The hardest part, though, may be renewing confidence in the criminal justice system.
"If the police are no different from the thugs, who are we supposed to depend on when we need help?" Mills said.
That's a good question. Granted, it's not all police. But that's similar to how all politicians fight the corruption meme because of the actions of a few. How do you restore the public trust when innocent people have been framed and served time for nothing more than being in the wrong place, at the wrong time to be busted by the wrong people.
"I know I've been, I'm talking circuitous, but you understand... So all I want you to do is, you know help him," the feds say Salahuddin said to the cooperating witness -- with "him" referring to his co-conspirator, businessman Sonnie L. Cooper. "You know feed him, not a salad, you know, sometimes a man got to have a steak."
According to the indictment, Salahuddin told the government informant that "it's not a deal when you are giving it all and nothing in return... that's Santa Claus... you understand... and none of us believe in Santa Claus."
Update: Here is the non-Twitter version of Booker's statement:
"My administration is committed to holding all our employees, regardless of their position, to the highest level of ethics and accountability. That is why, as Mayor, I have zero tolerance for corruption.
"My commitment to hold all City employees to the highest ethical standards is evident by our creation of Newark's Office of the Inspector General, who is specifically charged with aggressively bringing those who break the public trust to justice. To date, investigations conducted by the Inspector General have led to 19 indictments and guilty pleas. Under my administration, no impropriety - big or small - will be tolerated.
"When other law enforcement partners have brought instances of misconduct or corruption to our attention, we have fully cooperated with the investigations and parted ways with those employees.
"I do not, and never will, tolerate any abuse of the public trust by any municipal employee or anyone doing business with the City. These allegations, if proven true, are outrageous and are a violation of both my trust and the public trust. We will continue to work with authorities to get to the truth."
The trial of former Jersey Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini got under way this week and along with the testimony of Solomon Dwek, the prosecution showed videos he took while working under cover for the FBI.
Black-and-white recordings shot by a tiny hidden camera depict meetings at Hudson County diners and a luncheonette where the informant, Solomon Dwek, tries to arrange a bribe to the deputy mayor, Leona Beldini, in exchange for help securing approvals for a 750-unit condominium building he claimed to be developing. Jurors watched their first clips in federal court in Newark
The defense may want the whole tapes shown so that they can argue there is some kind of context to the conversations and statements as the pieces don't always make their client look very good:Dwek does most of the talking on the tapes and makes clear what he is offering. Beldini's attorneys will no doubt try to spin it that JC Political Consultants Jack Shaw and Edward Cheatam are the ones that were playing the game:
Authorities say Dwek funneled the bribes to Beldini through Shaw and Cheatam, who converted them into donations for Healy's campaign. Beldini, Healy's campaign treasurer, never took money directly from Dwek. But on prosecutors' videos, it appears she may have known who was actually donating.
Cheatam has plead guilty and is going to testify against Beldini, while Shaw was found dead of a valium overdose just after his arrest last summer. Beldini seems to make it clear that everyone, including the Mayor knows what is going on. And Healy himself is all over the tapes as Dwek talks to him about giving money and what it will get him:
As Healy got up to leave, Dwek followed him and said he had donated $10,000 to his campaign previously and that he would give Shaw another $10,000 that day.
"Dave, thank you so much," Healy says - using the Dwek's phony name - as the video records him. He tells Dwek he wants to keep working with him.
"It's good for the city, it's good for everybody," Healy says.
Healy hasn't been charged with anything and maintains he has done nothing wrong. Beldini is charged with taking $20,000 in bribes from Dwek and faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted. The Jersey City Independent has a familiar face at Blue Jersey, JRB covering the trial as well.
Solomon Dwek took the stand yesterday for the prosecution in the case of Former Jersey City Mayor Baldini and his testimony was eye opening, according to observers in the court. Within minutes of being questioned by the defense attorney, Dwek blurted this out and got testy when questioned on the legitimacy of evidence:
"I was there -- and I performed."
It has to concern the government that their key witness lost his cool on the first day of the trial. Bob Braun called his testimony "jaw dropping" and "almost absurdly funny." Dwek said he started bribing people as a teenager to get things he wanted. Other attorneys for those charged have to be licking their chops after seeing reports of how Dwek handled himself on the stand on the very first day. Dwek's credibility and how he holds up will be a key to the government making their cases.
Remember back in July when the FBI busted thirty political operatives and about a dozen rabbis? Well, one of those guys was a guy named Guy Catrillo. Catrillo was a planning aide in Jersey City, but today he was sentenced for his corruption. He could have gotten fifteen to twenty years. He got eighteen
This is a pretty disturbing story done by the NBC Philadelphia local affiliate's investigative unit. They now have 4 officers that have been suspended without pay while the FBI looks into their actions and convicted criminals are being let out of jail without an explanation. When asked why the Camden County Prosecutors office would vacate the sentence of an inmate without explanation, they said:
We are under no legal obligation to inform the public as to why
Then they followed up with this:
Our best choice is to say nothing
Well that doesn't make it sound like what is going on is very good. The story says that the FBI investigation into Camden police corruption has now expanded and the allegations sound pretty serious. In addition, their sources say that cases for dozens of people that have been arrested by the suspended police officers have been dismissed or overturned. Here's the story:
Vega's lawyer, Peter R. Willis, said the issue of whether the councilman knows Dwek would be resolved at trial along with the other charges. "Mariano has no intention of pleading guilty," Willis said.
