| New Jersey, rightly or wrongly is known as a state with corruption problems amongst its elected officials, Republicans and Democrats alike. Just yesterday the government indicted both a Democratic mayor in West Orange and a Republican leader in Atlantic City, for example. And while Gerry Cardinale can claim to be an honest politician in New Jersey, as he did in Tuesday's debate with Joe Ariyan, the facts speak otherwise. And those facts have led to an ethics complaint being filed against Cardinale, apparently last week.
The complaint revolves around an apparent quid-pro-quo between Cardinale and the New Jersey banking industry. On March 23rd of 2000, Cardinale introduced no less than 4 pieces of legislation to "streamline" the banking industry in the Garden State - in other words, to deregulate it and enable predatory lending to run amok in my state. These steps included expediting the time needed to approve new bank branches, removing the qualifier "savings" from "savings bank" and making it easier for out-of-state banks to do business in New Jersey. The bills are S1157 and S1159-61, in case you want to look them up.
Naturally, these pieces of legislation would please any major banking firm; even more naturally, what those firms did shortly afterwards pleased Gerry Cardinale. On March 29th, April 2nd, May 11th and May 13th of that same year, Cardinale and his wife received lobbyist gifts in the form of donations and vacation coverage from the New Jersey Bankers Association and the New Jersey Community and Savings Bankers Association, totaling nearly $6,000. That vacation took Cardinale and his wife off to White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia in May 2000. Shortly after his return, Cardinale voted in favor of the four pieces of legislation he had introduced.
I don't know about you, but if I received a $6,000 "gift" from a special interest group shortly before and after I actively supported their goals in my office, I would certainly think that I had done something a tad illegal, if not unethical. Apparently Gerry Cardinale doesn't think that way. When asked about the quid-pro-quo during their debate on Tuesday, Cardinale replied as follows:
"The Record columnist Charles Stile, a panelist at the debate, brought up an ethics complaint that was filed against Cardinale on Friday for accepting a trip paid for by the banking industry lobbyists while he sat on the commerce committee. Cardinale said that he went along with a Democratic member of the committee to speak at an event, and that he "can't be bought with a trip." He added that he owns a home in the Caribbean and would prefer to be there than Florida or any of the places he was sent by lobbyists." (Emphasis Mine)
Politics NJ article on the debate
So, in Gerry Cardinale's world it's perfectly acceptable not only to go on vacations (not an "event" as he alluded to), but also to spend legislative recess in the Caribbean. As Joe Ariyan pointed out, "I wonder if those people who are struggling to pay their property taxes know that Senator Cardinale has a Caribbean home."
The 2000 incident is not the first - nor the last - time that Gerry Cardinale has tried to avoid practicing what he preaches on ethics. In fact, Cardinale has taken more lobbyist donations than any other current New Jersey legislator - over $34,000 since 1998 alone. Lobbyists have fully covered his and his wife's vacations to Florida four times, as well as to California, Bermuda and Puerto Rico. And Cardinale is on record as saying that having lobbyists influence your vote through legal bribery is not "nefarious" in nature. Right...
To add insult to injury, in 2005 the New Jersey State Legislature (under then-Governor Dick Codey, a Democrat) established new gift rules that essentially ended the old "vacation bribe" concept in New Jersey. Never one to kick a habit gracefully, Cardinale took another $6,000 trip with his wife right before the law went into effect, heading off to Miami courtesy of his old friends from the New Jersey Bankers' Association. Maybe money can't buy you love, but it certainly gets you gratitude!
Gerry Cardinale is continuing to rail against the Democratic Party in New Jersey, and has resorted to throwing wild haymakers at Joe Ariyan in their debates and in the press. Hopefully, the voters of NJ-39 will be smart enough to see through Gerry's smoke and mirrors, and will put an end to his 28-year career on November 6th. But there'd be a bright side for Gerry Cardinale even then; at least he could take all the vacations he wanted - either at his home in the Caribbean or elsewhere - courtesy of his banking buddies.
I, for one would be happy to contribute to his vacation fund. |
