N.J. Senator Joe Coniglio Convicted!

Spacing may be affected in this essay and other attacks against these writings must be expected from the Jersey Mafia.

Coniglio Convicted on 6 of 9 Charges.

(by Mark J. Bonamo - April 28, 2009)

Took bribes to steer millions to Hackensack Hospital.

A federal jury found former state Sen. Joseph Coniglio guilty on April 17 of selling his office for $103,900 in bribes camouflaged as consulting fees in exchange for steering more than $10 MILLION in state grants to Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC).

After five days of deliberation in U.S. District Court in Newark, the jury convicted the Paramus Democrat on five counts of using the mails to defraud the public of his honest services and a single count of extortion for accepting bribes for official action. The jury found Coniglio not guilty on two of the mail fraud counts and deadlocked on the third remaining mail fraud count. A mistrial was declared on that count.

Although each of the six counts carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, Coniglio could receive a 6 ½ to eight-year prison term according to federal sentencing guidelines. A tentative sentencing date was set for July 27.

Resounding Reactions

Coniglio, 66, represented Bergen County’s 38th Legislative District from 2002 to 2007. The defendant sat impassively while the verdict was read and retained his deadpan expression as he left the courtroom with his attorney, Gerald Krovatin, without offering comment. Visibly upset friends and family members of Coniglio left wearing sunglasses.

Outside the courthouse, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Michele Brown set the verdict against a local landscape that has been littered by the corruption convictions of more than 100 politicians in the past few years.

[More like 200.]

"Unfortunately, Senator Coniglio now joins the ever-expanding list of New Jersey politicians and legislators who have disgraced their public offices, who have forgotten the oath they took as public servants that requires them to act in the public’s interest and not their own," she said.
"We want to send a message out to New Jersey politicians who continue to believe they can use their public office as a personal piggy bank; they cannot," added Brown.

A slew of statements from Garden State politicians followed the verdict, including one from the former U.S. Attorney who presided over Coniglio’s February 2008 indictment.

"I commend the U.S. Attorney's Office for its continued success in fighting political corruption," said Republican gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie, praising his former staff in a statement released by his campaign. "The result validates the confidence the office had in seeking the indictment in the first place. Senator Coniglio's guilty verdict is just the latest example of why a comprehensive reform plan is so badly needed in Trenton."

[In an unusual move, the New Jersey Democrat machine has targeted Mr. Christie for attacks that are aimed at helping his opponent, Steven Lonegan, who is a Right-winger and fundamentalist against Christie's moderate Republican campaign. The Jersey Boys do not want an honest, corruption-busting former federal prosecutor to be governor of New Jersey.]

Christie’s possible opponent in November, Gov. Jon Corzine, noted that Coniglio’s conviction "sends a clear message to the public that no one is above the law."

[Where was Corzine's Attorney General when Coniglio was arrested? Why is Anne Milgram only interested in Republican corruption? When will you come clean about those reports and records filed by Terry Tuchin, Anne? Who are you trying to protect, Debbie Poritz? Stuart Rabner? "Clean as a whistle," Anne?]

"To those who knew Senator Coniglio as one of the voices for working families in the Legislature, his conviction is all the more disheartening," Corzine continued in a statement. "We must embrace the fact that a jury of his peers heard the facts of the case, drew a conclusion and the system of justice prevailed."

State Senate President Richard J. Codey (D – Essex) also weighed in on the result of his former colleague’s case.

"I have always known Joe Coniglio to be a caring and dedicated individual and this decision in no way changes my feelings for him," he said.

Codey’s name was prominently mentioned during the three-week trial. As part of a defense strategy named the "No-juice Joe" argument by the prosecution, Krovatin, Coniglio’s attorney, tried to prove through testimony that his client lacked the political stature to garner seven-figure funds for the hospital. He pointed to politicians such as Codey as the hospital’s true "go-to" guys when it came to fundraising.

