They should have given him the maximum.

Jersey City political consultant Joseph Cardwell gets six-month prison sentence

Saturday, January 14, 2012, 3:01 AM
By Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal


Joseph Cardwell, a Jersey City political consultant who once held a seat on the city?s Municipal Utilities Authority, was sentenced yesterday to six months in prison and six months home confinement for taking $10,000 in bribes from FBI informant Solomon Dwek.
?Given the climate surrounding political corruption cases, the judge was extraordinarily fair,? said Cardwell?s attorney, Henry Klingeman, of the sentence meted out by District Court Judge Jose Linares yesterday morning.

JOSEPH CARDWELL

Cardwell, who faced a 12- to 18-month sentence, was on the verge of tears when he spoke at the hearing. He was contrite and said he had brought shame on his family and others, but he also asked the judge for lenience.

?Your honor, I apologize for what I have done. I accept responsibility for what I have done,? Cardwell said. ?I have spent my life helping people . . . I?ve always been on the other side of the law.?

Cardwell asked Linares for a second chance, saying it would allow him to continue the good work he has done. He and his lawyer asked for a sentence with no prison time.

Both Linares and Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Moran stressed the damage wrought by political corruption and the need to deter Cardwell and others.

Cardwell was one of dozens of public officials, including mayors and a state legislator, caught up in the federal sting dubbed Operation Bid Rig III. In the sting, Dwek posed as a developer looking to expedite approvals for a project on Garfield Avenue in Jersey City.

The 70-year-old had been accused of accepting $31,000 in bribes, including more than $21,000 for himself. In March, he admitted accepting $10,000 from Dwek on July 1, 2008 that was intended as a bribe for another Jersey City official.

He also admitted agreeing to set up a meeting between Dwek and officials who he thought would agree to accept cash for real estate development approvals.

At a July 14, 2008 meeting at a restaurant in an Atlantic City hotel, Dwek told Cardwell he wanted to be introduced to public officials who were ?takers? people who Dwek could ?own,? Cardwell said. The next day he accepted the additional $21,000, which Klingeman said was payment for consulting work he had done for Dwek.
Cardwell, who ran state Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham?s 2007 campaign, was also fined $3,000 and ordered to pay $31,000 in restitution.

Cardwell was a leader of the Hudson County Reform Democratic Organization and a top adviser to late Jersey City Mayor and state Sen. Glenn Cunningham.
Cardwell was all smiles after the sentencing when he chatted with a dozen friends and family members who attended the hearing. He must report to prison on March 5 and will serve his time at a minimum security prison.

Jersey City political figure and MUA board member pleads guilty to taking bribe, has no present plans to resign

Wednesday, March 02, 2011
By TERRENCE T. McDONALD
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A Jersey City political operative and Municipal Utilities Authority board member admitted yesterday to accepting a $10,000 bribe from a government informant, becoming Hudson County's 13th defendant in the massive 2009 corruption sweep to plead guilty.

Joseph Cardwell, 69, pleaded guilty in federal court in Newark to one charge of bribery in connection with Operation Bid Rig III, which resulted in 46 arrests of public officials in Hudson County and beyond.

"He did today what was right for him and his family," said Anna G. Cominsky, one of Cardwell's attorneys. "Joe accepted responsibility for his actions, but this guilty plea does not define him."

Cardwell, a political consultant who ran state Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham's 2007 campaign, sat for four years on the MUA board. The City Council moved last year to remove him, but they relented after his attorneys asked the city to wait until Cardwell's criminal case was resolved.

Cardwell has not yet resigned, and Cominsky would not comment on whether he plans to. The position comes with health benefits but no salary.

MUA Executive Director Dan Becht said he's known Cardwell for 20 years and he can't reconcile the Cardwell he knows with the Cardwell who pleaded guilty to taking bribes.

"I was a little bit surprised when the story first broke," Becht said. "I did find it to be a little bit out of character for the Joe I know."

Cardwell's health benefits cost the city up to $8,000 annually, according to Becht.

The city's law department is reviewing whether Cardwell intends to resign from the MUA, according to city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill.

"If not, the proper actions will be taken to have Mr. Cardwell removed," Morrill said.

As part of the plea, Cardwell, who could not be reached for comment, agreed to forfeit $31,500, representing the amount of money he received from government informant Solomon Dwek during three meetings between July 2008 and March 2009, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Though Cardwell conceded taking $31,500 from Dwek, only $10,000 of that was considered a bribe, while the rest was a consultant's fee, Cominsky said.

Cardwell, who faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, is scheduled to be sentenced June 21.

By MaryAnn Spoto/The Star-Ledger

JERSEY CITY ? A former Jersey City political consultant who sits on the municipal utilities authority admitted this morning to accepting $30,000 from disgraced developer Solomon Dwek to pay for a city official?s influence on a construction project.

Joseph Cardwell, 69, pleaded guilty in federal court in Newark to one count of bribery in connection with Operation Bid Rig, the massive public corruption sting with Dwek at its center.

"Are you pleading guilty because you are in fact guilty and for no other reason?" asked U.S. District Judge Jose Linares.

"Yes," Cardwell replied.

"How do you wish to plead to the charges? Guilty or not guilty," the judge asked.

"Guilty," said Cardwell, who occasionally consulted with his attorneys, Henry Klingeman and Anna Cominsky.

