| The Stimulus Plan: How Jersey would be stimulated | |
Under the House version of the economic stimulus bill, New Jersey would get roughly $4.3 billion. Experts said that figure probably would not be appreciably different in the Senate version. This is a rough breakdown of what New Jersey could expect to get in various programs. | |
| State budget stabilization aid (includes some school funding) | $1.7 billion |
| Highways and bridge projects | $777 million |
| Mass transit projects | $500 million |
| Individuals with Disabilities Act | $397 million |
| Funding for poor children, special education | $252 million |
| Public schools modernization, renovation and repair | $289.9 million |
| Modernization, renovation and repair of college buildings | $129.7 million |
| Employment and training programs | $64 million |
| Upgrade law enforcement drug courts and gang prevention | $52.3 million |
| Low-income home energy assistance | $37.8 million |
| Child Care and Development Block Grants | $34 million |
| Community Service Block Grants | $27 million |
| Educational technology grants | $18.2 million |
| Head Start programs for pre-school children | $12.5 million |
| Preventive health services | $9 million |
| Elderly nutrition services | $5.2 million |
| Source: House Appropriations Committee | THE STAR-LEDGER |
Showing posts with label New Jersey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Jersey. Show all posts
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Obama Stimulus Plan - Ledger - Table: How NJ would be stimulated
The following table is transcribed from the print edition of the Star-Ledger for Sunday, February 1, 2009. It accompanied a story on New Jersey and Obama's economic stimulus plan: "NJ stands to get vast boost"
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Obama - PolitickerNJ - Obamaland in NJ (3 parts)
PolitickerNJ's Guide to Obamaland
PART 1.
June 30, 2008 - 5:00pm
A thumbnail New Jersey guide to the history of Obamaland, Part I
By Max Pizarro
NJ for Obama organizers Julie Diaz and Keith Hovey.NJ for Obama organizers Julie Diaz and Keith Hovey.
The Obama campaign started small here, with handfuls of coffee house organizers lining up behind a grassroots operation called NJ for Obama in the face of a big party machine backing Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), and an unpopular war in Iraq.
Founded in an Edison coffee shop in December of 2006, the group’s leader was Damian Bednarz, 25, a Master’s student in international relations with Seton Hall University’s Whitehead School of Diplomacy.
"Obama has something that Hillary Clinton can’t buy or reproduce, and that’s a sense of inspiration," Bednarz said at the time. "If anything, I’m encouraged by Clinton’s frontrunner status because I know our work is so special."
In the months following, some elected officials in the months endorsed the Illinois senator, among them Assemblyman Neil Cohen (D-Union), who came out in favor of Obama in April of 2007, followed by state Sen. John Adler (D-Camden) a couple of weeks later.
"At this time we need someone special... someone who is going to build a bridge brick by brick to peace through negotiation," said Cohen, a graduate of Howard University who arrived at politics through the Civil Rights era.
One common theme early was the appreciation that Obama’s supporters showed for their candidate’s opposition to the Iraq War - which differentiated him from Clinton, who in 2002 authorized President George W. Bush to send in troops.
"As Obama said, he’s not afraid of going into wars," said Cohen, "he’s afraid of going into dumb wars."
The sense at this point was that Obama was at best a longshot nationally and in New Jersey, almost a no-hoper, but as Bednarz organized at the grassroots level, Newark’s new mayor, Cory Booker, began sprinkling speeches with inspirational Obama references and quotes.
In his North Ward introduction of the Democratic Party’s 29th Legislative District candidates in March, 2007, for example, Booker likened Teresa Ruiz, L. Grace Spencer and Albert Coutinho to Obama’s "Joshua Generation."
As most of the rest of the party’s power players stood with Clinton, Booker and Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy officially endorsed Obama on the Illinois senator’s first campaign stop in New Jersey in mid May of 2007.
They met him at Teterboro Airport and stood with him as the cameras flashed, just before the presidential candidate drove to Trenton for a town hall meeting with organized labor at the War Memorial.
That wasn’t the first time Booker met Obama.
At the urging of mutual friends, Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King, the future mayor and future presidential candidate had first sat down together in Newark in 2004.
"This is a nation right now where we don’t need more political leadership," Booker said. "That’s important, but we really need a leader who speaks to our highest aspirations for ourselves; a leader who reflects our beauty and strength as a people, who reflects who we are but also who we can be."
An old Howard Dean supporter from the 2004 presidential primary, Booker’s ally, West Ward Councilman Ronald C. Rice, served as the connecting point between Booker/Healy and NJ for Obama.
Rice and Council President Mildred Crump drove to Hoboken in May of 2007 at an invitation from Bednarz to speak at a $150-a head NJ for Obama fund-raiser.
Rice gave a rousing speech.
In a diner in Newark’s West Ward a few weeks later, the councilman confessed that he didn’t know whether Obama had a legitimate shot in 2008.
"We’re going to keep building, we’ll keep organizing to put ourselves in a position to take advantage of anything that happens," said Rice, who continued to prominently display his "Obama for President" buttons as friends of his told him to get a life.
At his low-key appearance at the War Memorial, Obama repudiated the Clinton-engineered North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and called for more rigorous labor and environmental standards in all future trade agreements.
When UFCW member Kathy Wilder of Wall asked the senator, "What are you going to do about Wal-Mart?" there was an up-swell of boos and groans at the mention of the corporate giant, and Obama dead-panned, "I won’t shop there."
Obama still trailed Clinton in New Jersey by 22 points.
Back in West Paterson in early June, Bednarz had finished his Master’s degree and accepted a full-time position with the Obama campaign in their New Hampshire office.
On the night before he left, the political organizer kicked back a last beer in Hoboken, watching the late night commuters return from Manhattan.
He was committed to Obama. He had been ever since he heard him deliver the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic Convention. Concurrent with his university studies, Bednarz had to this point devoted five solid months of building a statewide network of Obama supporters - a list that grew from four to 25 to nearly 500 members.
But now that he was leaving New Jersey, he couldn’t help but wonder if the entire endeavor was not finally quixotic. He allowed himself only several moments of speculation before concluding that one way or the other, he didn’t care. Obama was the candidate in whom he believed. If Bednarz went down he was going to go down fighting.
He jumped aboard the PATH to Newark, changed trains and headed back to Fairlawn. He would get up and drive to Manchester in the morning and continue organizing.
The new director of NJ for Obama was Keith Hovey, a Montgomery lawyer in his late 30s who immediately began organizing statewide registration drives for the presidential candidate.
"We want to be part of a campaign for a government that is inclusive and intelligent," said Hovey, who as part of his first effort coordinated 200 on-the-ground volunteer canvassers mobilizing in Princeton, Edison, Newark, New Brunswick, Hoboken, Camden, Madison, Hamilton, Plainfield and Sparta.
These volunteers carried two sets of petitions: one to end the war, and one to make Obama president.
With the grassroots effort growing under Hovey’s leadership, the Obama campaign’s national office on July 25, 2007, announced that U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-9) was endorsing Obama for president.
"It’s time to turn the page and bring an end to the Bush-Cheney foreign policy that has left Americans vulnerable here at home and reduced matters of war and national defense to signs and slogans," said Rothman.
As Northeast Regional Co-Chair, Rothman, a six-term congressman, would lead Obama campaign efforts in the region, which includes Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.
Rothman was New Jersey’s first congressman to come aboard - and he would be the only one during the primary season.
Every other Democratic member of the state’s congressional delegation had endorsed Clinton, with the exception of U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-12), who stayed neutral until after the June 2008 primary election.
Rothman claimed he had decided to support Obama for president after watching CNN’s YouTube debate, in which Clinton and Obama had fought over how to conduct U.S. foreign policy.
"Barack's appearance... confirmed for me what I've believed all along," said the congressman. "It's new thinking versus old thinking. This notion of Hillary Clinton’s that we should continue down this path of not talking to our enemies is a policy that has proven to be disastrous to our country. These are not the views of someone who professes to be an agent of change."
Picking up on anti-war sentiment, Rothman said the Illinois senator’s public opposition to sending 160,000 U.S. troops to Iraq gives him foreign policy know-how that Clinton frankly lacks.
"I made the similar vote," the Congressman admitted of his 2002 "yes" vote authorizing Bush to use force in Iraq. But Rothman added that he later "declared it to be a mistake."
By the end of July, 2007, reform Mayor Jun Choi of Edison had also endorsed Obama.
"I’ve been leaning Obama for quite some time now," said Choi, who had publicly blasted Bush at an anti-war rally when the president visited Edison for a GOP fund-raiser weeks earlier.
"I wanted to see if there was real momentum in the (Obama) campaign, and there is," said Choi.
The team was coming together.
Booker anchored a $150-a-head Obama fund-raiser at the Robert Treat Hotel in Newark. In a speech to a crowd that included Healy, Hovey, Rice, Cohen, Choi and organizers from around the state packed into a small room, the mayor called for a "sacred effort," not unlike what Frederick Douglass had once ascribed to Lincoln’s second inaugural address.
"We have a mere matter of months before Feb. 5th," said Booker. "This is our state. This is New Jersey. We, the leaders - not those of us with fancy titles, not those of us with fancy salaries... we hold in our hands the destiny of our nation.
"It is time for us," Booker said, "the inheritors of glory and greatness, those of us who scan the current landscape and understand that America is not finished yet... We must put forth a sacred effort, and win for Barack Obama."
http://www.politickernj.com/max/21185/thumbnail-new-jersey-guide-obamaland-part-i
PART 2.
June 30, 2008 - 10:39pm
A thumbnail New Jersey guide to the history of Obamaland, Part II
By Max Pizarro
Obama Campaign State Director Mark Alexander.Obama Campaign State Director Mark Alexander.
The campaign was about to change.
On Oct, 9, 2007, an announcement came down from Chicago regarding New Jersey operations.
Mark Alexander, a Seton Hall University law professor and Obama’s senior policy advisor, would be the campaign’s official state director.
"I am grateful that he is going to carry the fight forward to and through the Feb. 5 contests," Obama said of Alexander. "He is a valued and trusted advisor, and at the same time has deep ties in his home of New Jersey that will be invaluable to our efforts.
"I am proud of the policy work we have done on this campaign and through Mark’s leadership we have built a team of key advisors from the ground up that will continue to offer new and innovative approaches to the challenges this country faces," added the presidential candidate.
A personal friend of Barack and Michelle Obama’s going back a dozen years, Alexander as a child worked on the 1974 Washington, D.C. mayoral campaign of his father, Clifford Alexander, former chairman of the Equal Opportunity Commission. Later, he ran Sen. Bill Bradley’s 2000 presidential campaign and served as counsel to Cory Booker.
The state director began rolling out more elected official endorsements.
State Sen. Shirley Turner (D-Mercer) and Assemblywomen Linda Greenstein, Cleopatra Tucker, and L. Grace Spencer followed up on a September endorsement of Obama made by veteran anti-establishment Democrat, state Sen. Loretta Weinberg of Bergen.
"Sen. Barack Obama is the person to work for the kinds of issues that we women are interested in," Weinberg said at a Trenton press conference with her colleagues. "Mostly these issues are about our families. They are about bringing our kids home from Iraq. They are about the healthcare of people that we love and take care of. They are about our kids’ education, and they are about our environment."
Meanwhile, Alexander interfaced with those grassroots guerillas who had been in the field for months.
In the autumn lead-up to the Nov. 4th, 2007 general election, NJ for Obama leader Keith Hovey held a rally for the Illinois senator in Princeton’s Palmer Square.
"This is a candidate who had the internal fortitude to stand up when most would not, and say that this war is wrong," Hovey told the cheering crowd.
Princeton anti-war activist William Strong still liked New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, mostly based on experience. But most people in the crowd backed Obama.
"Before this event, I walked around Princeton for two hours," said Phil Blackwood, an engineer from Lincroft, who continued to pass out Obama ’08 stickers at the rally.
During the first week of December ’07, the Obama campaign opened its main headquarters in West Orange. A week later, the new state director joined his old friends, Newark Mayor Cory Booker and West Ward Councilman Ronald Rice, at a rally in Newark’s Masonic Temple.
A lot of people in the crowd were NJ for Obama volunteers.
"We’re going to start making some change," Alexander told the crowd of organizers, including Julie Diaz of Perth Amboy, who with her boyfriend Peter Brown was among NJ for Obama’s founding members.
"Change has been a long time coming," Alexander said. "We’re trying to organize ourselves in New Jersey. It’s not going to come easy. No one’s going to give this up. There are a lot of people who want this prize. You’re going to have to walk the streets, you’re going to have to call your friends."
Most of the fatalism about Obama’s campaign was absent now, with new polling numbers not only bolstering morale but filling volunteers with a sense of coming victory.
Michelle Obama said her husband had to win Iowa or it was over, and when she said it some of her New Jersey supporters cringed with the thought that their man could lose in the first contest.
But now the sense of inevitability about Clinton was gone.
"I looked around this last week and sure enough, Barack Obama was up by five points in Iowa," said Rice. "I look around again, and he’s cut Clinton’s lead in New Hampshire to 5% when it was 20% two weeks before then. I looked up again, and black folk are voting for Barack Obama, all over this nation. I looked up one more time, and the race is dead even in South Carolina.
"Newarkers," the councilman told the cheering crowd, "we not only got the best candidate with the best message. We’ve got the best candidate with the best chance of winning not only the Democratic nomination, but winning the presidency next November."
Booker started refining a speech incorporating New Jersey Revolutionary War history that he would use later in the campaign season, in Jersey City. But he also spoke specifically to his candidate’s knowledge of urban issues.
"Our cities should not be places that are charity cases, our cities should be engines of economic prosperity for our nation and I think that’s something Barack Obama understands," said Booker, as organizers registered voters in the Masonic Temple.
On January 3, the day of the Iowa caucuses, Alexander was calmly confident in West Orange headquarters.
"People will have concrete evidence that Barack Obama has real support in a state where there is a large white rural population," the state director said of the African American presidential candidate. "We’ve got to do well in these early states and carry the momentum to the Feb. 5th states, like New Jersey."
Obama won Iowa with 38%, followed by former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) with 30% and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) with 29%.
That shook the foundations of power.
"It’s not good news for Iowa," admitted State Party Chair Joseph Cryan, an ardent Clinton supporter. "But it’s good news for New Jersey. The message from this is, ‘Let’s wake up and get to work.’ The real start of the campaign is tonight."
Partying with other Obama revelers and CNN’s broadcast on in the background at the bar in Newark’s Robert Treat Hotel, U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-9), northeast regional co-chair of the Obama campaign, said of his candidate, "He is an authentic agent of change. If he were elected, the message he would present to the world is that America gets it.
"We understand that the last seven years under Bush have been a disaster," Rothman added. "People around the world would see that America, the land of such idealism and hope, is back, and that the callous and cynical George Bush era is over."
Coming out of Iowa and in the days leading up to the New Hampshire primaries, it looked as though Obama could romp to a blowout victory over Clinton.
Edison Mayor Jun Choi, Assemblyman Neil Cohen (D-Union), and Alexander rallied the troops at a diner in Choi’s hometown.
"Bring it home, New Hampshire," volunteers cried happily.
Hyped for months as a likely battleground, maybe New Jersey wasn’t going to matter in the end. Maybe Clinton would melt down in New Hampshire and the Democratic Primary would be over.
"We saw something happen on Thursday night that was truly remarkable," Alexander told the crowd of Obama supporters. "There are different ways to think about it: a snowball rolling downhill, gathering that momentum; that drop, that little drop in the pond that starts to ripple out; you can think about it as an earthquake perhaps in Iowa."
But on Jan. 8, to the chagrin of NJ for Obama founder Damian Bednarz, who helped collect the numbers in the campaign’s Manchester, N.H. war room, Clinton staged a comeback, beating Obama, 39-36%, with Edwards trailing at 17% and starting what appeared to be an irreversible capsize.
A day later, Obama appeared before an overflow crowd at St. Peter’s College in Jersey City. The local troops had hoped to welcome him as the winner of the Granite State and maybe of the primary entire, but there was little disappointment in the room.
His improbable victory in Iowa still inspired awe and anyway he had not lost to Clinton by a sizable margin in New Hampshire.
"Obama isn’t a person anymore, he’s a movie," said Hoboken councilman Michael Russo.
Bunched along the rope line in the gym and waiting for Obama were Brown, Diaz and Hovey, Cohen and Rice, Newark Council President Mildred Crump, Ocean County organizer Stacy Lubrecht, Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy and Booker and Jersey City Deputy Mayor Kibili Tayari. Among them stood other grassroots and local elected officials who supported Obama.
A veteran of the Civil Rights movement, Tayari said his work registering Jersey City voters and manning GOTV ops. before the Feb. 5th primary would be the most important work of his life.
"A new president in the White House who doesn't simply come out of the Washington establishment will restore a sense of integrity to our Democratic republic," Tayari said.
Another Civil Rights-era Obama backer, Cohen, who had been with the campaign almost from the beginning, watched Obama pass at close range on the runway to the podium.
"He may have belonged to us in the beginning," said the assemblyman. "There was the sense that now he belongs to the country."
But New Jersey still had New Jersey, and the dogfight Alexander came in to wage was unfolding now and in even more dramatic fashion than anticipated with the score tightened between Obama and Clinton.
With less than a month to go before the primary, Booker invoked the Battle of Trenton.
"We are the great state of New Jersey," he said. "Our democracy started right here, in a pivotal fight. But the cause of justice goes on. We now have a chance to make real on the boldest dreams for America."
http://politickernj.com/max/21191/thumbnail-new-jersey-guide-history-obamaland-part-ii
PART 3.
