Published in the Times of Trenton, Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Mortgage crisis puts scores in foreclosure, senators told
BY TOM HESTER
Star-Ledger Staff
At least 8,000 of the 143,898 New Jersey borrowers who opted for subprime mortgages went into foreclosure in the first half of this year, state Division of Banking officials said yesterday.
Testifying before the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee in Trenton, state officials and lenders said another 11,000 of those borrowers are up to three months behind on their mortgage payments.
"I want to be clear that here in New Jersey this is a real threat to homeowners and to the economy," state Banking Director Terry McEwen said of the widening subprime mortgage crisis.
Of the 15,426 first-time foreclosures filed in New Jersey in the first six months of this year, 53 percent involve borrowers with adjustable rate mortgages. Nationally, the figure is 37 percent for the same period.
Black and Hispanic borrowers, who hold 41 percent of subprime loans, have been hardest hit.
In Newark, 12.7 percent of subprime mortgage holders are more than three months delinquent in their payments. In Camden, it's 10.9 percent; Edison 10.5 percent; and Trenton 9.5 percent. By contrast, of all of the 1.24 million mortgage loans of all types in New Jersey, 1.23 percent are in foreclosure.
The Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee asked banking officials, lenders and government activists to Trenton to discuss potential ways to ease the problem and bail out at least some of the borrowers.
"If anyone in this room believes that the worst is over in the subprime mortgage fiasco -- you are very, very wrong," said Phyllis Salowe-Kaye, director of New Jersey Citizen Action. "A tsunami of interest rate hikes on thousands of loans is headed our way and we had better be prepared for the disaster and heartache that lies ahead for many communities and homeowners in New Jersey."
Officials said the 8,000 subprime borrowers in foreclosure and the thousands more expected to join them are people with both good and bad credit who took out mortgage loans with adjustable rates that start out with low interest then bump up to a higher rate after a few years. The result is some homeowners took out bigger loans than they could afford, hoping a rising housing market would let them refinance later on. Instead, the housing market statewide and nationally has stalled and home prices are falling.
Lenders, state officials and citizen activists told the committee the borrowers were often low- or moderate-income people who did not do their homework as they prepared to seek mortgages and were misled by unscrupulous lenders.
Jerry Keelen, director of Single Family Programs with the state Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, said his agency is preparing to offer $30 million to help bail out subprime borrowers, but he told senators he expects it will aid no more than 200 of the 1,600 borrowers who have already contacted the state seeking help.
Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Essex), the committee chairman, told Keelan to go slow in passing out the aid, saying senators are attempting to get a handle on the crisis and determine what legislation may be necessary to help solve it.
With lenders mainly controlled by federal statutes, speakers told the committee that guidance and public education on finding and managing a mortgage and avoiding foreclosure may be the best help the state can provide.
"It is worth noting that a big challenge in this area is informing delinquent borrowers that they have workout options -- and they must talk to their lender early," said Jeffrey Markowitz, a vice president with Freddie Mac, a federal-government mortgage provider. "Delinquent borrowers who work with our lenders on a workout plan are 80 percent more likely to avoid foreclosure than those who do not work with a lender."
Markowitz said a 2005 Freddie Mac survey found 61 percent of delinquent borrowers did not know there are workout options, "and significant percentages of those borrowers did not return lender phone calls out of embarrassment or a lack of faith that anything can be done to help them."
The Federal Housing Administration will provide information on home ownership, mortgages and dealing with lenders on Sept. 29, from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Essex County College, 303 University Ave., Newark. People can register by calling 1-800-CALLFHA.
A "Homeowners Guide to Subprime" is available in English and Spanish at the state Department of Insurance and Banking Web site: www.njdobi.org.
Online story here. Archived here.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Friday, September 21, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Corruption - Ledger - Former Hackett aide alleges corruption, harassment
Published in the Star Ledger, Sunday, September 16, 2007
Former Hackett staffer files sexual harassment lawsuit
Matter referred to AG's office earlier by Essex County prosecutor
BY KEVIN C. DILWORTH
Star-Ledger Staff
A former executive secretary of Orange Mayor Mims Hackett Jr. claims she was sexually harassed by the mayor and wrongfully terminated after rebuffing his advances and complaining about campaign violations, theft and municipal corruption.
Laverne M. Ballard, Hackett's secretary from Sept. 21, 2004, until July 21, 2006, filed a civil lawsuit on Thursday in Superior Court in Newark.
In a 28-page complaint, Ballard also alleged Hackett and some current and former council members illegally accepted reimbursements for expenses to which they were not entitled, and conspired to double bill the city for the some expenses and hand-write phony receipts, and forced her to commit fraud by submitting the bills.
The suit comes one week after Hackett was arrested in a federal sting on charges of accepting bribes in exchange for help securing public contracts. He was among 11 public officials arrested Sept. 6 after an 18-month federal undercover investigation.
"After being fired for (her) refusal to participate in criminal activity in the mayor's office, she feels vindicated after learning that Hackett was indicted on bribery and political corruption charges," said Ronald L. Washington, Ballard's husband and attorney.
The couple now live in Atlanta.
Orange city attorney Marvin Braker and Orange business administrator Jewel Thompson-Chin rebuffed Ballard's claims as being political motivated and part of a demand that she previously made to the city, in which she sought $250,000 in cash and her $44,000-a-year job back.
"It's shameful when people revel and rejoice in the misfortune of others," said Braker, referring to Ballard filing her lawsuit after Hackett was arrested.
In the federal corruption case, Hackett has pleaded innocent to the charges that he was taped accepting a $5,000 cash bribe, from an undercover agent, and that he agreed to accept $25,000 more when he got a majority of the Orange City Council to endorse an insurance deal he personally helped broker.
"Sometimes I think people feel the need to engage in this piling-on sort of game, if you will, when they think someone is down," Braker said.
