Reader Submitted Article – Illegal Aliens Reason For Our High Taxes?

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The “Safe Haven” resolution passed by the Passaic City Council is an outrage and an affront to the law abiding, tax paying American citizens of Passaic.

See
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkzNTkmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcxOTU0MTEmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkz

or
http://passaicnews.wordpress.com/

Many Passaic taxpayers are being crushed by oppressive New Jersey taxes, and illegal alien gang crime is spreading around the country. The US Supreme Court has declared school voucher programs to be constitutional. American born children who attend private schools receive almost nothing from NJ, while NJ spends about $20,000 per year to educate each illegal alien child!

Lets demand that our elected city councilmen post answers on the PassaicJews forum to the following questions:

1. Which city and/or county services and programs are now open for use by all persons, including illegal aliens?

2. What is the total cost to the City of Passaic and Passaic County for all these city services and programs?

3. Approximately how many illegal alien immigrants are residing in Passaic?

4. Are Passaic police inquiring about the immigration status of arrested persons, and are they then reporting illegal alien criminals to the Federal immigration enforcement authorities?

5. Approximately how many illegal alien gang members are residing in Passaic?

6. Which illegal alien gangs are known to be operating in Passaic, and what is being done to arrest and/or deport them?

Please email these Passaic City Councilmen and demand answers to the above questions:

gschaer@cityofpassaicnj.gov
cmunk@cityofpassaicnj.gov
dschwartz@cityofpassaicnj.gov

If Jews intend to survive in an increasingly hostile world, then lets start following the wisdom of our own Jewish sages -
“THE LAW OF THE LAND IS LAW” – Baba Kama 113a, Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law), Choshen Mishpat Chpt. 369.

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Web Links:

Illegal Alien Crime Waves
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51424

“In Passaic, we have MS-13 (Al-Quada connected illegal alien terror gang)”
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2MDYmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTY5NjY2MjcmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk0

NJ’s Costly Immigrant Burden
http://www.city-journal.org/html/eon2007-08-29sm.html

Costs of Illegal Immigration to New Jerseyites
http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=research_njcosts

Passaic attorney nixes bid in scandal’s wake

Wednesday, September 19, 2007 By MEREDITH MANDELL HERALD NEWS

PASSAIC — Gary Schaer’s attempt to hire a special counsel to represent the City Council in the wake of the mayor’s arrest in a statewide sting was thwarted by a city attorney’s legal opinion.

On Tuesday, Councilman Gerry Fernandez said the city attorney looked at case law and advised against appointing a special counsel. Sheri Siegelbaum, the city attorney, refused Tuesday to comment for this story.

Fernandez said the council did not take a vote at a special meeting Monday called by Schaer, the council president, which ended within five minutes.

“The city council tried to hire special counsel and they weren’t allowed to,” Fernandez said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

Schaer wanted to hire an “independent attorney” to advise the City Council as federal agents look into dealings that Mayor Samuel Rivera, Councilman Marcellus Jackson and former Councilman Jonathan Soto had with contractors.

Rivera, Jackson and Soto were arrested Sept. 6 on charges of bribery and extortion. Soto was a councilman from July 2003 to July 2007.Schaer and four other council members present at Monday’s meeting did not return telephone calls seeking comment Tuesday. Jackson was absent from the meeting.

Last week, Schaer announced at a regular council meeting that the city should hire the independent lawyer.

Some critics said that hiring another attorney would be a waste of money and that Schaer was taking political advantage of Rivera’s arrest. Schaer also is a state assemblyman who faces re-election in November.

Rivera, Jackson and Soto allegedly took thousands of dollars in bribes from FBI undercover agents posing as insurance brokers. The bribes were in exchange for getting the city to enter into a contract with the insurance brokers. Rivera is alleged to have said to undercover agents “I can get four (council) votes easy, easy, easy.”

The council approved a resolution proposed by Soto in December that allowed insurance brokers to offer medical spending accounts to city employees without going through the “fair and open” bidding process required by city ordinance for agreements costing more than $17,500.

