Newark, NEW JERSEY

CONVICTED
April 2009 - Following a long tradition in New Jersey and in Alabama, New Jersey Sen. Joseph Coniglio 66, (D) was convicted on federal corruption charges for a no-show job.

A jury convicted Coniglio, 66, (D) in April on the extortion count and five of eight mail fraud counts for funneling more than $1 million in state grants to HUMC after it agreed to sign him on as a "hospital relations" consultant in May 2004. During the 22 months he was on the hospital’s payroll, prosecutors said, he received a stream of corrupt payments in return for using his influence and position on a powerful Senate budget committee to steer state grants to the hospital.

SENTENCED
September 1, 2009 - He was sentenced to 30 months in prison and pay a $15,000 fine.

Coniglio, a union plumber who served in the Legislature from 2002 to 2007, was the sixth former member of the state legislature to be convicted of corruption charges since 2006.

Prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge Dennis M. Cavanaugh to send the state senator to prison for between roughly 5 and 6 1/2 years. The judge opted for a significantly shorter sentence, citing Coniglio's history of public service. [Ed - Which is, if you think about it, a little like sentencing a rapist to probation because of all the women he didn't rape.]

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Good source of information on the case. News / Ex-Senator Joseph Coniglio Guilty in Consulting Contract Scheme with Hackensack University Medical Center

Atlantic City, NEW JERSEY

ELECTION FRAUD ALLEGED BY CITY COUNCILMAN AND CAMPAIGN WORKERS

ARRAIGNED Nov 4, 2009
Atlantic City Councilman Marty Small (D) (pictured right) and 13 others were indicted in September on various second-degree charges that they improperly handled messenger ballots during this year's Democratic primary. Small lost that election to Mayor Lorenzo Langford, who was re-elected to a four-year term in Tuesday's general election.

In some instances, the defendants opened sealed envelopes to see who the vote went to, then, if it wasn't for "the right person," they would destroy it, Deputy Attorney General Anthony Picione told Superior Court Judge James Isman. Some voters never even received their ballots or got the ballot the same time they were given the application, "Which, your honor knows, is not possible," Picione added.

Small is also director of after-school activities for the Atlantic City School Board. He was endorsed by the Atlantic City Democratic Committee. He was indicted in a similar case in 2005, but a jury eventually acquitted him of the third-degree charges.

New Jersey Attorney General Press Release (dated Sept 3, 2009)

From the Memory Banks
FORMER COUNCIL PRESIDENT SENTENCED
In December 2008, Former Atlantic City Council President Craig Callaway was sentenced to three years in prison after he admitted he masterminded the plot to get a rival councilman to quit. According CBSnews, "Callaway had come to dominate the all-Democrat city government." "His network of family and friends mastered the technique of soliciting and collecting absentee ballots in poor neighborhoods."

In October, 2006, a local DJ reported receiving a DVD that showed Councilman Robinson, 67, having sex with an underage prostitute -- who turned out to be 24 -- that he drove to a motel in his city-issued vehicle. An investigation led to criminal charges against Craig Callaway, his brothers Ronald and David, friend Floyd Tally, and incumbent Councilman John Schultz. They had hired the girl.

A jury convicted [David] Callaway and [Floyd] Tally last month in on invasion-of-privacy and conspiracy charges for trying to blackmail a former political ally, Atlantic City Councilman Eugene Robinson, into resigning his seat. They are set to be sentenced Dec. 10.

Former Councilman Callaway was already is serving a 40 month sentence for taking bribes from an FBI agent. His brother, Pete, was one of 11 New Jersey politicians arrested in a single day in September 2007.

ATLANTIC CITY MAYOR DISAPPEARS, THEN QUITS
In September 2007, Mayor Bob Levy dropped out of sight for two weeks. He reappeared and resigned, admitting he had been abusing painkillers and that he had lied about his Vietnam War service in order to increase his veterans' benefits checks. He resigned in October 2007.

Levy was sentenced to probation, and was ordered to pay back $25,000 in extra benefits he received as a result of falsely claiming he was in a special operations unit that worked behind enemy lines in Vietnam.

At the time of his resignation, four of his eight predecessors also had been arrested on corruption charges.

