Tag: Hudson County Machine

Posted on

Jury May Get New Instructions on Menendez “just friends” defense

menednez_ridgewood trainstation_theridgewoodblog

file photo by Boyd Loving

November 15,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Newark NJ, the Jurors in the bribery trial of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez and a wealthy friend Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen could hear new instructions from the judge Wednesday as they resume deliberations.

The jury finished Tuesday without reaching a unanimous verdict on any of the 18 counts against the New Jersey Democrat .Deliberations began last week, but the jury was forced to be restarted on Monday after a juror was excused for a previously scheduled vacation and was replaced by an alternate.

The Jurors have since remained  deadlocked, but were told  to keep going and to “take as much time as you need.” by U.S. District Judge William Walls .

The New Jersey Senator is being charge with  accepting an abundance of campaign donations, gifts and vacations from Salomon Melgen, a Florida ophthalmologist. In return, he used his position to lobby on behalf of Melgen’s business interests, according to prosecutors.

Melgen allegedly directed more than $750,000 in campaign contributions to entities that supported Menendez, according to the indictment, which prosecutors said were inducements to get Menendez to use his influence on Melgen’s behalf. Prosecutors have also accused Menendez of trying to hide the gifts.

Melgen paid for Menendez and his girlfriend to stay for three nights at a Parisian hotel where rooms typically cost about $1,500 per night and allowed the senator the use of his private jet, according to prosecutors.

Federal prosecutors said that Menendez “sold his office for a lifestyle that he couldn’t afford.”

The indictment also alleged that Menendez pressured State Department officials to give visas to three young women described as Melgen’s girlfriends.

Menendez has vehemently denied the accusations against him and claimed that he and Melgen have been friends since before the former became a senator, and the trips were nothing more than friends traveling together

Posted on

Jersey City Police union calls on Democrat Mayor Fulop to release tape of alleged bid-rigging

Mayor Steven Fulop

file photo Democrat Mayor Fulop

September 30,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Jersey City NJ, Carmine Disbrow the president of a Jersey City police union that is in a contract dispute with Democrat  Mayor Steve Fulop’s administration is calling on the mayor to release a recording of the mayor’s top staffers allegedly discussing their efforts to rig a bid in 2014.  According to depositions filed as part of a discrimination lawsuit, two Jersey City employees claimed that in 2014, three top Fulop administration officials tried to influence a public bidding process for an energy consultant in favor of a company.

Jersey City POBA Statement On Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop:

September 28, 2017

Carmine Disbrow, President, JC POBA:

Mayor Fulop has been quick to rush to judgement against the men and women of the Jersey City Police Department, yet when it comes to wrongdoing in his office he is silent. This again shows that in every instance he is willing to put his own politics ahead of moving Jersey City in the right direction.

To say that he passed the audio on to corporation counsel Jeremy Farrell, another political appointee, is nothing more than attempting to sweep things under the rug, and an insult to us all. The question remains what steps did Mayor Fulop take to root out what appears to be corruption that was happening right under his nose.

The Jersey City POBA is standing alongside so many other residents and community groups to demand that he release the tapes and come clean about what he knows about his appointees steering taxpayer funded contracts to politically connected vendors.

Posted on

Menendez Pal tried to Intimidate Government Officials with Political Connections According to Testimony 

menednez_ridgewood trainstation_theridgewoodblog

file photo by Boyd Loving

September 26,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, in explosive testimony in the Senator Menendez Corruption trial , wealthy eye-doctor pal of Sen. Robert Menendez threatened to “make trouble” for the US Commerce Department through his “politically influential friends” if he did not get help with a troubled business project, it emerged at his bribery trial on Monday.

According to Commerce staffer Sam Smith a witness in the trial  Dr. Salomon Melgen who is on trial for bribery alongside Menendez in Newark federal court made the threatening comments through a lawyer at a 2012 meeting. The lawyer set up the meeting to pressure Commerce Dept. officials to help Melgen with a costly contract dispute, Smith said.

“He was very aggressive and threatening and constantly brought up the fact that he could make trouble for the department and he could be a bull in the Commerce Dept.’s china shop,” Smith told jurors about the meeting with Melgen’s lawyer, Elio Muller.

