Quote:

Unless, of course, you slip the right person a twenty.

"It appears from the complaint that I am 'Official No. 3,'" Czaplicki told a reporter from Fox5 News. "I have done nothing wrong. I feel good about how I handled myself."

What a lying sack of crap. Get him out with everybody else....

Czaplicki admits he's 'JC Official 3' in feds' complaint

Monday, July 27, 2009
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Carl Czaplicki, director of Jersey City's Department of Housing, Economic Development and Commerce, has acknowledged that he's "JC Official 3" named in the complaint against a defendant who was arrested in last week's corruption sweep.

"It appears from the complaint that I am 'Official No. 3,'" Czaplicki told a reporter from Fox5 News. "I have done nothing wrong. I feel good about how I handled myself."

Czaplicki, who did not return phone calls yesterday, was brought into the government sting by defendant Joseph Cardwell, a political consultant, one of the 44 people arrested by federal authorities.

Czaplicki's boss, Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy, admitted earlier Friday he was "JC Official 4," the "high-ranking official" for whom Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini and other of the defendants allegedly raised $20,000 in campaign cash from Solomon Dwek, a government informant posing as a developer seeking favors.

Healy insisted he "did nothing wrong at any time."

Neither Healy nor Czaplicki has been charged with any wrongdoing in the ongoing federal probe.

Joseph Cardwell, who is also a commissioner of the Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority, allegedly accepted $20,000 from the informant Dwek to introduce him to local officials who were "takers."

According to the federal complaint, Cardwell describes Czaplicki as one of his "guys" who's been with him for nine years.

Prior to the start of a meeting at a Jersey City restaurant on Aug. 12, Cardwell tells Dwek he needs to talk to Czaplicki privately to "smooth it over" before Dwek hands Czaplicki an envelope stuffed with $10,000 cash, the complaint says.

When the three sit down, Czaplicki assures Dwek he will have "access" and Czaplicki's job was to "smooth" everything "forward" and not let the bureaucracy "slow things down," the complaint says.

After the meeting, Dwek and Czaplicki walk out to the parking lot together and Dwek tells him he has something for him in his car, the complaint says.

Apparently aware what Dwek has in mind, Czaplicki says that he doesn't do that, according to the complaint, but then suggests that Dwek buy tickets for campaign events. Czaplicki adds that Cardwell knows the "playing field," according to the complaint.

When Dwek goes back inside and tells Cardwell that Czaplicki didn't take the money, Cardwell calms Dwek by explaining Czaplicki didn't know Dwek, but that Cardwell would "handle that," according to the complaint.

Dwek then gives Cardwell the $10,000 intended for Czaplicki, the complaint says.

On March 27, Cardwell tells Dwek he's used $6,500 out of the $10,000 to pay for fundraising tickets for Czaplicki, the complaint says.

Does anyone know, can these guys actually be legally removed from office without being convicted? Would it take a petition with x amount of signitures to be valid? It seems that even if they know they are guilty, only the crowbar of law can remove them. In otherwords if you get hired for a job (by the people)and screw up, can you get fired by the people?

Yvonne I tend to agree with your suggestion but before this step, it is pretty clear that there are too many municipalities around the state. I might be missing something here but can someone honestly tell me why people still want this ? Because of habits, or just because they want local control ? Because in the current distribution, we end up losing it in the hands of crooks !

Less municipalities with less people being paid a reasonable full salary just for one activity, this job, that would prevent people from looking around, and offer less people to audit. Then you can have a state-wide format for reporting on the web for each remaining city, something searchable... Am I just dreaming here ?

Personally and related, I would just be happy with ONE school board for the entire state. In the meantime, ENOUGH with the MAFIA tax.

Just watched the Guy Catrillo clip on YouTube, where Cory Booker heartily endorses him and the whole "Healy Team." Here's an idea -- why not start contacting Booker and ask him to renouce the Healy Team? And reach out to activists in Newark and get them to help with the effort to force the resignations of obviously corrupt political officials in JC?

Remember you must call the City Clerk's office tomorrow (Tuesday) to get your name on the list in order to be able to speak at the couincil meeting. Otherwise, you cannot speak.