Hackett, Ballard's lawsuit contends, used to make "unwelcome" comments to her about the fit of her skirt and other remarks that "were increasingly graphic, inappropriate, disrespectful and loaded with sexual references," and Hackett insisted, on one occasion, that she get very close to him while he worked at his city hall office desk.
In early December 2004, the suit also contended, Ballard and others accompanied Hackett to a National League of Cities convention in Indianapolis, where Hackett gave her his hotel key-card, made lewd comments to her over dinner and got mad at her when she refused to visit him one evening.
On July 10, 2006, the suit said, Ballard was summoned to Thompson-Chin's office and was told her job performance was not up to the mayor's standards, and she received a letter saying she would be terminated, effective July 21.
Ballard responded by telling Thompson-Chin that the matter appeared to be linked to the "mayor's history of sexual harassment and law-breaking."
Thompson-Chin said in an interview Friday that Ballard was terminated for "poor performance," nothing more, nothing less.
"It was not a sudden action," Thompson-Chin said. "It occurred over a period of several months, when there were counseling meetings with her. Essentially, her performance never improved to the standard he (Hackett) would have liked for a key employee in his office."
Thompson-Chin, who handled Ballard's termination, said her July meeting with Ballard was the first time the employee mentioned sexual harassment.
"During the entire time of her employment, we don't have anything on record from her," Thompson-Chin said. "Within a couple of days after her termination, she sent a letter to the city attorney, demanding $250,000 and her job back."
Braker said he personally made "the decision that we were not going to pay her one penny."
As for all of Ballard's allegations of criminal wrongdoing, Braker declined comment, saying they are "going to be vigorously defended."
As of late Friday, Orange City Hall had not been served a copy of Ballard's civil lawsuit. Braker said he learned about the litigation only when contacted by The Star-Ledger.
The allegations of wrongdoing Ballard makes in her lawsuit mirror the ones Ballard outlined in a May 5, 2007, letter that she sent to Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow.
Paul Loriquet, a spokesman for Dow, said the prosecutor and her staff reviewed those complaints, felt they warranted a further probe, and referred the matter to the state Attorney General's Office in Trenton for review.
Ballard's is not the first sexual harassment lawsuit to be filed against Hackett.
Marilyn Smith, the former head of Orange's Office of Older Adults, made an Oct. 17, 1994, sexual harassment claim against Hackett. The matter was settled about three years later, out of court, for an estimated $95,000, and with the city not accepting any liability of guilt.
Kevin C. Dilworth may be reached at kdilworth@starledger.com or (973) 392-4143.
Online story here. Archived here.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Former Hackett staffer files sexual harassment lawsuit
Matter referred to AG's office earlier by Essex County prosecutor
BY KEVIN C. DILWORTH
Star-Ledger Staff
A former executive secretary of Orange Mayor Mims Hackett Jr. claims she was sexually harassed by the mayor and wrongfully terminated after rebuffing his advances and complaining about campaign violations, theft and municipal corruption.
Laverne M. Ballard, Hackett's secretary from Sept. 21, 2004, until July 21, 2006, filed a civil lawsuit on Thursday in Superior Court in Newark.
In a 28-page complaint, Ballard also alleged Hackett and some current and former council members illegally accepted reimbursements for expenses to which they were not entitled, and conspired to double bill the city for the some expenses and hand-write phony receipts, and forced her to commit fraud by submitting the bills.
The suit comes one week after Hackett was arrested in a federal sting on charges of accepting bribes in exchange for help securing public contracts. He was among 11 public officials arrested Sept. 6 after an 18-month federal undercover investigation.
"After being fired for (her) refusal to participate in criminal activity in the mayor's office, she feels vindicated after learning that Hackett was indicted on bribery and political corruption charges," said Ronald L. Washington, Ballard's husband and attorney.
The couple now live in Atlanta.
Orange city attorney Marvin Braker and Orange business administrator Jewel Thompson-Chin rebuffed Ballard's claims as being political motivated and part of a demand that she previously made to the city, in which she sought $250,000 in cash and her $44,000-a-year job back.
"It's shameful when people revel and rejoice in the misfortune of others," said Braker, referring to Ballard filing her lawsuit after Hackett was arrested.
In the federal corruption case, Hackett has pleaded innocent to the charges that he was taped accepting a $5,000 cash bribe, from an undercover agent, and that he agreed to accept $25,000 more when he got a majority of the Orange City Council to endorse an insurance deal he personally helped broker.
"Sometimes I think people feel the need to engage in this piling-on sort of game, if you will, when they think someone is down," Braker said.
Hackett, Ballard's lawsuit contends, used to make "unwelcome" comments to her about the fit of her skirt and other remarks that "were increasingly graphic, inappropriate, disrespectful and loaded with sexual references," and Hackett insisted, on one occasion, that she get very close to him while he worked at his city hall office desk.
In early December 2004, the suit also contended, Ballard and others accompanied Hackett to a National League of Cities convention in Indianapolis, where Hackett gave her his hotel key-card, made lewd comments to her over dinner and got mad at her when she refused to visit him one evening.
On July 10, 2006, the suit said, Ballard was summoned to Thompson-Chin's office and was told her job performance was not up to the mayor's standards, and she received a letter saying she would be terminated, effective July 21.
Ballard responded by telling Thompson-Chin that the matter appeared to be linked to the "mayor's history of sexual harassment and law-breaking."
Thompson-Chin said in an interview Friday that Ballard was terminated for "poor performance," nothing more, nothing less.
"It was not a sudden action," Thompson-Chin said. "It occurred over a period of several months, when there were counseling meetings with her. Essentially, her performance never improved to the standard he (Hackett) would have liked for a key employee in his office."