Marlboro, NEW JERSEY

SENTENCED
August 13, 2009 - Morton Salkind, 77, (D-Marlboro from 1974-1976) was sentenced to one year in prison today on tax evasion charges. A former mayor of Marlboro and state Lottery Commissioner, has agreed to pay about $17 million in back taxes, interest and penalties. He pleaded guilty in May 2008.

He also served on the Hudson County Improvement Authority and other state and local agencies.

Orange, NEW JERSEY

SENTENCED (AGAIN)
January 29, 2009
Former Assemblyman and Orange Mayor Mims Hackett Jr, 67, (D) was sentenced Friday to five years in prison on state charges of official misconduct for submitting more than $5,000 in phony receipts to the city of Orange over a four-year period.

The sentence will run concurrently with a nine-month federal prison term on a bribery conviction after he pleaded guilty in May to charges of attempted extortion. He was one of 11 politicians arrested for corruption in 2007.

He served on the Orange City Council from 1988-1996; Assemblyman from 2000-2007; and Mayor from 2002-2007.

Trenton, NEW JERSEY

New Jersey Senator Wayne R. Bryant (D), 61, was sentenced today to 48 months in prison and two years of supervised release (to be served concurrently.) He is required to make a restituion of $113, 167, The prosecution had asked for 10 years.

He was in the Legislature from 1982 through 2008. He was chairman of the Senate budget committee from 2002 through 2007. The Star-Ledger refers to him as "once a titan of politics."

Bryant was found guilty by a Federal jury in November 2008 of 11 counts of mail and wire fraud and 2 counts of corrupt solicitation and acceptance of a bribe - for accepting a "low show" job offered by Michael Gallagher, former Dean at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey's School of Osteopathic Medicine, in return for helping funnel extra state dollars to the school. As Chairman of the Senate budget committee, Bryant helped the school obtain $10.5 million in state grants between 2003 and 2006. (Gallagher was sentenced to 18 months in prison. And $113,167 in restitution.)

At his sentencing, the judge chided Bryant who also held a "low-show" job as a part-time attorney for the Gloucester County Board of Social Services - which helped to raise his pension from $28,000 to $81,000 a year. The judge didn't mention that Bryant was called the "King of double dipping" because he has collected salaries from as many as four public jobs he held simultaneously in New Jersey. Or the fact that Rutgers Camden Law school paid him $130,000 for teaching law classes while that school got $11 million in Redevelopment aid.

LEGAL BILLS
Bryant had planned to use $640,000 in campaign contributions to pay his legal bills. His lawyer pointed out that former state senator and Newark Mayor Sharpe James (D) and and Sen. Joseph Coniglio (D-Bergen) had both tapped their own campaign accounts to fight corruption charges. A state appeals court 3-judge panel shot the idea down and urged the state Election Law Enforcement Commission, which oversees campaign finance rules, to take a firm stand on the issue and adopt a regulation that would address future cases involving criminal charges and political war chests.

[NOTE: Links directly above are to Wikipedia entries. The Coniglio Wiki entry hasn't been updated to reflect his conviction in April 2009 for essentially the same thing Bryant did - funnel money to a state university school in exchange for a high-paying job.]

Despite all the chicanery, New Jersey newspapers treat Bryant after his conviction and sentencing like a kind of lovable rogue in the tradition of Bonnie and Clyde or Jesse James. Which is great unless you're the victim taxpayer or a parent trying to instill values in your child. No wonder corruption in New Jersey is chronic and pandemic. As if to underscore it, yesterday 44 were arrested, including the mayors of Secaucus, Hoboken and Ridgefield, two legislators (1 was Republican) and other assorted politicos for corruption plus fivel Rabbis involved in money laundering.

Wikipedia entry for Bryant.

Full trial coverage from The Star-Ledger. Here

Newark, NEW JERSEY

April 16, 2008 - A federal jury convicted former Newark, N.J., Mayor Sharpe James, 72, and his ex-mistress, thirty-nine year old Tamika Riley of corruption stemming from the cut-rate sale of city land to Riley. They were convicted on all 18 charges that included fraud, conspiracy, corruption, tax evasion, and mail fraud.