O’Toole Calls for Attorney General, U.S. Attorney to Probe Passaic Water Commission

Assemblyman Kevin J. O’Toole today called on state Attorney General Anne Milgram, in conjunction with the U.S. Attorney’s office, to probe possible criminal activity within the Passaic Valley Water Commission (PVWC) and the Passaic City Council following alleged boasts by Passaic Mayor Samuel Rivera of his influence over both entities. Rivera was arrested with 10 other public officials earlier this month and charged with bribery following an 18-month federal sting operation.In a sworn affidavit by an FBI agent involved in the investigation, Rivera boasted of being able to easily obtain the necessary votes by members of the PVCW and City Council in order to secure business in exchange for cash for what turned out to be an insurance brokerage firm set up by federal law enforcement officials. “These are extremely disturbing and serious claims of influence by Mr. Rivera over two government bodies that cannot and must not be overlooked,” said O’Toole, R-Bergen, Essex, Passaic. “Therefore, I am calling on State Attorney General Milgram to work closely with the U.S. Attorney’s office to fully examine these allegations. No stone should be left unturned if we are to stem this tide of corruption that seems to permeate every level of government in our state. “According to the criminal complaint filed on September 5, 2007 in U.S. District Court, the FBI agent testified that, “…[D]efendant Rivera touted his influence over a majority of the seven-member Passaic City Council, stating ‘I can get four votes easy, easy, easy.’ When CW-2 (an unidentified cooperating witness) confirmed that only four of seven votes of the Council was needed, defendant Rivera replied, “and I got ‘em easy. ‘”In addition, Rivera stated that he “would be able to control five of the seven commissioners of the Passaic Valley Water Commission.” The PVWC was managed by a seven-member Board of Commissioners, who were appointed by, among others, Rivera.

Passaic’s ‘haven’ status hailed

Saturday, September 15, 2007

 

By MEREDITH MANDELL

HERALD NEWS

 

PASSAIC — Immigration advocates Friday praised the passage by the City Council of a resolution that declares the city a “safe haven” for immigrants.

“I think this is very good, because Passaic is a city of immigrants,” Tamara Morales, vice president of Casa Puebla, a Mexican-American social activist group in Passaic, said in Spanish. “They have made the city better, businesses are growing, people are renting apartments, real estate has gone up, there’s more money circulating in the city and more construction.”

The resolution, approved Tuesday in a 6-0 vote, prohibits city officials from asking residents about their immigration status. Residents can get access, without fear of unnecessary interrogation, to all of the city’s services — including mental health and drug counseling, food vouchers for infant children and hospital emergency rooms.

The symbolic resolution comes in the wake of fears that a tide of anti-immigrant sentiment is rising in New Jersey.

Last month, state Attorney General Anne Milgram issued a directive instructing law enforcement personnel to inquire about the immigration status of individuals who are arrested on serious criminal charges. The decision came after the arrest of suspects in the killing of three college students in Newark. One was an illegal immigrant.

The city’s resolution is similar to the so-called “sanctuary” order adopted in Prospect Park earlier this year. Borough Mayor Mohamed Khairullah was the first in Passaic County to declare that all immigrants were entitled to borough services regardless of their status.

Norberto Curitomai, president of the Paterson-based Immigrant Rights Defense Committee of New Jersey, said he believes the measure will calm fears among many in the undocumented community, who are reluctant to deal with city officials, fearful about reporting a crime or a slumlord.

“They made it clear that the city’s services and assistance programs will be open, without import as to a person’s resident status,” he said.

None of the City Council members returned calls for comment Friday.

Mayor Samuel Rivera said Friday he was pleased the resolution was approved because immigrants “are human beings and they deserve the primary services.”

Last year, Rivera proposed opening a day-laborer center on Parker Avenue in front of The Home Depot. The center was seen as a compromise in the wake of resident complaints about the day laborers littering and loitering on the streets and public outcry over police ticketing the violators.

The day-laborer dispute in Passaic reflected heightening tensions in towns across New Jersey.

Earlier this year in Morristown, Mayor Donald Cresitello proposed deputizing local police officers as federal immigration agents. Cresitello applied without success to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the Department of Homeland Security for admission into a program that trains police officers on handling immigration matters and gives them the authority to file civil immigration charges.