July 2, 2008 - 2:56pm
A thumbnail New Jersey guide to Obamaland, Part III
By Max Pizarro
[pic]
Newark Mayor Cory Booker, backing up Senate President Richard Codey's endorsement of Obama.Newark Mayor Cory Booker, backing up Senate President Richard Codey's endorsement of Obama.
Obama Campaign State Director Mark Alexander knew it would be hard to pry Sen. Hillary Clinton’s supporters loose in New Jersey after her victory in New Hampshire.
This was a fight now, and Clinton’s people were solid.
"We have an opportunity here in Hudson - Hudson, Hispanics, Hillary and history," Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) cried to a North Bergen audience of mostly Latinos with Clinton on stage.
The response was near to deafening with Clinton standing on stage with Menendez, U.S. Rep. Albio Sires (D-13) and state Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex).
But that didn’t mean there weren’t other opportunities for Obama; in fact, one big opportunity, in the form of Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex), who was at the moment glumly serving as state director for the foundering campaign of John Edwards.
Alexander knew Codey. He also knew Codey was close to former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley (D-NJ), who had come onto the Obama campaign as an advisor.
Alexander started working the phones.
A basketball coach used to pulling a player off the floor when he can’t score or rebound, Codey was watching Edwards closely.
"He’s going to have to do something here in Nevada," said the former governor after his candidate’s back-to-back losses in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Edwards finished in third place out west, and all signs were that the candidate’s "change-agent" message was lost in Obama fever.
Codey felt bad. He had forged a connection with Edwards when the latter ran for vice president on a ticket with John Kerry in 2004. While Codey saw in Kerry’s lordly forbearance a troubling lack of street smarts, he liked the blue collar appeal of Edwards and thought the former senator from North Carolina could win a general election.
Going into Nevada, Codey had hinted that he might withdraw his support for Edwards if the candidate failed to impress there or in his native state of South Carolina.
Codey hung in post Nevada, but Edwards tanked in South Carolina and four days later announced he would end his run for the presidency.
Like Alexander, State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) was already working Codey hard about coming over to the Obama Campaign.
A foe of the Bergen County Democratic Organization, Weinberg tried to appeal to the Senate President’s longtime resistance to bossism, including his feuds with South Jersey Democratic leader George Norcross, and North Ward Democratic czar Steve Adubato.
Weinberg found a natural comfort level with Obama because of the independence she identified in his supporters.
"I would have gone with Hillary," Weinberg said. "But it’s like I told the governor when he asked me why I couldn’t back her. I told him, ‘She’s acting like one of the boys.’ By that I mean, I didn’t see any evidence of a grassroots campaign. She had the old guard, the old boys’ network, and that appeared to be about it in terms of a campaign in New Jersey."
There was no immediate word from Codey.
Then Ray Durkin, former state director of the Democratic Party, called Alexander and Bradley and told them if they wanted Codey to join them they should have Obama call the former governor directly and ask him for his support.
The day after Edwards dropped out, Codey convened a press conference at the Wilshire Grand Hotel in his home town of South Orange. This was six days before the Feb. 5th New Jersey primary.
Surrounded by Obama supporters, including U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-9), Alexander, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, state Sen. Shirley Turner (D-Mercer), and Weinberg, Codey endorsed Obama.
"As governor and as senate president, I have built coalitions of Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives alike to do what is right for New Jersey," Codey said. "This is the only way to govern effectively, and I have long been appalled by the slash and burn, winner-take-all kind of partisan politics practiced too often by both parties in Washington.
"Barack Obama has the unique ability to rise above the politics of fear and division to bring the change we desperately need," he added. "Like myself, building coalitions to get results has been the cause of Barack Obama's life, not just the rhetoric of a campaign."
Codey saved for last the anecdote about his phone conversation with Obama.
"I asked him what’s the skinny about the fact that he’s part Irish. He said to me, ‘Governor, I swear to you, I am.’"
Knowing Obama’s late father was a full-blooded Kenyan, Codey said he then jokingly asked the presidential candidate, "‘Now the Irish part, is that on your father’s side?’"
Codey was so thrilled by the story that when Weinberg at the press conference couldn’t resist jumping into Codey’s narrative and saying, "That’s right, O’bama," the former governor said amid laughter, "Don’t take away my lines."
"I said you’re Irish, right? And he said, right. And I told him that means we’re brothers," Codey said. "It was a good conversation."
Codey had campaigned for Bradley in New Hampshire in 2000 when the ex-NBA star ran unsuccessfully for president. With Codey’s remarks concluded, Bradley now towered over the podium.
Alert to special interests dominating elections and deciding the fate of the country to the detriment of most Americans, Bradley noted that the United States’ ranks 114 worldwide in voter turnout in national elections. In Bradley’s view, Obama’s anti-establishment campaign had the long-term potential to re-engage Americans in politics.
"I think every couple of generations, somebody comes along who reminds us that we're Americans, and what it means to be an American, by appealing to the ideals that animated the founding of the country," Bradley said. "I think that is what he (Obama) has done in a remarkable way, and he personifies the very best of our country."
Clinton still had an edge in New Jersey. Polls showed her up by five to ten points here.
"The media has really given Obama a pass," complained Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer, a Clinton supporter. "They haven't scrutinized his performance or his record. Just as an example, his initial statement that he was opposed to the war: that was a prescient and wise exercise of judgement on his part. But then as Hillary's pointed out, once he got into office, he voted to continue to fund the war."
In the weeks leading up to Feb. 5th, Alexander oversaw multiple statewide days of action, in which Obama volunteers went door-to-door, made phone calls and waved Obama for America signs on train platforms.
"I want everybody to leave here with something to do today," the state director had told a crowd of 5,000 people in Jersey City on Jan. 9.
On the weekend before Election Day, 1,000 Obama volunteers worked the City of Newark.
"I’m all Obama all the time," said Booker, stopping by the campaign’s Broad Street headquarters to rally campaign soldiers. Chicago infused the New Jersey campaign with $100,000-worth of glossy fliers that highlighted the recent endorsements of U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy and his niece, Caroline.
It was a last minute happening on a work day in bad weather, but Obama allies still had hoped to pack the IZOD Center for a Feb. 4 rally, featuring the presidential candidate, the Kennedys and movie actor Robert DeNiro. A veteran guard scanned the mostly empty arena and guessed 6,000 people, a figure that most media sources later put closer to 3,000.
New Jersey activists said up close Obama looked exhausted.
"He got embarrassed today at the Meadowlands," a Clinton supporter said Monday night, right before Election Day. "He’s going to get buried in New Jersey tomorrow."
In the Essex County Clerk’s Office with night falling on Election Day, clerk Chris Durkin watched the numbers come in from the outlying towns and from Newark. Voter turnout was huge in the county seat, and that was likely very good news for Obama.
In the Wilshire Grand, Obama’s supporters started celebrating, but their glee proved decidedly premature, as the larger view showed Clinton taking 16 of New Jersey’s 21 counties.
In Essex, Obama bested Clinton in 13 of the 22 towns. He didn’t blow her out in Newark - earning 57% to 43% of the votes in New Jersey’s biggest city - but it was good enough for him to win Essex: 56% to 42%.
Obama also won the progressive-leaning Mercer, 54% to 44%. He squeaked out a 50% to 48% victory in Union, and beat Clinton by one and two points respectively in the very low Democratic Party turnout Republican strongholds of Hunterdon and Somerset.
But he lost badly in Bergen, 59% to 39%. In Hudson, where Menendez had manned an aggressive machine operation, Clinton crushed Obama, 61% to 36%, and in Middlesex, Clinton won, 57% to 40%.
It added up to a nine point, 54% to 45% Clinton victory in New Jersey.
On stage in the Wilshire, weariness and heartbreak could be heard in the voices of some of Obama’s supporters. They had worked on the street level at this, many of them, especially the local elected officials. They could not at that moment grasp the effects of a larger political war beyond New Jersey.
Defeat sank in painfully.
But Booker picked up the fight themes laid down by Codey and Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, and digested the still larger view - which showed Obama winning more of the 22 Super Tuesday states at stake, although Clinton claimed the more delegate-plenty states.
The up close and personal disappointment in New Jersey notwithstanding, Feb. 5th proved to be yet another Clinton-Obama stalemate on the nationwide primary map.
The fight would continue.
That meant advantage Obama, in Booker’s view, because the Illinois senator had always been the underdog. The fact that he had shaken New Jersey in losing was a tribute to the campaign’s momentum, according to the Newark mayor.
"The people saw within their hearts and within their nation their dreams, they began to hear echoes of old, from people of old," said Booker. "They told their children and their families 'I believe.' They believed in Georgia and Connecticut and Illinois... They believed that our nation could come together."
Over the cheers that filled the ballroom, which moments earlier had been silent with a sense of loss, Booker cried, "America will rise again and be the giant of love."
Two weeks later, powerful South Jersey Democratic Party boss Norcross threw his support to Obama.
http://www.politickernj.com/max/21250/thumbnail-new-jersey-guide-obamaland-part-iii
PART 1.
June 30, 2008 - 5:00pm
A thumbnail New Jersey guide to the history of Obamaland, Part I
By Max Pizarro
Category: PresidentTags: Cory Booker, Jun Choi, Barack Obama, Steve Rothman, Mildred Crump, John Adler, Neil Cohen, Damian Bednarz, Jerramiah Healy, Julie Diaz, Hilllary Clinton, Ronald C. Rice, Ketih Hovey[pic]
NJ for Obama organizers Julie Diaz and Keith Hovey.NJ for Obama organizers Julie Diaz and Keith Hovey.
The Obama campaign started small here, with handfuls of coffee house organizers lining up behind a grassroots operation called NJ for Obama in the face of a big party machine backing Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), and an unpopular war in Iraq.
Founded in an Edison coffee shop in December of 2006, the group’s leader was Damian Bednarz, 25, a Master’s student in international relations with Seton Hall University’s Whitehead School of Diplomacy.
"Obama has something that Hillary Clinton can’t buy or reproduce, and that’s a sense of inspiration," Bednarz said at the time. "If anything, I’m encouraged by Clinton’s frontrunner status because I know our work is so special."
In the months following, some elected officials in the months endorsed the Illinois senator, among them Assemblyman Neil Cohen (D-Union), who came out in favor of Obama in April of 2007, followed by state Sen. John Adler (D-Camden) a couple of weeks later.
"At this time we need someone special... someone who is going to build a bridge brick by brick to peace through negotiation," said Cohen, a graduate of Howard University who arrived at politics through the Civil Rights era.
One common theme early was the appreciation that Obama’s supporters showed for their candidate’s opposition to the Iraq War - which differentiated him from Clinton, who in 2002 authorized President George W. Bush to send in troops.
"As Obama said, he’s not afraid of going into wars," said Cohen, "he’s afraid of going into dumb wars."
The sense at this point was that Obama was at best a longshot nationally and in New Jersey, almost a no-hoper, but as Bednarz organized at the grassroots level, Newark’s new mayor, Cory Booker, began sprinkling speeches with inspirational Obama references and quotes.
In his North Ward introduction of the Democratic Party’s 29th Legislative District candidates in March, 2007, for example, Booker likened Teresa Ruiz, L. Grace Spencer and Albert Coutinho to Obama’s "Joshua Generation."
As most of the rest of the party’s power players stood with Clinton, Booker and Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy officially endorsed Obama on the Illinois senator’s first campaign stop in New Jersey in mid May of 2007.
They met him at Teterboro Airport and stood with him as the cameras flashed, just before the presidential candidate drove to Trenton for a town hall meeting with organized labor at the War Memorial.
That wasn’t the first time Booker met Obama.
At the urging of mutual friends, Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King, the future mayor and future presidential candidate had first sat down together in Newark in 2004.
"This is a nation right now where we don’t need more political leadership," Booker said. "That’s important, but we really need a leader who speaks to our highest aspirations for ourselves; a leader who reflects our beauty and strength as a people, who reflects who we are but also who we can be."
An old Howard Dean supporter from the 2004 presidential primary, Booker’s ally, West Ward Councilman Ronald C. Rice, served as the connecting point between Booker/Healy and NJ for Obama.
Rice and Council President Mildred Crump drove to Hoboken in May of 2007 at an invitation from Bednarz to speak at a $150-a head NJ for Obama fund-raiser.
Rice gave a rousing speech.
In a diner in Newark’s West Ward a few weeks later, the councilman confessed that he didn’t know whether Obama had a legitimate shot in 2008.
"We’re going to keep building, we’ll keep organizing to put ourselves in a position to take advantage of anything that happens," said Rice, who continued to prominently display his "Obama for President" buttons as friends of his told him to get a life.
At his low-key appearance at the War Memorial, Obama repudiated the Clinton-engineered North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and called for more rigorous labor and environmental standards in all future trade agreements.
When UFCW member Kathy Wilder of Wall asked the senator, "What are you going to do about Wal-Mart?" there was an up-swell of boos and groans at the mention of the corporate giant, and Obama dead-panned, "I won’t shop there."
Obama still trailed Clinton in New Jersey by 22 points.
Back in West Paterson in early June, Bednarz had finished his Master’s degree and accepted a full-time position with the Obama campaign in their New Hampshire office.
On the night before he left, the political organizer kicked back a last beer in Hoboken, watching the late night commuters return from Manhattan.
He was committed to Obama. He had been ever since he heard him deliver the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic Convention. Concurrent with his university studies, Bednarz had to this point devoted five solid months of building a statewide network of Obama supporters - a list that grew from four to 25 to nearly 500 members.
But now that he was leaving New Jersey, he couldn’t help but wonder if the entire endeavor was not finally quixotic. He allowed himself only several moments of speculation before concluding that one way or the other, he didn’t care. Obama was the candidate in whom he believed. If Bednarz went down he was going to go down fighting.
He jumped aboard the PATH to Newark, changed trains and headed back to Fairlawn. He would get up and drive to Manchester in the morning and continue organizing.
The new director of NJ for Obama was Keith Hovey, a Montgomery lawyer in his late 30s who immediately began organizing statewide registration drives for the presidential candidate.
"We want to be part of a campaign for a government that is inclusive and intelligent," said Hovey, who as part of his first effort coordinated 200 on-the-ground volunteer canvassers mobilizing in Princeton, Edison, Newark, New Brunswick, Hoboken, Camden, Madison, Hamilton, Plainfield and Sparta.
These volunteers carried two sets of petitions: one to end the war, and one to make Obama president.
With the grassroots effort growing under Hovey’s leadership, the Obama campaign’s national office on July 25, 2007, announced that U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-9) was endorsing Obama for president.
"It’s time to turn the page and bring an end to the Bush-Cheney foreign policy that has left Americans vulnerable here at home and reduced matters of war and national defense to signs and slogans," said Rothman.
As Northeast Regional Co-Chair, Rothman, a six-term congressman, would lead Obama campaign efforts in the region, which includes Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.
Rothman was New Jersey’s first congressman to come aboard - and he would be the only one during the primary season.
Every other Democratic member of the state’s congressional delegation had endorsed Clinton, with the exception of U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-12), who stayed neutral until after the June 2008 primary election.
Rothman claimed he had decided to support Obama for president after watching CNN’s YouTube debate, in which Clinton and Obama had fought over how to conduct U.S. foreign policy.
"Barack's appearance... confirmed for me what I've believed all along," said the congressman. "It's new thinking versus old thinking. This notion of Hillary Clinton’s that we should continue down this path of not talking to our enemies is a policy that has proven to be disastrous to our country. These are not the views of someone who professes to be an agent of change."
Picking up on anti-war sentiment, Rothman said the Illinois senator’s public opposition to sending 160,000 U.S. troops to Iraq gives him foreign policy know-how that Clinton frankly lacks.
"I made the similar vote," the Congressman admitted of his 2002 "yes" vote authorizing Bush to use force in Iraq. But Rothman added that he later "declared it to be a mistake."
By the end of July, 2007, reform Mayor Jun Choi of Edison had also endorsed Obama.
"I’ve been leaning Obama for quite some time now," said Choi, who had publicly blasted Bush at an anti-war rally when the president visited Edison for a GOP fund-raiser weeks earlier.
"I wanted to see if there was real momentum in the (Obama) campaign, and there is," said Choi.
The team was coming together.
Booker anchored a $150-a-head Obama fund-raiser at the Robert Treat Hotel in Newark. In a speech to a crowd that included Healy, Hovey, Rice, Cohen, Choi and organizers from around the state packed into a small room, the mayor called for a "sacred effort," not unlike what Frederick Douglass had once ascribed to Lincoln’s second inaugural address.
"We have a mere matter of months before Feb. 5th," said Booker. "This is our state. This is New Jersey. We, the leaders - not those of us with fancy titles, not those of us with fancy salaries... we hold in our hands the destiny of our nation.
"It is time for us," Booker said, "the inheritors of glory and greatness, those of us who scan the current landscape and understand that America is not finished yet... We must put forth a sacred effort, and win for Barack Obama."
http://www.politickernj.com/max/21185/thumbnail-new-jersey-guide-obamaland-part-i
PART 2.
June 30, 2008 - 10:39pm
A thumbnail New Jersey guide to the history of Obamaland, Part II
By Max Pizarro
Category: PresidentTags: Cory Booker, Jun Choi, Linda Greenstein, Loretta Weinberg, Mark Alexander, Barack Obama, Steve Rothman, Hillary Clinton, Joseph Cryan, Cleopatra Tucker, Neil Cohen, Shirley Turner, Grace Spencer, Damian Bednarz, Jerramiah Healy, Keith Hovey, Kibili Tayari[pic]
Obama Campaign State Director Mark Alexander.Obama Campaign State Director Mark Alexander.
The campaign was about to change.
On Oct, 9, 2007, an announcement came down from Chicago regarding New Jersey operations.
Mark Alexander, a Seton Hall University law professor and Obama’s senior policy advisor, would be the campaign’s official state director.