Thompson-Chin, who handled Ballard's termination, said her July meeting with Ballard was the first time the employee mentioned sexual harassment.
"During the entire time of her employment, we don't have anything on record from her," Thompson-Chin said. "Within a couple of days after her termination, she sent a letter to the city attorney, demanding $250,000 and her job back."
Braker said he personally made "the decision that we were not going to pay her one penny."
As for all of Ballard's allegations of criminal wrongdoing, Braker declined comment, saying they are "going to be vigorously defended."
As of late Friday, Orange City Hall had not been served a copy of Ballard's civil lawsuit. Braker said he learned about the litigation only when contacted by The Star-Ledger.
The allegations of wrongdoing Ballard makes in her lawsuit mirror the ones Ballard outlined in a May 5, 2007, letter that she sent to Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow.
Paul Loriquet, a spokesman for Dow, said the prosecutor and her staff reviewed those complaints, felt they warranted a further probe, and referred the matter to the state Attorney General's Office in Trenton for review.
Ballard's is not the first sexual harassment lawsuit to be filed against Hackett.
Marilyn Smith, the former head of Orange's Office of Older Adults, made an Oct. 17, 1994, sexual harassment claim against Hackett. The matter was settled about three years later, out of court, for an estimated $95,000, and with the city not accepting any liability of guilt.
Kevin C. Dilworth may be reached at kdilworth@starledger.com or (973) 392-4143.
Online story here. Archived here.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Corruption - Ledger - How Sting of 11 occurred
Published in the Star Ledger, Sunday, September 9, 2007
How Jersey's remarkable sting occurred
It all started in Pleasantville
BY JOHN P. MARTIN AND JEFF WHELAN
Star-Ledger Staff
Jack Surrency got the offer last year, the same one countless other New Jersey officials had received.
Surrency, the school board president in Bridgeton, Cumberland County, was invited to an all-expenses getaway at an Atlantic City casino. And, he acknowledged Friday, the offer included $2,600 in campaign donations.
There was only one catch: He would have to support a new insurance company seeking municipal contracts.
Surrency refused.
But 11 other public officials allegedly didn't, as the state's corruption-weary residents learned from prosecutors last week.
The case, dubbed Operation Broken Boards by the FBI, began in the economically depressed Atlantic County city of Pleasantville. Located just a dice throw from Atlantic City, the town of 19,000 residents may look like another suburban outpost along the Atlantic City Expressway, but it struggles with many of the same problems that beset poor urban centers.
Pleasantville receives about $65 million a year in state aid, and had been designated as one of the state's 31 underperforming Abbott districts. Low test scores, cash woes and a leadership void -- more than a dozen superintendents in a decade -- led the state to seize control of the school district this summer.
Now prosecutors say a majority of the school board agreed to be bought, as did the chief of staff to Newark's city council president, two one-time Passaic councilmen, the Passaic mayor, and two members of the state assembly, Alfred Steele of Paterson and Orange mayor Mims Hackett Jr. Most have declined comment or promised vindication.
In some ways the corruption charges have a same-old, same-old Jersey feel to it. Like the scores of cases that have preceded it in the last five years, this one had secretly wired informants, cash payoffs in parking lots and restaurants, and a trail that led investigators to elected officials in three counties.
But some aspects of the case are remarkable, even by Garden State corruption standards.
Some of the bribes allegedly occurred weeks after investigators had gone public with a similar pay-to-play undercover operation in neighboring Atlantic City.
And suspects allegedly continued to take the cash despite glaring signs that a sting operation was under way.
"I thought I could no longer be surprised by a combination of brazenness, arrogance and stupidity. But people elected in this state continue to defy description," U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said after the arrests.
For years, the Pleasantville school board had been as troubled as the system it attempted to manage, drawing headlines because of its squabbling and embarrassing gaffes.
"Thirty-four years in law enforcement was telling me that something really wasn't right with that board," said Pleasantville Mayor Ralph Peterson Sr., a former police chief, and critic.
THE CALLAWAYS
Some say the real trouble began four years ago, when Maurice "Pete" Callaway won a Pleasantville council seat; last year he joined the school board.
Callaway was part of a politically active family that had been consolidating power across Atlantic County. His brother, Craig, was the bullhorn-wielding council president in Atlantic City; other siblings held appointments or party jobs.
"The Callaways always seem to offend people and get in the middle of all that kind of stuff," said Shirley Bond, 71, who lives in the area and knows the family. "When Pete first came to Pleasantville, I said, 'Look out.'"
FBI agents had caught Craig Callaway taking bribes in 2002, and secretly turned him into a wire-wearing informant. By last summer, they were focusing on the school board that Callaway allies controlled.
Agents enlisted two businessmen to be the sting's cooperating witnesses -- the informants who would meet with the targets, record their conversations and pass them bribes, according to criminal complaints and agents' affidavits filed last week in federal court.
Neither cooperator was named in court filings, but public records and sources briefed on aspects of the investigation identified them as John D'Angelo, an insurance broker from Egg Harbor Township, and Bruce Begg, president of Aetna Roofing, a Trenton-based company.
Together, the two men boasted a broad network of contacts. Begg's family-run business had been operating for more than 30 years, and won municipal contracts throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
D'Angelo was a well-known businessman in South Jersey circles and a regular at Atlantic City conventions, where the mix of money, politicos and parties has for years proved a fertile ground for FBI agents.
Why the men would cooperate -- whether for money, leniency or public service -- was unclear.
In a phone interview Friday, D'Angelo acknowledged his role but would not elaborate except to say: "I wasn't in trouble. I didn't do anything wrong. And I was used in a capacity that the U.S. attorney's office will clarify -- hopefully in the next couple days."
Also on Friday, D'Angelo's attorney, Richard King, released a letter from Assistant U.S. Attorney James Nobile that confirmed D'Angelo was never a target in the case but rather had "volunteered his cooperation" in the Pleasantville investigation.