Some residents Friday said the Passaic resolution was long overdue because immigrants — whether legal or not — have boosted the city’s economy.

“If all the illegal immigrants were released tomorrow we would belly up and we would become another Camden,” said Jose “Alex” Ybarra, who contracts with Passaic as a translator in Municipal Court.

Other residents believed that illegals should not have access to city services because they are not paying taxes.

“They pull in these gorgeous vans and they come with the best of baby carriages,” said resident Willa Daniels, of the immigrants she sees waiting in line for the WIC program, a supplemental nutrition program for low-income mothers and their children.

“We are being overtaxed because these people are getting a benefit without working for it.”

 

Mayor Rivera issues Veiled threat to expose Gary Schaer’s own Illegal Behavior

For those who can read between the lines, this is from an article in the Herald News. Complete article available by clicking “Read the rest of this entry” below.

Rivera said that Schaer had no legal right to call for a special counsel.

“So he wants to play games. Let him play games,” Rivera said. “He is a person that shouldn’t be striving for a more intense investigation.”

For complete article, including other people blasting Gary Schaer, click here:

Clifton gets FEMA aid for nor’easter

Saturday, September 8, 2007

CLIFTON — The city is one of seven New Jersey communities to receive federal emergency money to cover costs incurred during the April nor’easter.Clifton has been awarded an $82,498 grant by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reimburse the city’s costs, according to a press release from Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson. City Manager Al Greco said the money will be used to help pay for overtime for police, fire and Department of Public Works employees in the aftermath of the storm, and to replace damaged playground surfacing at city parks that is designed to cushion children’s falls.Clifton had applied for a $160,000 FEMA grant, Greco said. “We liked to have gotten a little more,” he said. Clifton received the second-highest grant of the communities listed Friday. The six others are in Essex County. Bloomfield received the top award, with $97,069

New Jersey Corruption Complaints Reveal Scheming

By TOM HESTER Jr. | Associated Press Writer 9:11 AM EDT, September 8, 2007

TRENTON, N.J. –

Passaic Councilman Marcellus Jackson was, according to federal prosecutors, more than happy to receive $6,000 to try steer city business to an insurance company. “I appreciate it, baby,” he said, according to the criminal complaint. “Good things is gonna happen.”

His fellow councilman, Jonathan Soto, thought the “sky was the limit,” making sure those doling out money knew, “I have friends in other municipalities, and I’m all for getting my feet wet as well, man, you know what I’m saying?” The criminal complaints against the 12 people arrested Thursday in New Jersey on federal corruption charges detailed what prosecutors describe as brazen greed even for a state infamous for corruption.The 12, including 11 public officials, were released Thursday after initial court appearances.

They will enter pleas at a later date, though attorneys for two state lawmakers who were arrested said they would plead not guilty and Passaic Mayor Samuel Rivera said, “I’ll have my day in court.” Others either declined to comment or didn’t return calls seeking comment.

The complaints feature quotes from secretly recorded conversations that depict public officials negotiating for as much cash as they could get and bragging about their influence. Bribes were accepted in parked cars, highway rest stops and parking garages, according to the court documents.

“It’s been six years doing this job, and I thought I could no longer be surprised by a combination of brazenness, arrogance and stupidity,” U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said. “But the people elected in this state continue to defy description.”

The probe into bribe-taking in the awarding of public contracts resulted in the arrests of two state lawmakers, two mayors, three city councilmen and several members of the school board in Pleasantville.

The investigation began last year, focusing first on the Pleasantville schools. The FBI established a fake insurance brokerage purporting to employ the government’s two informants along with undercover agents. The probe widened when Pleasantville board members referred the informants to public officials in northern New Jersey.

Those who were arrested took bribes of up to $17,500, according to an investigation that featured hundreds of hours of audio and videotaped encounters. It was, Christie said, another example of “those who put their own self-interest in front of the public interest.”

Money was their ultimate goal, according to the criminal complaints.

