoted by Rosi
I wish I had better political news to report from the Bergen County frontlines, home of convicted felon Party Chairmen, and sitting Council members indicted for forgery.
I had hoped the Ferriero conviction and the subsequent crushing loss of the first Ferriero-crats to lose a Freeholder election in years, would at least chasten the Pay-to-Play crowd. I was also hoping the new Chairman of the BCDO, who seems like a decent guy, would have the strength of will to stand up to Lynn Hurwitz, who is actually still running the BCDO. It appears I was wrong.
The BCDO is as bad as ever. We have a new captain, but the same old crew is steering the ship. At the BCDO, the folks who carried out Joe's orders are still very much in charge. Leading the crew is Lynn Hurwitz, who looks like Phylis Diller but isn't funny in the least. Ms. Hurwitz, who was the lead cheerleader for Boss Joe, is the Hackensack Municipal Democratic Chair as well as being Deputy Chief of Staff for Bergen County. She also happens to be married to Howie Hurwitz, who is Executive Director of the Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority, one of the shadow government bodies in the news lately. She is one half of the BCDO's most active Power Couple and very much in charge at the BCDO no matter who the Chairman is right now.
This week is a big one for the BCDO. There will be the BCDO convention this Thursday night. The silver lining is that there are some positive differences this time. Instead of having the candidates address the Committee AFTER the vote where only one choice was available all the way down the ballot, there was actually a candidates night BEFORE the BCDO convention. Due to one Freeholder stepping down there are 3 freeholder seats in play this election instead of only two. There is wrangling over that third seat. But because of that, and new candidates in the election, there is also the danger for the Ferriero-crats that one of the newcomers may dislodge one of the incumbents. Oh, joy!
The two incumbents in question, are staunch FOJ (Friends of Joe Ferriero) - or Ferriero-crats. Current Freeholder James Carroll is ALSO a dual office holder as current Mayor of Demarest. Unfortunately for the incumbents, they are both tied to the legacy of Joe Ferriero.
The current BCDO members are painfully aware that despite what Dennis Oury used to say, the voters actually know what pay to play is now, and they really do care. They see the impact on their Municipal tax bill when Halliburton-sized engineering firms who donate to the BCDO are hired by their towns. In Bogota, T&M, (which is jokingly referred to as "Time and Materials") the big engineering firm from South Jersey, was dumped this year, and in Emerson, Mazer, another big firm who often got no-bid jobs from Bergen County under the incumbent Freeholders, was ALMOST replaced until the Democratic Mayor broke the tie to keep them. This was AFTER the Dems LOST in Emerson because of Redevelopment plans hatched without the consent of the governed. The Bergen County voters now have a low tolerance for dual office holders as well and can't wait to rectify that situation by separating Carrol from one of his elected offices.
And so, the crew at the BCDO appeared to panic last week. Faced with the very embarrassing possibility of having their incumbents losing the BCDO nomination, they asked all candidates running for Freeholder to actually sign a letter stating that they would not run in the Primary if they lost in the BCDO convention. Adding to their panic was the moment on Candidate's night last Tuesday when Joe Ariyan read Julie O'brien's email dropping out of the race. In it she explained that she was dropping out due to too large a field of candidates, which led to speculation that she was politely asked to bow out so as not to hurt Carroll's and Calabrese's chances. She also made reference that the Chairman's pick was actually Northvale Mayor John Hogan, the guy with the lightest resume. The progressives in the BCDO smelled blood in the water. The old guard Ferriero-crats were finally actually worried that the rank and file BCDO members might actually ditch the incumbents.