Begg declined to discuss the case.
CAUGHT ON TAPE
In May 2006, prosecutors allege, the two cooperators struck deals to pay Pleasantville board members for insurance contracts. Then the cash and cameras began rolling.
One of the first payoffs occurred in June 2006, when Maurice Callaway met the roofer outside an Egg Harbor Township restaurant, prosecutors said.
Callaway brought along a friend, Louis Mister, and allegedly instructed the roofer to hand the $1,500 bribe to Mister. According to the complaint, Callaway spoke as if he believed that he wasn't doing anything wrong if he didn't touch the money.
"Being a candidate, I always bring somebody with me," he allegedly explained.
The alleged point man in the scheme was Jayson Adams, 27, who at the time was board president. Adams boasted about his ability to "keep people in line" and decide who receives how much, according to the criminal complaints. He also received the promise of a consulting job with the insurance benefits company the contractors represented.
If Adams had any inkling that he was dealing with FBI informants, he never showed it. According to the complaint, during one conversation with the insurance broker last summer, he allegedly joked, "We're either gonna get this job together or go to jail together."
The contractors handed out more than $30,000 to Pleasantville board members in about five months, according to prosecutors. Some of the payoffs occurred in September, less than three weeks after Craig Callaway and two other Atlantic City council members were named as defendants in a highly-publicized sting.
In November 2006, FBI agents decided to confront one of the Pleasantville board members. James McCormick had allegedly accepted $3,500 two months earlier, wired to a bank account in Georgia. In an interview at the bureau's Atlantic City office, McCormick did not dispute the payment, according to an FBI agent's affidavits filed with his complaint.
McCormick allegedly said he needed the money to renovate his basement so the Pleasantville Democratic Club had somewhere to meet.
By early this year, others began scrutinizing the board.
In March, the Pleasantville Board of Education hired the law firm Decotiis, FitzPatrick Cole & Wisler, which had served as board counsel in past years, to review the new insurance contracts. A board member, who was not part of the majority but was concerned about district finances, pressed for the review and convinced his colleagues to agree.
In a 27-page report delivered a month later, the firm cited "enormous gaps" in record-keeping, threats or intimidation against at least two witnesses and "a reasonable suspicion" of crimes including bribery, retaliation, official misconduct and a failure to abide by state pay-to-play regulations.
The report noted a maze of insurance companies and contracts with ties to allies of Craig Callaway's political organization and to D'Angelo and George Miller, a prominent Atlantic City attorney. And it noted that D'Angelo and Adams were employees of a new insurance firm called Coastal Solutions, LLC, but said it was unable to find much information about the company.
Around the same time, the Press of Atlantic City published its own investigation suggesting ethical or possibly criminal activities regarding the district's insurance contracts.
After both reports, the board directed the law firm to forward its conclusions to state law enforcement officials for possible action.
"We never got any reply," said George Frino, the attorney who led the investigation.
THE CASE WIDENS
By that time, D'Angelo had again made the convention rounds and identified new targets from other towns for the sting. One, Passaic Councilman Jonathan Soto, allegedly told the insurer last November that he "had friends in other municipalities" and could help land more contracts. Weeks later, prosecutors say, Soto sent the contractor a text message: "Will need that green broccoli for the 1st entrée."
By spring, agents had identified possible targets in Paterson, Passaic and Orange.
Steele, a minister and Passaic County undersheriff, allegedly accepted $14,000 and guaranteed help with contracts. Prosecutors say Marcellus Jackson, a Passaic council member, took $16,500.
The final payoffs came this summer: $5,000 each to Hackett, the Orange mayor, and Samuel Rivera, the Passaic mayor.
One of the defendants, Keith Reid, of Newark, wasn't an elected official but promised access to them. Reid, chief of staff to Newark City Council President Mildred Crump, allegedly told the roofer and insurer that he had a consulting firm that could win them contracts in Newark, East Orange, Irvington and Elizabeth.
"There are folks there who we can pick up the phone and call, who can open doors," he said in January, according to the complaints.
Not long after, the contractors hired Reid.
Prosecutors acknowledged last week that they ran the sting through a fake insurance corporation, but would not name it.
Sources and public records -- including the Pleasantville board report -- suggest it was Coastal Solutions, which was formed last summer. On state incorporation records, Coastal Solutions listed its address as the same Trenton location where Begg's family runs Aetna Roofing.
The company's Web site -- which once listed D'Angelo and Adams as employees -- was removed last week, about 12 hours before agents swept in and arrested the suspects. An older copy of the site touted a line of praise from one of its so-called satisfied customers -- the roofer, Begg.
Coastal's success "is rooted in experience and integrity," he said. "When they represent us, we know we are being heard."
Staff writer Wayne Woolley contributed to this report.
Online story here. Archived here.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
How Jersey's remarkable sting occurred
It all started in Pleasantville
BY JOHN P. MARTIN AND JEFF WHELAN
Star-Ledger Staff
Jack Surrency got the offer last year, the same one countless other New Jersey officials had received.
Surrency, the school board president in Bridgeton, Cumberland County, was invited to an all-expenses getaway at an Atlantic City casino. And, he acknowledged Friday, the offer included $2,600 in campaign donations.
There was only one catch: He would have to support a new insurance company seeking municipal contracts.
Surrency refused.
But 11 other public officials allegedly didn't, as the state's corruption-weary residents learned from prosecutors last week.
The case, dubbed Operation Broken Boards by the FBI, began in the economically depressed Atlantic County city of Pleasantville. Located just a dice throw from Atlantic City, the town of 19,000 residents may look like another suburban outpost along the Atlantic City Expressway, but it struggles with many of the same problems that beset poor urban centers.