"I am grateful that he is going to carry the fight forward to and through the Feb. 5 contests," Obama said of Alexander. "He is a valued and trusted advisor, and at the same time has deep ties in his home of New Jersey that will be invaluable to our efforts.
"I am proud of the policy work we have done on this campaign and through Mark’s leadership we have built a team of key advisors from the ground up that will continue to offer new and innovative approaches to the challenges this country faces," added the presidential candidate.
A personal friend of Barack and Michelle Obama’s going back a dozen years, Alexander as a child worked on the 1974 Washington, D.C. mayoral campaign of his father, Clifford Alexander, former chairman of the Equal Opportunity Commission. Later, he ran Sen. Bill Bradley’s 2000 presidential campaign and served as counsel to Cory Booker.
The state director began rolling out more elected official endorsements.
State Sen. Shirley Turner (D-Mercer) and Assemblywomen Linda Greenstein, Cleopatra Tucker, and L. Grace Spencer followed up on a September endorsement of Obama made by veteran anti-establishment Democrat, state Sen. Loretta Weinberg of Bergen.
"Sen. Barack Obama is the person to work for the kinds of issues that we women are interested in," Weinberg said at a Trenton press conference with her colleagues. "Mostly these issues are about our families. They are about bringing our kids home from Iraq. They are about the healthcare of people that we love and take care of. They are about our kids’ education, and they are about our environment."
Meanwhile, Alexander interfaced with those grassroots guerillas who had been in the field for months.
In the autumn lead-up to the Nov. 4th, 2007 general election, NJ for Obama leader Keith Hovey held a rally for the Illinois senator in Princeton’s Palmer Square.
"This is a candidate who had the internal fortitude to stand up when most would not, and say that this war is wrong," Hovey told the cheering crowd.
Princeton anti-war activist William Strong still liked New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, mostly based on experience. But most people in the crowd backed Obama.
"Before this event, I walked around Princeton for two hours," said Phil Blackwood, an engineer from Lincroft, who continued to pass out Obama ’08 stickers at the rally.
During the first week of December ’07, the Obama campaign opened its main headquarters in West Orange. A week later, the new state director joined his old friends, Newark Mayor Cory Booker and West Ward Councilman Ronald Rice, at a rally in Newark’s Masonic Temple.
A lot of people in the crowd were NJ for Obama volunteers.
"We’re going to start making some change," Alexander told the crowd of organizers, including Julie Diaz of Perth Amboy, who with her boyfriend Peter Brown was among NJ for Obama’s founding members.
"Change has been a long time coming," Alexander said. "We’re trying to organize ourselves in New Jersey. It’s not going to come easy. No one’s going to give this up. There are a lot of people who want this prize. You’re going to have to walk the streets, you’re going to have to call your friends."
Most of the fatalism about Obama’s campaign was absent now, with new polling numbers not only bolstering morale but filling volunteers with a sense of coming victory.
Michelle Obama said her husband had to win Iowa or it was over, and when she said it some of her New Jersey supporters cringed with the thought that their man could lose in the first contest.
But now the sense of inevitability about Clinton was gone.
"I looked around this last week and sure enough, Barack Obama was up by five points in Iowa," said Rice. "I look around again, and he’s cut Clinton’s lead in New Hampshire to 5% when it was 20% two weeks before then. I looked up again, and black folk are voting for Barack Obama, all over this nation. I looked up one more time, and the race is dead even in South Carolina.
"Newarkers," the councilman told the cheering crowd, "we not only got the best candidate with the best message. We’ve got the best candidate with the best chance of winning not only the Democratic nomination, but winning the presidency next November."
Booker started refining a speech incorporating New Jersey Revolutionary War history that he would use later in the campaign season, in Jersey City. But he also spoke specifically to his candidate’s knowledge of urban issues.
"Our cities should not be places that are charity cases, our cities should be engines of economic prosperity for our nation and I think that’s something Barack Obama understands," said Booker, as organizers registered voters in the Masonic Temple.
On January 3, the day of the Iowa caucuses, Alexander was calmly confident in West Orange headquarters.
"People will have concrete evidence that Barack Obama has real support in a state where there is a large white rural population," the state director said of the African American presidential candidate. "We’ve got to do well in these early states and carry the momentum to the Feb. 5th states, like New Jersey."
Obama won Iowa with 38%, followed by former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) with 30% and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) with 29%.
That shook the foundations of power.
"It’s not good news for Iowa," admitted State Party Chair Joseph Cryan, an ardent Clinton supporter. "But it’s good news for New Jersey. The message from this is, ‘Let’s wake up and get to work.’ The real start of the campaign is tonight."
Partying with other Obama revelers and CNN’s broadcast on in the background at the bar in Newark’s Robert Treat Hotel, U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-9), northeast regional co-chair of the Obama campaign, said of his candidate, "He is an authentic agent of change. If he were elected, the message he would present to the world is that America gets it.
"We understand that the last seven years under Bush have been a disaster," Rothman added. "People around the world would see that America, the land of such idealism and hope, is back, and that the callous and cynical George Bush era is over."
Coming out of Iowa and in the days leading up to the New Hampshire primaries, it looked as though Obama could romp to a blowout victory over Clinton.
Edison Mayor Jun Choi, Assemblyman Neil Cohen (D-Union), and Alexander rallied the troops at a diner in Choi’s hometown.
"Bring it home, New Hampshire," volunteers cried happily.
Hyped for months as a likely battleground, maybe New Jersey wasn’t going to matter in the end. Maybe Clinton would melt down in New Hampshire and the Democratic Primary would be over.
"We saw something happen on Thursday night that was truly remarkable," Alexander told the crowd of Obama supporters. "There are different ways to think about it: a snowball rolling downhill, gathering that momentum; that drop, that little drop in the pond that starts to ripple out; you can think about it as an earthquake perhaps in Iowa."
But on Jan. 8, to the chagrin of NJ for Obama founder Damian Bednarz, who helped collect the numbers in the campaign’s Manchester, N.H. war room, Clinton staged a comeback, beating Obama, 39-36%, with Edwards trailing at 17% and starting what appeared to be an irreversible capsize.
A day later, Obama appeared before an overflow crowd at St. Peter’s College in Jersey City. The local troops had hoped to welcome him as the winner of the Granite State and maybe of the primary entire, but there was little disappointment in the room.
His improbable victory in Iowa still inspired awe and anyway he had not lost to Clinton by a sizable margin in New Hampshire.
"Obama isn’t a person anymore, he’s a movie," said Hoboken councilman Michael Russo.
Bunched along the rope line in the gym and waiting for Obama were Brown, Diaz and Hovey, Cohen and Rice, Newark Council President Mildred Crump, Ocean County organizer Stacy Lubrecht, Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy and Booker and Jersey City Deputy Mayor Kibili Tayari. Among them stood other grassroots and local elected officials who supported Obama.
A veteran of the Civil Rights movement, Tayari said his work registering Jersey City voters and manning GOTV ops. before the Feb. 5th primary would be the most important work of his life.
"A new president in the White House who doesn't simply come out of the Washington establishment will restore a sense of integrity to our Democratic republic," Tayari said.
Another Civil Rights-era Obama backer, Cohen, who had been with the campaign almost from the beginning, watched Obama pass at close range on the runway to the podium.
"He may have belonged to us in the beginning," said the assemblyman. "There was the sense that now he belongs to the country."
But New Jersey still had New Jersey, and the dogfight Alexander came in to wage was unfolding now and in even more dramatic fashion than anticipated with the score tightened between Obama and Clinton.
With less than a month to go before the primary, Booker invoked the Battle of Trenton.
"We are the great state of New Jersey," he said. "Our democracy started right here, in a pivotal fight. But the cause of justice goes on. We now have a chance to make real on the boldest dreams for America."
http://politickernj.com/max/21191/thumbnail-new-jersey-guide-history-obamaland-part-ii
PART 3.
July 2, 2008 - 2:56pm
A thumbnail New Jersey guide to Obamaland, Part III
By Max Pizarro
Category: PresidentTags: Steve Rothman, Shirley Turner, Richard Codey, Ray Durkin, Mark Alexander, Loretta Weinberg, Jerramiah Healy, Hillary Clinton, Edward Kennedy, Cory Booker, Chris Durkin, George Norcross, Caroline Kennedy, Bill Bradley, Barack Obama
[pic]
Newark Mayor Cory Booker, backing up Senate President Richard Codey's endorsement of Obama.Newark Mayor Cory Booker, backing up Senate President Richard Codey's endorsement of Obama.
Obama Campaign State Director Mark Alexander knew it would be hard to pry Sen. Hillary Clinton’s supporters loose in New Jersey after her victory in New Hampshire.
This was a fight now, and Clinton’s people were solid.
"We have an opportunity here in Hudson - Hudson, Hispanics, Hillary and history," Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) cried to a North Bergen audience of mostly Latinos with Clinton on stage.
The response was near to deafening with Clinton standing on stage with Menendez, U.S. Rep. Albio Sires (D-13) and state Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex).
But that didn’t mean there weren’t other opportunities for Obama; in fact, one big opportunity, in the form of Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex), who was at the moment glumly serving as state director for the foundering campaign of John Edwards.
Alexander knew Codey. He also knew Codey was close to former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley (D-NJ), who had come onto the Obama campaign as an advisor.
Alexander started working the phones.
A basketball coach used to pulling a player off the floor when he can’t score or rebound, Codey was watching Edwards closely.
"He’s going to have to do something here in Nevada," said the former governor after his candidate’s back-to-back losses in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Edwards finished in third place out west, and all signs were that the candidate’s "change-agent" message was lost in Obama fever.
Codey felt bad. He had forged a connection with Edwards when the latter ran for vice president on a ticket with John Kerry in 2004. While Codey saw in Kerry’s lordly forbearance a troubling lack of street smarts, he liked the blue collar appeal of Edwards and thought the former senator from North Carolina could win a general election.
Going into Nevada, Codey had hinted that he might withdraw his support for Edwards if the candidate failed to impress there or in his native state of South Carolina.
Codey hung in post Nevada, but Edwards tanked in South Carolina and four days later announced he would end his run for the presidency.
Like Alexander, State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) was already working Codey hard about coming over to the Obama Campaign.
A foe of the Bergen County Democratic Organization, Weinberg tried to appeal to the Senate President’s longtime resistance to bossism, including his feuds with South Jersey Democratic leader George Norcross, and North Ward Democratic czar Steve Adubato.
Weinberg found a natural comfort level with Obama because of the independence she identified in his supporters.
"I would have gone with Hillary," Weinberg said. "But it’s like I told the governor when he asked me why I couldn’t back her. I told him, ‘She’s acting like one of the boys.’ By that I mean, I didn’t see any evidence of a grassroots campaign. She had the old guard, the old boys’ network, and that appeared to be about it in terms of a campaign in New Jersey."
There was no immediate word from Codey.
Then Ray Durkin, former state director of the Democratic Party, called Alexander and Bradley and told them if they wanted Codey to join them they should have Obama call the former governor directly and ask him for his support.
The day after Edwards dropped out, Codey convened a press conference at the Wilshire Grand Hotel in his home town of South Orange. This was six days before the Feb. 5th New Jersey primary.
Surrounded by Obama supporters, including U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-9), Alexander, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, state Sen. Shirley Turner (D-Mercer), and Weinberg, Codey endorsed Obama.
"As governor and as senate president, I have built coalitions of Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives alike to do what is right for New Jersey," Codey said. "This is the only way to govern effectively, and I have long been appalled by the slash and burn, winner-take-all kind of partisan politics practiced too often by both parties in Washington.
"Barack Obama has the unique ability to rise above the politics of fear and division to bring the change we desperately need," he added. "Like myself, building coalitions to get results has been the cause of Barack Obama's life, not just the rhetoric of a campaign."
Codey saved for last the anecdote about his phone conversation with Obama.
"I asked him what’s the skinny about the fact that he’s part Irish. He said to me, ‘Governor, I swear to you, I am.’"
Knowing Obama’s late father was a full-blooded Kenyan, Codey said he then jokingly asked the presidential candidate, "‘Now the Irish part, is that on your father’s side?’"
Codey was so thrilled by the story that when Weinberg at the press conference couldn’t resist jumping into Codey’s narrative and saying, "That’s right, O’bama," the former governor said amid laughter, "Don’t take away my lines."
"I said you’re Irish, right? And he said, right. And I told him that means we’re brothers," Codey said. "It was a good conversation."
Codey had campaigned for Bradley in New Hampshire in 2000 when the ex-NBA star ran unsuccessfully for president. With Codey’s remarks concluded, Bradley now towered over the podium.
Alert to special interests dominating elections and deciding the fate of the country to the detriment of most Americans, Bradley noted that the United States’ ranks 114 worldwide in voter turnout in national elections. In Bradley’s view, Obama’s anti-establishment campaign had the long-term potential to re-engage Americans in politics.
"I think every couple of generations, somebody comes along who reminds us that we're Americans, and what it means to be an American, by appealing to the ideals that animated the founding of the country," Bradley said. "I think that is what he (Obama) has done in a remarkable way, and he personifies the very best of our country."
Clinton still had an edge in New Jersey. Polls showed her up by five to ten points here.
"The media has really given Obama a pass," complained Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer, a Clinton supporter. "They haven't scrutinized his performance or his record. Just as an example, his initial statement that he was opposed to the war: that was a prescient and wise exercise of judgement on his part. But then as Hillary's pointed out, once he got into office, he voted to continue to fund the war."
In the weeks leading up to Feb. 5th, Alexander oversaw multiple statewide days of action, in which Obama volunteers went door-to-door, made phone calls and waved Obama for America signs on train platforms.
"I want everybody to leave here with something to do today," the state director had told a crowd of 5,000 people in Jersey City on Jan. 9.
On the weekend before Election Day, 1,000 Obama volunteers worked the City of Newark.
"I’m all Obama all the time," said Booker, stopping by the campaign’s Broad Street headquarters to rally campaign soldiers. Chicago infused the New Jersey campaign with $100,000-worth of glossy fliers that highlighted the recent endorsements of U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy and his niece, Caroline.
It was a last minute happening on a work day in bad weather, but Obama allies still had hoped to pack the IZOD Center for a Feb. 4 rally, featuring the presidential candidate, the Kennedys and movie actor Robert DeNiro. A veteran guard scanned the mostly empty arena and guessed 6,000 people, a figure that most media sources later put closer to 3,000.
New Jersey activists said up close Obama looked exhausted.
"He got embarrassed today at the Meadowlands," a Clinton supporter said Monday night, right before Election Day. "He’s going to get buried in New Jersey tomorrow."
In the Essex County Clerk’s Office with night falling on Election Day, clerk Chris Durkin watched the numbers come in from the outlying towns and from Newark. Voter turnout was huge in the county seat, and that was likely very good news for Obama.
In the Wilshire Grand, Obama’s supporters started celebrating, but their glee proved decidedly premature, as the larger view showed Clinton taking 16 of New Jersey’s 21 counties.
In Essex, Obama bested Clinton in 13 of the 22 towns. He didn’t blow her out in Newark - earning 57% to 43% of the votes in New Jersey’s biggest city - but it was good enough for him to win Essex: 56% to 42%.
Obama also won the progressive-leaning Mercer, 54% to 44%. He squeaked out a 50% to 48% victory in Union, and beat Clinton by one and two points respectively in the very low Democratic Party turnout Republican strongholds of Hunterdon and Somerset.
But he lost badly in Bergen, 59% to 39%. In Hudson, where Menendez had manned an aggressive machine operation, Clinton crushed Obama, 61% to 36%, and in Middlesex, Clinton won, 57% to 40%.
It added up to a nine point, 54% to 45% Clinton victory in New Jersey.
On stage in the Wilshire, weariness and heartbreak could be heard in the voices of some of Obama’s supporters. They had worked on the street level at this, many of them, especially the local elected officials. They could not at that moment grasp the effects of a larger political war beyond New Jersey.
Defeat sank in painfully.
But Booker picked up the fight themes laid down by Codey and Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, and digested the still larger view - which showed Obama winning more of the 22 Super Tuesday states at stake, although Clinton claimed the more delegate-plenty states.
The up close and personal disappointment in New Jersey notwithstanding, Feb. 5th proved to be yet another Clinton-Obama stalemate on the nationwide primary map.
The fight would continue.
That meant advantage Obama, in Booker’s view, because the Illinois senator had always been the underdog. The fact that he had shaken New Jersey in losing was a tribute to the campaign’s momentum, according to the Newark mayor.
"The people saw within their hearts and within their nation their dreams, they began to hear echoes of old, from people of old," said Booker. "They told their children and their families 'I believe.' They believed in Georgia and Connecticut and Illinois... They believed that our nation could come together."
Over the cheers that filled the ballroom, which moments earlier had been silent with a sense of loss, Booker cried, "America will rise again and be the giant of love."
Two weeks later, powerful South Jersey Democratic Party boss Norcross threw his support to Obama.
http://www.politickernj.com/max/21250/thumbnail-new-jersey-guide-obamaland-part-iii
Friday, January 18, 2008
Warwas - Courier - State orders Warwas reinstatement, fine
Published in the Courier News, Wednesday, January 17, 2008
[Board] rules in favor of fired Plainfield health officer
By BRANDON LAUSCH and JARED KALTWASSER
STAFF WRITERS
A state personnel board ruled Wednesday that a former Plainfield health officer, fired on allegations that she worked for another city while on sick leave, should be disciplined and pay a fine equal to the time she was off the job — even though she should return to her post.
Jadwiga Warwas, who appealed her Sept. 11, 2006, firing for insubordination and conduct unbecoming a public employee, last month scored a legal victory when a state Office of Administrative Law judge dismissed the charges and ordered Plainfield to reinstate her with full back pay, benefits, pension rights and legal fees.