And so it was no surprise what happened next. While everyone else in Bergen County was gearing up for a Nor'Easter, the BCDO leadership exhibited an unnatural hesitation to cancel the BCDO convention scheduled for Thursday night. They didn't cancel it until Thursday morning, after getting complaints by committee members Wed night who wanted to know how people were going to get there. Apparently, an email had been circulated regarding BCDO's decision to hold the convention and that people would have to get there regardless of the weather. It suspiciously appeared that the ONLY folks who would be able to get there would be from Hackensack - Lynn Hurwitz's Committee Members or folks picked up in SUV's perhaps courtesy of some officials the way Joe Ferriero used to get rides from the County cops. The BCDO leadership, after getting wind that the rank and file may come to the conclusion that their motives may not be as pure as the Nor'easter driven snow, realized folks might question their hesitation to cancel the election. AFTER the complaints robo calls finally went out Wednesday night assuring everyone that IF the storm did hit, the convention would be postponed to another day. The actual robo-calls finally postponing the convention went out Thursday morning.
With the convention wisely postponed to this Thursday we MAY see a fair election this time. There should even be actual voting machines too. There are a several good candidates this time, including the very popular Mayor Birkner of Westwood who is heavily supported by labor, progressive Sebastian Belfon, supported by grassroots Dems in Bergen County and impressive Dr. Pargellan McHall. These are three candidates popular with the BCDO members and who are also not tied to the BCDO Pay-to-Play legacy of the past.
Long story short. The BCDO crew that ran the show for Ferriero is supporting incumbants Freeholder Calabrese and dual office holder Carroll as well as Hogan, who, surprise, surprise was also a member of the compromised Bergen County Board of Elections. (The Election Commission deserves it's own whole diary). The Ferriero-crats are supporting the Ferriero-crats. The rest of the BCDO may be ready for a change, but we still have the same crew steering the ship and re-arranging the same old worn out deck chairs. This Thursday we'll see if the BCDO can actually turn before it hits that looming iceberg - the November election or at least toss a few old deck chairs off the boat.
In their request, prosecutors said they agreed with Ferriero's lawyer, Joseph A. Hayden Jr., that no final decisions should be made before the Supreme Court ruling, which is expected by July. The move could delay Ferriero's Feb. 10 sentencing by up to five months.
"I think that is the fair and practical way to deal with the thorny legal issues presented," Hayden said.
In addition, the government asked Chesler to withhold ruling on motions filed by Hayden, who argued that the verdict and charges should be dismissed and said prosecutors used an "unprecedented expansion" of the honest services statute. Prosecutors also asked the judge to postpone the sentencing of Dennis J. Oury, Ferriero's one-time confidante and political ally who pleaded guilty on the eve of the trial.
"It just makes more sense to put things on hold until the law is settled," said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Newark.
The courts ruling will determine where things go. It is interesting to see both sides agreeing on the concept of waiting for clairty from the higher court. That may be another indication of the uncertainty surrounding what the court will do.
In a Dec. 14 letter, Ferriero's attorney told U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler that he will ask for the February sentencing to be deferred until the justices issue opinions on the "honest services" statute, a controversial anti-corruption law used to convict public officials nationwide. During arguments last week, several Supreme Court justices asked whether the law was too vague, prompting legal experts to predict they may find it unconstitutional. The court is expected to issue its ruling by July.
"So that there are no surprises, we intend to request that the court defer any final decisions on all honest services issues until we receive the opinions from the United States Supreme Court," wrote the lawyer, Joseph A. Hayden Jr.
Enacted in 1988, the 28-word honest services statute has long been heralded by prosecutors as a flexible tool to charge those who abuse their positions to steer favors to friends, relatives or themselves. It essentially requires public and corporate officials to disclose conflicts of interest and act in the best interests of their constituents or employers. Prosecutors used it to convict former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and to charge the ex-governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich.
But critics argue the law is so vaguely worded that it fails to delineate between a harmless favor and a crime. As a result, they say prosecutors have the power to criminalize behavior that may not be illegal.
The Supreme Court heard two honest services cases last week. One case was brought by Black, the newspaper executive who prosecutors say conspired with other top officers at his firm, Hollinger International, to pay themselves millions in bogus management fees that should have gone to shareholders. The second case was Bruce Weyhrauch, a former Alaska state lawmaker who failed to disclose he was lobbying for a job with an oil company while pushing for legislation on its behalf. Early next year, the court will hear a third honest service case involving former Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey K. Skilling.