Krovatin also suggested Coniglio, a plumber turned politician, had neither the flair nor mental acuity to run any complicated corruption scheme.

[Krovatin has a point there.]

"No disrespect to Joe Coniglio… I submit to you, he is no George Clooney."

[What's so great about Clooney? Was Richard J. Codey, Esq. in on these shenanigans?]

The Ghosts of Christmas Trees Past.

The government’s case had its roots in part in the U.S. Attorney’s Office long look into the former State House funding format known as the "Christmas tree" program. The program awarded millions in state grants to legislators’ pet ventures with next to no public oversight. (The state’s budget process was ultimately changed.)

[Rudy Garcia, Esq., are you getting nervous? Brian Stack?]

In its case against Coniglio, the prosecution maintained that Coniglio had concealed what it called "a stream of corruption payments" that began with $5,000 per month payments that later rose to $5,500 under the cover of a sham corporation. In exchange, Coniglio agreed to use his influence as a member of the powerful Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee to funnel millions in state grants to HUMC in what amounted "to little more than a no-show job," according to Brown. During the time Coniglio worked for the hospital (May 2004 to February 2006), authorities maintained that Coniglio helped direct over $10 MILLION into the medical center’s coffers.

A critical witness for the prosecution, Robert Torre, is the vice president in charge of fundraising at the HUMC Foundation. Testifying with the immunity of a non-prosecution agreement, Torre recounted how he had no need for Coniglio’s services but was pressured to hire him during a conference call with John Ferguson, the medical center’s president and CEO. Also participating in the call were two notable members of HUMC’s boards, Joseph M. Sanzari and Joseph Simunovich. State Senate President Codey also called Torre to promote the hiring of Coniglio by the hospital.

According to Weysan Dun, head of the FBI’s Newark office, Coniglio made sure that he told his employees at the medical center who was boss during his time there.

"Senator Coniglio even reminded hospital executives that he was ‘their’ state senator and he could decide what was right or what was wrong in directing state money to the hospital," Dun said.

Breaking the corruption cycle?

With his conviction, Coniglio is the latest of six state legislators, a group including former state Senators Sharpe James of Newark, Wayne Bryant of Camden County and John Lynch of Middlesex County, to be successfully prosecuted by federal authorities since 2006.

[There's more coming, I am sure.]

Speaking after the courthouse press conference, Brown looked at the litany of liable legislators when considering the prospects for institutional change in New Jersey politics.

"We have been prosecuting for years and years these people who have been disgracing their public offices," she said. "It shouldn’t be that difficult to learn the lesson, but somehow it is."
Dr. Joseph Marbach, a political scientist and dean at Seton Hall University, noted the practical difficulties in attempting to tackle New Jersey’s culture of corruption.

"Proposals have been floated to create a full-time legislature. But when you talk about a salary range of $80,000 to $100,000 a year, which would reflect the responsibility of running a state with a $30 billion budget, the public reacts negatively," he said. "Then if you want to pass legislation to create more oversight, you have to remember that the people who benefit from the system are the ones who make the rules."

Marbach noted that there is a general lack of confidence in the way business is done in Trenton.

[You don't say.]

"The legislature is unable to police itself," he said. "This case shows once again that it takes an external authority to do it. Maybe creating a way through the state constitution to have a referendum to make change could have an impact. But I worry that the public has gotten almost numb, or even apathetic, about corruption."

After Coniglio’s conviction, reporters asked why HUMC officials had not been prosecuted. Brown replied that the investigation is continuing.

In a previously published interview in The Record, jury foreman Walter Palkocki of Rahway, showing no trace of apathy, strongly urged that the government should continue to probe both Bergen County’s largest hospital and the state’s political system.

"I think heads at HUMC should roll," he said. "Their culpability is significant in this case. That is without question. And the state of New Jersey, Republicans or Democrats, need to get together to fix our system because it’s definitely broken."