While meeting the witnesses at a Passaic restaurant, Rivera, the one who vowed, “I’ll have my day in court” made clear he had the influence to get contracts approved, claiming, “I can get four votes easy, easy, easy,” a complaint said. He then took $5,000, it said.Soto, charged with taking $12,500, made sure to tell the cooperating witnesses on Nov. 3 he was “very appreciative that, you know, you guys have counted me as part of the team,” a complaint said.

But he was also apparently anxious to get his money, though he didn’t exactly say that. According to the complaint, he sent a text message on Nov. 6 asking, “Any word on that cake?” Twelve hours later, he got $5,000 in a car parked at a Garden State Parkway rest stop, the complaint states. He got another $5,000 the next day in a shopping center parking lot. After he pushed the council to approve the company on Dec. 19, he sent another message: “Will need that green broccoli for the 1st entree,” the complaint said. He is accused of getting another $2,500 in February.

Rivera Says He Won’t Call it Quits as Mayor

Saturday, September 8, 2007 By MEREDITH MANDELL HERALD NEWS

PASSAIC — He’s still in control. He’s not going anywhere and it’s business as usual at City Hall — well, except for maybe a few more angry telephone calls from residents who are not complaining about plumbing or potholes. They’re demanding that the mayor resign.

A day after FBI agents arrested Mayor Samuel Rivera and 11 others on charges of extortion and bribery, he sat behind his desk on Friday in the mayor’s office, dressed in a beige suit and beige tie, his hair neatly combed. His gold ring sparkled. “I am going to stay as long as I can,” he said as he conducted his mayoral duties — taking telephone calls, signing papers, reading a complaint from a resident about a neighbor’s purportedly illegal basement. Rivera, 60, is accused of taking $5,000 in bribes from undercover agents posing as insurance brokers. If he’s convicted, he could spend 20 years in a federal prison. He is determined to fight the charge. “I’m definitely going to fight it,” he said.

One state lawmaker was not quite so resilient. Assemblyman Mims Hackett Jr. of Orange told The Star-Ledger of Newark late Friday that he was resigning, something state Democratic Party leaders had called for. Rivera said one resident called and told him he should resign and informed him that a group of people would be picketing City Hall on Monday.“I can take care of the city’s business,” he said, but added, “It’s not easy when people have you convicted.”

Rivera said he was hurt that Council President Gary Schaer called Business Administrator Greg Hill Friday morning, telling him to strike all appointments on the City Council agenda that are from the mayor’s office.“He already has me convicted,” Rivera said.

Rivera said tape transcripts that U.S. attorneys presented in federal court Thursday, in which the mayor allegedly boasted in expletive-laden language about his ability to win four votes on the council to award a contract, were part of a plot to frame him. “I want to see those tapes,” he said. “They cut the tapes.

“He recalled his surprise when FBI agents, whom he called “liars,” arrived at his house at 6 a.m. Thursday. “I was on my way to work,” he said, adding that he couldn’t disclose more details because of the pending case.The day before, he said, agents called him about Councilman Marcellus Jackson and former Councilman Jonathan Soto — both arrested on Thursday and charged with bribery. The agents said nothing about his own involvement in the alleged scam, Rivera said. They questioned him about his land deals in the Dominican Republic. Why was he giving away the city’s old fire trucks to small towns on the island? Does he own property there? “No,” he laughed, shaking his head. “I don’t own nothing in the Dominican, not even a flower pot,” he said.Rivera said he takes trips there and spends time with friends. He reached beneath a pile of scattered papers on his desk and found a letter from a woman, an elected official he met while vacationing in the Dominican Republic. She asked for help after her house burned down. He said he sent her a check.“I get letters from people all the time,” he said. “Mexicans, Dominicans, Peruvians. It’s charity. It doesn’t cost the city one cent.” Rivera is one of the highest paid mayors in the state, making nearly $118,000 a year. When asked if he took $5,000 in bribes from a fake insurance company, as the federal prosecutor’s complaint alleges, he scoffed.“I have no money,” he said. “I live on my paycheck.