Pleasantville receives about $65 million a year in state aid, and had been designated as one of the state's 31 underperforming Abbott districts. Low test scores, cash woes and a leadership void -- more than a dozen superintendents in a decade -- led the state to seize control of the school district this summer.
Now prosecutors say a majority of the school board agreed to be bought, as did the chief of staff to Newark's city council president, two one-time Passaic councilmen, the Passaic mayor, and two members of the state assembly, Alfred Steele of Paterson and Orange mayor Mims Hackett Jr. Most have declined comment or promised vindication.
In some ways the corruption charges have a same-old, same-old Jersey feel to it. Like the scores of cases that have preceded it in the last five years, this one had secretly wired informants, cash payoffs in parking lots and restaurants, and a trail that led investigators to elected officials in three counties.
But some aspects of the case are remarkable, even by Garden State corruption standards.
Some of the bribes allegedly occurred weeks after investigators had gone public with a similar pay-to-play undercover operation in neighboring Atlantic City.
And suspects allegedly continued to take the cash despite glaring signs that a sting operation was under way.
"I thought I could no longer be surprised by a combination of brazenness, arrogance and stupidity. But people elected in this state continue to defy description," U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said after the arrests.
For years, the Pleasantville school board had been as troubled as the system it attempted to manage, drawing headlines because of its squabbling and embarrassing gaffes.
"Thirty-four years in law enforcement was telling me that something really wasn't right with that board," said Pleasantville Mayor Ralph Peterson Sr., a former police chief, and critic.
THE CALLAWAYS
Some say the real trouble began four years ago, when Maurice "Pete" Callaway won a Pleasantville council seat; last year he joined the school board.
Callaway was part of a politically active family that had been consolidating power across Atlantic County. His brother, Craig, was the bullhorn-wielding council president in Atlantic City; other siblings held appointments or party jobs.
"The Callaways always seem to offend people and get in the middle of all that kind of stuff," said Shirley Bond, 71, who lives in the area and knows the family. "When Pete first came to Pleasantville, I said, 'Look out.'"
FBI agents had caught Craig Callaway taking bribes in 2002, and secretly turned him into a wire-wearing informant. By last summer, they were focusing on the school board that Callaway allies controlled.
Agents enlisted two businessmen to be the sting's cooperating witnesses -- the informants who would meet with the targets, record their conversations and pass them bribes, according to criminal complaints and agents' affidavits filed last week in federal court.
Neither cooperator was named in court filings, but public records and sources briefed on aspects of the investigation identified them as John D'Angelo, an insurance broker from Egg Harbor Township, and Bruce Begg, president of Aetna Roofing, a Trenton-based company.
Together, the two men boasted a broad network of contacts. Begg's family-run business had been operating for more than 30 years, and won municipal contracts throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
D'Angelo was a well-known businessman in South Jersey circles and a regular at Atlantic City conventions, where the mix of money, politicos and parties has for years proved a fertile ground for FBI agents.
Why the men would cooperate -- whether for money, leniency or public service -- was unclear.
In a phone interview Friday, D'Angelo acknowledged his role but would not elaborate except to say: "I wasn't in trouble. I didn't do anything wrong. And I was used in a capacity that the U.S. attorney's office will clarify -- hopefully in the next couple days."
Also on Friday, D'Angelo's attorney, Richard King, released a letter from Assistant U.S. Attorney James Nobile that confirmed D'Angelo was never a target in the case but rather had "volunteered his cooperation" in the Pleasantville investigation.
Begg declined to discuss the case.
CAUGHT ON TAPE
In May 2006, prosecutors allege, the two cooperators struck deals to pay Pleasantville board members for insurance contracts. Then the cash and cameras began rolling.
One of the first payoffs occurred in June 2006, when Maurice Callaway met the roofer outside an Egg Harbor Township restaurant, prosecutors said.
Callaway brought along a friend, Louis Mister, and allegedly instructed the roofer to hand the $1,500 bribe to Mister. According to the complaint, Callaway spoke as if he believed that he wasn't doing anything wrong if he didn't touch the money.
"Being a candidate, I always bring somebody with me," he allegedly explained.
The alleged point man in the scheme was Jayson Adams, 27, who at the time was board president. Adams boasted about his ability to "keep people in line" and decide who receives how much, according to the criminal complaints. He also received the promise of a consulting job with the insurance benefits company the contractors represented.
If Adams had any inkling that he was dealing with FBI informants, he never showed it. According to the complaint, during one conversation with the insurance broker last summer, he allegedly joked, "We're either gonna get this job together or go to jail together."
The contractors handed out more than $30,000 to Pleasantville board members in about five months, according to prosecutors. Some of the payoffs occurred in September, less than three weeks after Craig Callaway and two other Atlantic City council members were named as defendants in a highly-publicized sting.
In November 2006, FBI agents decided to confront one of the Pleasantville board members. James McCormick had allegedly accepted $3,500 two months earlier, wired to a bank account in Georgia. In an interview at the bureau's Atlantic City office, McCormick did not dispute the payment, according to an FBI agent's affidavits filed with his complaint.
McCormick allegedly said he needed the money to renovate his basement so the Pleasantville Democratic Club had somewhere to meet.
By early this year, others began scrutinizing the board.
In March, the Pleasantville Board of Education hired the law firm Decotiis, FitzPatrick Cole & Wisler, which had served as board counsel in past years, to review the new insurance contracts. A board member, who was not part of the majority but was concerned about district finances, pressed for the review and convinced his colleagues to agree.
In a 27-page report delivered a month later, the firm cited "enormous gaps" in record-keeping, threats or intimidation against at least two witnesses and "a reasonable suspicion" of crimes including bribery, retaliation, official misconduct and a failure to abide by state pay-to-play regulations.