During the public portion of the meeting this Wed, someone (or lots of people actually) should get up and just read from portions of Vega's criminal complaint. That's it, just read from it.

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nj/press/2009releases.html

How arrogant of Vega to actually say the facts are on his side! The Feds have him on tape for God's sake and it's all in print now. He's just counting on being able to ride out the storm. It's really on us to stop him.

anyone remember this? makes me sick

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6ieV0bYZsM

Quote:

I'll say it again, JC civil servants and municipal "Authorities" view their jobs description as accomplishing "just enough" to keep us from marching on city hall with pitchforks and torches, while making 100% of our taxes vanish into thin air.

No one does business with the city either as contractor or developer without having paid an "admission fee" to house of games that is JC. Even if they are legal contributions rather than under the table cash, it's still ultimately paid by us.

It is another invisible tax on the people. Why did the proposals for the Columbus Street paving come in too high? Probably because they had to account for all the kickbacks they had to pay for.

I have always believed we should have county government not municipal government. We are paying for too much corruption at different levels.

this is from the weekend edition of the wall street journal. it's pretty good.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001 ... 04574308394035238188.html

Poison Ivy in the Garden State
The glory days of New Jersey corruption, from a colonial cross-dresser to a filing cabinet stuffed with cash

By BRAD PARKS
In a rite that has become as familiar to them as Springsteen selling out the Meadowlands?but, alas, far more prevalent?New Jersey voters again had to endure a money-grubbing herd of their duly elected officials being led out of a courthouse in shame and handcuffs this week, having become the latest in a huge rogue?s gallery of state politicians to face corruption charges.

Watching it makes me think of an old African proverb??a goat tied to a tree always eats from the same grass??that speaks to the deep-rooted nature of corruption in New Jersey and to the voracious greed of those who engage in it. And while it?s doubtful the Swahili Bushman who coined the phrase had ever been to Hoboken?he couldn?t find parking?it?s hard not to think of it whenever we have another day like Thursday, when a group of Jane Councilwomen and Joe Assemblymen are made to walk before the cameras with their heads bowed and ushered into an old school bus, because it?s the only vehicle large enough to hold them all.

View Full Image

Bloomberg News

Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano is escorted from federal court in Newark.
Full Coverage
Sortable Table: Probe Nets 44 Jersey Mayors Stung in Graft Probe Video: Mayors and More Arrested Developer Became Secret Witness Law Blog: Highlights, text of Complaints In a state that doesn?t have its own commercial television station?New York and Philadelphia dominate our airwaves?New Jersey elected officials have been thoughtful enough to provide us their own long-running sitcom. This latest episode featured 44 people, an unprecedented number even for New Jersey, being charged in an investigation into public corruption and international money laundering. The bust included five rabbis, three assemblymen and two mayors, prompting one late-night caller on the state?s talk radio station, New Jersey 101.5, to ask, ?Where?s the partridge in the pear tree??

Answer: The partridge is actually a cooperating witness, having turned state?s evidence to avoid prosecution.

The details are still a little sketchy?something about money-laundering rabbis and a black-market kidney??but the pattern is familiar enough. The feds nabbed some smooth-talking alleged swindler, in this case a failed real-estate mogul named Solomon Dwek, who then curried favor with prosecutors by agreeing to wear a wire and fish around with cash-stuffed envelopes. Before long, he had hooked a whole school of greedy politicians, many of whom jumped in the boat before they even had a chance to swallow the bait, according to the criminal complaints against them.

In doing so, Mr. Dwek joined the likes of Robert ?Duke? Steffer, the ?demolition contractor? who snared the famed Monmouth 11 a few years back; or the illustrious Jerry Free, a cement salesman who lured in a Paterson mayor and an Essex County executive, among others, with cash, trips and Brazilian hookers?prompting the explanation from the Paterson mayor that he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks and illegal gifts because he had gotten ?bogged down? in the hard work of governance.

And, yes, we laugh about it, in the same way we laugh about our landfills, our pollution and the New Jersey Nets. But it?s only funny until you realize that, as a taxpayer, you?re the rube footing the bill. So we smack our foreheads, slap down our morning papers and wonder how we once again have become a national punch line. (I say ?we? because, even though I recently moved to Virginia, my heart remains in New Jersey, where I lived for 10 years.)