“He denied ever having talked about putting money into a bank account in Switzerland or the Dominican Republic.Rivera said the one time he recalls meeting with undercover agents purporting to be insurance agents was in his office at City Hall with Business Administrator Hill and Jose Agosto, the city’s finance director.He said a fight ensued between Hill and the agents. “Greg didn’t believe the deal they were offering,” he said. “The agents were saying the insurance was much lower than any competitor. Greg said, ‘I don’t believe you.’”Rivera said at that point, he told the two men that they should work out an agreement that would pass muster with Hill and Agosto. Hill was not available for comment Friday.Rivera said that as he sat in his jail cell Thursday afternoon next to Mims Hackett Jr., the mayor of Orange, who was also arrested, he thought to himself, “I don’t know who this guy is.” And that town in South Jersey, Pleasantville, where federal agents contend the scandal began?“I don’t know anyone in Pleasantville. I don’t even know where Pleasantville is,” he said.Rivera said he was encouraged by the many people who called him to express support.“I have very strong support from the Hispanic community. I have a lot of support from friends,” he said. “I’m going to keep on working.”He said he worried about those close to him. “This incident is definitely hurting my family. It hasn’t been easy,” he said.

The criminal complaint against Rivera alleges that the mayor met contacts in a restaurant and in a parked car. He said the only place he met with the purported insurance brokers was in his office with Hill and Agosto.During the arraignment Thursday, the judge ordered that the defendants’ passports be confiscated. But on Friday morning, Rivera’s passport sat on his desk. Rivera was released on $200,000 bail, to be paid if he misses his next court date.“I have to turn this in on a condition of my bail,” he said, pointing to the passport. Outside his office, familiar faces and characters roamed the corridors. Vincent Capuana, the city’s housing inspector, a close friend of Jackson and Rivera, avoided commenting on the controversy, walking quickly in the other direction. Deputy Mayor Robert Hare, walking toward the elevator, said he was standing by the mayor during this difficult time. “You want to understand, he’s my friend first,” Hare said. “I don’t believe in kicking people when they have a problem.”

Reach Meredith Mandell at 973-569-7107 or mandell@northjersey.com

The Associated Press contributed to this report.  

Politicians, Including Passaic’s City Council President, Continue to Hold Two Elected Positions Despite Legislation Prohibiting Such Conduct, Due to being “Grandfathered” in.

THE RECORD EDITORIAL – September 7, 2007

NOTWITHSTANDING his recent stumbling on other matters of ethics, Governor Corzine did mark some real progress on good government this week: He signed a bill that eventually will prohibit the state’s politicians from holding more than one elected office.

Now those exempted from the law should join the state’s ethical consensus by choosing one office and losing the other.

New Jersey’s current dual officeholders have escaped the provisions of the new law in a much-criticized political compromise, which grandfathers those holding two offices as of Feb. 1. Even so, these officials now face ethical exile in their own state. As their numbers inexorably dwindle, their positions can only become more untenable.

Officials holding more than one elected office have the clearest conflict of interest imaginable. They exacerbate the state’s tendency toward parochialism, encouraging state spending on local pork projects. And they consolidate power in a semi-permanent political class, reducing opportunities for newcomers.

Among the North Jersey legislators holding a second office are Democratic state Sen. Paul Sarlo, the mayor of Wood-Ridge; Democratic Assemblymen Gordon Johnson, an Englewood city councilman; and Gary Schaer, the Passaic City Council president. An astounding four of the seven Bergen County freeholders also hold elected municipal offices, as does one Passaic County freeholder (all of them Democrats).

Who will be the last pariah hanging on to his or her dual offices like some kind of proto-ethical museum specimen? The race to the bottom is on.

