11 N.J. Officials
Arrested on Corruption
By TOM HESTER Jr.
forbes.com from the Web, September 6, 2007
TRENTON, N.J. -- The FBI
arrested 11 public officials across New Jersey Thursday on charges of taking
thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for influencing the awarding of
public contract, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Two of those arrested are state lawmakers, two are mayors, three are city
councilmen and several served on the school board in Pleasantville, where the
scandal began.
All 11 plus a private individual are charged with taking cash payments of $1,500
to $17,500 to influence public contracts, according to criminal complaints
against them, said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Christopher
J. Christie.
"This is another sad day for the people of New Jersey," said Assembly Minority
Leader Alex DeCroce. "Once again, New Jersey's culture of corruption is
national news."
Drewniak said all 12 were arrested Thursday morning. Initial court appearances
were scheduled Thursday afternoon in Trenton, and Christie and FBI Special Agent
in Charge Weysan Dun scheduled an afternoon news conference.
A federal complaint charges each of the 12 with accepting payments from
companies that offered insurance and roofing services to cities and school
districts, Drewniak said.
The investigation began last year with Pleasantville schools, near Atlantic
City, Drewniak said. The FBI established an undercover insurance brokerage
company purporting to employ the government's two cooperating witnesses and
undercover agents.
The probe widened when Pleasantville school board members referred the
cooperating witnesses to public officials in northern New Jersey, Drewniak said.
Democratic state Assemblymen Mims Hackett Jr. and Alfred E. Steele were
arrested, as was Passaic Mayor Samuel Rivera. Also arrested were Keith
Reid, the chief of staff to Newark's City Council president; Passaic councilmen
Jonathan Soto and Marcellus Jackson; two current Pleasantville school board
members, three former board members and a private citizen. One of the
former school board members is now a Pleasantville city councilman.
Hackett, 65, is both a legislator and mayor of Orange, a city of about 33,000
residents 15 miles west of New York City. He was convicted of kidnapping
in 1975 and sentenced to 30 years in prison, but was pardoned a year later when
the victim recanted and Hackett's cousin confessed to the crime.
Rivera is a former police officer and professional wrestler.
A phone message left at Hackett's office wasn't immediately returned Thursday.
Neither were messages left at Reid's and Rivera's offices.
Newark City Council President Mildred Crump said she just found about Reid's
arrest and had no comment. She said he has worked for her since she became
the council president in 2006.
Steele, an assemblyman since 1996 and deputy speaker since 2002, is also a
Baptist minister in Paterson. He had been Passaic County undersheriff but
resigned from the $89,900-per-year post on Thursday, said sheriff's spokesman
Bill Maer.
Jenna Pollard, who answered the phone at Steele's office and identified herself
as his chief of staff, said she had no comment and didn't know if Steele had a
lawyer.
One of the former school board members, Maurice "Pete" Callaway, is now a
Pleasantville city councilman and the brother of former Atlantic City Council
President Craig Callaway, who is serving time in federal prison from stemming
from an unrelated corruption scheme.
"It's just a horrible day in Pleasantville," said John Deserable, a monitor sent
by the state Department of Education to oversee the district's finances.
"It's another black eye to the district that we don't need. The children
deserve better than this."
Thursday's arrests were the latest in an anti-corruption campaign waged by
Christie's office.
More than 100 public officials in the state have been convicted on federal
corruption charges in the last five years. Two other Democratic state
senators, Wayne Bryant of Lawnside and Sharpe James of Newark, are among others
facing pending corruption charges.
Associated Press writers David Porter, Janet Frankston Lorin
and Matthew Verrinder in Newark, Angela Delli Santi in Trenton and Wayne Parry
in Atlantic City contributed to this report.
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