The report noted a maze of insurance companies and contracts with ties to allies of Craig Callaway's political organization and to D'Angelo and George Miller, a prominent Atlantic City attorney. And it noted that D'Angelo and Adams were employees of a new insurance firm called Coastal Solutions, LLC, but said it was unable to find much information about the company.
Around the same time, the Press of Atlantic City published its own investigation suggesting ethical or possibly criminal activities regarding the district's insurance contracts.
After both reports, the board directed the law firm to forward its conclusions to state law enforcement officials for possible action.
"We never got any reply," said George Frino, the attorney who led the investigation.
THE CASE WIDENS
By that time, D'Angelo had again made the convention rounds and identified new targets from other towns for the sting. One, Passaic Councilman Jonathan Soto, allegedly told the insurer last November that he "had friends in other municipalities" and could help land more contracts. Weeks later, prosecutors say, Soto sent the contractor a text message: "Will need that green broccoli for the 1st entrée."
By spring, agents had identified possible targets in Paterson, Passaic and Orange.
Steele, a minister and Passaic County undersheriff, allegedly accepted $14,000 and guaranteed help with contracts. Prosecutors say Marcellus Jackson, a Passaic council member, took $16,500.
The final payoffs came this summer: $5,000 each to Hackett, the Orange mayor, and Samuel Rivera, the Passaic mayor.
One of the defendants, Keith Reid, of Newark, wasn't an elected official but promised access to them. Reid, chief of staff to Newark City Council President Mildred Crump, allegedly told the roofer and insurer that he had a consulting firm that could win them contracts in Newark, East Orange, Irvington and Elizabeth.
"There are folks there who we can pick up the phone and call, who can open doors," he said in January, according to the complaints.
Not long after, the contractors hired Reid.
Prosecutors acknowledged last week that they ran the sting through a fake insurance corporation, but would not name it.
Sources and public records -- including the Pleasantville board report -- suggest it was Coastal Solutions, which was formed last summer. On state incorporation records, Coastal Solutions listed its address as the same Trenton location where Begg's family runs Aetna Roofing.
The company's Web site -- which once listed D'Angelo and Adams as employees -- was removed last week, about 12 hours before agents swept in and arrested the suspects. An older copy of the site touted a line of praise from one of its so-called satisfied customers -- the roofer, Begg.
Coastal's success "is rooted in experience and integrity," he said. "When they represent us, we know we are being heard."
Staff writer Wayne Woolley contributed to this report.
Online story here. Archived here.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Friday, September 07, 2007
Corruption - NJ - FBI Sting - Coastal Funding Group cached
From Google's cached version, 9/6/2007
|
Coastal Funding Group, LLC
Who We Are
| The Coastal Organization recently launched an initiative to focus more intensely on development opportunities in urban areas. Our business plan calls for local builders and developers joint venture with an affiliated venture capital firm, to afford elevated participation in urban development projects. |
What We Do
Coastal Funding Group, LLC was formed to pursue the unique
opportunity of joint venturing the financial resources of a venture capital
firm with historically under-capitalized local builders and developers.
These strategic alliances effectively leverage venture capital resources to
afford the resulting joint venture the opportunity to participate at a higher
level of the urban redevelopment process.
We at Coastal Funding Group, LLC have actively sought opportunities to
marry a portion of the client base of our affiliated entity, Coastal
Development Partners, LLC, with the financial resources of a Northern
Virginia-based venture capital firm, Nova Financial. The commonality
between the two firms is John Palmer, the CFO of The Coastal
Organization, as well as the Managing Director of Nova's Venture Capital
Group.
opportunity of joint venturing the financial resources of a venture capital
firm with historically under-capitalized local builders and developers.
These strategic alliances effectively leverage venture capital resources to
afford the resulting joint venture the opportunity to participate at a higher
level of the urban redevelopment process.
We at Coastal Funding Group, LLC have actively sought opportunities to
marry a portion of the client base of our affiliated entity, Coastal
Development Partners, LLC, with the financial resources of a Northern
Virginia-based venture capital firm, Nova Financial. The commonality
between the two firms is John Palmer, the CFO of The Coastal
Organization, as well as the Managing Director of Nova's Venture Capital
Group.
We at Coastal Funding Group, LLC seek to serve as a conduit to: 1)
identify local, historically-undercapitalized builders and developers, either
through an ongoing client relationship with our affiliate, Coastal
Development Partners, LLC, or through vetted reference; and 2) joint
venture these builders and developers with the venture capital resources
of our related entity. The overriding goal is to finance the participation of
well-run, yet under-capitalized local firms, in urban development projects.
We at Coastal are excited about this new initiative, as well as the financial
resources brought to bear by the inclusion of Nova Financial, and
anticipate this segment of our business to dramatically expand in the
coming months.
identify local, historically-undercapitalized builders and developers, either
through an ongoing client relationship with our affiliate, Coastal
Development Partners, LLC, or through vetted reference; and 2) joint
venture these builders and developers with the venture capital resources
of our related entity. The overriding goal is to finance the participation of
well-run, yet under-capitalized local firms, in urban development projects.
We at Coastal are excited about this new initiative, as well as the financial
resources brought to bear by the inclusion of Nova Financial, and
anticipate this segment of our business to dramatically expand in the
coming months.
Corruption - NJ - FBI Sting - Coastal Development cached
From Google's cached version, 9/6/2007
|
Coastal Development
Welcome to Coastal Development, a leader in the government relations
industry for over five years. Since 2001 we have effectively represented our
clients before state and municipal governments by providing targeted, fully
integrated consulting services. Throughout the firm's history, our team has
enabled corporations, associations, and non-profits to promote their
interests through political, legislative, and regulatory processes throughout
the greater New York and New Jersey Metropolitan areas. We help our
clients create opportunities and solve problems by devising and
implementing effective and creative strategies to achieve success in any
political environment.
