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Asbury Park
Press
FBI searches
senator's home
Coniglio legislative
office also raided; boxes of evidence taken
BY TOM BALDWIN,
app.com from the Web, November 21, 2007
PARAMUS — Federal agents
raided the legislative office and suburban bungalow home of state Sen. Joseph
Coniglio Tuesday morning, in an investigation into possible connections between
state budget grants made to a hospital where he was paid as a consultant.
The 9 a.m. raids brought FBI agents marching across Coniglio's manicured lawn on
a leafy street here, and into his second-floor legislative district offices five
minutes away in an office complex near George Washington Memorial Park.
FBI agents refused to comment at the outset of the 9 a.m. sweep, and they stayed
silent when they departed more than three hours later with a box from the home
and at least two more from the office.
It was presumed the boxes contained documents, though Gannett New Jersey learned
agents suspect Coniglio, D-Bergen, may have other documents of interest at a
third, unidentified location, perhaps a rental space.
Federal prosecutors are investigating whether lawmakers personally profited from
so-called "Christmas tree" grants inserted at the last minute into state
budgets.
From 2004 to 2006, more than $1.6 million in such state grants went to
Hackensack University Medical Center, where Coniglio was paid $5,500 a month as
a plumbing and construction consultant during the same period.
Coniglio, 64, denies there was a connection between the grants and his
consulting job, a point reiterated Tuesday by his attorney, Gerald Krovatin.
"No matter how hard the government searches, the results will be for sure Joe
Coniglio has done nothing wrong and has nothing to hide," said Krovatin, calling
the search "a desperate attempt" to make the case look stronger than it is.
Coniglio's car, which had been in his driveway at dawn, was not at the home when
agents arrived. The senator did not appear at the legislative office.
The lawmaker was said by receptionists at the plumbing and electrical
contracting firm in Fairfield where he is a project manager that he was out on a
job site.
A worried-looking female employee at the lawmaker's legislative office, just off
Route 17, sat in the reception area, talking on a cell phone, while agents
scoured the inner rooms of the office.
She said a quiet "yes" when asked if the raiders were from the FBI. An
agent later identified his unit as being from the bureau.
Coniglio, a senator since 2002, dropped his re-election bid in September after
he learned he was the subject of a broader federal corruption investigation and
was told by Democratic Party leaders they would not help fund his race. He
said then his decision will give him time to "fight the false accusations."
The searches come amid continued concern about government corruption in New
Jersey, where more than 100 government officials have been convicted on federal
corruption charges in the past five years.
Coniglio is the third member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee
known to be a target of federal prosecutors. Sen. Wayne Bryant, D-Camden,
who has since left the committee, and Sen. Sharpe James, D-Essex, are currently
under indictment.
Bryant and James, like Coniglio, didn't seek re-election. Their terms end
Jan. 8.
Two Democratic state Assembly members were arrested in September for alleged
bribe-taking. Both resigned. Alfred Steele pleaded guilty and will
be sentenced in January. The other, Mims Hackett Jr., remains the Orange
mayor and pleaded not guilty.
The Associated Press contributed to this story. Tom Baldwin:
tbaldwi@gannett.com
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