A health officer in Plainfield earns about $83,700, according to city administrators.
The judge's Dec. 12 decision was forwarded to the Merit System Board, which unanimously opted to modify the earlier ruling by deciding that some disciplinary action — though not removal — was warranted, according to officials.
The five-member panel decided that Warwas should receive an official letter of reprimand and pay a fine equal to the 109 hours she was off the job, said Henry Maurer, director of the state Division of Merit System Practices and Labor Relations.
A written decision explaining the board's stance will be prepared for final approval, likely at its Jan. 30 meeting, Maurer said. Either side in the case then could challenge the decision and seek review before the state Appellate Division.
City Corporation Counsel Dan Williamson said Wednesday he could not comment on the decision because he had not seen it.
According to court papers, Warwas, a licensed physician, developed peptic ulcers and clinical depression because of her tumultuous time in the city — she started her tenure in October 2003 — and took sick leave from late July through early September 2006. On five occasions, Warwas was restricted to home because of her poor health.
While off from work, an anonymous tipster alerted city leaders that Warwas was working part time for Paterson. According to court papers, Paterson officials confirmed the claim, notifying their counterparts in Plainfield that Warwas worked from home as a quality assurance coordinator, logging a total of 109 hours as she collected and disseminated information about infectious diseases.
The sticking point in the case, according to court documents, appears to be Warwas' undisputed failure to submit a written request to continue her work for Paterson before beginning sick leave, despite a Plainfield code at the time of Warwas' hiring that prohibited outside employment without official approval.
Warwas has testified that she was not aware of the requirement and submitted a resume that disclosed her part-time position before taking the job in Plainfield.
Though the city argued that firing Warwas was justified because of her prior disciplinary record — including two suspensions for the confusion surrounding her alleged failure to designate an acting health officer while on vacation in summer 2006 — the administrative law judge ruled that "Warwas did not in any sense fail to comply with the Employee Handbook by not submitting a written application for permission to do what she already had disclosed in 2003."
Brandon Lausch can be reached at (908) 707-3175 or blausch@c-n.com.
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.)
[Board] rules in favor of fired Plainfield health officer
By BRANDON LAUSCH and JARED KALTWASSER
STAFF WRITERS
A state personnel board ruled Wednesday that a former Plainfield health officer, fired on allegations that she worked for another city while on sick leave, should be disciplined and pay a fine equal to the time she was off the job — even though she should return to her post.
Jadwiga Warwas, who appealed her Sept. 11, 2006, firing for insubordination and conduct unbecoming a public employee, last month scored a legal victory when a state Office of Administrative Law judge dismissed the charges and ordered Plainfield to reinstate her with full back pay, benefits, pension rights and legal fees.
A health officer in Plainfield earns about $83,700, according to city administrators.
The judge's Dec. 12 decision was forwarded to the Merit System Board, which unanimously opted to modify the earlier ruling by deciding that some disciplinary action — though not removal — was warranted, according to officials.
The five-member panel decided that Warwas should receive an official letter of reprimand and pay a fine equal to the 109 hours she was off the job, said Henry Maurer, director of the state Division of Merit System Practices and Labor Relations.
A written decision explaining the board's stance will be prepared for final approval, likely at its Jan. 30 meeting, Maurer said. Either side in the case then could challenge the decision and seek review before the state Appellate Division.
City Corporation Counsel Dan Williamson said Wednesday he could not comment on the decision because he had not seen it.
According to court papers, Warwas, a licensed physician, developed peptic ulcers and clinical depression because of her tumultuous time in the city — she started her tenure in October 2003 — and took sick leave from late July through early September 2006. On five occasions, Warwas was restricted to home because of her poor health.
While off from work, an anonymous tipster alerted city leaders that Warwas was working part time for Paterson. According to court papers, Paterson officials confirmed the claim, notifying their counterparts in Plainfield that Warwas worked from home as a quality assurance coordinator, logging a total of 109 hours as she collected and disseminated information about infectious diseases.
The sticking point in the case, according to court documents, appears to be Warwas' undisputed failure to submit a written request to continue her work for Paterson before beginning sick leave, despite a Plainfield code at the time of Warwas' hiring that prohibited outside employment without official approval.
Warwas has testified that she was not aware of the requirement and submitted a resume that disclosed her part-time position before taking the job in Plainfield.
Though the city argued that firing Warwas was justified because of her prior disciplinary record — including two suspensions for the confusion surrounding her alleged failure to designate an acting health officer while on vacation in summer 2006 — the administrative law judge ruled that "Warwas did not in any sense fail to comply with the Employee Handbook by not submitting a written application for permission to do what she already had disclosed in 2003."
Brandon Lausch can be reached at (908) 707-3175 or blausch@c-n.com.
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, December 30, 2007
EnCap - Bergen Record - Wisler-Robinson connections laid out
Published in the Bergen Record, Sunday, December 23, 2007
How EnCap pair played winning hand
By JEFF PILLETS
STAFF WRITERS
State officials investigating the EnCap Golf debacle are probing the close personal and professional relationship between EnCap's lead attorney and a major dirt vendor who won a $14 million contract at the troubled landfill project.
The lawyer is Eric D. Wisler, a senior partner in the powerful DeCotiis firm of Teaneck.
The contractor is Leroy I. Robinson, a part-time political operative from Essex County who managed to win millions in government contracts while working as a maintenance foreman for the Garden State Parkway.
He is also the unindicted co-conspirator mentioned in federal documents from a corruption investigation in Monmouth County, according to one of the disgraced officials involved in the scandal.
The 10-year relationship between Wisler and Robinson has been beneficial to both.
Robinson, as a commissioner of the Essex County Utilities Authority, approved millions of dollars in no-bid legal work the authority gave to Wisler as general counsel.
And Robinson gave Wisler's wife, Merry, a job working for yet another of his ventures, a title-insurance company with offices on the 15th floor of Newark's landmark One Washington Square.
For his part, Wisler helped Robinson set up a private fill-supply partnership with the chairman of the utilities authority. And it was Wisler who led Robinson to the EnCap contract.
"I was out with Eric and they were looking for a fill provider,'' Robinson said last week in an interview at his attorney's office. "That's how it all got started.''
Robinson and his attorney, Patrick Collins of Franzblau Dratch in Livingston, said they have been questioned extensively by investigators working for state Inspector General Mary Jane Cooper, who for the last 10 months has been probing how EnCap secured $300 million in public financing.
Robinson acknowledged that Cooper has forwarded information about his dealings with Wisler to the state Attorney General's Office, which is evaluating Cooper's findings for possible criminal prosecution. Both Cooper's office and the Attorney General's Office declined comment for this article.
In a statement Friday, Eric Wisler denied that there was anything improper in his relationship with Robinson:
"EnCap urgently needed to bring in a contractor who could provide immediate fill that met state standards. [Robinson's company] was a qualified fill and transfer operator who EnCap believed would get the job done. They were brought on after others had failed, and any suggestion that my wife's brief time there in a clerical position was a factor is an absolute lie."
A separate statement from EnCap itself echoed Wisler's.
Many of the cost overruns and construction delays that hobbled the project stemmed from EnCap's inability to obtain and manage the 8 million cubic yards of fill material needed to cover the old Meadowlands landfills at the heart of the golf village venture.
While Robinson's 2004 contract with EnCap obliged him to supply clean fill at a price of $2.85 a cubic yard, he was largely unable to deliver material at that price, and later submitted estimates as high as $20 a cubic yard.
Robinson's company has sued EnCap, saying it still is owed $1.3 million for the dirt it delivered before the project collapsed earlier this year. Robinson said the company received $5.7 million.
Robinson blamed fill problems on EnCap's incompetence and "complete failure" to manage daily operations at the 795-acre site in Lyndhurst and Rutherford. The developer, he said, also reneged on promises to furnish a processing center onsite.
"They're trying to lay all the blame for EnCap at my feet, and that isn't fair,'' Robinson said. "This project was messed up beyond belief.''
Robinson and his attorney also downplayed his 10-year business and social relationship with Wisler, and dismissed the suggestion that their mutual success in collecting taxpayer money through public contracts was at all related. He said he employed Wisler's wife for only two to 2½ years, and claimed she was paid nothing at first and just $20,000 to $30,000 total, doing secretarial tasks.
"Leroy Robinson is a qualified fill contractor and Eric Wisler is his friend, that's the end of the story," said Collins, Robinson's attorney. "Leroy gave Merry Wisler a job because she was a friend, a bored housewife looking for something to do. The idea that there is any quid pro quo is ridiculous.''
Collins did, however, concede that Merry Wisler's employment with Robinson was "a serious lapse of judgment on Wisler's part.''
"I'm sure he regrets it, because now he's answering questions about it from the state,'' Collins said.
Tied to scandal
Court documents filed in September by U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie in the ongoing Monmouth County scandal describe a kickback and money-laundering scheme involving someone identified only as "C-1," a "co-conspirator not named as a defendant."
Former Keyport Mayor John Merla, the brother of the defendant in that case, told The Record last week that Leroy Robinson was "C-1."
The former mayor was one of 11 officials arrested in 2005 in Christie's "Operation Bid Rig" investigation of public-contract awards. He has pleaded guilty to bribery in the scheme and has been sentenced to a 22-month prison term.
Robinson and Collins declined to answer any questions about the federal investigation.
Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for Christie, declined to answer questions about Robinson.
The court papers describe how undercover federal agents wearing concealed wires recorded a series of meetings in 2004 between Keyport businessman Joseph "JoJo" Merla and "C-1."
Federal prosecutors say "C-1" greased the conspiracy's wheels by writing money-laundering checks for consulting work that never happened. On one check, "C-1" wrote: "Consulting Services Fill Protocol.''
In state documents concerning the EnCap project, Robinson is described as a fill-protocol consultant. One of Robinson's companies, LIR-Consulting, was set up by Wisler, who is listed as the partnership's registered agent.
State records also list the DeCotiis firm as registered agent of the Uptown Keyport Bar and Grill LLC. According to John Merla, Robinson and his mother were once partners in the business; another brother, Charles Merla, owns it now.
Joseph Merla pleaded guilty to conspiracy in September of this year; federal authorities have requested that his sentencing be postponed until March, pending his "continued cooperation in an ongoing investigation."
Won dubious loans
In recent months, The Record has reported extensively how Wisler and another DeCotiis attorney won a series of lucrative concessions for the EnCap projects from state regulators overseeing the project.
State documents and interviews with top regulators showed that the firm was instrumental in engineering an unprecedented series of low-interest state loans that made the project possible. Former Department of Environmental Protection Chief Bradley Campbell and Treasurer John McCormac both said they opposed a loan but were told by the Governor's Office to make it anyway.
With the loan now in default and EnCap verging on extinction, state officials admit taxpayers may be stuck with a $51 million bill for part of the loan proceeds that cannot be recovered.
Terms of the loan and a series of environmental breaks -- including permission to bring millions of tons of contaminated materials to the EnCap site -- were largely negotiated by Wisler during the McGreevey administration.
At the time, Wisler's law partner, Al DeCotiis, was James McGreevey's chief fund-raiser, while another Wisler partner, Michael DeCotiis, was McGreevey's chief counsel.
Documents recently obtained by The Record show that McGreevey's first attorney general, David Samson, scolded Wisler for holding inappropriate private meetings about EnCap with McGreevey Cabinet officers. "This is not the first time you have been warned,'' Samson wrote in a 2002 letter to Wisler.
"This project was clearly one that the Governor's Office wanted, and there was little chance that anyone could stop it,'' Campbell, the former DEP commissioner, said in a recent interview. "Eric Wisler and the DeCotiis firm clearly had a lot of influence.''
Checkered past
It is unclear if the state ever looked into Robinson's checkered employment record with the state before approving his exclusive contract to supply 2.5 million cubic yards to be placed near the surface, above the landfill caps that were to be installed at the EnCap site.
In 1999, Robinson was suspended from his $92,000-a-year job for allegedly stealing paint from the New Jersey Highway Authority. Investigators said he gave the paint to a friend in South Jersey who owned a chicken farm and was seeking poultry contracts in Atlantic City -- where Robinson served on the convention center board.
Three years later, Robinson was placed on leave again after a private detective hired by the authority videotaped him routinely cutting hours from work to run errands or relax at home.
Robinson denies any wrongdoing on his parkway job, from which he retired in July 2005 with a pension of $3,200 a month. He said he was easily able to manage all his part-time ventures, including political fund raising, fill work and affirmative-action consulting, while working for the parkway.
Robinson's success in winning major public contracts while working as full-time highway foreman for the state underscores how closely private and public interests can intersect in New Jersey.
Consider Robinson's record with the Essex County Utilities Authority, an agency where he served as one of nine commissioners -- including periods as vice chairman and a steering-board member -- from August 1997 to February 2003.
Robinson won his appointment to the authority after volunteering as a fund-raiser and minority-outreach worker for Gov. Christie Whitman's 1997 reelection campaign. He was officially nominated to the board by then-Essex County Executive James Treffinger, another Republican, who was sentenced in 2003 to a 13-month prison term on a federal corruption conviction.
As a board member, Robinson voted on millions in spending, including legal fees paid to the authority's general counsel -- Wisler -- with whom Robinson was forging close ties as a friend and legal adviser.
Robinson also formed a business partnership with another board member, Nutley Township Commissioner Mauro Tucci. In 2001, Wisler filed papers with the state declaring himself the registered agent for G & I Associates, a fill-supply company that had Robinson's suburban Maplewood home as its address.
Under Tucci's chairmanship of the authority, the agency board approved millions in fees to Wisler and the DeCotiis firm. In Bloomfield, where Tucci worked as township administrator and Robinson was awarded a lucrative "affirmative-action" consulting contract, the DeCotiis firm was paid $350,000 for legal work between 2001 and 2003.
Robinson resigned from the utilities authority in June 2003 as it was preparing to get bids on a five-year, $9 million contract to dispose of ash from the county incinerator. Although five firms submitted bids for the exclusive contract, the winner and low bidder turned out to be a business partner of Leroy Robinson.
Robinson and Newark demolition contractor Ted Fiore formed a company called LIR-Fiore registered to the address of Robinson's consulting and insurance office.
Tom Barrett, a spokesman for the utilities authority, said that after winning the contract in February 2004, Fiore directed the authority's financial officer to send all paperwork, including bimonthly payments and invoices, to LIR-Fiore's office in Newark.
"We had no way of knowing Robinson was involved,'' Barrett said.
Robinson denied being partners with Fiore at the time the ash contract was awarded to Fiore, and said he didn't join the partnership until several days later, when, he claimed, Fiore approached him to help finance a bond needed in connection with the contract.
Robinson disclosed his financial interest in the contract on a 2005 state ethics form.
Competitor removed
For Robinson and Fiore, who did not respond to requests for an interview, the Essex County contract tied in nicely with their developing plans for EnCap. Robinson said he planned to mix some of the highly contaminated incinerator ash with sewage sludge and dump the mixture at EnCap.
EnCap demurred on the ash, but Robinson and Fiore moved ahead with their plans to supply other fill.
The Robinson and Fiore team was the third in a succession of haulers who had at one time been tabbed by EnCap as a main fill provider for material above the cap.
One of the spurned companies, owned by prominent New Jersey hauler Nicholas Mazzochi, lost out to Robinson after obtaining a DEP permit to do the EnCap work and building a $5 million facility for the work.
Mazzochi said Wisler engineered his removal from the site so EnCap could gain control of a huge amount of clean material he already had placed there.
"They forced me off the site, ordered me to remove my fill, but then a year later take control of it themselves and plow it under,'' said Mazzochi. "I was screwed beyond being screwed, and it was all engineered by Eric Wisler to make money in that rats' nest they created in the Meadowlands."
Robinson's contract gave him huge influence over the environmental health of the future EnCap development, a site where 5,000 people were to live eventually. As a "fill broker" for the project, Robinson was charged with finding clean material and policing hundreds of haulers who arrived there every day.
He was, in essence, a watchdog for the largest redevelopment project in New Jersey history.
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 EnCap pair played winning hand
By JEFF PILLETS
STAFF WRITERS
State officials investigating the EnCap Golf debacle are probing the close personal and professional relationship between EnCap's lead attorney and a major dirt vendor who won a $14 million contract at the troubled landfill project.
The lawyer is Eric D. Wisler, a senior partner in the powerful DeCotiis firm of Teaneck.
The contractor is Leroy I. Robinson, a part-time political operative from Essex County who managed to win millions in government contracts while working as a maintenance foreman for the Garden State Parkway.
He is also the unindicted co-conspirator mentioned in federal documents from a corruption investigation in Monmouth County, according to one of the disgraced officials involved in the scandal.
The 10-year relationship between Wisler and Robinson has been beneficial to both.
Robinson, as a commissioner of the Essex County Utilities Authority, approved millions of dollars in no-bid legal work the authority gave to Wisler as general counsel.
And Robinson gave Wisler's wife, Merry, a job working for yet another of his ventures, a title-insurance company with offices on the 15th floor of Newark's landmark One Washington Square.
For his part, Wisler helped Robinson set up a private fill-supply partnership with the chairman of the utilities authority. And it was Wisler who led Robinson to the EnCap contract.
"I was out with Eric and they were looking for a fill provider,'' Robinson said last week in an interview at his attorney's office. "That's how it all got started.''
Robinson and his attorney, Patrick Collins of Franzblau Dratch in Livingston, said they have been questioned extensively by investigators working for state Inspector General Mary Jane Cooper, who for the last 10 months has been probing how EnCap secured $300 million in public financing.