Being heard at the state capital or municipal hall takes more than just
hype. It takes insight, integrity, and respect earned through years of
successfully navigating the choppy waters of these government structures.
Effective government relations begins and ends with trust.
Coastal Development specializes in marketing to state and municipal
governments. In five years of proven success, we have helped many
companies market products and services to the government and secure
contracts with extremely high lifetime value. Our unique business process
has increased our success ratio and sets us apart from other firms in terms
of innovation, execution, and accountability.
industry for over five years. Since 2001 we have effectively represented our
clients before state and municipal governments by providing targeted, fully
integrated consulting services. Throughout the firm's history, our team has
enabled corporations, associations, and non-profits to promote their
interests through political, legislative, and regulatory processes throughout
the greater New York and New Jersey Metropolitan areas. We help our
clients create opportunities and solve problems by devising and
implementing effective and creative strategies to achieve success in any
political environment.
Being heard at the state capital or municipal hall takes more than just
hype. It takes insight, integrity, and respect earned through years of
successfully navigating the choppy waters of these government structures.
Effective government relations begins and ends with trust.
Coastal Development specializes in marketing to state and municipal
governments. In five years of proven success, we have helped many
companies market products and services to the government and secure
contracts with extremely high lifetime value. Our unique business process
has increased our success ratio and sets us apart from other firms in terms
of innovation, execution, and accountability.
 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| | | | | | | | |
| For over five years, Coastal Development has set the standard for Governmental relations consulting in New Jersey. |
"Coastal Development is all about relationships and trust. Their success
is rooted in experience and integrity. When they represent us, we know
we are being heard."
-Bruce Begg, Aetna Roofing
is rooted in experience and integrity. When they represent us, we know
we are being heard."
-Bruce Begg, Aetna Roofing
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Corruption - NJ - Coastal Solutions LLC - cached home page
Coastal Solutions Insurance home page, retrieved from Google cache, Thursday, September 6, 2007
|
| |
| |
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Eminent Domain - NY Times - Yorktown ordinance bars taking for commercial puproses
Published in the New York Times, Sunday, September 2, 2007
How Eminent Should Domain Be?
By JOSEPH BERGER
YORKTOWN
NICHOLAS J. BIANCO has a strong sense of place, having sampled many local landscapes and ending up comfortably in a town where he can often breathe country air. The son of Italian immigrants, he grew up in the 1950s in the jostling streets of the Bronx, and, after marrying, warily walked a cop’s beat in his next home, Yonkers.
For the past 35 years, he has watched Yorktown peel off its lingering pretensions of butter churns and blacksmiths and slip on the trappings of a standard-issue suburb — shopping centers and subdivisions included.
The United States Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that a government could use eminent domain to seize private property for economic development, including commercial uses like malls. (Some of the property for the new headquarters of The New York Times was acquired through eminent domain.) Mr. Bianco felt the ruling was wrong, even un-American, violating the near-sanctity of a place of one’s own. So did fellow townsfolk who asked him, as a member of the Town Council: “Will you ever do that?”
“Not on my watch,” he promised.
Last January, he went further and engineered passage of a law barring the town from condemning private property for commercial purposes, while allowing it for traditional public uses, like the building of roads, sewers and schools. A vague declaration that a neighborhood is blighted or dangling a promise of jobs and taxes could not be used to expropriate a home or shop for a developer’s benefit.
“It’s not the government’s right to say that you’ve got to move, you, a person who lived here and paid taxes here,” Mr. Bianco, 63, said in a Panera Bread store. “My belief is the individual is just as important as the mass. That’s our Constitution. Every citizen is important.”
He compares limits on property expropriation to the limits he faced as a police officer (he rose to detective sergeant, and now works as an investigator for Westchester’s Legal Aid Society.) “You can’t just go up and search somebody,” he said. “We protect the individual’s rights.”
“Let’s face it,” he went on. “It’s usually done to the lower socioeconomic parts of the population — the people who can’t fight it, don’t have the means. It’s not happening on one-acre homes in Scarsdale. And that’s distasteful. You’re picking off the weak.”
No other Westchester municipality has followed Yorktown’s example, according to Valerie O’Keeffe, president of the Westchester Municipal Officials Association, even though there remains tension in Port Chester years after a developer, armed with the village’s power of condemnation, cleared away 400 businesses along Main Street for a waterfront mall containing a Costco and Loew’s multiplex.
New Rochelle’s mayor, Noam Bramson, says that eminent domain should be used for development, though “judiciously and only when the broad public interest demands it.” Forswearing it entirely, he said, would make it difficult to assemble land to revitalize downtowns, forcing cities and towns to build on their outskirts. The new law in Yorktown, which used eminent domain more than three decades ago to spruce up Commerce Street with new businesses, passed without much of the fury that has sometimes characterized the nationwide debate. Linda Cooper, the town supervisor, said that while she supported the law to calm anxieties, she thinks it is superfluous. The town’s business district, she said, has been thoroughly developed, with residential and commercial zones marked and no room for growth. Besides, she said, the Town Board could revoke the law in the future.
But for many of Yorktown’s 37,000 residents, the idea that their part-time representatives — people who roll out their garbage on pickup days just like they do — could take away a fellow citizen’s home chafed. “We have a small-town mentality,” Tony Romano, an architect who has lived here since 1969, said as he ran into Mr. Bianco outside Panera’s. “We don’t want the government giving the store away.”
Mr. Bianco took a visitor to Front Street, where among a UPS. warehouse, a school bus lot, a car wash and other industrial-grade properties, Bruno Cusentino’s modest ranch house stood out as if it had been attired for the wrong party. He fears that the house and its land could be candidates for condemnation.