Another domino fell this afternoon as Jersey City Councilman Mariano Vega was indicted on 8 counts after allegedly taking $30,000 in bribes from an undercover informant and making false statements to investigators:
Vega allegedly conspired with Maher Khalil, another Jersey City official who was arrested in July and has since pleaded guilty, to deposit three $10,000 bribes from faux real estate developer Solomon Dwek into his campaign account through a series of straw donors. In return for the money, prosecutors contend that Vega promised Dwek help with development approvals for a make believe residential high rise development project on Garfield Avenue.
[snip]
Adding a new wrinkle to the case against Vega is the false statement charge. FBI agents met with Vega on July 22 - the day before he and 43 others were shuffled off busses and frog marched into the federal court house in Newark. In the interview, Vega claimed not to recognize a Dwek when agents showed him his photograph, despite having met with him six times in five months - including a meeting just two weeks prior.
At the time of his arrest, Vega was serving as the Council President. He no longer holds that post after stepping down, but still says he's innocent and remains on Council.
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.
Let's face it, this is a civil rights issue.....and just like the struggles for de jure (we're still working on de facto) equality in the 50's and 60's, on the racial front, the chief/underlying motivation for the opposition to marriage equality is bigotry. Plain and simple.
People back then also used quasi-religious rationales....but it always boils down to an irrational fear and loathing of "the other" i.e. bigotry.
Even the elected officials who may not themselves be bigots, but will still vote against equality under the law, are voting that way because they are afraid of losing the votes of bigots.
Yesterday's NY vote made it very clear as only ONE of the no votes had the guts to speak out on the floor (and that was a "Reverend")....all the rest voted in silent shame.
Bigots have to be named and shamed.....I DO NOT believe that the majority of my fellow New Jerseyans are bigots......that's why this issue is an eventual winner both morally and politically.
As an older straight person I know just how much attitudes have changed in this state over the last 45 years, it's dramatic.....if marriage equality is not passed in this session it needs to become a major plank in the state Democratic party platform (which we need to develop) and it needs to be one of the chief VOTING issues upon which progressive primary challengers seek to unseat incumbents who are stuck in the toxic "mud" of the status quo.....and that toxicity includes way more than the tendency to appeal to the bigot vote on this one issue......but it's all related.
The same type of person who is afraid to offend bigots is also more likely to want to keep the pay to play machine politics as is. It's all connected, and it's a matter of values. New Jersey voters really are eager to throw the BUMS out......we progressives just have to have the guts to run for office and to call out the bums and to keep a bright spotlight on them.
Marriage equality needs to come to a vote, if only to publicly "out" those who would dare to vote on the side of ignorance, fear, intolerance and, yes, bigotry
Promoted from the diaries by Rosi. Thanks, Matt. And I'll second your call for people to drop in on the Sunlight Foundation.
This is a post I did for the Sunlight Foundation . As an organization they are at the forefront of transparency issues and accountability. Check them out.
People have different reasons to be passionate about transparency; mine is accountability to the taxpayer. To me when elected officials let us know what they are spending our money on then we can keep them accountable and government becomes better. Regardless of whether one is pleased or disgusted with the outcome, the Governor's race here in New Jersey highlighted just how far transparency has to go.
Chris Christie's win is rooted in the 130 corruption convictions he rode to victory, which were products of a closed government that encouraged no bid contracts, no show jobs,grants for favors, as well as every form of patronage you can imagine and some you wouldn't believe were true. Books have been written about our culture of corruption, and the core of it all is the overall lack of transparency. Politicians and decision makers have largely been able to operate out of the public and press's purview for longer than anyone can remember.
Then Christie showed up and started arresting people.
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 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.
Maher Khalil, a former official with the Jersey City Zoning Board of Adjustment, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Newark to one count of conspiracy to commit extortion. The 39-year-old Mr. Khalil was the first public official to plead guilty in the case.
He admitted he accepted more than $70,000 in bribes from Solomon Dwek, a government cooperating witness posing as a developer, in return for setting up meetings with other officials who would help Mr. Dwek with zoning changes and approvals.
Mr. Khalil acknowledged converting some of the bribes into campaign donations for Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega Jr.
Later Wednesday, Guy Catrillo admitted in U.S. District Court that he accepted bribes from Mr. Dwek. Mr. Catrillo was an aide to Jersey City's planning and zoning boards and was a community-relations specialist in Mayor Jerramiah Healy's office.
Mr. Catrillo was accused of attempted extortion for taking $15,000 from Mr. Dwek in exchange for introducing Mr. Dwek to other officials and promising to expedite development approvals.
Following the guilty pleas, their suspension turned into a termination by Mayor Healy. Along with the guilty pleas, prosecutors were granted an extension for two more officials:
Meanwhile, Judge Linaris granted prosecutors another month to prepare for trial against two other Jersey City officials indicted in connection with July's corruption sweep.