E-mail: bonamo@northjersey.com

Coniglio Trial Puts a Spotlight on HUMC

(by Mark J. Bonamo - April 14, 2009)

The long marble hallways of the federal court building in Newark have echoed since March 25 with the steps of former State Sen. Joseph Coniglio and his legal team. Coniglio, a plumber turned politician, was indicted in February 2008 and is now being tried on eight counts of mail fraud and one court of extortion in an alleged scheme to defraud the public of his honest services. As Coniglio makes the long walk toward his fate, the steps he took along the way when dealing with Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC), a city fixture and one of the 10 largest employers in New Jersey, have been called into question. Those actions, part of an extended two-step between Coniglio and HUMC, may echo in the hospital’s halls long after Coniglio’s trial is over.

Coniglio's case

Coniglio, 66, a Paramus resident and Democrat, who was elected in November 2001 to the 38th legislative district State Senate seat, was appointed to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee in January 2004. Shortly thereafter in May 2004, Coniglio was hired as a consultant for Hackensack University Medical Center, where he was paid $5,000 a month through his firm, VJC Consulting. Coniglio would later receive a raise, with his monthly compensation rising to $5,500 in February 2005.

During Coniglio’s tenure as a HUMC employee from May 2004 to February 2006, the hospital received several large state grants, including $900,000 for its planned cancer center and $250,000 for its children’s hospital. The hospital also received notification from the state Department of Health and Senior Services of a $9 MILLION award in state funding.

Federal prosecutors began to investigate the relationship between Coniglio’s role as a privately employed HUMC consultant and the state grants provided to the hospital, subpoenaing Coniglio’s Senate office records in March 2007. The investigation was spurred in part by an article in The Record in May 2005 that questioned Coniglio’s position as a paid consultant to the hospital.

Subpoenas to several state legislators, including State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D- Wood-Ridge), then-Assemblyman now State Sen. Bob Gordon (D- Fair Lawn) and Assemblywoman Joan Voss (D- Fort Lee) followed in April 2007 as part of a probe of state grants to the medical center. The probe was part of a wider investigation of a former State House practice known as the "Christmas tree" program. The program awarded millions in state grants as a form of political gifts to local organizations, and had next to no public oversight.

Federal investigators subsequently subpoenaed HUMC in May and a state legislative ethics panel in June 2007 seeking more information about Coniglio and his ties to the hospital. After receiving a target letter from federal prosecutors in July 2007 informing him that he [was] under investigation, Coniglio decided to drop his reelection bid in September 2007. On Valentine’s Day 2008, less than two months after a November 2007 FBI raid on Coniglio’s Paramus home, Coniglio was indicted on corruption charges.

Prosecution and defense debate

The prosecution, led by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas Calcagni and Rachael Honig, alleges that after he began consulting work for HUMC, Coniglio used his position on the Senate Budget Committee to steer more than $10 MILLION in state funding to HUMC in exchange for $103,900.00 in "corrupt payments." The prosecution further alleges that Coniglio tried to mask these supposed payments as consulting fees by failing to completely disclose his relationship with the hospital on financial disclosure forms, withholding information from a state legislative ethics panel and misleading The Record when specifically questioned about the arrangement.

"This case is about a senator who was for sale," Honig said in her opening remarks of the trial, adding that "this senator was bought and paid for by Hackensack University Medical Center."
In the following days, the prosecution attempted to make its case for Coniglio’s conviction before the jury and U.S. District Judge Dennis M. Cavanaugh.

One of the more notable witnesses for the prosecution was Robert Torre, executive vice president of the HUMC Foundation. Torre, the executive in charge of fundraising for the hospital, told the jury that he had no need for Coniglio’s services but still hired the state senator after a conference call with three men who wield a lot of power in both hospital and Bergen County political circles. According to Torre, John Ferguson, the hospital’s president and CEO, as well as two key members of HUMC’s governing boards, Joseph M. Sanzari and Joseph Simunovich were in on the decision to hire Coniglio.