Robinson acknowledged that Cooper has forwarded information about his dealings with Wisler to the state Attorney General's Office, which is evaluating Cooper's findings for possible criminal prosecution. Both Cooper's office and the Attorney General's Office declined comment for this article.
In a statement Friday, Eric Wisler denied that there was anything improper in his relationship with Robinson:
"EnCap urgently needed to bring in a contractor who could provide immediate fill that met state standards. [Robinson's company] was a qualified fill and transfer operator who EnCap believed would get the job done. They were brought on after others had failed, and any suggestion that my wife's brief time there in a clerical position was a factor is an absolute lie."
A separate statement from EnCap itself echoed Wisler's.
Many of the cost overruns and construction delays that hobbled the project stemmed from EnCap's inability to obtain and manage the 8 million cubic yards of fill material needed to cover the old Meadowlands landfills at the heart of the golf village venture.
While Robinson's 2004 contract with EnCap obliged him to supply clean fill at a price of $2.85 a cubic yard, he was largely unable to deliver material at that price, and later submitted estimates as high as $20 a cubic yard.
Robinson's company has sued EnCap, saying it still is owed $1.3 million for the dirt it delivered before the project collapsed earlier this year. Robinson said the company received $5.7 million.
Robinson blamed fill problems on EnCap's incompetence and "complete failure" to manage daily operations at the 795-acre site in Lyndhurst and Rutherford. The developer, he said, also reneged on promises to furnish a processing center onsite.
"They're trying to lay all the blame for EnCap at my feet, and that isn't fair,'' Robinson said. "This project was messed up beyond belief.''
Robinson and his attorney also downplayed his 10-year business and social relationship with Wisler, and dismissed the suggestion that their mutual success in collecting taxpayer money through public contracts was at all related. He said he employed Wisler's wife for only two to 2½ years, and claimed she was paid nothing at first and just $20,000 to $30,000 total, doing secretarial tasks.
"Leroy Robinson is a qualified fill contractor and Eric Wisler is his friend, that's the end of the story," said Collins, Robinson's attorney. "Leroy gave Merry Wisler a job because she was a friend, a bored housewife looking for something to do. The idea that there is any quid pro quo is ridiculous.''
Collins did, however, concede that Merry Wisler's employment with Robinson was "a serious lapse of judgment on Wisler's part.''
"I'm sure he regrets it, because now he's answering questions about it from the state,'' Collins said.
Tied to scandal
Court documents filed in September by U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie in the ongoing Monmouth County scandal describe a kickback and money-laundering scheme involving someone identified only as "C-1," a "co-conspirator not named as a defendant."
Former Keyport Mayor John Merla, the brother of the defendant in that case, told The Record last week that Leroy Robinson was "C-1."
The former mayor was one of 11 officials arrested in 2005 in Christie's "Operation Bid Rig" investigation of public-contract awards. He has pleaded guilty to bribery in the scheme and has been sentenced to a 22-month prison term.
Robinson and Collins declined to answer any questions about the federal investigation.
Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for Christie, declined to answer questions about Robinson.
The court papers describe how undercover federal agents wearing concealed wires recorded a series of meetings in 2004 between Keyport businessman Joseph "JoJo" Merla and "C-1."
Federal prosecutors say "C-1" greased the conspiracy's wheels by writing money-laundering checks for consulting work that never happened. On one check, "C-1" wrote: "Consulting Services Fill Protocol.''
In state documents concerning the EnCap project, Robinson is described as a fill-protocol consultant. One of Robinson's companies, LIR-Consulting, was set up by Wisler, who is listed as the partnership's registered agent.
State records also list the DeCotiis firm as registered agent of the Uptown Keyport Bar and Grill LLC. According to John Merla, Robinson and his mother were once partners in the business; another brother, Charles Merla, owns it now.
Joseph Merla pleaded guilty to conspiracy in September of this year; federal authorities have requested that his sentencing be postponed until March, pending his "continued cooperation in an ongoing investigation."
Won dubious loans
In recent months, The Record has reported extensively how Wisler and another DeCotiis attorney won a series of lucrative concessions for the EnCap projects from state regulators overseeing the project.
State documents and interviews with top regulators showed that the firm was instrumental in engineering an unprecedented series of low-interest state loans that made the project possible. Former Department of Environmental Protection Chief Bradley Campbell and Treasurer John McCormac both said they opposed a loan but were told by the Governor's Office to make it anyway.
With the loan now in default and EnCap verging on extinction, state officials admit taxpayers may be stuck with a $51 million bill for part of the loan proceeds that cannot be recovered.
Terms of the loan and a series of environmental breaks -- including permission to bring millions of tons of contaminated materials to the EnCap site -- were largely negotiated by Wisler during the McGreevey administration.
At the time, Wisler's law partner, Al DeCotiis, was James McGreevey's chief fund-raiser, while another Wisler partner, Michael DeCotiis, was McGreevey's chief counsel.
Documents recently obtained by The Record show that McGreevey's first attorney general, David Samson, scolded Wisler for holding inappropriate private meetings about EnCap with McGreevey Cabinet officers. "This is not the first time you have been warned,'' Samson wrote in a 2002 letter to Wisler.
"This project was clearly one that the Governor's Office wanted, and there was little chance that anyone could stop it,'' Campbell, the former DEP commissioner, said in a recent interview. "Eric Wisler and the DeCotiis firm clearly had a lot of influence.''
Checkered past
It is unclear if the state ever looked into Robinson's checkered employment record with the state before approving his exclusive contract to supply 2.5 million cubic yards to be placed near the surface, above the landfill caps that were to be installed at the EnCap site.
In 1999, Robinson was suspended from his $92,000-a-year job for allegedly stealing paint from the New Jersey Highway Authority. Investigators said he gave the paint to a friend in South Jersey who owned a chicken farm and was seeking poultry contracts in Atlantic City -- where Robinson served on the convention center board.
Three years later, Robinson was placed on leave again after a private detective hired by the authority videotaped him routinely cutting hours from work to run errands or relax at home.
Robinson denies any wrongdoing on his parkway job, from which he retired in July 2005 with a pension of $3,200 a month. He said he was easily able to manage all his part-time ventures, including political fund raising, fill work and affirmative-action consulting, while working for the parkway.
Robinson's success in winning major public contracts while working as full-time highway foreman for the state underscores how closely private and public interests can intersect in New Jersey.
Consider Robinson's record with the Essex County Utilities Authority, an agency where he served as one of nine commissioners -- including periods as vice chairman and a steering-board member -- from August 1997 to February 2003.
Robinson won his appointment to the authority after volunteering as a fund-raiser and minority-outreach worker for Gov. Christie Whitman's 1997 reelection campaign. He was officially nominated to the board by then-Essex County Executive James Treffinger, another Republican, who was sentenced in 2003 to a 13-month prison term on a federal corruption conviction.
As a board member, Robinson voted on millions in spending, including legal fees paid to the authority's general counsel -- Wisler -- with whom Robinson was forging close ties as a friend and legal adviser.
Robinson also formed a business partnership with another board member, Nutley Township Commissioner Mauro Tucci. In 2001, Wisler filed papers with the state declaring himself the registered agent for G & I Associates, a fill-supply company that had Robinson's suburban Maplewood home as its address.
Under Tucci's chairmanship of the authority, the agency board approved millions in fees to Wisler and the DeCotiis firm. In Bloomfield, where Tucci worked as township administrator and Robinson was awarded a lucrative "affirmative-action" consulting contract, the DeCotiis firm was paid $350,000 for legal work between 2001 and 2003.
Robinson resigned from the utilities authority in June 2003 as it was preparing to get bids on a five-year, $9 million contract to dispose of ash from the county incinerator. Although five firms submitted bids for the exclusive contract, the winner and low bidder turned out to be a business partner of Leroy Robinson.
Robinson and Newark demolition contractor Ted Fiore formed a company called LIR-Fiore registered to the address of Robinson's consulting and insurance office.
Tom Barrett, a spokesman for the utilities authority, said that after winning the contract in February 2004, Fiore directed the authority's financial officer to send all paperwork, including bimonthly payments and invoices, to LIR-Fiore's office in Newark.
"We had no way of knowing Robinson was involved,'' Barrett said.
Robinson denied being partners with Fiore at the time the ash contract was awarded to Fiore, and said he didn't join the partnership until several days later, when, he claimed, Fiore approached him to help finance a bond needed in connection with the contract.
Robinson disclosed his financial interest in the contract on a 2005 state ethics form.
Competitor removed
For Robinson and Fiore, who did not respond to requests for an interview, the Essex County contract tied in nicely with their developing plans for EnCap. Robinson said he planned to mix some of the highly contaminated incinerator ash with sewage sludge and dump the mixture at EnCap.
EnCap demurred on the ash, but Robinson and Fiore moved ahead with their plans to supply other fill.
The Robinson and Fiore team was the third in a succession of haulers who had at one time been tabbed by EnCap as a main fill provider for material above the cap.
One of the spurned companies, owned by prominent New Jersey hauler Nicholas Mazzochi, lost out to Robinson after obtaining a DEP permit to do the EnCap work and building a $5 million facility for the work.
Mazzochi said Wisler engineered his removal from the site so EnCap could gain control of a huge amount of clean material he already had placed there.
"They forced me off the site, ordered me to remove my fill, but then a year later take control of it themselves and plow it under,'' said Mazzochi. "I was screwed beyond being screwed, and it was all engineered by Eric Wisler to make money in that rats' nest they created in the Meadowlands."
Robinson's contract gave him huge influence over the environmental health of the future EnCap development, a site where 5,000 people were to live eventually. As a "fill broker" for the project, Robinson was charged with finding clean material and policing hundreds of haulers who arrived there every day.
He was, in essence, a watchdog for the largest redevelopment project in New Jersey history.
RELATED LINKSStaff Writer James Quirk contributed to this article. E-mail: pillets@northjersey.com and brennan@northjersey.com.
Video: Trump tours EnCap
Video: Guided tour of the development site
Letter to Senate Pres. Codey from Inspecter General Cooper
DEP list of violations by EnCap
Meadowlands Commission Web site
More coverage on Encap
* * *
Some key figures in probe of EnCap deals
• Eric D. Wisler: Partner in DeCotiis, FitzPatrick, Cole & Wisler; lead attorney for EnCap; former attorney for the Essex County Utilities Authority.
• Merry Wisler: Wife of Eric Wisler; former employee of Leroy Robinson.
• Leroy Robinson: Partner in LIR-Fiore, a major fill provider for EnCap; former member of the Essex County Utilities Authority board.
• Ted Fiore: Partner with Leroy Robinson in LIR-Fiore; partner with Robinson in Essex County ash-disposal contract.
• John Merla: Former mayor of Keyport; pleaded guilty in January to a single federal bribery count and is due to begin a 22-month prison sentence next month.
• Joseph "Jo-Jo" Merla: Brother of John Merla; pleaded guilty in September to a single federal count of money laundering.
• Mary Jane Cooper: New Jersey inspector general; expected to release a report in coming weeks on her office's investigation into the EnCap project.
• Mauro Tucci: Former board chairman of the Essex County Utilities Authority; formed fill company with Leroy Robinson.
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.)
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Webcams - Ledger - Woodbridge watches skate park
Published in the Star-Ledger, Friday, November 30, 2007
[Webcams]
Live, from Woodbridge
BY SHARON ADARLO
Star-Ledger Staff
Forget to wear a helmet at the Woodbridge skate park and kids may expect a stern text message from a tech-savvy parent before landing their first jump. Go without a coat on a chilly day, and mom may stop by the park to drop off another layer.
Woodbridge's skate park is now live on the Web courtesy of a $19,000 camera system that allows parents to log on to watch kids flip, turn and grind the rails.
After vandals damaged the park earlier this year by prying ramps from the concrete base and scrawling graffiti, township officials installed a 24-hour surveillance camera for police and parents to keep an eye on the popular recreation venue.
"Any parent at home can click on it and make sure their kids are where they're supposed to be," said Charles Kenny, a Woodbridge councilman.
Woodbridge is among a handful of towns across the country experimenting with Webcams at public recreation areas -- both as a way to fight crime and to give parents another way to keep up with their children. The Webcam images are recorded digitally by the police and may be reviewed if another incident like the recent damage at the skate park occurs.
"A lot of people were upset with the vandalism," said Mayor John McCormac, who came up with the camera idea. "Now we have extra eyes and ears on the job. Anybody can see something happening and report it."
The camera sits atop a 50-foot metal pole and provides a wide-angle view on the skate park as kids launch from various ramps and rails into twisting turns and tricks. Most of the skate boarders at the crowded park earlier this month had no idea their skills could be viewed on the Web anywhere in the world.
"It's pretty cool because people can see us skate," said Ryan Berg, 13, of Cliffwood Beach.
The resolution of the color broadcast is sharp enough to pick out skaters by their clothes.
Ocean Township Mayor Dan Van Pelt said his municipality spent $23,000 to install a similar Webcam that has the ability to rotate and zoom for views of the new skate park in the Waretown section of the Ocean County township.
With the proximity of the park to busy Route 9, the camera also gives parents another way to make sure kids arrive safely at the park.
"If we are going to make that kind of capital investment, we want to protect it," Van Pelt said. "It's a valuable tool. I like to see the kids enjoy the skate park."
A link to the Woodbridge's skate park Webcam is available at the bottom of the township's main Web site: www.twp.woodbridge.nj.us.
Not everyone is thrilled to be online, said some kids at the park on a recent afternoon.
"It's pretty radical, but I don't know -- it's an invasion of privacy," said Dylan Sobin, 15, of Cliffwood Beach. He said he was worried it could be a way for pedophiles to scout victims.
Parents visiting the park voiced support for the added measure of security.
"It's very nice," said Barbara Moore of Avenel, who was waiting for her grandson. "You can see what they're doing. You can keep an eye on them."
Other kids seemed willing to accept the Webcam as added protection.
"It's good," Chris Camplos, 12, of Woodbridge, who was riding a razor-scooter. "Everybody was sad when the skate park was vandalized. Now all parents can watch everything."
Sharon Adarlo may be reached at sadarlo@starledger.com or (732) 404-8081.
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.)
[Webcams]
Live, from Woodbridge
BY SHARON ADARLO
Star-Ledger Staff
Forget to wear a helmet at the Woodbridge skate park and kids may expect a stern text message from a tech-savvy parent before landing their first jump. Go without a coat on a chilly day, and mom may stop by the park to drop off another layer.
Woodbridge's skate park is now live on the Web courtesy of a $19,000 camera system that allows parents to log on to watch kids flip, turn and grind the rails.
After vandals damaged the park earlier this year by prying ramps from the concrete base and scrawling graffiti, township officials installed a 24-hour surveillance camera for police and parents to keep an eye on the popular recreation venue.
"Any parent at home can click on it and make sure their kids are where they're supposed to be," said Charles Kenny, a Woodbridge councilman.
Woodbridge is among a handful of towns across the country experimenting with Webcams at public recreation areas -- both as a way to fight crime and to give parents another way to keep up with their children. The Webcam images are recorded digitally by the police and may be reviewed if another incident like the recent damage at the skate park occurs.
"A lot of people were upset with the vandalism," said Mayor John McCormac, who came up with the camera idea. "Now we have extra eyes and ears on the job. Anybody can see something happening and report it."
The camera sits atop a 50-foot metal pole and provides a wide-angle view on the skate park as kids launch from various ramps and rails into twisting turns and tricks. Most of the skate boarders at the crowded park earlier this month had no idea their skills could be viewed on the Web anywhere in the world.
"It's pretty cool because people can see us skate," said Ryan Berg, 13, of Cliffwood Beach.
The resolution of the color broadcast is sharp enough to pick out skaters by their clothes.
Ocean Township Mayor Dan Van Pelt said his municipality spent $23,000 to install a similar Webcam that has the ability to rotate and zoom for views of the new skate park in the Waretown section of the Ocean County township.
With the proximity of the park to busy Route 9, the camera also gives parents another way to make sure kids arrive safely at the park.
"If we are going to make that kind of capital investment, we want to protect it," Van Pelt said. "It's a valuable tool. I like to see the kids enjoy the skate park."
A link to the Woodbridge's skate park Webcam is available at the bottom of the township's main Web site: www.twp.woodbridge.nj.us.
Not everyone is thrilled to be online, said some kids at the park on a recent afternoon.
"It's pretty radical, but I don't know -- it's an invasion of privacy," said Dylan Sobin, 15, of Cliffwood Beach. He said he was worried it could be a way for pedophiles to scout victims.
Parents visiting the park voiced support for the added measure of security.
"It's very nice," said Barbara Moore of Avenel, who was waiting for her grandson. "You can see what they're doing. You can keep an eye on them."
Other kids seemed willing to accept the Webcam as added protection.
"It's good," Chris Camplos, 12, of Woodbridge, who was riding a razor-scooter. "Everybody was sad when the skate park was vandalized. Now all parents can watch everything."
Sharon Adarlo may be reached at sadarlo@starledger.com or (732) 404-8081.
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.)
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Development - APP - Esperanza halted, others cut back
Published in the Asbury Park Press, Tuesday, December 11, 2007
A blip in beachfront boom
Esperanza halts condo construction
By Nancy Shields • COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU • December 11, 2007
ASBURY PARK — The Hoboken developer building the 224-unit Esperanza high-rise on the city's beachfront says it is temporarily closing down the construction site and sales office.
Dean Geibel, president of Metro Homes, said the company recently informed the city that it was halting construction and sales "until such time market conditions allow us to move forward and successfully complete this important luxury beachfront development.
"We are convinced that the national mortgage crisis now impacting real estate markets around the country represents a temporary setback, and we remain fully committed to Asbury Park and its rebirth," Geibel said in a telephone interview Monday.