High-Profile Arrests in N.J. Corruption Probe
0:53
FBI agents arrested 44 people, including two mayors, a deputy mayor, a New Jersey assemblyman and several New York rabbis. WSJ's Kelsey Hubbard reports, they're accused of money laundering, organ dealing and other crimes.
Because, like the goat, we in New Jersey keep having to swallow the same pulpy stuff. Long before we had the nation?s first gay-American governor?James E. McGreevey resigned after giving his boyfriend a high-level state job?we had Lord Cornbury. New Jersey?s first colonial governor wasn?t only a cross-dresser, he was also known for taking bribes and appointing relatives to important positions.

So it began and, in many ways, has continued unabated throughout our history. We have had Frank ?I am the law? Hague, who never made more than $9,000 a year as mayor of Jersey City, and never held another job during his 30 years in office, yet died in 1956 with an estate estimated at $5 million. Or there was the 1980s? Abscam?an oh-so-clever contraction of ?Abdul? and ?scam??in which FBI informants posing as Middle Eastern businessmen doled out bribes netting themselves 31 public officials, including a U.S. senator from New Jersey. Or there was Hudson County executive Robert Janiszewski, who got caught taking a $5,000 bribe a few years back and became a cooperating witness, whereupon he led investigators to the filing cabinet he had stuffed with cash-filled envelopes, because he had so many he didn?t know what to do with them.

Lately, our jails feel like they have a revolving door just for state senators: A month after former State Sen. John Lynch got out of jail for taking kickbacks, former State Sen. Wayne Bryant was yesterday sentenced to four years in prison for taking a no-show job.

View Full Image

Reuters

Daniel Van Pelt, a New Jersey assemblyman, was one of the 44 people charged in a federal investigation of public corruption and international money laundering.
Then there?s Newark, which deserves its own chapter in corruption ignominy. You have to go back to 1962 in New Jersey?s largest city to find a mayor who completed his time in office and wasn?t later indicted for it. The current mayor, the ever-trendy Cory Booker, has positioned himself as a real reformer. Yet so had the former mayor, Sharpe James, when he came into office in 1986. After 20 years during which he and some of his handlers grew increasingly crooked ?his chief of staff, who was found with bricks of cash hidden in his floorboards, went to jail on corruption charges in the 1990s?Mr. James is now serving time for steering cheap city land to his mistress. But that still pales in comparison to Hugh Addonizio, who left the U.S. House of Representatives to reign over Newark City Hall from 1962-1970, in part because, as he was quoted as saying, ?You can?t make much money as a Congressman, but as mayor you can make a million bucks.?

There have been reform efforts, sure. But there have also been elections like the one in Hudson County in 1889, where voters?many of whom, it turned out, were not quite breathing on Election Day?were thoughtful enough to cast their ballots in perfect alphabetical order. Even our golden-domed statehouse in Trenton is a monument to graft: Originally estimated to cost $19,000 in 1881, it was completed six years late and cost nearly four times as much?including a $1,350 flagpole.

It?s true that New Jersey is by no means unique in having officials who misuse the public till. But it is generally accepted that, among the 50 U.S. states, only Louisiana compares with New Jersey in the pervasiveness of its corruption?the difference being in Louisiana, they actually know what they?re doing is wrong. In New Jersey, cash for influence has become so commonplace a lot of politicians don?t even understand it?s illegal. And so we get the spectacle of Hoboken mayor Peter Cammarano on Thursday, standing silently as his lawyer promised to fight these unfair and untrue charges?this from a guy who had been mayor all of 23 days, yet, according to authorities, he had already been caught on a federal wire tap telling a cooperating witness, who was about to hand him $5,000 in cash, he would be ?treated like a friend? when his projects came up for approval.
We have our excuses, both historical and contemporary, as to how we?ve become such a locus for official malfeasance: The state has long been an entry point for immigrants, who have tended to be easy to snooker. It is the most densely populated state with the least amount of available land, so developers and industrialists are always looking for an edge. And we are noted for having our share of, ahem, organized crime.