James was mayor of Newark, the state's largest city for 20 years, from 1986 to 2006. He was also a Democratic state senator from 1999 to January 2008. (New Jersey is famous for their double-dipping politicians, who hold political offices in state government as well as local governments.) James took credit for redevelopment that included a pro hockey arena that opened in the fall.

James and Riley were indicted in July 2007 on charges that he abused his power to help her buy nine city-owned properties at discount rates through a city program designed to redevelop properties in run-down areas. The idea was that buyers would buy rundown property at substantially lower rates and were supposed to rehab the properties before selling. This was supposed to revitalize derelict neighborhoods. She paid $46,000 for the parcels and sold them for nearly $600,000 and failed to redevelop them as required. She also failed to pay taxes on the income.

The Boston Globe barely mentioned the conviction in a 62-word story that referred to Riley as a "former girlfriend." The New York Times headline was "Ex-Mayor Still Seen as Someone Who Lifted Newark." They pointed to interviews with academics, but they only quoted two and only one was favorable. Clement Price. He takes credit in his bio at Rutger's in Newark, for leadership in, among other things, the Newark public schools, that isn't anything to brag about.

The Newark school district rates a 2 at Greatschools.net for some of the worst-performing schools in the country. Of the 40 middle schools, only four rate 5 and above, with 10 being best. Of forty-eight elementary schools rated, 70% are rated 1 and 2. The high schools are worse.

The trial took five weeks and the verdict came after six days of deliberation. U.S. Dept. of Justice Press Release (dated April 16, 2008.) PDF

Even after his conviction, James received favorable attention. While his former mistress had to face the gauntlet of reporters and media at the front door, James was allowed to flee out the secured back door of the court building. U.S. Attorneys were angry. His wife picked him up in his well-known black Cadillac. However, the vanity plate on his black Cadillac that read "Bible" and bears the state seal and the words "former senator" were missing. Once the couple returned home and the car was parked in the driveway, Mrs. James emerged with the license plate in her hand and reattached it to the Cadillac

The courthouse was the Martin Luther King Building and Courthouse. James will be sentenced July 29.

He still faces a federal trial on charges he used city-issued credit cards to pay for $58,000 worth of personal expenses while he was mayor, including trips with several women other than his wife to Martha's Vineyard, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Rio de Janeiro.

More than a third of Newark's residents live in poverty and the city has been a symbol of urban decay. In 1967, race riots left deep scars on the Newark landscape and economy

Tenafly, NEW JERSEY

April 10, 2008 - A former Tenafly (N.J) councilman who was sentenced to five years' probation in 2006 for buying heroin was arrested after fleeing the courthouse rather than provide a urine sample as ordered. He is being held without bail. The prosecutor will be seeking prison time for the probation violation when Jeffery Romano appears in court on April 18.

Jeffery Romano has twice had drugs in his urine in recent months. He resigned from his council seat after pleading guilty to the drug charges in May 2006.

Shortly after being elected to a second term as a Democratic councilman, Romano was arrested at the Bradley Court housing complex on South Munn Avenue in December 2005 with 40 envelopes of heroin. Prosecutor's investigators watched him pull up to the drug-ridden complex in a 2006 Chevrolet Corvette and drop off a passenger, who went inside and got the drugs.

After his guilty plea, Romano was sentenced on July 11, 2006, to five years of probation and 150 hours of community service.

Romano, who had a record of drug arrests prior to his election as a councilman, has admitted an ongoing battle with heroin addiction. He acknowledged that he used the drug even in the period between his guilty plea and his sentencing.

On May 23, 2008, he was sentenced to four years in prison. He admitted he was a drug addict.

Monmouth, NEW JERSEY

Anthony Palughi, recently retired head of the Monmouth co. Division of Bridges and former Long Branch councilman, "pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William J. Martini to a one-count Information charging him with corruptly soliciting and demanding cash payments for himself and other public officials intending that he and the other public officials would be influenced in connection with their public positions."

The guilty plea of Palughi arises from Operation Bid Rig, the same investigation which led to charges being filed against 15 officials in February and March of this year, including the Mayors of Hazlet, Keyport and West Long Branch, as well as Councilmen from Asbury Park, Far Hills, Keyport, Middletown and West Long Branch.