Passaic Pair Recycles Baby Goods for Families in Need

Abigail Klein Leichman New Jersey Jewish Standard PASSAIC – Leah Zimmerman and Siggy Berger, two local moms with 17 children between them, have a successful matchmaking service. But this isn’t about engagement rings; it’s about cribs, high chairs, and strollers.Zimmerman and Berger collect gently used baby equipment and distribute it to Jewish families here in need. They call it the Baby Gemoch. “Gemoch” is an acronym composed of the three Hebrew letters gimmel, mem, and chet, which stands for “gemillut chasadim” or “acts of kindness.” A gemoch is commonly an organization that lends items for free or gives them outright. “You don’t have to be poor to take from the gemoch,” Zimmerman said. “In Passaic we don’t have a lot of low-income people but very few are wealthy. Most would be doing okay but because they have a lot of kids and tuition is high, they’re struggling.”Zimmerman started the project about three years ago, using the excess of formula that she had from her own children. “I figured if many people didn’t use what they got from the hospital, we could feed a few babies a year on it,” she said. “And then I realized that sometimes you buy a case of diapers and suddenly the baby outgrows the size and what will you do with it? So I put a basket outside my front door for people to drop off diapers and formula. We’d find some babies whose parents needed a little help.”Enter her friend Siggy Berger.“Mostly,” said Berger, “Leah was getting stuff from Passaic, where families are larger and the things weren’t in such good condition. I suggested getting more people and more neighborhoods involved, but Leah couldn’t pick up the things so I started doing it with my van and it blossomed very quickly.”Driving her van with a little wooden trailer hitched on, Berger drives at least twice a week to Teaneck and once a week to Englewood and other Jewish communities where families have heard of the service and have things to donate. Riverdale, Paramus, West Orange, Livingston, Monsey, and even Brooklyn also are on her route.“I’ll go farther if people have items that are worth my trip, like a full nursery set,” she said. “[Recently,] I got a set from Mahwah. The woman who donated it explained that her mother-in-law’s best friend works at Yavneh [Academy in Paramus] and she found me that way. I was happy to know the word is getting out to other communities.”The trailer, by the way, was the present she asked her husband to give her for what she calls “a significant birthday” last November. Often she brings along some of her kids to help her carry the items from the trailer up the three flights to the Zimmermans’ storage area.“Before I knew it, the gemoch of diapers and formula was only 5 percent of that and 95 percent other items that people would really throw out otherwise,” said Zimmerman. “They’re from Jewish homes mostly, and the families are thrilled to give them to other Jewish families.”Another family nearby recently agreed to allow the women to store donated toys in their garage.Berger stressed that there is complete confidentiality. “Many times, Leah doesn’t know where the things came from and I don’t know who’s getting them,” she said, “and in any case, nobody knows other than us.”The women usually have a list of 15 to 20 items that parents are waiting for. The most in-demand items are cribs, nursery furniture, and jogging strollers.“At one point I had six cribs and now I have people waiting for them,” said Zimmerman. “Sometimes I have to make a decision about who gets what we have here and that’s difficult. I always try to make people comfortable taking because otherwise these things would have no home. And I never ask anyone how badly they need it.”Zimmerman’s children, ranging from an infant to a 14-year-old, also lend a hand. On a recent day, Tova, 9, and Miriam, 11, happily hauled car seats and busy boxes up the steps.“When Siggy comes, the kids help bring in all the stuff and they help organize and clean it and help people find what they are looking for,” she said. “I wanted chesed [kindness] to come out of my house to give a bracha [blessing] to my house.”To reach the Baby Gemoch, call Berger at (201) 486-1492.

 

Details of Passaic Bribery Arrests

Bribery bust details: ‘Will need that

green broccoli for the 1st entree’

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 09/6/07

BY MICHAEL RISPOLI
AND JONATHAN TAMARI
GANNETT STATE BUREAU

Details of the accusations made in federal court Thursday against the 11
public officials arrested on charges of accepting bribes are:

– Assemblyman Alfred E. Steele, D-Passaic, allegedly accepted $15,500 in cash from an undercover agent and two cooperating witnesses posing as insurance brokers looking for local contracts. In exchange, Steele allegedly arranged meetings with Paterson, Orange and Newark officials who were seeking government contracts. The Orange official is likely the city’s mayor, Mims Hackett Jr., who was also charged. Steele, a member of the Assembly Budget and Appropriations Committee, resigned as an undersheriff in Passaic County at noon today, said Bill Maer, spokesman for Passaic County Sheriff Jerry Speziale.