The exchange followed lengthy questioning by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Moran, who asked Cardwell about his meetings in 2008 with Dwek and a Jersey City official later identified as Carl Czaplicki, director of the Jersey City Department of Housing, Economic Development and Commerce at the time.

Czaplicki has not been charged in the sting.

Cardwell admitted he accepted $10,000 from Dwek on July 1, 2008, and agreed to set up a meeting between Dwek and officials who he thought would agree to accept cash for development approvals.

Dwek, posing as developer David Esenbach, was actually working with the FBI and had secretly recorded the meetings and telephone conversations with Cardwell.

At a July 14, 2008, meeting in Atlantic City, Dwek told Cardwell he wanted to be introduced to public officials who were "takers" ? people whom Dwek could "own," Cardwell said.

At an Aug. 14, 2008, meeting, Czaplicki met with Dwek in a parking lot but did not take the $10,000 Dwek offered him, Cardwell said. Instead, Cardwell said he accepted $20,000 the following day from Dwek and told Dwek he would use half of it to buy tickets to a fundraiser for the reelection campaign of another city official.

Cardwell?s sentencing has been scheduled for June 21, at which time he faces up to 10 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011 ... _city_mua_consultant.html

The question remains, why hasn't Carl Czaplicki resigned yet. He was present while the bribes were being offered.

The silence from City Hall on this is deafening. They choose to believe that Vega and Cardwell don't really exist, until the jury says guilty.

Jersey City chooses to let political operative Joseph Cardwell keep his seat on MUA board, and his benefits, in advance of November corruption trial

Wednesday, July 28, 2010
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

In spite of a City Council resolution seeking his removal, alleged bribe-taker Joseph Cardwell is still sitting pretty on the Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority board.

Cardwell was one of nearly two dozen Hudson County officials and individuals who were arrested in last year's massive corruption sweep.

A longtime political operative in the city who ran state Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham's election campaign, Cardwell is accused of accepting $30,000 in bribes from a federal informant in exchange for his help in securing approvals for a development project that turned out to be totally fictitious.

The City Council voted 8-0 in January to remove Cardwell from the MUA board, a position he was appointed to on May 21, 2008 by Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy. His term as a "second alternate" expires Jan. 31, 2013. No salary is attached to the post, but board members receive health benefits.

But before Cardwell could be removed from the board, his attorney, Henry Klingeman, of the high-powered Newark law firm Krovatin Klingeman, wrote the city a letter on March 11 arguing the city should simply wait for the completion of Cardwell's trial, scheduled to start on Nov. 8, before taking action.

"My point was that regardless of which authority was responsible for deciding if he stays or goes, it would be fair for the criminal case to be resolved before making that judgment," Klingeman said Monday. "This will all be moot in a matter of months."

And city officials agreed.

"In light of Mr. Cardwell's approaching trial and that a removal from the MUA board would be final, as opposed to a suspension, the administration determined that the best course of action was to adjourn Mr. Cardwell's hearing until the conclusion of his trial this fall," city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said in a statement yesterday.

"Unlike city employees, the mayor does not have the authority to suspend Mr. Cardwell and no employees were terminated until an adjudication of the allegations against them, which has not yet occurred in Mr. Cardwell's case," she added.

Cardwell and Jersey City Councilman Mariano Vega are the only Hudson officials arrested in the massive sting last year who still hold their posts. Vega's trial is scheduled for October.

MUA Executive Director Dan Becht said yesterday Cardwell has attended "a half to three-quarters" of the 12 MUA board meetings held since his arrest. Cardwell's health insurance costs the agency roughly $12,000 a year, Becht said.

Jersey City City Council votes to remove suspect in corruption sting from MUA board

Friday, January 29, 2010
By MELISSA HAYES
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

The Jersey City City Council wants to remove Joseph Cardwell from the Municipal Utilities Authority Board of Commissioners.

Cardwell is accused of taking $30,000 in bribes from a federal informant in exchange for his help in securing approvals for a proposed development project.

The council voted 8-0 Wednesday in favor of a resolution that serves as a formal charge to remove Cardwell from office in 10 days.

Councilman At-Large Mariano Vega was absent. Ward E Councilman Steven Fulop, Ward F Councilwoman Viola Richardson and Ward C Councilwoman Nidia Lopez supported the measure after city officials said it would not cost any additional money.

The vote came after hours of public comment from city residents irate about a tax hike in their quarterly bills.

The resolution was a last-minute change to one that would have appointed Morristown-based law firm Schwartz, Simon, Edelstein, Celso & Zitomer, which has a contract with the city for labor issues, to investigate and "make recommendations concerning the removal" of Cardwell.

While MUA commissioners are not paid, they do receive city health benefits. Fulop plans to tackle that issue at the next council meeting by introducing an ordinance to eliminate benefits for appointees and part-time employees, including council members.

He said it would impact 27 people, and save the city about $500,000.

"People in the city are struggling and the cost of political patronage and cronyism adds up," he said in a statement.

Cardwell is accused of accepting $30,000 in bribes from federal informant Solomon Dwek, a Monmouth County real-estate developer facing bank fraud charges. Cardwell is among 44 people who were charged July 23, 2009 in an international money-laundering and political corruption sting that included mayors and state assemblymen.

Cardwell, a longtime Jersey City political consultant, pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares' Newark courtroom on Jan. 21. In a July 29 letter the city asked Cardwell to resign, but he declined, so the council passed the resolution. Cardwell's attorney, Henry Klingeman, has said he plans to fight the removal just as he is fighting the corruption charges.