Leona Beldini, a deputy mayor, and Edward Cheatam, a former city Housing Authority commissioner, had been scheduled to begin trial Oct. 26 on charges of conspiring to commit extortion.
But Linares granted prosecutors' request for more time yesterday, saying the case involved hundreds of hours of recorded conversations.
Beldini's attorney, Brian J. Neary, objected to the extension, saying the 74-year-old is too old to wait for her day in court.
Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy confirmed tonight that FBI agents paid a visit to his Bradley Beach home in August and to City Hall today.
Healy said he couldn't discuss the visits further because investigations connected to July's massive corruption sweep are ongoing. But according to sources, six to eight agents visited the City Hall offices of the business administrator, tax assessor, tax collector and city clerk today.
It should be noted that Healy still says he did nothing wrong, but it one has to question why you would have these visits from your friends at the FBI. With all of this news, the Ledger Live took a historical walking tour down Jersey City corruption memory lane:
Who knows if this is history repeating itself, but it still looks like there is more of the story to come.
Attorney Dennis Oury says his failure to tell his accountant about $25,000 he received from a grant consulting business is like the "innocent oversight" cited by former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie in neglecting to report interest income from a loan to a colleague.
Without mentioning the Republican gubernatorial candidate by name, Oury's defense lawyer, Gerald Krovatin, alluded to him in court papers seeking to strike certain language from a revised indictment as irrelevant to the crimes charged, and prejudicial to Oury.
Here's what they want changed and their justification for the motion:
Oury is seeking to strike language from four new counts, added in July, alleging willful failure to file tax returns for the years 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.
The passages in question allege that from 2004 through 2007, Oury "concealed" from his personal accountant $25,000 he received from GGC in 2004 and only after he became aware of the grand jury probe in 2008 did he instruct his accountant to include that income.
Krovatin said Oury's memory was jogged by the investigation and, in an apparent reference to Christie, described the lapse as an oversight, "similar to an innocent 'oversight' of interest income from a personal loan to a colleague or friend."
Prosecutors opposed the motion made by Oury's team. I didn't think it was an oversight for Christie and I don't think it's one for Oury either. But it's certainly an interesting legal argument that keeps the Christie loan story in the news.
The day before 44 people were arrested across the state on various charges, Jersey City Mayor Jeremiah Healy received his own special visitors according to the Jersey Journal:
The FBI paid a visit to Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy one day before the July 23 FBI corruption sweep in which 44 people were arrested, Jennifer Morrill, the mayor's spokeswoman, confirmed today.
Reports of the FBI visit to Healy was first reported in The Jersey City Reporter earlier today.
Although Morrill confirmed the visit, she said the mayor refused to disclose what was discussed, citing an ongoing investigation. Michael Drewniak, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office also refused to comment.
Oh to be a fly on the wall in the room during that conversation. Healy has already admitted that it's clear he is Jersey City Public official #4 listed in the indictment of other jersey City Officials, though he maintains he did nothing wrong.
It's a pattern with Chris Christie that it's like pulling teeth to get the full truth out of him. And so it is with the vehicular accident that just swam up to the light in the last day or so.
To recap, Christie was driving a rented BMW on his way to the swearing in of the Union County Prosecutor July 26, 2002, when he drove down a one-way street the wrong way and hit a motorcyclist who was driving in the correct direction. The cycle, driven by Andre Mendonca of Elizabeth, slid on its side into Christie's car. The injured motorcyclist was taken not to nearby Trinitas Hospital, but to UMDNJ in Newark, which has a Level 1 Trauma Center.
We asked Christie about the accident in Atlantic City Friday and he was very curt with his answers. NJN South Jersey Bureau Chief Kent St. John asked if there was a lawsuit. Christie said "no" then "nope."
But actually there was. According to the Superior Court Record Center in Trenton, Mendonca filed suit in 2004. The complaint filed in Essex County was later dismissed, indicating ( according to the Clerk ) an out of court settlement.
Ask yourself these questions:
Why is a law and order candidate involved in breaking the law this often?
Why is Christie actually lying about something serious as a car accident he caused, as he did just today?
Can you picture any situation where you would get out of a ticket if you caused an accident? or went went driving without a seatbelt and significantly over the speed limit?
Got another way he'd get out of it, unless he pushed his US Attorney status on police officers? How do you feel about that?
Shouldn't a prosecutor make sure that he was properly ticketed if caught breaking the law or causing an accident?
And finally - for now -
Is this what would pass for transparency in a Christie administration?
NJN has news tonight about the man that Christie sent to the hospital that day in 2002, Andre Mendoca.
NJN's been rocking some mighty fine investigative journalism lately. Doing some good digging. They broke the story of the financial relationship between Chris Christie and the attorney who used to be his underling at the US Attorney's office (Michele Brown has since resigned).
Christie managed to slide out of a ticket that day, which is extraordinary considering that Christie's driving sent somebody to the hospital. We know Christie identified himself as the US Attorney, which he was then.
I'm glad NJN's on the story, because we certainly aren't getting straight answers out of Mr. LawbreakerLaw and Order .