The court has a few options:
The court is expected to rule on the statute by July. The justices could leave the law alone, narrow it to only apply to cases involving explicit bribes or kickbacks or declare the entire law unconstitutional. Most legal experts say it is exceedingly difficult to predict how the court will rule on any issue.
Some prominent names that were prosecuted by Chris Christie in recent years would really be happy if the court declared the statute unconstitutional:
If the court strikes down the statute, it will bolster the appeals of three former New Jersey politicians: James, former state Senate president Wayne Bryant and ex-state Sen. Joseph Coniglio. But all three were also convicted of other charges, so simply overturning the honest services law won't spring them from prison.
But the real impact of a Supreme Court decision overturning the honest services clause could be Joe Ferriero:
Ferriero, on the other hand, was convicted entirely under the honest services statute and could see his whole case eviscerated if the law is struck down. The one-time North Jersey power broker is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 10 and faces up to 20 years in prison after being convicted in October of conspiring to profit from government grants through a consulting firm he secretly controlled.
This federal case will be one to watch, because depending on the ruling, we could see a significant impact on New Jersey and the political arena.
Former Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero, who was one of New Jersey's most powerful political leaders for a decade, was convicted of federal corruption charges today. A jury found Ferriero guilty of one count of conspiracy - the most serious charge - and two counts of mail fraud. He was acquitted on five other charges.
Joe Ferriero has been on the stand defending himself at his trial and when pressed on using his influence to help get business, here was the exchange that took place:
Honig suggested that Ferriero set up a new business where he would recommend municipalities to pursue for business and use his "influence" to help get the grants get passed.
"By me having relationships," Ferriero asserted, backing away from the word "influence."
"Influence - that's your word," Honig said, referring to an e-mail between Ferriero and David Spatz, who eventually was hired by GGC to write grant applications.
"It's not a bad thing," Ferriero responded.
That's right, influence itself is not a bad thing. It's how you use that influence that determines whether there are problems. The defense rested their case today and the jury is scheduled to begin deliberations on Monday.
Dennis Oury was called and testifed at the Joe Ferriero trial yesterday. When asked about why he wasn't named on resolutions appointing he and Ferriero's consulting company as grant writer, he said it was an intentional omission:
Each of the towns that received in December 2001 a resolution appointing GGC as grant writer was controlled by Democrats. Thomas Barrett and Anthony Mottola were listed as officers in each resolution, and Ferriero and Oury were not named at all.
"It would not have been good for business if our names surfaced in a public way, for reasons I said before," Oury testified.
I really, really loathe the political machine system we have throughout New Jersey. Whether it's a Democratic or Republican machine, whether it's run by a boss named Ferriero, Adubato, Lesniak, or Norcross, the whole idea of unelected but very powerful puppet masters pulling strings and playing kingmaker sickens me.
That said, I also believe strongly in the right of those in the United States to a fair, public trial by jury, and the requirement that those accused of a crime must be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in order to be convicted.
Right now, one slimy character in particular has caught people's attention, and rightly so. Joe Ferriero is best known as the erstwhile boss of the Bergen County Democratic machine...I mean, Organization. There's no doubt that a lot of the things party bosses like Ferriero do are unethical and conflict with the principles of a free, democratic nation. A boss wields a lot of money and power. Thanks to gerrymandering, it's easy for these party heads to essentially handpick people for an elected post before going through the motions of them being "nominated" and "elected" by the people. And most candidates aren't willing to take on the machine, instead running on the party line and then doing the party's bidding once in office. State Senator Loretta Weinberg is a prime example of that rare public official who's willing to actually do something about political machine, as evidenced by her challenge and defeat of Ferriero's legislative slate in 2005 and 2007. Unfortunately, Weinberg is also a prime example of that race public official who takes on the machine and wins. We've all heard of politicians who've fought the machines and ruined their careers in doing so. There's State Senate Co-President John O. Bennett, who refused to appropriate state funds for an arena in Pennsauken that had been demanded by George Norcross. Norcross, of course, stormed out of the room, shouting, "I will fucking destroy you!" and proceeded to trample the top Republican in the Senate in his re-election bid the following year. Or more recently, machine rival and current Senate President Dick Codey, who will probably lose his post next year thanks to a back-room deal between Norcross and Stephen Adubato, who want their candidates – Steve Sweeney and Sheila Oliver, respectively – in charge the New Jersey legislature. Just a couple examples of an all-too-common phenomenon here in Jersey.