Geibel said there are sales contracts on about 70 of the condominium units in the two-tower building, which is three stories out of the ground and is being constructed on the site of the failed C-8 condominium project that dogged the city for 17 years until Metro Homes imploded the unfinished steel skeleton in the spring of 2006.
Geibel said the money people put down on their units is being held in escrow. "It's too early to decide how they'll be impacted," he said.
The Esperanza promised buyers beachfront homes with hotel amenities in an architectural design that evokes images of waves and ships.
"I understand what they're going through, and I do not blame them," said City Councilman John Loffredo, who said that Metro Homes had told the city a couple of months ago that it might have to alter the design.
Loffredo, who wants the Esperanza built as is, said redesigning it would mean starting over with the city's technical review committee and Planning Board to get a new project approved.
Metro Homes' decision comes as Madison Marquette, the national retail developer, has formed a joint venture with master developer Asbury Partners and is restoring and renovating the Paramount Theatre and Convention Hall, the Casino, the Power Plant and boardwalk pavilions.
Upbeat outlook
City Manager Terence Reidy said he talked to about 50 investors at a luncheon Monday at the Market In The Middle restaurant downtown.
"I feel badly about this hiccup with Metro Homes. Dean has come to us and said he's regrouping. This is a good time to do it, in light of winter and the market. I think it's a positive strategic move for Dean. . . . We'll be there and work with him every step of the way."
"I think what is so significant about Asbury Park is a solid stream of people coming in to fix up homes, starting businesses," Reidy added. "The foundation is so strong in this city now that it's not built on one person, one developer, one project. . . . It's literally built on thousands of people who are coming in saying, "This is where I want to live.' "
Bob Davis, president of the Rumson-Fair Haven Bank, which plans to open a fourth branch to be known as the Asbury Park Community Bank in the city's downtown next April, said he did not think the news about Metro temporarily closing down affected his bank's project.
Local businessman Steve Troy, who is on the city's Planning Board and a leader in the Chamber of Commerce, did not like the news that Metro is shutting down, saying it is happening at a time when the city's revival seems to be particularly successful.
"This (Metro Homes) really is more a statement about the turmoil in the real estate market than the future of Asbury Park," Troy said.
Deputy Mayor Jim Bruno said he found out about Metro Homes' decision on Friday.
"They have to regroup, may have to downsize it, refinance it," Bruno said. "I guess they're not going to have enough money to finish this project. It won't be as high-end as they thought it would be."
South end slowdown
With the site between Third and Fourth avenues closing down, it will mean that only Paramount Homes is still building on the waterfront north of the newly reopened and renamed Berkeley Hotel.
Earlier this year, Kushner Cos. made significant changes in its housing investments, and its affiliated company, Westminster Communities, halted going forward on its second block at the south end of Asbury Park next to Wesley Lake. Westminster opened a new sales office at its existing site of townhomes and condominium flats to sell those units already built.
Larry Fishman, chief operating officer of Asbury Partners, the master developer that bought up the waterfront and sold off parcels to individual developers, said Monday that a number of companies, including Madison Marquette, are interested in buying out Westminster's real estate interests.
Gary Mottola, Madison Marquette's president of investments, could not be reached for comment.
"Asbury Partners is very sad that the current financing and real estate market has caused Metro to suspend construction on the Esperanza," Fishman said.
"It's a great building in a fabulous location," he added. "Reported sales were going well in terms of pre-sales and prices despite an overall negative market. We are hopeful Metro will be able to start construction soon or sell to another developer."
Fishman said the building was designed three years ago and Metro may require certain modifications that affect both the marketability and profitability.
Fishman said he could not comment if his company could decrease the amount of money it is slated to make as the master developer on the Esperanza.
Geibel said Metro Homes is not stopping construction or sales or any of its other projects, including the huge Trump Plaza Jersey City condominium project. Metro and partner Donald Trump are the builders.
"There are some adjustments that have to be made," Reidy, the city manager, said. "We don't live in a static environment; we live in a world that is in flux. I think Metro Homes is a solid organization and I think they have a very positive vision. We'll work together."
CARE TO COMMENT?
angelface wrote:
dankaplan, if you reread my comment, there is no mention that my business failed. I simply stated I moved my business to a thriving, safe area. Not sure about the tillie guy but I do know a few business that left. I know many people who moved out of Asbury in the past year. My business did pretty good in Asbury. I left once again, because of the bs in Asbury and mainly because of the trash. Living there, I witnessed many a morning, prostitutes, crack addicts, etc. and many times heard gunshots. I simply thought my life was more deserving. If you must know I opened my business in Lavalette. I , once again, thought Asbury was going to be the Old Asbury we all loved. As for advice my dear, this is my third location I opened so I evidently know what I am doing. By the way I have been back to Asbury , I know quite a few of the merchants. They tell me the truth of what is going on. Not impressed . Did you hear about the family held at gunpoint on Cookman. ?
12/14/2007 7:30:34 PM
dankaplan wrote:
Angelface, I'm sorry to hear that your business failed. It seems like you and Tilliesdead had bad experiences in Asbury Park. Opening a business is a significant endeavor and can take planning, including a contingency for failure. I hope you have such a plan for your new business in the other town. What town is it? What type of business? I hope this time you sought the advice of someone who could develop a business plan with you. If you come back to Asbury Park sometime, you can see the families, singles, couples, young and old attending events along the waterfront. The rest of Asbury Park is cleaning up, and currently there is a variety of levels of "cleanliness". Currently, I'd recommend only about 3/4 of the city to families with children, and much less at night. That will change. It is a good feeling to support a place that has such a brighter future over the next few years and decades. I hope you have found something that you can support, be happy with, and be proud of.
12/14/2007 9:55:52 AM
angelface wrote:
I jumped on the boat 3 years ago!!!!! I JUST JUMPED OFF!!!. I not only lived in AP , I opened a business. I was so sick of the BS in that town, never mind the rapes, shootings, burglaries, gangs, etc. I was pro ASbury, defended it everytime someone knocked me down and told me I was crazy. They were right. Yes, Asbury has lots of good people living there but the bad is BAD, very ugly and scary. I now live in a very peaceful area where I hear the ocean in the still of the night, not gun shots. My business in thriving in another beach town where families cann not only go to the boardwalk but can walk ALL over the town. Yes, progress has been made but they should put more effort in cleaning up the streets first then the waterfront . Good Luck to all. Its so sad what is happening to what was once a beautiful beach town. They missed the boat trying to sell the upscale crap. The new Asbury will never be the old Asbury. The other reason I left.
12/13/2007 9:31:03 PM
AsburyFuture wrote:
I have a problem with building low income housing by the beach as well. It will not work. Just look at the souyth west section of town. That is the area that needs the most help. Fix up the neighborhoods there, not shift people around. People need to learn how to take care of themselves before they can take the responsibility of owning their own home in the tourist area. No one wants to see people throw garbage on the ground, or people who don't know how to rake leaves etc... I don't see the benefit of putting low income housing in the tourist area.
12/13/2007 4:05:33 PM
SilverSurfer wrote:
OK what was that article. That guy died for his nice or daughter or something to that extent BUT SHE WAS IN A GANG>>>>> They weren't trying to hit him; they were going for another gang member. I'm sure he knew she was in a gang. It's sad true, but think about it this way 2 gang members of the street. And maybe that girl will rethink about being in a gang and start to convince others. Unfortunately the world need martyrs. Stopping gangs starts at home.
12/13/2007 3:39:58 PM
Emile wrote:
>>>So people get shot every now and again. They probably deserve it<<< Yeah, Silver, they probably deserved it: http://thecoaster.net/wordpress/?p=1668 I guess you subscribe to the Sharpe James school of sociology - "They ain't shootin' at me!"
12/13/2007 2:53:33 PM
SilverSurfer wrote:
IT DOES NOT STOP AT THE BEACH FRONT. THE BEACH IS FOR THE UPPER CLASSES which is fine . It gives me something to aspire to. If they put AFFORDABLE HOUSING ON THE BEACH I WOULD BE PISSED OFF because i would not qualify. Why give the poor the best location????? That�s Madness.
12/13/2007 2:19:24 PM
SilverSurfer wrote:
Ok I've been reading posts on all the stories. I find it pretty funny how people just go after any thing about AP. They say its a ghetto, everyone that bought there got ripped the school systems suck yada yada... I moved to AP 3 years ago I almost bought a house on the "bad side" I really did not care because its really not that bad. Secondly all the people that criticizes AP where do you live? I have A side walk a house with a nice size yard and 9 blocks from the beach. We have some of the best restaurants on the shore, an art community that can rival any jersey town. So people get shot every now and again. They probably deserve it gangs are a problem everywhere. Here people get shot Manalapan Egg harbor kids die too usually OD under their parents nose. No i don�t have kids and guess what if i did i would send them to private school anyway. One more thing there are at least 6 houses that have been redone or built on my block and 2 more in the process of being redone.
12/13/2007 2:18:19 PM
dankaplan wrote:
Emile,�thanks for pointing me to that Esperanza web site.� I never looked there before.� Yes, the advertiser could have done better with the boardwalk picture.� Asbury Park's boardwalk looks similar, but the diagonal boards give it more character.� Also, the benches in Asbury Park are a bit newer and cleaner looking.� I've never seen that particular girl in the surf and the bowling balls look newer than the ones at Asbury Lanes.� I guess they used artistic license.� On the nightlife page,�the bar picture looks similar to the Harrison, the microphone looks like something I'd see at Georgie's on Karaoke night and the mixing board scene is something I'd see at Paradise or the Circuit.� On the dining page, the latte looks like one I've gotten at Wish You Were Here, the red chairs at the long table look like one of the coffee shops, maybe�America's Cup.� The food looks like something I've seen on my dinner plate at Moonstruck, Isabella's, or Laila's.
12/13/2007 12:46:28 PM
Emile wrote:
P.S. If you go to esperanzanj.com and click on community, the site tells you "However you choose to entertain yourself in Asbury Park, you're promised something new, something fresh and something never seen before." Then you click on recreation, and they show a picture of AVON's boardwalk. If that doesn't speak volumes about where the developer's heads were, I don't know what would.
12/13/2007 11:18:16 AM
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.)
A blip in beachfront boom
Esperanza halts condo construction
By Nancy Shields • COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU • December 11, 2007
ASBURY PARK — The Hoboken developer building the 224-unit Esperanza high-rise on the city's beachfront says it is temporarily closing down the construction site and sales office.
Dean Geibel, president of Metro Homes, said the company recently informed the city that it was halting construction and sales "until such time market conditions allow us to move forward and successfully complete this important luxury beachfront development.
"We are convinced that the national mortgage crisis now impacting real estate markets around the country represents a temporary setback, and we remain fully committed to Asbury Park and its rebirth," Geibel said in a telephone interview Monday.
Geibel said there are sales contracts on about 70 of the condominium units in the two-tower building, which is three stories out of the ground and is being constructed on the site of the failed C-8 condominium project that dogged the city for 17 years until Metro Homes imploded the unfinished steel skeleton in the spring of 2006.
Geibel said the money people put down on their units is being held in escrow. "It's too early to decide how they'll be impacted," he said.
The Esperanza promised buyers beachfront homes with hotel amenities in an architectural design that evokes images of waves and ships.
"I understand what they're going through, and I do not blame them," said City Councilman John Loffredo, who said that Metro Homes had told the city a couple of months ago that it might have to alter the design.
Loffredo, who wants the Esperanza built as is, said redesigning it would mean starting over with the city's technical review committee and Planning Board to get a new project approved.
Metro Homes' decision comes as Madison Marquette, the national retail developer, has formed a joint venture with master developer Asbury Partners and is restoring and renovating the Paramount Theatre and Convention Hall, the Casino, the Power Plant and boardwalk pavilions.
Upbeat outlook
City Manager Terence Reidy said he talked to about 50 investors at a luncheon Monday at the Market In The Middle restaurant downtown.
"I feel badly about this hiccup with Metro Homes. Dean has come to us and said he's regrouping. This is a good time to do it, in light of winter and the market. I think it's a positive strategic move for Dean. . . . We'll be there and work with him every step of the way."
"I think what is so significant about Asbury Park is a solid stream of people coming in to fix up homes, starting businesses," Reidy added. "The foundation is so strong in this city now that it's not built on one person, one developer, one project. . . . It's literally built on thousands of people who are coming in saying, "This is where I want to live.' "
Bob Davis, president of the Rumson-Fair Haven Bank, which plans to open a fourth branch to be known as the Asbury Park Community Bank in the city's downtown next April, said he did not think the news about Metro temporarily closing down affected his bank's project.
Local businessman Steve Troy, who is on the city's Planning Board and a leader in the Chamber of Commerce, did not like the news that Metro is shutting down, saying it is happening at a time when the city's revival seems to be particularly successful.
"This (Metro Homes) really is more a statement about the turmoil in the real estate market than the future of Asbury Park," Troy said.
Deputy Mayor Jim Bruno said he found out about Metro Homes' decision on Friday.
"They have to regroup, may have to downsize it, refinance it," Bruno said. "I guess they're not going to have enough money to finish this project. It won't be as high-end as they thought it would be."
South end slowdown
With the site between Third and Fourth avenues closing down, it will mean that only Paramount Homes is still building on the waterfront north of the newly reopened and renamed Berkeley Hotel.
Earlier this year, Kushner Cos. made significant changes in its housing investments, and its affiliated company, Westminster Communities, halted going forward on its second block at the south end of Asbury Park next to Wesley Lake. Westminster opened a new sales office at its existing site of townhomes and condominium flats to sell those units already built.
Larry Fishman, chief operating officer of Asbury Partners, the master developer that bought up the waterfront and sold off parcels to individual developers, said Monday that a number of companies, including Madison Marquette, are interested in buying out Westminster's real estate interests.
Gary Mottola, Madison Marquette's president of investments, could not be reached for comment.
"Asbury Partners is very sad that the current financing and real estate market has caused Metro to suspend construction on the Esperanza," Fishman said.
"It's a great building in a fabulous location," he added. "Reported sales were going well in terms of pre-sales and prices despite an overall negative market. We are hopeful Metro will be able to start construction soon or sell to another developer."
Fishman said the building was designed three years ago and Metro may require certain modifications that affect both the marketability and profitability.
Fishman said he could not comment if his company could decrease the amount of money it is slated to make as the master developer on the Esperanza.
Geibel said Metro Homes is not stopping construction or sales or any of its other projects, including the huge Trump Plaza Jersey City condominium project. Metro and partner Donald Trump are the builders.
"There are some adjustments that have to be made," Reidy, the city manager, said. "We don't live in a static environment; we live in a world that is in flux. I think Metro Homes is a solid organization and I think they have a very positive vision. We'll work together."
CARE TO COMMENT?
angelface wrote:
dankaplan, if you reread my comment, there is no mention that my business failed. I simply stated I moved my business to a thriving, safe area. Not sure about the tillie guy but I do know a few business that left. I know many people who moved out of Asbury in the past year. My business did pretty good in Asbury. I left once again, because of the bs in Asbury and mainly because of the trash. Living there, I witnessed many a morning, prostitutes, crack addicts, etc. and many times heard gunshots. I simply thought my life was more deserving. If you must know I opened my business in Lavalette. I , once again, thought Asbury was going to be the Old Asbury we all loved. As for advice my dear, this is my third location I opened so I evidently know what I am doing. By the way I have been back to Asbury , I know quite a few of the merchants. They tell me the truth of what is going on. Not impressed . Did you hear about the family held at gunpoint on Cookman. ?
12/14/2007 7:30:34 PM
dankaplan wrote:
Angelface, I'm sorry to hear that your business failed. It seems like you and Tilliesdead had bad experiences in Asbury Park. Opening a business is a significant endeavor and can take planning, including a contingency for failure. I hope you have such a plan for your new business in the other town. What town is it? What type of business? I hope this time you sought the advice of someone who could develop a business plan with you. If you come back to Asbury Park sometime, you can see the families, singles, couples, young and old attending events along the waterfront. The rest of Asbury Park is cleaning up, and currently there is a variety of levels of "cleanliness". Currently, I'd recommend only about 3/4 of the city to families with children, and much less at night. That will change. It is a good feeling to support a place that has such a brighter future over the next few years and decades. I hope you have found something that you can support, be happy with, and be proud of.
12/14/2007 9:55:52 AM
angelface wrote:
I jumped on the boat 3 years ago!!!!! I JUST JUMPED OFF!!!. I not only lived in AP , I opened a business. I was so sick of the BS in that town, never mind the rapes, shootings, burglaries, gangs, etc. I was pro ASbury, defended it everytime someone knocked me down and told me I was crazy. They were right. Yes, Asbury has lots of good people living there but the bad is BAD, very ugly and scary. I now live in a very peaceful area where I hear the ocean in the still of the night, not gun shots. My business in thriving in another beach town where families cann not only go to the boardwalk but can walk ALL over the town. Yes, progress has been made but they should put more effort in cleaning up the streets first then the waterfront . Good Luck to all. Its so sad what is happening to what was once a beautiful beach town. They missed the boat trying to sell the upscale crap. The new Asbury will never be the old Asbury. The other reason I left.
12/13/2007 9:31:03 PM
AsburyFuture wrote:
I have a problem with building low income housing by the beach as well. It will not work. Just look at the souyth west section of town. That is the area that needs the most help. Fix up the neighborhoods there, not shift people around. People need to learn how to take care of themselves before they can take the responsibility of owning their own home in the tourist area. No one wants to see people throw garbage on the ground, or people who don't know how to rake leaves etc... I don't see the benefit of putting low income housing in the tourist area.