– Passaic Mayor Samuel Rivera allegedly accepted $5,000 in cash in exchange for promising to help the purported insurance brokers become the city’s “broker of record.” According to the FBI’s account, Rivera, a Democrat, boasted of his influence with the City Council and Passaic Valley Water Commission. – Assemblyman Mims Hackett Jr., D-Essex, allegedly accepted $5,000 in cash to help stir up business for the brokers. Hackett is also mayor of Orange. – Former Passaic City Councilman Jonathan Soto allegedly accepted $12,500 in cash to help the brokers win business. In a text message the day after a key council vote, Soto, a Republican, wrote to a cooperating witness, “will need that green broccoli for the 1st entree.”

– Passaic City Councilman Marcellus Jackson, a Democrat, allegedly took $16,500 from the purported insurance brokers.

– Keith Reid, chief of staff to Newark City Council President Mildred Crump, met
with an undercover agent and cooperating witnesses who posed as an insurance brokerage business wanting to do business with government agencies. Reid said he had relationships with people “who we can pick up the phone and call who can open doors.” Acting as an intermediary, Reid helped them obtain government contracts from several municipalities, including Newark, and accepted $5,000 in cash payments for his assistance in trying to obtain contracts. Reid, a Democrat, also accepted money from the “business” to pass along to other officials.

– Jayson Adams, a member of the Pleasantville Board of Education, accepted $7,500 in cash payments from an undercover witness posing as a roofing business employee in exchange for the contracts, as well as agreeing to share profits generated from the supposed insurance brokerage business from the board. In addition, Adams, a Democrat, acted as an intermediary for other officials on the school board.

– Maurice “Pete” Callaway, a member of the Pleasantville Board of Education,
accepted a total of $11,500 in cash payments in exchange for votes in favor of steering roofing contracts, through intermediaries. He is a Democrat, An associate, Louis Mister, also a Democrat, accepted $1,500 of those payments.

– James T. McCormick, a former member of the Pleasantville Board of Education,
conspired with other board members and had $3,500 wired to his secret bank account in exchange for voting in favor of contracts for the “insurance” firm.

– Pleasantville Board of Education President James Pressley allegedly took $35,800 in cash and checks for helping the roofing and insurance companies. After taking one payment of $7,500, instead of the $25,000 he was expecting, Pressley, who is not affiliated with a political party, complained, “I went through a lot of aggravation last night (during a vote) because I was anticipating it. (The cooperating witness) told me that he would have the 25 ready for me today,” according to the FBI charges.

– Pleasantville Board of Education member Rafael Velez allegedly accepted $4,000 in cash from a cooperating witness in exchange for helping the insurance brokers. Another official charged in the scheme said he would steer another $10,000 to Velez, a Democrat, according to the FBI. 

Passaic Mayor Sammy Rivera, Two Councilmen, Assemblyman Arrested on Bribery Charges

FBI Makes 11 Corruption Arrests In N.J.

By Jonathan Dienst, Brian Thompson and Joe Valiquette

NEW YORK — Eleven public officials were charged Thursday in a widespread FBI corruption investigation, officials said.

At least one state assemblyman, several local mayors and school board officials were arrested by FBI agents in early-morning roundups. The officials are expected to be arraigned on corruption charges in Trenton Thursday afternoon.

United States attorney Chris Christie and FBI Special Agent in Charge Weysan Dun are expected to explain the charges at a 3:30 p.m. press conference in Trenton.

WNBC.com has learned that several of the officials were allegedly caught accepting payoffs from undercover agents in a sting operation. Others were charged as part of related corruption investigations. The accused officials served in at least three counties, including Essex, Atlantic and Passaic.

Sources told WNBC.com that those charged include Passaic Mayor Sammy Rivera, Passaic Council members Jonathan Soto and Marcellus Jackson, Orange Mayor Mims Hackett and Passaic Assemblyman Alfred Steele.

The charges are just the latest in dozens of corruption-related arrests across New Jersey in recent years. Christie and Newark FBI Director Weysan Dun have said after terrorism investigations, public corruption remains a top priority.

© 2007 by WNBC.com. All rights reserved