But the main problem?and this is the ?tree? part of the goat-tied-to-tree proverb?is that the state is enormously over-governed. In most states, the local unit of government is the county; in others, it?s the municipality. In Jersey, we have both, and lots of them. There are 566 municipalities?California, with four times the population, has only 480?and each has a mayor and/or councils. The 21 counties have their various freeholder boards and utility commissions and there are also 120 state legislators. When that many people have their hands in the cookie jar ?and there are that many cookie jars?is it any wonder that you get people selling Oreos out of their trunk in the parking lot to make a little extra cash on the side?

What?s more, much like the nation?s congressional districts, the vast majority of New Jersey?s 21 counties are either heavily Republican or heavily Democratic, with voter registrations tilted to one side by a margin of 10% or more. The result is entrenched political machinery and the kind of hubris that we heard from Mr. Cammarano, who was caught bragging, ?I could be, uh, indicted, and I?m still gonna win 85 to 95%? of certain key voting blocs, according to authorities. A Hudson County freeholder was re-elected while under indictment a few years back.

This has been a kind of golden era for corruption cases in New Jersey, where a few years back a fundraiser for George W. Bush, heretofore unproven as a prosecutor, was named U.S. Attorney for New Jersey. Chris Christie ended up making enough of a name for himself?he left office with a perfect 130-0 record in corruption cases last year?he now has a commanding lead to unseat Gov. Jon Corzine come November in a state starved for someone to clean up its mess. And while critics said he was merely collecting trophies to place on his political mantel, Mr. Christie counters it actually wasn?t that hard to catch dirty politicians in the state. It would only get complicated because the perpetrators were so gluttonous?and so dumb?that as soon as word got out a contractor was throwing around money, they started tripping over themselves to cut their buddies in on the action.

The dollar amounts are inevitably small, relative to what?s being sold, which is only one of many sad aspects of these cases. Like most morally flexible Americans, I have a price at which I would gladly sell out my most cherished ideals?mine is $10 million, in case anyone is buying, and I figure it would be enough to set me up on a tropical island where no one would have heard of my shame. But most of these Tony Soprano-wannabes sell out for $5,000 or less, which is perplexing when you consider state assembly members are making $49,000 a year for part-time work. They?re risking their reputations, political careers and freedom for a little more than a month?s pay.

The only possible explanation is that the graft is so widespread, they figure they?ll never get caught. I once had a long, off-the-record conversation with a disgraced former public official who simply started unloading all the things he had witnessed?and been a party to?during his time in office. It was the usual bid-rigging, influence-pedaling and other tomfoolery that has become the norm, and there was so much of it my notebook was practically throbbing by the time we were done. Most of it was a few years old, so I never got around to verifying it. Yet it left me with the distinct impression that, much like Turnpike speeders, the number of people who get caught is really quite small compared with the number of people doing it. George Sternlieb, a longtime head of local government studies at Rutgers, the state university, was once asked what percentage of municipal governments in New Jersey were corrupt. His answer: ?About half.?

So the crooks are everywhere. Yes, they have tended to be more urban than rural and more Democratic than Republican. But taken as a whole, they cut across demographic, racial, ethnic and political lines and suggest that there is something universal about corruption in the state. And we sometimes revel in it: We actually discuss what people wear to their perp walks like its our own Oscars red carpet. When Tamika Riley, the mistress of former Newark mayor Sharpe James, was arrested in a daring blouse that divulged about six inches of cleavage, it was buzzed about for months. She was later convicted.

But mostly we revile it. And we are revolted by it. And we are resigned to it. New Jersey corruption cases are a bit like eclipses?lunar, not solar?in that they happen with predictable-enough frequency to be mentionable but not all that remarkable. And if you happen to miss one, fear not, there will always be another one soon. The goat is always hungry.

?Brad Parks is a former reporter with The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger. His debut novel, ?Faces of the Gone,? is due out from St. Martin?s Press in December.

Let's hope they start merging cities in NJ.