12/13/2007 4:05:33 PM
SilverSurfer wrote:
OK what was that article. That guy died for his nice or daughter or something to that extent BUT SHE WAS IN A GANG>>>>> They weren't trying to hit him; they were going for another gang member. I'm sure he knew she was in a gang. It's sad true, but think about it this way 2 gang members of the street. And maybe that girl will rethink about being in a gang and start to convince others. Unfortunately the world need martyrs. Stopping gangs starts at home.
12/13/2007 3:39:58 PM
Emile wrote:
>>>So people get shot every now and again. They probably deserve it<<< Yeah, Silver, they probably deserved it: http://thecoaster.net/wordpress/?p=1668 I guess you subscribe to the Sharpe James school of sociology - "They ain't shootin' at me!"
12/13/2007 2:53:33 PM
SilverSurfer wrote:
IT DOES NOT STOP AT THE BEACH FRONT. THE BEACH IS FOR THE UPPER CLASSES which is fine . It gives me something to aspire to. If they put AFFORDABLE HOUSING ON THE BEACH I WOULD BE PISSED OFF because i would not qualify. Why give the poor the best location????? That�s Madness.
12/13/2007 2:19:24 PM
SilverSurfer wrote:
Ok I've been reading posts on all the stories. I find it pretty funny how people just go after any thing about AP. They say its a ghetto, everyone that bought there got ripped the school systems suck yada yada... I moved to AP 3 years ago I almost bought a house on the "bad side" I really did not care because its really not that bad. Secondly all the people that criticizes AP where do you live? I have A side walk a house with a nice size yard and 9 blocks from the beach. We have some of the best restaurants on the shore, an art community that can rival any jersey town. So people get shot every now and again. They probably deserve it gangs are a problem everywhere. Here people get shot Manalapan Egg harbor kids die too usually OD under their parents nose. No i don�t have kids and guess what if i did i would send them to private school anyway. One more thing there are at least 6 houses that have been redone or built on my block and 2 more in the process of being redone.
12/13/2007 2:18:19 PM
dankaplan wrote:
Emile,�thanks for pointing me to that Esperanza web site.� I never looked there before.� Yes, the advertiser could have done better with the boardwalk picture.� Asbury Park's boardwalk looks similar, but the diagonal boards give it more character.� Also, the benches in Asbury Park are a bit newer and cleaner looking.� I've never seen that particular girl in the surf and the bowling balls look newer than the ones at Asbury Lanes.� I guess they used artistic license.� On the nightlife page,�the bar picture looks similar to the Harrison, the microphone looks like something I'd see at Georgie's on Karaoke night and the mixing board scene is something I'd see at Paradise or the Circuit.� On the dining page, the latte looks like one I've gotten at Wish You Were Here, the red chairs at the long table look like one of the coffee shops, maybe�America's Cup.� The food looks like something I've seen on my dinner plate at Moonstruck, Isabella's, or Laila's.
12/13/2007 12:46:28 PM
Emile wrote:
P.S. If you go to esperanzanj.com and click on community, the site tells you "However you choose to entertain yourself in Asbury Park, you're promised something new, something fresh and something never seen before." Then you click on recreation, and they show a picture of AVON's boardwalk. If that doesn't speak volumes about where the developer's heads were, I don't know what would.
12/13/2007 11:18:16 AM
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.)
Development - Ledger - Projects shelved, cut back, delayed
Published in the Star-Ledger, Sunday, December 02, 2007
[See Hughes, Kaplan quotes]
Real estate slump has developers stymied
Perth Amboy, Carteret, East Brunswick slowed
BY SUE EPSTEIN
Star-Ledger Staff
More than $2 billion in redevelopment projects were planned in Perth Amboy, East Brunswick and Carteret, where officials hoped declining business districts and abandoned industrial spots would be replaced by luxury condominiums, townhouses and homes.
But with the real estate boom a fading memory and some housing developers declaring bankruptcy, the grand plans for redevelopment linked to housing have been shelved, scaled down and put in jeopardy. Some underestimated how quickly the housing slump would set in.
"I thought we'd just be going downhill, but we went off a cliff," said Jason Kaplan, president of Kaplan Cos., a developer with multimillion-dollar projects planned in Carteret and Perth Amboy.
In East Brunswick, where Toll Brothers has a contract to redevelop the "Golden Triangle," the formal application for the $35 million project was expected to have been submitted to the planning board already, but the plans have been delayed.
The project would replace a shopping center off Tices Lane, Old Bridge Turnpike and Route 18 with a mix of retail, office and residential units. The site currently includes the Route 18 Flea Market, Jason's Furniture, Sam's Club and the East Brunswick Transportation Center, all of which have leases running through 2008. Toll Brothers now wants to extend the leases until late 2009.
Mayor William Neary said he believes the housing market could have been the reason Toll Brothers has taken longer to file its formal project application.
In Perth Amboy, officials said Kushner Cos., developers of the $600 million Landings at HarborSide project, have delayed the start of the next phase of the project until spring because of the market.
"The question looking back historically is -- were the success stories based on regular market pressures or the housing bubble?" said James Hughes, the dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Policy at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. "We won't know that for several years because this downturn will last several years."
Hughes said he expects the uncertain housing market to continue to decline through 2008 and maybe longer.
"The market is almost paralyzed right now," he said.
Carteret Mayor Dan Reiman and Perth Amboy Mayor Joseph Vas said they are willing to work with developers to tweak projects and make them more marketable in today's climate.
"We have to work to accommodate the needs of the market," Reiman said. "We're fortunate that we have so much going on, not only residential but commercial. We have 13 independent projects. While some have slowed, others have not."
Reiman said the borough worked with Kaplan Cos. to redesign the Gateway at Carteret, the largest redevelopment project in the borough, to reduce the number of the townhouses offered, and their price. The borough also has seen the amount collected from building permits drop $300,000 this year, Reiman said.
Vas acknowledged that effects of the national housing slump have been felt in his city, but he said the impact has been minimal.
"It's difficult to be isolated from a national trend," Vas said. "But I'm confident about what Perth Amboy has to offer."
The next phase in the Landings project has been put off until the spring, and Vas said that the project's developer, Charles Kushner, is taking advantage of the lull in the market to fine-tune the project's specifics.
He said Kushner was examining ways to make the housing units more cost-effective than the first three buildings, so that the development can offer more for less.
Still, Vas maintained that he is not worried by the lagging sales in the national housing market. The first three buildings in the Landings at HarborSide project sold out, and he expects similar success with the additional buildings planned.
Staff writer Allison Steele contributed to this report. Sue Epstein may be reached at sepstein@starledger.com or (732) 404-8085.
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.)
[See Hughes, Kaplan quotes]
Real estate slump has developers stymied
Perth Amboy, Carteret, East Brunswick slowed
BY SUE EPSTEIN
Star-Ledger Staff
More than $2 billion in redevelopment projects were planned in Perth Amboy, East Brunswick and Carteret, where officials hoped declining business districts and abandoned industrial spots would be replaced by luxury condominiums, townhouses and homes.
But with the real estate boom a fading memory and some housing developers declaring bankruptcy, the grand plans for redevelopment linked to housing have been shelved, scaled down and put in jeopardy. Some underestimated how quickly the housing slump would set in.
"I thought we'd just be going downhill, but we went off a cliff," said Jason Kaplan, president of Kaplan Cos., a developer with multimillion-dollar projects planned in Carteret and Perth Amboy.
In East Brunswick, where Toll Brothers has a contract to redevelop the "Golden Triangle," the formal application for the $35 million project was expected to have been submitted to the planning board already, but the plans have been delayed.
The project would replace a shopping center off Tices Lane, Old Bridge Turnpike and Route 18 with a mix of retail, office and residential units. The site currently includes the Route 18 Flea Market, Jason's Furniture, Sam's Club and the East Brunswick Transportation Center, all of which have leases running through 2008. Toll Brothers now wants to extend the leases until late 2009.
Mayor William Neary said he believes the housing market could have been the reason Toll Brothers has taken longer to file its formal project application.
In Perth Amboy, officials said Kushner Cos., developers of the $600 million Landings at HarborSide project, have delayed the start of the next phase of the project until spring because of the market.
"The question looking back historically is -- were the success stories based on regular market pressures or the housing bubble?" said James Hughes, the dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Policy at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. "We won't know that for several years because this downturn will last several years."
Hughes said he expects the uncertain housing market to continue to decline through 2008 and maybe longer.
"The market is almost paralyzed right now," he said.
Carteret Mayor Dan Reiman and Perth Amboy Mayor Joseph Vas said they are willing to work with developers to tweak projects and make them more marketable in today's climate.
"We have to work to accommodate the needs of the market," Reiman said. "We're fortunate that we have so much going on, not only residential but commercial. We have 13 independent projects. While some have slowed, others have not."
Reiman said the borough worked with Kaplan Cos. to redesign the Gateway at Carteret, the largest redevelopment project in the borough, to reduce the number of the townhouses offered, and their price. The borough also has seen the amount collected from building permits drop $300,000 this year, Reiman said.
Vas acknowledged that effects of the national housing slump have been felt in his city, but he said the impact has been minimal.
"It's difficult to be isolated from a national trend," Vas said. "But I'm confident about what Perth Amboy has to offer."
The next phase in the Landings project has been put off until the spring, and Vas said that the project's developer, Charles Kushner, is taking advantage of the lull in the market to fine-tune the project's specifics.
He said Kushner was examining ways to make the housing units more cost-effective than the first three buildings, so that the development can offer more for less.
Still, Vas maintained that he is not worried by the lagging sales in the national housing market. The first three buildings in the Landings at HarborSide project sold out, and he expects similar success with the additional buildings planned.
Staff writer Allison Steele contributed to this report. Sue Epstein may be reached at sepstein@starledger.com or (732) 404-8085.
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.)
Monday, October 15, 2007
Jerry Green - APP - Alman resignation effective Monday
Published in the Asbury Park Press, Friday, October 12, 2007
Assemblyman giving up job at Westfield lobbying firm
BY MICHAEL DEAK
GANNETT NEW JERSEY
Assemblyman Gerald B. Green, D-Union, will resign Monday from his part-time job with the Alman Group, a Westfield-based lobbying firm, to avoid any possible conflict of interest.
He is the firm's vice president for local affairs.
Green's decision was made Oct. 2, a day after Gannett New Jersey reported on his relationship with the firm as part of an eight-day series on government ethics called "Profiting from Public Service: Four years later."
The eight-term lawmaker from Plainfield said he took the action to "eliminate any gray areas" and because he wants to concentrate on major issues in the Legislature if he is re-elected next month.
"I've done everything above board," Green said.
Green, 68, also said he is in line to assume a leadership role next year in the Assembly as deputy speaker pro tempore.
The legislator said he did not want questions about his employment "to take away" from his work on issues such as health care and housing.
"I don't want there to be questions every time I take a stand," he said.
Green sits on the Assembly's Health Committee. He also heads the committee that oversees housing rules.
Among the Alman Group's clients are at least 18 hospitals. In 1999, Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center in Plainfield hired the firm to help win state approval to perform cardiac surgery.
But Green's support of Muhlenberg started before that and continued even after the hospital and Alman parted ways.
Green told Gannett New Jersey that questions about his involvement with Muhlenberg and the city of Plainfield, where he advises Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs, are two reasons he previously has backed away from projects with Alman.
For the past two years, the assemblyman said he has concentrated full time on government, advising Robinson-Briggs without being reimbursed.
"We hope to move the city in the right direction," he said.
Many of his clients at the Alman Group were nonprofit organizations, Green said.
In the past, Green said he has taken other action to avoid conflicts, such as selling two liquor licenses he said he owned.
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.)
Assemblyman giving up job at Westfield lobbying firm
BY MICHAEL DEAK
GANNETT NEW JERSEY
Assemblyman Gerald B. Green, D-Union, will resign Monday from his part-time job with the Alman Group, a Westfield-based lobbying firm, to avoid any possible conflict of interest.
He is the firm's vice president for local affairs.
Green's decision was made Oct. 2, a day after Gannett New Jersey reported on his relationship with the firm as part of an eight-day series on government ethics called "Profiting from Public Service: Four years later."
The eight-term lawmaker from Plainfield said he took the action to "eliminate any gray areas" and because he wants to concentrate on major issues in the Legislature if he is re-elected next month.
"I've done everything above board," Green said.
Green, 68, also said he is in line to assume a leadership role next year in the Assembly as deputy speaker pro tempore.
The legislator said he did not want questions about his employment "to take away" from his work on issues such as health care and housing.
"I don't want there to be questions every time I take a stand," he said.
Green sits on the Assembly's Health Committee. He also heads the committee that oversees housing rules.
Among the Alman Group's clients are at least 18 hospitals. In 1999, Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center in Plainfield hired the firm to help win state approval to perform cardiac surgery.
But Green's support of Muhlenberg started before that and continued even after the hospital and Alman parted ways.
Green told Gannett New Jersey that questions about his involvement with Muhlenberg and the city of Plainfield, where he advises Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs, are two reasons he previously has backed away from projects with Alman.
For the past two years, the assemblyman said he has concentrated full time on government, advising Robinson-Briggs without being reimbursed.
"We hope to move the city in the right direction," he said.
Many of his clients at the Alman Group were nonprofit organizations, Green said.
In the past, Green said he has taken other action to avoid conflicts, such as selling two liquor licenses he said he owned.
COMMENT
You have to be kidding. How long did it take this idiot to find out that this wasn't right. Or did someone just catch up to him. You know did it get to hot in the frying pan. This guy shouldn't hold an office anywhere let alone here in corrupt New Jersey..
Posted by: shadoh12 on Sat Oct 13, 2007 2:45 pm
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, October 14, 2007
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Corruption - Bergen Record - Chris Christie's Catches, 2002-2007
Chris Christie's catches - 2002-2007
http://northjersey.com/dngmedia/media_server/tr/2007/09/24hitlist/Cases are sorted by year, then name. Click any asterisk (*) for the press release on that development.