Anyway, to get back on track: Political machines may be unethical, and the bosses who run those machines may be unethical. But have their slimy activities ever violated federal or state law? Federal prosecutors, including (at least up until recently) Chris Christie, say that in Ferriero's case, the answer is yes. Ferriero's defendant pleaded guilty last month, but Ferriero pleaded not guilty. And now that he's receiving his fair, public trial by jury, the question is: Is Joe Ferriero guilty beyond a reasonable doubt?
Chris Christie waited just 28 minutes into the debate last week before he brought up the name Joe Ferriero. It was predictable and perhaps the only surprise is that he waited that long.
Well browsers got another surprise if they were looking for information on Ferriero as he began his trial last week by going to joeferriero.com. They may have ended up finding out news about Christie himself as the site was apparently redirected to christiefornj.com.
But a few hours after the Auditor inquired about it, the web address started appearing as a broken link. Responding to the mystery of the forwarding website, Senator Weinberg had this to say:
"It sounds to me like one of those mysterious Chris Christie things that must be somebody else's fault," said Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), Corzine's running mate and Ferriero's longtime nemesis. "I think this is going to be one of the great unsolved mysteries of the campaign, along with what Chris Christie's plan to lower taxes in New Jersey is."
Way to stay on message by the LG candidate tying even the lack of information on the website to his lack of a plan on taxes. And of course on cue with Weinberg mentioning they would say it's someone else's fault, the Christie campaign spokeswoman said "We don't have anything to do with it." What a surprise. I'm sure the website just magically started forwarding and then just in time, stopped when someone realized what was going on.
Dennis Oury can actually be credited, along with Boss Joe Ferriero (currently on trial) for being the catalyst that prompted me to write and write and write since January of 2007 - right here on Blue Jersey.
While the Christie campaign attempts to rewrite history as if Mr. Christie singlehandedly brought down Boss Joe and Dennis the Menace, I'll guide you all on a little history hike down memory lane, whaddaya say?
It was a chance meeting with then Assemblywoman Loretta Weinberg at a Howard Dean meetup in 2003 that inspired me to enter politics in 2004 and ultimately to become a councilwoman. Loretta swore me in Tenafly in January, 2007. Ironically, it was the brief but outrageous missive written to the Bergen County Committee by Mr. Dennis Oury that very same month, that turned this newly elected official into a political blogger virtually overnight.
It was a brazen attempt by Joe Ferriero to allow his friends from OUTSIDE District 37 to unseat Loretta Weinberg from the Senate seat Boss Joe had promised to Ken Zisa. Ferriero & Oury were trying to change the bylaws to make it a COUNTYWIDE election for a DISTRICT wide senate seat. I called it "representation without representation". Do WE vote for NY's Governor? 'Course not. But here was Mr. Oury's letter in 3 little points making Joe Ferriero's wishes abundantly clear to those of us who fought hard to make our votes count in electing Senator Weinberg and Assemblywoman Valerie Huttle.
Ferriero emerged from the questioning as the driving force in the scheme, the de facto lobbyist pressuring state officials to free up state grant money, and the author of a phony shareholder agreement that assigned "front people" to disguise their interest in Government Grants Consulting LLC. And it was Ferriero who dispersed their payments, including $25,016.97 for Oury.
According to Stile, Ferriero was mentioned in 20 of the 61 questions asked by the Judge. Ferriero's trial is scheduled to start tomorrow, with his lawyer saying he will not plead guilty and that he wants a speedy trial.