Mr. Cusentino’s son, Bruno Jr., a barber, said the family would be willing to listen if some company wanted to negotiate a fair price. But having the government take it on behalf of a business seemed unfair to him. “It’s common sense,” he told Mr. Bianco.
Online story here. Archived here.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
How Eminent Should Domain Be?
By JOSEPH BERGER
YORKTOWN
NICHOLAS J. BIANCO has a strong sense of place, having sampled many local landscapes and ending up comfortably in a town where he can often breathe country air. The son of Italian immigrants, he grew up in the 1950s in the jostling streets of the Bronx, and, after marrying, warily walked a cop’s beat in his next home, Yonkers.
For the past 35 years, he has watched Yorktown peel off its lingering pretensions of butter churns and blacksmiths and slip on the trappings of a standard-issue suburb — shopping centers and subdivisions included.
The United States Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that a government could use eminent domain to seize private property for economic development, including commercial uses like malls. (Some of the property for the new headquarters of The New York Times was acquired through eminent domain.) Mr. Bianco felt the ruling was wrong, even un-American, violating the near-sanctity of a place of one’s own. So did fellow townsfolk who asked him, as a member of the Town Council: “Will you ever do that?”
“Not on my watch,” he promised.
Last January, he went further and engineered passage of a law barring the town from condemning private property for commercial purposes, while allowing it for traditional public uses, like the building of roads, sewers and schools. A vague declaration that a neighborhood is blighted or dangling a promise of jobs and taxes could not be used to expropriate a home or shop for a developer’s benefit.
“It’s not the government’s right to say that you’ve got to move, you, a person who lived here and paid taxes here,” Mr. Bianco, 63, said in a Panera Bread store. “My belief is the individual is just as important as the mass. That’s our Constitution. Every citizen is important.”
He compares limits on property expropriation to the limits he faced as a police officer (he rose to detective sergeant, and now works as an investigator for Westchester’s Legal Aid Society.) “You can’t just go up and search somebody,” he said. “We protect the individual’s rights.”
“Let’s face it,” he went on. “It’s usually done to the lower socioeconomic parts of the population — the people who can’t fight it, don’t have the means. It’s not happening on one-acre homes in Scarsdale. And that’s distasteful. You’re picking off the weak.”
No other Westchester municipality has followed Yorktown’s example, according to Valerie O’Keeffe, president of the Westchester Municipal Officials Association, even though there remains tension in Port Chester years after a developer, armed with the village’s power of condemnation, cleared away 400 businesses along Main Street for a waterfront mall containing a Costco and Loew’s multiplex.
New Rochelle’s mayor, Noam Bramson, says that eminent domain should be used for development, though “judiciously and only when the broad public interest demands it.” Forswearing it entirely, he said, would make it difficult to assemble land to revitalize downtowns, forcing cities and towns to build on their outskirts. The new law in Yorktown, which used eminent domain more than three decades ago to spruce up Commerce Street with new businesses, passed without much of the fury that has sometimes characterized the nationwide debate. Linda Cooper, the town supervisor, said that while she supported the law to calm anxieties, she thinks it is superfluous. The town’s business district, she said, has been thoroughly developed, with residential and commercial zones marked and no room for growth. Besides, she said, the Town Board could revoke the law in the future.
But for many of Yorktown’s 37,000 residents, the idea that their part-time representatives — people who roll out their garbage on pickup days just like they do — could take away a fellow citizen’s home chafed. “We have a small-town mentality,” Tony Romano, an architect who has lived here since 1969, said as he ran into Mr. Bianco outside Panera’s. “We don’t want the government giving the store away.”
Mr. Bianco took a visitor to Front Street, where among a UPS. warehouse, a school bus lot, a car wash and other industrial-grade properties, Bruno Cusentino’s modest ranch house stood out as if it had been attired for the wrong party. He fears that the house and its land could be candidates for condemnation.
Mr. Cusentino’s son, Bruno Jr., a barber, said the family would be willing to listen if some company wanted to negotiate a fair price. But having the government take it on behalf of a business seemed unfair to him. “It’s common sense,” he told Mr. Bianco.
Online story here. Archived here.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Park Hotel - Courier- License renewed to Aug 2008
Published in the Courier News, Sunday, September 2, 2007
Park Hotel license renewed for year
The state Department of Community Affairs has renewed the Park Hotel's license for another year, spokesman Chris Donnelly said Friday.
In May, Assemblyman Jerry Green called for closure of the 182-bed facility that serves mentally-disabled people, saying the residents should be relocated to small group homes.
On Friday, Green said the facility is outmoded and said he still hopes the state Department of Health and Senior Services will find more suitable places for the residents. He said a new state policy is not to have more than 12 people live in a group setting.
The license renewal is good until Aug. 31, 2008.
Green said the residents wander around during the day, and he wants the management to make a plan to curb loitering. Green said the owners also need to make a safety plan for the hotel and added that he hopes the owner will meet with Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs to discuss the hotel's future.
Representatives from the Park Hotel could not be reached for comment Friday.
Link to online story here. Archived here.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Park Hotel license renewed for year
The state Department of Community Affairs has renewed the Park Hotel's license for another year, spokesman Chris Donnelly said Friday.
In May, Assemblyman Jerry Green called for closure of the 182-bed facility that serves mentally-disabled people, saying the residents should be relocated to small group homes.
On Friday, Green said the facility is outmoded and said he still hopes the state Department of Health and Senior Services will find more suitable places for the residents. He said a new state policy is not to have more than 12 people live in a group setting.
The license renewal is good until Aug. 31, 2008.
Green said the residents wander around during the day, and he wants the management to make a plan to curb loitering. Green said the owners also need to make a safety plan for the hotel and added that he hopes the owner will meet with Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs to discuss the hotel's future.
Representatives from the Park Hotel could not be reached for comment Friday.
Link to online story here. Archived here.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
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