Torre also testified that former governor and state Senate president Richard Codey also called him to back Coniglio.

In his cross-examination of Torre, defense attorney Gerald Krovatin tried to further shift the focus to Codey. Krovatin attempted to demonstrate that it was actually Codey rather than Coniglio who was the hospital’s "go-to guy" when it came to fundraising, with Codey supposedly serving as the driving force behind the $9 MILLION state grant in September 2005 earmarked for the hospital’s new cancer center.

Krovatin got Peter Cammarano, Codey’s former chief of staff, to admit that he told a 2007 grand jury that he did not believe that Coniglio had enough political juice to get millions in state grants for the medical center.

[Codey could get the bucks to flow in the hospital's coffers? Was Coniglio sharing the loot with Codey? Or was Codey -- like Mother Teresa -- acting out of the kindness of his big heart?]

"I don’t believe that [the board members at HUMC] would have picked up the phone to Joe Coniglio, because if you can go right to the governor, you don’t need Joe Coniglio," said Cammarano to the grand jury according to a transcript read aloud April 2 by Krovatin. Cammarano was referring to several board members’ strong political ties to former Gov. James McGreevey.

The prosecution rested its case April 3 shortly after Herbert S. Friend, a retired Superior Court judge, testified that Coniglio did not fully disclose information to the state Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards in August 2006. The state panel was investigating Coniglio on ethics charges related to his relationship with the medical center.

Krovatin countered that Coniglio was being investigated as part of a slew of complaints filed against Democratic legislators by former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, [the "English Only!" guy]who is now seeking the GOP nomination for governor. Friend acknowledged before the court that only one out of 34 complaints was filed against a Republican legislator, and that all but two of the complaints were tossed out by the committee.

Krovatin also noted that Lonegan copied then-U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie on the Coniglio complaint, adding that Christie is now battling Lonegan for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. However, Friend disagreed with Krovatin’s suggestion that since the retired judge was a Republican appointee to the ethics panel, his vote against dismissing Coniglio’s complaint was a politically partisan move.

[The politicizing of the judiciary in New Jersey, along party lines, has become so blatant -- a matter of common knowledge -- that this corrupt reality is discussed matter-of-factly by political operatives and lawyers unaware that such partisanship is both unethical and criminal.]

Effect of Coniglio's case on hospital's reputation remains to be seen

While Krovatin made the case for Coniglio’s defense, Ben Dworkin, Teaneck resident and director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University, examined how the Coniglio corruption trial will affect HUMC’s reputation. The timing of the trial may be poor. The medical center currently is fighting a difficult battle for approval to open a 128-bed hospital at the site of the former Pascack Valley Hospital in Westwood. (The former hospital was bought by HUMC for $45 million at a bankruptcy auction.) But Dworkin wasn’t sure that the trial would markedly affect HUMC’s future plans.

"Hackensack University Medical Center is such a big enterprise that things can happen on one side that really don’t impact anything else," he said. "The trial seems to be a bit of an embarrassment for the hospital leadership, but the trial isn’t over yet."

Dworkin also wasn’t certain that the medical center’s capital campaigns would be adversely affected by any bad publicity generated by the trial.

"When people give to the hospital, they give because the hospital performs a community service," he said. "That’s their motivating factor, and they see that it’s important that Bergen County, with almost a million people in it, needs an outstanding medical facility."

However, with the Coniglio trial proving once again that relations between many Garden State politicians and business institutions remain murky at best, Dworkin pointed to one approach for arresting the seemingly endless cycle of pay-to-play scandals in New Jersey.

"One way to deal with this is to make New Jersey’s legislature a full-time legislature, and therefore prohibit them from having any kind of outside income," he said. "It’s an idea that has been brought up in past discussions and may be brought up again in the future."

Email: bonamo@northjersey.com