NorthJersey.com/The Record is reporting that Attorney Dennis Oury pleaded guilty this morning "to charges of defrauding the residents of Bergenfield, conspiracy to commit mail fraud and failing to file a tax return for 2006." Opening arguments had been scheduled for the day after tomorrow.
I'd say the obvious issue is whether Oury made a deal to testify against Joe Ferriero.
"Did you and Joseph Ferriero deliberately set up and structure this company so that your involvement would not be publicly known to others?" asked U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler.
This week, Carol Hoernlein resigned from the Tenafly Council seat she's held for two and a half years, and withdrew from her re-election campaign, citing health reasons.
You can trace the arc of Blue Jersey by Carol Hoernlein, who posts here as carolh, a username hardly anonymous given how clearly she's localized herself by her writing. She's one of the early registered users here, and contributes on a number of fronts, from tainted food, to the arrival of a new firetruck in Tenafly. But most powerfully, she's chronicled the mutiny that rocked the Bergen County Democratic Organization (BCDO), the thirst there for party transparency and democracy, and the strong progressive undercurrent that fuels it. For me, the best things she writes are about her joy discovering the power of ordinary people to drive change.
We hope you feel better, Carol. Rest up. And with so much of the pulse of the 2009 Governor's race centering on Bergen County, I'm sorry to see you off Council, but I hope your voice raisesup somewhere else.
Former Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero's defense attorney filed a motion in federal court today to dismiss the indictment against him.
Joseph Hayden, who represents Ferriero, said that they're seeking to dismiss the case based on an "unprecedented expansion of the mail fraud statute."
The more Joe Ferriero's name is in the news, the more it makes me think that Loretta Weinberg may end up being the choice for Lieutenant Governor. She appears to do the does the most to blunt the attacks that will fly relating to Ferriero. I have seen arguments made that she doesn't bring enough votes and I think it's debatable whether anyone really brings enough votes, but does she help the Governor not lose some on this issue?
Today's Bergen Record has an interesting headline in a story, by Michael Gartland, http://www.northjersey.com/new... that boldly proclaims...
Kasparian: Pay-to-play must end
Here's a bit of the story...
Michael Kasparian is advocating public financing for political campaigns as a remedy to political patronage.
"If there was a level playing field, then I think this idea of pay-to-play goes away," the newly minted chairman of the Bergen County Democratic Organization said Wednesday night. "Until you stem the demand for dollars, the desire for dollars is not going to ebb."
The statements came at his first appearance before Bergen Grassroots, a reformist wing of the party that advocated opposition to Kasparian's run for chairman.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend the meeting last night with my trusty little Casio recorder. It would have been great to have had this apparent epiphany/conversion fully recorded!
Kasparian, let us not forget, is the guy that Joseph Ferriero hand picked to be his successor. Why would Joe Ferriero do all in his power to get this guy into his seat so he could implement reformist policies to which Joe Ferriero was/is opposed???
Word is that the BCDO has replaced their general counsel yet again (Update: This has been confirmed.). If it's true, Joseph Ariyan would be the fourth BCDO attorney in less than six months. Ariyan was the Democratic senate candidate in the 39th legislative district in 2007.
Former BCDO attorney Dennis Oury was replaced by Paul Kaufman on September 11. Joe Ferriero fired Kaufman on January 15 and replaced him with Joseph Marinello.
The state of NJ, even though they haven't a clue about how to get COAH workable at the moment, made darn sure that municipalities had to submit their COAH plans by Dec 31, dammit. Or else.
Well, in Englewood, a Planning Board assembled by the Mayor himself, Michael Wildes, made sure the City found out what the "Or Else" meant. You see, the City Council made sure they sent their COAH plan to the Planning Board in time to meet the deadline. ( In Tenafly we realized our plan wouldn't be perfect either, but we had to meet the unrealistic deadline - we would definitely have to revise and amend the plan later due to the extremely unreasonable pressure placed on us by the incompetent Keystone Cops of COAH in Trenton.) Well, because the Planning Board decided not to hurry, the City missed the COAH deadline. And so, guess who was waiting in the wings to profit from the "apparent" oversight and late filing?