I just read the New York Times article just posted. It brought back memories. I remember the Musto trial in Union City. It was covered by the Hudson Dispatch. One of the people who gave evidence was Robert Menendez, now our US Senator. He was spared by becoming a witness. He was also involved in other things but nothing happened. Menendez was in higher office by then. I believed Clinton administration protected him. I will give credit to Obama administration, they did not protect the Democrats.

excellent article above.

Quote:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/27/nyregion/27jersey.html?_r=1&hp

I don't know if anyone remembers Harvey smith interfereing with the development of the large piece of land by the resivior that Shop that Stop in shop had purchased. From what was gathered (it has been a while) After stop in shop had purchased the land, Harvey smith had a friend at the SCC decalre the land eminant domain to build a "school" across from the new one that was just completed and had an acre and a half additional land. Healy and manzo actually fought to get it here as it would have added over 200 jobs to the heights and added 300,000.00 to city coffers in taxes. plus Stop n shop offered to build the new police station (or at least sub station)in their structure saving the city a tremendous amount of money. Perhaps we should contact stop n shop to see if they will testify against him.

Quote:


As L Harvey would put it himself, WE HAVE ALL BEEN HOODWINKED!!!!

Quote:

It's called wheeling. A time honored Joisey political tradition.

+1 covetalker's comments. Additionally, billionS were not spent in the last Presidential election. On a per capita basis, more money was spent per vote by "Team Healy" than either Presidential candidate in their respective last elections.

N.J. outright forbids corporations, businesses, etc., from contributing to campaigns. Only contributions from individuals are permitted: $2,600 is the maximum campaign contribution -- aggregate, total, per each election cycle -- per donor, to any given candidate.

So, on the face of the information recounted in the recent criminal complaints, every candidate (and their respective campaign treasurers) who acknowledged that the CW was, had been, or would be contributing more than the $2,600 limit -- each of those slugs purposely subverted N.J. election law. "Give the cash to so-and-so; he'll break up the donations, as if they're from someone else."

Wholly apart from any "quid pro pro" allegations -- something about "under the color of office" -- the quasi-laundering of outsized campaign contributions (by allegedly passing the monies to several compliant straw donors who would then, essentially, split the invoice), that's a transgression. Of course, selling/peddling influence is even worse.

My favorite recent post in this thread: the T-Shirt about "Don't blame me, I voted for Dan Levin." I'll take two.

They do have a donation cap. $2,600 personal, and I think 5,200 for a biz. Something like that. What's humorous is that no one gets outraged at the billions of dollars put into presidential campaigns. Absolutely sickening.

Did they get Healy? I would not be surprised? They should forbid developers from giving donations to local and state politicians, or put a cap on donations. There are obviously conflicts of interests here, and all too often local politicians put the developers' interests and their pockets above the people's interests.

I'm not opposed to development, but Jersey City could have been transformed into a much nicer place if the City and Developers had been more thoughtful about development and neighborhood building.

Time to go HEALY



Comey should resign - Crime happening under his nose and he is blind to it all - or is he looking the other way too ?

Quote:

I too am unable to go.

At the very least, I hope those that are able to attend will demand that there is NO PROPERTY TAX INCREASE until things are sorted out.

I can't help think that our hard earned money has been going to fund their shenanigans.

I am not so lucky that I have time off for attending this council, which I regret a lot. A friend of mine will do so tough. I will reserve my judgement on Healy but for the others, it looks like forced resignation should and will happen. Gosh, this 11% property tax increase we (nearly) all just got, we could get it back very quickly through similar cleaning at all levels !!

For those with smartphones, please remember your recording functions, if you don't do it for you, please do it for us !

i am lucky enough to be able to use some PT time and attend this meeting. I just hope they don't cancel it.

Quote:

If I could be there, I would. That in itself is making me angry since the meeting is in the day and not in the evening as they usually are.

Please bring a pitchfork for me.

dontstealmyrocks, thanks for the comments. However, this only came about because Dwek was caught by the FBI. Dwek decided to trade up. I have written letters to state officials about what is going on in Jersey City and nothing happens. We need a special prosecutor who is not appointed but elected to clean house in Hudson County. Republician Governor Whitman protected Republician Mayor Schundler and Democratic Governors have protected Democratic Mayors.