Arrests, Resignations and more Corruption oh my

by: Jason Springer

Thu Jul 23, 2009 at 06:28:27 PM EDT

Today was a bad day for New Jersey. There is literally so much news coming out regarding the charges and indictments, I wanted to do a recap:

Indictments and Charges: Here is the full list of politicians and religious leaders that were charged. In all there were 44 people charged with everything from public corruption to money laundering:

Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez, Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini, state Assemblyman President L. Harvey Smith and state Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt were among those arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Ridgefield Mayor Suarez, who is also an attorney, is charged with agreeing to accept an illegal $10,000 cash payment for his legal defense fund.

Here are the links to many of the criminal complaints.

Calls for resignation and suspensions: We have seen calls coming from all over the place for people to resign. The Governor and Chris Christie both called for all involved to resign. Joe Roberts sent out a statement calling on both Assemblymembers Smith and Van Pelt to resign and stripping them of their committee assignments. Minority Leader DeCroce, Christie, Guadagno and others called for the resignation of Van Pelt. Joe Cryan called for Smith's resignation. The Governor also asked for and accepted the resignation of Joe Doria at the Department of Community Affairs. Mayor Healy said any public officials arrested today are suspended without pay. Dawn Zimmer is urging Peter Cammarano to resign. Ocean County Party Boss and Chair George Gilmore, who was apparently considering Assemblyman Van Pelt as a potential challenger to John Adler next cycle, will call for his resignation.

How it all began:

What began as a federal investigation into money laundering by Syrian Jewish community leaders in New Jersey and New York a decade ago spawned into a broad web of political corruption that enveloped two N.J. assemblymen and three mayors.

At the press conference, the US Attorneys said that this investigation went back to the days of Operation Bid Rig. It also appears that a main cooperating witness helped to take everyone down. He has been identified in many places as Solomon Dwek, who himself was arrested in 2006 for trying to pass a bad $25 million check.

Selling Body Parts and Money Laundering: Many of the Rabbi's were charged with money laundering millions of dollars through charities. Additionally disturbing is the fact that one Rabbi reportedly called himself a matchmaker trying to arrange for the sale of a kidney for $160,000.

Speculation of replacements: With talk of resignations, there is the thought of who will fill those openings. Wally at PNJ says Democrats have a Jersey City Detective who could replace smith. I haven't seen much talk about who will replace Doria at DCA. If Cammarano were to resign, would there be a November special election for new Mayor? Apparently there are three freeholders that would be in the running to replace Van Pelt should he step down.

Rosi and Jay get involved: While Rosi was being turned away from the press conference, despite the fact she had confirmed her attendance in writing in advance, Jay took a different look at the situation and asked this question:

How many Crooks does it take?

People are still trying to wrap their arms around all of this news. The scope of the news today is what seems to be catching the attention of people. Some of the stories almost seem to be out of a movie script or novel. What do you think of what happened today and looking forward we can discuss what it means for the state, the Legislature and the Governor's race.

Jason Springer :: Arrests, Resignations and more Corruption oh my

Tags: Chris Christie, Dennis Elwell, Peter Cammarano, corruption, Jon Adler, joe dioria, Lou Manzo, (All Tags)

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Arrests, Resignations and more Corruption oh my | 5 comments

great roundup (0.00 / 0)

Frank LoBiondo Record and Jon Runyan Watch

by: Hopeful @ Fri Jul 24, 2009 at 00:03:54 AM UTC

Tough times for Corzine (0.00 / 0)

Corzine is in a really difficult position. Despite the good things he's done (paid family leave, SCHIP, etc.), the economy is frontmost in people's minds right now, and their natural reaction will be to blame those who are currently in office. This corruption sting is so big that people will be looking for someone to blame, and I fear that it'll be Gov. Corzine who will take the brunt of it... and I'm sure Chris Christie will be more than happy to feed that perception, despite Corzine's statement from earlier today.

by: ivalentine @ Fri Jul 24, 2009 at 00:26:05 AM UTC

You mean (0.00 / 0)

I could have gotten $$$ for my kidney? Yikes! Gives me the wiilles wondering where it is now......

One Vote. Yours. It really does matter.

by: carolh @ Fri Jul 24, 2009 at 00:56:14 AM UTC

I think today was a GOOD day for NJ (4.00 / 1)

We are cleaning up the mess. Is it embarassing that we have so much to clean up? Yes. It is. But at least bad guys are being caught.

I am sick to death of the garbage that goes on where politicians in NJ give preferential treatment to some developers while making private contractors hire "certain" lawyers and engineers just to get their projects approved. That is the latest fad. No bid contracts are so passe these days. These apparently private contracts between a regular GC and his professionals are now being forced onto private contractors by the politicians in charge of getting things approved in a town. Often these contractors must hire (not necessarily at gunpoint, but it may as well be - its like a shotgun wedding) the big contributors to the campaigns of the politicians in town. Or else. Or else they don't get an approval at all, or they can't without so much flak that it just costs too much attempting a building permit application.

Without corrupt politicians, corrupt developers (or FBI guys posing as them) wouldn't be able to bribe them. Today was a good day.

Now, it is obvious, isn't it, that the more good honest ethical folks stay out of government - the ones like those arrested today will be left running things? We just can't let that happen anymore.

One Vote. Yours. It really does matter.

by: carolh @ Fri Jul 24, 2009 at 01:14:24 AM UTC

Amazing (0.00 / 0)

I keep wondering if NJ can be any more corrupt, and another news story comes along like this one.

The kidney stuff really wierded me out though. When I was in the hospital in May, they had to take one of mine out. The kidney floor at HMUC where transplants are done is the nicest floor in the whole hospital. I couldn't be placed in that ward till a week had passed because it was so darn busy. It's called "The Penthouse". Wonder where all that dough came from.....

One Vote. Yours. It really does matter.

by: carolh @ Fri Jul 24, 2009 at 01:25:13 AM UTC