| Year Charged | Last Name, First Name | Office | Party | Municipality | County | Hometown | Guilty Plea | Convicted at Trial | Charges | Payoff ($) | Sentence (months) | Fine ($) | Restitution ($) |
| 2002 | Auriemma, Joseph | Township Administrator & Director of Operations for the Municipal Utilities Authority | North Bergen | Hudson | Bloomfield | Y | accepting contractor bribes | 33,792 | 36* | 7,500 | 33,792 | ||
| Barnes, Martin G | Mayor | D | Paterson | Passaic | Paterson | Y* | accepting vendor gifts | 200,000-350,000 | 37* | 1,000 | |||
| Bost, Sara B. | Mayor (freeholder) | D | Irvington | Essex | Irvington | Y* | witness tampering in kickback probe | 8,500 | 12 | 2,000 | |||
| Braker, William C. | Freeholder (former Deputy Director of the Jersey City Police Department) | D | Jersey City | Hudson | Jersey City | Y* | extorting county vendor | 3,000 | 41* | ||||
| Bridgeforth, Michael | information officer, Immigration & Naturalization Service | Newark | Essex | Yonkers, NY | Y* | embezzling checks | 4,300 | 1,500 | |||||
| Condos, James | Councilman | R | Asbury Park | Monmouth | Asbury Park | Y | accepting a liquor license from developer | 35,000 | 15* | ||||
| Davila-Colon, | Freeholder | D | Jersey City | Hudson | Jersey City | N | Y* | abetting extortion | 10,000 | 30 | |||
| Gibson, Robert E. | director of public utilities and superintendent of water and sewer for the City of Camden | Camden | Camden | Cherry Hill | Y* | extorting vendor | 20,800 | 13 | |||||
| Gomez, Miladys | assistant director Perth Amboy Housing Authority | Perth Amboy | Middlesex | Edison | Y | embezzling federal housing subsidies | 407,603 | 24 | $407,603 | ||||
| Hernandez, Joseph | purchasing agent, Municipal Utilities Authority | North Bergen | Hudson | Y | accepting gifts, rigging quotes | 30* | 18,500 | ||||||
| Janiszewski, Robert* | County Executive, Hudson and former assemblyman | D | Jersey City | Hudson | Y* | extortion, tax evasion | 100,000 | 41* | 40,000 | ||||
| Mangullo, Conway | director of public works | Paterson | Passaic | Y* | extorting contractor | 7,500 | 7,500 | ||||||
| Nixon, Kenneth E. | Executive Director of the Asbury Park Housing Authority | Asbury Park | Monmouth | Y* | bribing officials to reappoint him | ||||||||
| Perez, Peter | Board of Commissioners member | D | North Bergen | Hudson | North Bergen | Y* | accepting cash and gifts from vendor | 26,000 | 6 | 5,000 | 26,000 | ||
| Richardson, John F. | Superior Court Judge | Somerset | Y* | failed to maintain records for client | 2,500 | ||||||||
| Rodriguez, Ismael | sheriff's officer | Newark | Essex | Y* | defrauded federal housing program | 63,600 | |||||||
| Russo, Dominick | depurty U.S. Marshal | Newark | Essex | Ocean Township | N | Y* | conspiracy, mail fraud, embezzlement of public funds | ||||||
| Turner, Andrea | service representative, Social Security Administration | Elizabeth | Union | Linden | Y | conspiring to sell social secuirty cards | 30 | ||||||
| Vidal, Wilfredo | municipal code official & electrical inspector | Union City | Hudson | North Bergen | N* | Y | extortion, tax fraud | 41* | 2,750 | 980 | |||
| Weldon, Terrance D. | Mayor & city manager (Asbury Park) | D | Ocean Twp | Monmouth | Ocean Township | Y* | extorting bribes from developers | 60,000 | 58 | 20,000 | |||
| Zappulla, Vincent | mayoral aide | D | North Bergen | Hudson | North Bergen | Y* | insurance fraud with contractor | 20,000 | 12,264 | ||||
| 2003 | Colon, Cecilio | guard, Federal Correctional Insitution at Fort Dix | Burlington | Bronx, NY | Y* | accepting inmate bribes | 350 | 500 | |||||
| D'Agosta, Frank | detective, Jersey City Police Department | Jersey City | Hudson | Jersey City | Y* | extorting illegal gambling business | 13 | 15,000 | |||||
| DeMiro, Michael | aide to county executive | R | Verona | Essex | Verona | Y | conspiring to obstruct probe | * | |||||
| LaVilla, Peter | Mayor | Guttenberg | Hudson | North Bergen | Y* | false tax return, misappropriating campaign contributions | 5,000 | ||||||
| Lewis, Marcella | examination technician, New Jersey Motor Vehicles Commission | Elizabeth | Union | Plainfield | Y | selling driver's licenses | 12 | 6,000 | |||||
| Malloy, Patrick G. | Mayor | New Hanover Twp | Burlington | New Hanover Twp | Y | obstructing justice in bid-rig probe | 6* | 30,000 | |||||
| Mathes Jr., James R. | Council President | D | Camden | Camden | Camden | N* | Y | accepting gifts from mob | 27* | 3,000 | |||
| Murphy, Peter | Passaic County Republican Party Chairman | R | Passaic | Y | mail fraud | 11 | 20,000 | 72,800 | |||||
| Nash, James J. | Township Administrator & treasurer of school funds for Bd of Ed | New Hanover Twp | Burlington | New Hanover Twp | Y* | missapplying federal funds in a bid rig scheme | 3* | 25,000 | |||||
| Rackley, Otis L. | special operation inspector, US Customs & Border Protection | Newark | Essex | Blakeslee, Pa. / formerly Perth Amboy | Y* | accepting bribes to smuggle aliens | 90* | ||||||
| Rivera, Elizabeth | customer service representative, Social Security Administration | Trenton | Mercer | Camden | Y | conspiring to sell social security cards | 26 | 6,000 | |||||
| Rivera Asencio, Rebecca | clerk, Social Secuirty Administration | Trenton | Mercer | Trenton | Y* | selling social security cards to aliens | 15 | 500 | |||||
| Russo, Anthony J. | Mayor | D | Hoboken | Hudson | Hoboken | Y* | accepting bribes from accounting firm | 317,000 | 30* | 30,000 | 317,220 | ||
| Saunders Sr., Kenneth E. | Mayor | R | Asbury Park | Monmouth | Asbury Park | N* | Y | conspiracy to bribe a council member | 30 | ||||
| Spedaliere, Nicholas | deputy U.S. Marshal | Camden | Camden | Marlton | Y* | stole cash from a fugitive | 11,778 | 6* | 11,778 | ||||
| Thompson, Stephen W. | Superior Court Judge | R | Camden | Camden | Haddon Township and Avalon | N* | Y | traveling to Russia to have sex with a boy | 120 | 25,000 | |||
| Treffinger, James W. | County Executive (U.S. Senate candidate) | R | Essex | Verona | Y* | obstruction of justice, mail fraud | 13* | 5,000 | 29,471 | ||||
| 2004 | Anderson, Jean | deputy registrar of the Hudson County Office of Vital Statistics | Hudson | Jersey City | Y | conspiring to sell birth certificates | |||||||
| Awan, Lori | customer service representative, New Jersey Motor Vehicles Commission | Springfield | Essex | North Plainfield | Y* | selling driver's licenses | |||||||
| Bridges, Alfred W. | Mayor | D | Ewing Township | Mercer | Ewing Township | Y | possession of crack cocaine | * | 5,000 | ||||
| Carlo, Linda | customer service representative, New Jersey Motor Vehicles Commission | Springfield | Essex | Newark | Y* | selling driver's licenses | 12 | 1,200 | |||||
| Feathers, Anita | customer service representative, New Jersey Motor Vehicles Commission | Springfield | Essex | Sloatsburg, NY | Y* | selling driver's licenses | 1,500 | ||||||
| Harkins, Michael E. | Executive Director of the Delaware River & Bay Authority | R | Wilmington, Del. | Y | billing for personal expenses | 14 | 7,500 | 52,236 | |||||
| Haugabrook, Earl | acting chief financial officer and director of finance for Irvington Township | Irvington | Essex | Newark | Y | filing false tax returns | |||||||
| Horn, Tonya | customer service representative, New Jersey Motor Vehicles Commission | Springfield | Essesx | Easton, Pa, formerly Scotch Plains | Y* | selling driver's licenses | 12 | ||||||
| Joyce, Lauren | customer service representative, New Jersey Motor Vehicles Commission | Springfield | Essex | Union Township | Y* | selling driver's licenses | 12 | ||||||
| Kushner, Charles | Commissioner, Port Authority NY-NJ | D | Essex | Livingston | Y | tax evasion, witness tampering, illegal campaign contributions | 24 | 40,000 | |||||
| Lambert Sr., James R. | executive director of the Mercer County Improvement Authority | R | Trenton | Mercer | Hamilton Township | Y* | mail fraud, conspiracy to bribe mayor | 5 | 6,000 | ||||
| Love, Linda | examination technician, New Jersey Motor Vehicles Commission | Mount Holly | Burlington | Willingboro | Y | conspiring to sell 750 driver's licenses | 30* | 1,000 | |||||
| Moore, Shelina D. | customer service representative, New Jersey Motor Vehicles Commission | Mount Holly | Burlington | Clemington | Y | selling driver's licenses | 12* | ||||||
| Pablo, Lyliana | customer service representative, New Jersey Motor Vehicles Commission | Springfield | Essex | Newark | Y* | conspiring to produce bogus driver's licenses | 33 | ||||||
| Parkin, Harry G. | Chief of Staff to Mercer County Executive Robert Prunetti & member Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission | Mercer | Robbinsville | N* | Y | mail fraud, attempted extortion | 90 | 26,000 | |||||
| Peterson, Rita | customer service representative, New Jersey Motor Vehicles Commission | Springfield | Essex | Newark | Y | selling driver's licenses | 12 | ||||||
| Turner, Zachary V. | Councilman | D | East Orange | Essex | East Orange | Y* | conspiracy, extortion, mail fraud | 90,000 | 30 | 84,800 | |||
| Van Berry, Clinton | Assistant Tax Collector | Atlantic City | Atlantic | Galloway Township | N* | Y | conspiring with wife to rob tax receipts | 46 | 5,000 | ||||
| Vuola, Richard | chairman Marlboro Township Municipal Utilities Authority | D | Marlboro Township | Monmouth | Marlboro | Y* | extortion, bribing official, false tax return | 35,000 | 50* | 25,000 | 15,000 | ||
| Walden, Terence | senior inspector, U.S. Customs & Border Protection | Newark | Essex | Piscataway | Y | accepting bribes to smuggle illegal aliens | 2,000 | 3,000 | |||||
| 2005 | Bethune, Peter K. | state trooper | Maple Shade | Y* | conspiracy to extort stock and money | 37 | 1000 | ||||||
| Broderick, Thomas | undersheriff, asst. supervisor Monmouth highway dept, ex councilman | R | Marlboro | Monmouth | Y | money laundering | 15,000 | 4 | |||||
| Coughlin, Paul | Mayor | R | Hazlet | Monmouth | Hazlet | Y | extorting contractor bribes | 3,000 | 24 | 5,000 | |||
| Cummings Jr., James M. | director of facilities Paterson school district | > | Paterson | Passaic | Sparta | Y | accepting contractor bribes | 50,000 cash, 28,000 in improvments | 43 | 750,000 | |||
| DeLisa, Joseph | Councilman | D | West Long Branch | Monmouth | West Long Branch | Y | extorting bribe | 1,500 | 15 | 5,000 | |||
| Desena, Robert | supervisor of emergency services, NJ Turnpike | D | Bayonne | Hudson | Bayonne | Y | accepting towing contractor bribes | 3,831 | 3,800 | ||||
| Greenwald, Thomas A. | Councilman | R | Far Hills | Somerset | Chatham | Y | conspiracy to launder illicit cash | 25,900 | |||||
| Hamilton Jr., John J. | Councilman | D | Asbury Park | Monmouth | Asbury Park | awaiting trial | accepting bribes | 6,000 | |||||
| Hyer, Robert L. | councilman | R | Keyport | Monmouth | Keyport | deceased | extorting contractor bribes | 5,000 | |||||
| Iadanza, Richard | Deputy Mayor | R | Neptune Twp | Monmouth | Neptune | Y | extorting bribes | ||||||
| Kessler, Stephen D. | chairman of the Ocean Township Sewerage Authority | Ocean Twp | Monmouth | Ocean Township | Y | accepting bribes | 15,000 | ||||||
| Larrison, Jr., Harry | Freeholder director, Monmouth County | Freehold | Monmouth | Ocean Grove | deceased | accepting bribes from developers | 8,500 | ||||||
| McCurnin, Joseph | Operations Manager, Monmouth Cty Div of Transportation | R | Monmouth | Y | extorting bribes | 1,000 | |||||||
| Merla, John J. | Mayor | R | Keyport | Monmouth | Keyport | Y | extorting bribes | 24,000 | |||||
| Milone, Louis | supervisor of maintenance and custodial services (schools) | R | Paterson | Passaic | Pompton Lakes | Y | accepting gifts | 10,000 | 3,000 | 10,000 | |||
| O'Grady, Raymond J. | Committeeman (former mayor) | R | Middletown | Monmouth | Middletown | N | Y | attempted extortion, accepting bribes, conspiracy | 10,000 | 43 | 5,000 | ||
| Palughi, Anthony | Superintendent of Bridges, Monmouth County (former Long Branch councilman) | R | Monmouth | Wall | Y | conspiracy to accept bribes | 12,500 | ||||||
| Scannapieco, Matthew V. | Mayor | R | Marlboro | Monmouth | Marlboro | Y | accepting bribes, tax evasion | 245,000 | |||||
| Senyszyn, Bohdan | revenue agent, Internal Revenue Service | Paterson | Passaic | Roxbury Twp | awaiting trial | preparing fraudulent returns, tax evasion | 336,000 | ||||||
| Townsend, Patsy R. | Monmouth fire marshal, emergency management & code enforcer | D | Neptune | Monmouth | Neptune | Y | attempted extortion of bribe | 1,000 | 6 | 2,000 | |||
| Young, Stanley | Planning Board member | D | Marlboro Township | Monmouth | Marlboro | Y | accepting bribes from developers | 7,700 | |||||
| Zambrano, Paul R. | Mayor | D | West Long Branch | Monmouth | West Long Branch | Y | extorting bribes from contractor | 15,000 | |||||
| 2006 | Abate, Frank G. | executive director Western Monmouth Utilities Authority | D | Marboro | Monmouth | Marlboro | N | Y | accepting contractor gifts | 4,800 home improv arch plans | 51 | 10,000 | |
| Callaway, Craig | council president | D | Atlantic City | Atlantic | Atlantic City | Y | accepting contractor bribes | 36,000 | 40 | $1,000 | |||
| Davidson, Connie | employee, General Services Administion, at Fort Monmouth | Monmouth | Red Bank | Y | arranging no-show jobs | 12 | waived | 395,710 | |||||
| Foy Sr., Joseph | mayor | Burlington Twp | Burlington | Burlington Township | Y* | tax evasion | 53,000 | 10,000 | |||||
| Hurt, Eric D. | accounting manager, Hoboken Housing Authority | Hoboken | Hudson | Jersey City | Y* | embezzlement | 111,083 | 41 | 268,168 | ||||
| Jones, Gibb | councilman | D | Atlantic City | Atlantic | Atlantic City | Y | extortion | 5,000 | |||||
| Lukowiak, Anthony | manager Newark Division of Sanitation | R | Newark | Essesx | Belleville | Y | accepting corrupt payments | 24,000 | 45 | waived | 97,231 | ||
| Lynch, John A. | Senator | D | New Brunswick | Middlesex | New Brunswick | Y | mail fraud, tax evasion | 120,000-200,000 | 39 | 50,000 | |||
| Peterson, Mary Ann | manager, Picatinny Arsenal | Morris | Lake Hopatcong | Y | conspiracy to embezzle | 50,231 | 21,475 | ||||||
| Rosario, Ramon | councilman | D | Atlantic City | Atlantic | Atlantic City | Y | accepting bribes | 14,000 | 10 | $1,000 | |||
| Rzeplinski, Michael | programs director, General Services Administration, Fort Monmouth, and former Army supervisory engineer | Monmouth | Red Bank | Y | conspiracy to defraud US, tax evasion | 46 | waived | 872,710 | |||||
| Sloan El, Ali | councilman | D | Camden | Camden | Camden | Y | extorting bribes from contractor | 36,000 | 20 | waived | |||
| 2007 | Adams, Jayson | school board president | Pleasantville | Atlantic | awaiting indictment | accepting bribes | |||||||
| Bryant, Wayne R. | Senator | D | Lawnside | Camden | awaiting trial | fraud, trading influence for no-show job | |||||||
| Callaway, Maurice "Pete" | school board member | Pleasantville | Atlantic | awaiting indictment | accepting bribes | ||||||||
| Cortez, Marisol | Paterson Housing Authority Sect. 8 caseworker | Paterson | Passaic | Y | bribery | 200 | |||||||
| Cruz, Flora | Paterson Housing Authority Sect. 8 caseworker | D | Paterson | Passaic | Y | bribery | 200 | ||||||
| Griffin, Elisa | Paterson Housing Authority Sect. 8 caseworker | D | Paterson | Passaic | Y | bribery | 1,900 | ||||||
| Hackett Jr., Mims | Assemblyman & Mayor | D | Orange | Essex | awaiting indictment | accepting bribes | |||||||
| Holland, Lee | Paterson Housing Authority Building Inspector | D | Paterson | Passaic | Y | accepting bribes | 600 | ||||||
| Hooks, Mark | Building Inspector | D | Passaic | Passaic | awaiting indictment | extortion | 500 | ||||||
| Jackson, Marcellus | Councilman | D | Passaic | Passaic | awaiting indictment | accepting bribes | |||||||
| James, Sharpe | Senator and Mayor | D | Newark | Essex | awaiting trial | abusing credit cards, fraudulent land sales | 58,000 credit | ||||||
| Kaplan, Richard | construction inspector / asst. zoning officer | New Brunswick | Middlesex | Y | accepting contractor bribes | 30,000 | 30 | 30,000 | |||||
| Lane, Yolanda | Lead Paint Inspector | Paterson | Passaic | Y | extortion | 300 | |||||||
| March, Louis | Court Clerk | Newark | Essex | awaiting indictment | extorting bribes to fix records | 4,000 | |||||||
| McCormick, James T. | school board member | Pleasantville | Atlantic | awaiting indictment | accepting bribes | ||||||||
| Morgan, George | Passaic Valley Water Commission employee | Clifton | Passaic | Y | conspiracy to extort | 200 | |||||||
| Nunez, Javier | Paterson Housing Authority employee | Paterson | Passaic | Y | conspiring to accept bribes | 500 | |||||||
| Ortiz, Victor | Building Inspector PHA | Paterson | Passaic | awaiting trial | conspiracy to extort | 4,750 | |||||||
| Pressley, James | school board trustee | Pleasantville | Atlantic | awaiting indictment | accepting bribes | ||||||||
| Ramos, Benny | Deputy Director Paterson Housing Authority | D | Paterson | Passaic | awaiting indictment | bribery | 3,000 | ||||||
| Reaves, Princess | Deputy Court Administrator | D | Paterson | Passaic | awaiting trial | bribery | 2,500 | ||||||
| Reid, Keith O. | chief of staff to City Council president | D | Newark | Essex | awaiting indictment | accepting bribes | |||||||
| Rivera, Samuel | Mayor | Passaic | Passaic | awaiting indictment | accepting bribes | ||||||||
| Roach, Linda | supervisory clerk typist Dept Community, Planning & Eco Dev | D | New Brunswick | Middlesex | Y | extorting bribes from contractors | 5,000 | ||||||
| Rosa, Maria | Paterson Housing Authority Sect. 8 caseworker | Paterson | Passaic | Y | conspiring to accept bribes | ||||||||
| Scarpelli, Joseph C. | Mayor | D | Brick Twp | Monmouth | Brick Township | Y* | extorting bribes from developers | 5,000 | |||||
| Schweidereick, Robert | Passaic Valley Water Com employee | Clifton | Passaic | Y | attempted extortion | 830 | |||||||
| Soto, Jonathan | Councilman | D | Passaic | Passaic | awaiting indictment | accepting bribes | |||||||
| Steele, Alfred E. | Assemblyman & Undersheriff | D | Paterson | Passaic | awaiting indictment | accepting bribes | 15,500 | ||||||
| Vacca, Joseph | assistant to the director of facilities, Paterson Board of Education | Paterson | Passaic | West Paterson | Y | accepted bribe from contractor | 3,000 | 5 years probation | 12,000 | ||||
| Valvano, Matthew P. | building inspector | D | Linden | Union | awaiting indictment | extorting bribes from contractor | 10,500 | ||||||
| Velez, Rafael | school board trustee | Pleasantville | Atlantic | awaiting indictment | accepting bribes | ||||||||
| Walker, William | director of housing rehabilitation | New Brunswick | Middlesex | awaiting trial | extorting bribes from contractors | 112,500 | |||||||
| Williams, Standley | Building Inspector | Paterson | Passaic | Y | conspiracy to accept bribes | 6,750 | |||||||
| Woods, Darrell | supervisor, Federal Aviation Administration | Galloway Twp | Atlantic | Winslow Township | Y* | accepting bribes in a procurement fraud | 159,000 |
Posted 10/7/2007
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