Hekemian. Business partner of one Mike Kasparian former President of the company.
Before you could blink, they hit Englewood with a lawsuit - a builder's remedy lawsuit, about not having a COAH plan. Now remember, TRENTON dictated the unrealistic deadline and Englewood missed it by mere days. "How ConVENient!" the church lady would say.
The reason why this is SO infuriating to Englewood Dems and the reason they voted to REJECT the election of Kasparian to the BCDO Chairman is that they have a history with these guys. HKT attempted to take over downtown with emininent domain. The K in HKT stands for Kasparian.
Here is a little story about Englewood and emminent domain from 1999, just ten years ago:
Englewood
In 1999, the City of Englewood designated a 60-acre redevelopment zone, and began working with developer Hekemian Kasparian Troast LLC (HKT) on a plan to replace an industrial area with an office/retail/residential development. Under the $500-million proposal, HKT would cover all of the City's costs in condemning properties and relocating the displaced businesses. Also, the developer would own and manage the development. In order to accommodate HKT, City officials claimed that the properties targeted for condemnation were blighted and had caused a steady erosion of Englewood's tax base. However, the City's own study of the area found that active businesses occupied, or had plans to develop in the near future, more than 97 percent of the properties within the redevelopment area. The study also determined that only three of the 37 properties were poorly maintained, and only one building was not occupied and productive. Furthermore, most of the disputed land was located within one single office-industrial park that generated 1.2 million per year in property taxes. In June 2001, 19 of the targeted property owners sued Englewood, seeking to reverse its 1999 designation and stop HKT's attempt to steal their land. The owners argued that the City's own findings contradicted the claim that there was 'lack of proper utilization of land, which was necessary to justify eminent domain. Those issues never got decided, however, because the owners discovered that the City had failed to publish a proper notice of its 1999 hearings. The lack of notice was a "fatal defect," ruled Judge Jonathan N. Harris, a New Jersey Superior Court judge. The judge dismissed the condemnation actions.
At first, City officials retaliated with a smear campaign in which they distributed fliers portraying the challenging property owners as greedy individuals willing to use "scare tactics" to preserve their "tax haven." David Ulrich, one of the owners, explained why he brought the lawsuit: "I don't think anybody down here is against the concept of redevelopment. Our concern from the beginning is, "Do not threaten to take away our properties." City leaders implied that they would simply approve another plan, without making any technical mistakes this time. In the end, however, HKT came up with a modified development proposal, one that won't require condemning property. This project features 350 apartments, an 11-story office building, three retail structures and a parking garage, and can be accomplished without the City resorting to eminent domain.
It was just a technicality that saved Englewood property owners temporarily from condemnation of their properties for the private gain of Mr. Kasparian. Some Democrat.
You also may remember why Hekemian was in the news recently in Englewood:
Michael Wildes got to help dispense "gifts" from Hekemian to his favorite charities in Englewood just a month or two before these same "humanitarians" slapped the very same city with a COAH builder's remedy lawsuit they apparently had in the works BEFORE the City even missed the Dec 31 deadline. For land located in a COMMERCIAL zone.
Like I said - "How ConVENient!"
So, how is Joe Ferriero related to this story? He was HKT's land use attorney.
What is really sad and infuriating about this whole saga for Englewood is that they have actually built affordable housing there. They were acting in good faith to submit their plan on time. But the Mayor's minions saw fit to leave the door wide open for the fox to get into the henhouse.
I don't care if Kasparian supported Obama. I hardly think Obama, who was a community organizer in Chicago, would approve of the way, Mr. Kasparian and his friends treat a City's residents and business owners so cavilierly for profit. It shows to me a willingness to profit off of others backs, to twist government for that aim and to take from those who have less than you. That is not a Democrat, my friend. THAT is a Republican.
If the Rs were in control right now, how much would you bet, Kasparian would be one?
