HOW MUCH YOUR LAWMAKER MADE
Disclosure forms open their lives

Thursday, May 22, 2008
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

In January 2007, then-West New York Commissioner Caridad Rodriguez, also a state assemblywoman, voted to award a contract to a company that had her on its payroll.

State Sen. Brian Stack, D-Union City, was on a marrying tear last year - hitching couples at a clip of more than seven per week in his capacity as mayor of Union City. As a result, Stack raked in more than $25,000 in extra income.

Though he earns more than $90,000 a year as an undersheriff in Hudson County - and pulls down another $49,000 as a state assemblyman - L. Harvey Smith of Jersey City doesn't have an interest-bearing bank account.

This is some of the information The Jersey Journal uncovered in a review of 2007 financial disclosure statements Hudson County's nine-member delegation recently filed with the state Office of Legislative Services and through follow-up interviews with the legislators and the government bodies they, and in some cases, their spouses work for.

The disclosure statements, posted on the state's Web site last week, classify the income of legislators in ranges. So specific amounts used in this story were garnered from either public records or the legislators themselves.

Should have abstained

By the time she became a commissioner in West New York in November 2006, Caridad Rodriguez, by her own account, had spent seven years on the payroll of Manchester-based PRS Consultants, a company that specializes in drug-abuse education.

But that history and her continued part-time employment with the company until May 2007 didn't stop her from joining in a 5-0 vote on Jan. 17, 2007, to award the firm a one-year contract.

"It didn't come to mind to abstain," said Rodriguez, when asked about that vote yesterday. "I wasn't advised otherwise. It was a true accident."

Rodriguez was paid $400 a month to coordinate the "West New York Municipal Alliance Against Drugs," the local state-funded entity that contracted with PRS.

According to state ethics laws, "no government officer or employee or member of his immediate family shall have an interest in a business organization or engage in any . professional activity" that is in "substantial conflict with the proper discharge of his duties in the public interest."

"I'm guessing it had to be an oversight," said Paul Steffens, president of PRS, about Rodriguez's vote, noting his West New York program has existed for 18 years and that it just sobered up its 5,000th client.

The state's Local Finance Board handles complaints along these lines.

A former $58,00-a-year scheduler for U.S. Rep. Albio Sires, Rodriguez said she now earns $40,000 a year as the "community affairs advocate" for Palisades General Hospital in North Bergen.

'You may now kiss . . .'

State Sen. and Union City Mayor Brian Stack makes no apologies about bringing in extra income. He makes $16,000 as mayor, and earns the standard $49,000 annual pay of a state legislator.

Stack estimated he pocketed an extra $26,000 last year by performing weddings for a fee of $75 a wedding. But most of it didn't stay in his pocket for long, he said.

"This is money to help people with their PSE&G bill . to take a bus to Jersey City to register for county services," Stack said. "About 80 percent goes to charity."

Asked about the additional roughly $5,000, Stack said he keeps it, pointing out he doesn't drive a government car or request reimbursement for his sizable cell phone bills.

In a word, state Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith of Jersey City says he's broke.

Smith said "personal tragedy" and a recent "tax audit" wiped out all the savings he once had.

According to Smith's disclosure statement, Smith and his wife Gail, a state employee with the Office of the Attorney General Office in Newark, received no interest from any investments or bank accounts last year.

Asked about this information this week, Smith initially confirmed it. Then after checking with his wife, Smith said he would file an amended report because the couple realized $58 in interest from a certificate of deposit worth roughly $2,600.

Smith said he maintains a non-interest-bearing checking account.

Rent collector, too

State Assemblyman Vincent Prieto, D-Secaucus, appears to be the only landlord among the county's state legislators, one of many hats he wears.

According to his disclosure statement, he collects between $10,000 and $35,000 in rent from two properties on New York Avenue in Union City. Prieto is also the Secaucus plumbing inspector and the town's inspections director.

Spouses on public payrolls
Thursday, May 22, 2008
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Four of Hudson County's nine state legislators have spouses with government jobs.

Joseph Rodriguez, husband of state Assemblywoman Caridad Rodriguez, D-West New York, is a $60,000-a-year engineer with the Township of Weehawken.

This job, which he started in November, represents a roughly $26,000 pay cut. He had been director of the Department of Public Works in West New York since August 2003, but quit the $85,781-a-year post last May, officials said.

Joseph Rodriguez said he resigned because he felt "uncomfortable working there" after a new mayor and Board of Commissioners - that didn't include his wife, a former WNY commissioner - took power.

Marlene Prieto, wife of Assemblyman Vincent Prieto, D-Secaucus, confirmed she makes $35,000 a year working as an administrative assistant for Union City.

Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith, D-Jersey City, said his wife Gail works in the bonds securities department of the state's Office of the Attorney General in Newark. His disclosure form indicates she earns more than $50,000 a year.

Kathleen Sacco, wife of North Bergen Mayor and state Sen. Nicholas Sacco, is a $45,000-a-year secretary at the Hudson County Schools of Technology, where she's been employed since 1998.

The Saccos are separated and maintain separate residences, said Paul Swibinski, a spokesman for the school and Mayor Sacco.