“He stated that Dr. Melgen had politically influential friends and they could cause a lot of problems for Commerce Dept. if Dr. Melgen didn’t think he was being served well,” Smith added.

When asked who Muller was referring to when he spoke of Melgen’s “politically influential friends,” Smith didn’t hesitate to say Menendez, a senior Democratic senator from NJ who stands accused of accepting bribes from Melgen in exchange for official favors.

Posted on

The Bob Menendez trial: He may be a sleaze, but he’s our sleaze | Mulshine

menednez_ridgewood trainstation_theridgewoodblog

file photo by Boyd Loving

Updated on September 21, 2017 at 7:39 AM Posted on September 21, 2017 at 6:27 AM

By Paul Mulshine

Columnist, The Star-Ledger

On the drive up to Newark to view the trial of our senior senator on corruption charges, I heard a radio talker complain that the media are ignoring the proceedings because Bob Menendez is a Democrat.

I wanted to discuss that with the guy who’s been sitting next to me for the past few days of the trial.

Unfortunately, he fell asleep.

When I saw  him in the hall during a break, I mentioned that to him. He replied, “Poke me if I start to snore.”

I could sympathize. The trial has become a war of attrition between the prosecution and defense.

The prosecution seeks to pound into the heads of the juries all of the instances in which the senator got treatment that few of us will ever experience. All came courtesy of  his friendship with a Florida eye doctor who was found guilty last spring of 67 counts of defrauding Medicare of $105 million.

https://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2017/09/the_bob_menendez_trial_he_may_be_a_sleaze_but_hes.html#incart_river_home_pop

Posted on

Judge rules no conflict for ex-Ridgewood councilman

Ridgewood 3 amigos

file photo by Boyd Loving

Nicholas Katzban, Staff Writer, @NicholasKatzban Published 7:38 p.m. ET Aug. 29, 2017 | Updated 8:41 p.m. ET Aug. 29, 2017

A Superior Court judge in Bergen County ruled Tuesday that a former Ridgewood councilman was not in conflict when he voted to rezone areas of downtown for multifamily homes, a council move that caught the ire of some residents who decried the push toward higher densities in their sleepy bedroom community.

Following four major amendments to the village’s master plan in 2015 that nearly tripled the allowable density in certain municipal zones, a group calling itself Ridgewood Citizens for Reasonable Development sued the Village Council, looking to block the ordinances that codified those amendments.

The group alleged that then-Mayor Paul Aronsohn and Councilman Albert Pucciarelli had discussed and approved the ordinances despite two separate conflicts of interest.

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/bergen/ridgewood/2017/08/29/judge-rules-no-conflict-ex-ridgewood-councilman/612683001

Posted on

Prosecutor Tells Senator Menendez he is not above the law

menednez_ridgewood trainstation_theridgewoodblog

file photo courtesy of Boyd Loving

August 26,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood bog

Ridgewood NJ, Democrat Senator Bob Menendez is about to go on trial for corruption in New Jersey and a federal judge has ordered that the Senator physically remain in the court room throughout the entire process.

Senator Menendez countered by filing a request to the court asking if he could leave for votes in the Senate. Federal prosecutors filed a scathing opposition to the request and reminded him he isn’t above the law simply because he is a U.S. Senator.

“After being indicted twice for depriving the people who elected him of their right to his honest services, defendant Robert Menendez now demands that this Court disrupt his criminal trial so that he can perform his duties as a United States Senator. Defendant Menendez was indicted in 2015 and 2016 for bribery, conspiracy, honest services fraud, false statements, and violating the Travel Act. Those indictments allege a seven-year bribery conspiracy in which he traded the power of his public office for a lavish lifestyle that included private jet rides and vacations in Paris and the Caribbean,”

They continued , “The only reason defendant Menendez’s trial is scheduled for September 2017, almost two-and-a-half years after he was first indicted by a grand jury, is because he has spent that time  pursuing a meritless argument that the Constitution immunizes him from prosecution—an argument that has been rejected by every judge to have considered it. Now he seeks to use his status as a United States Senator to pick and choose the dates on which his criminal trial will be conducted.”

Adding , “the Arrest Clause does not exalt Members of Congress to a status above the law:It is, therefore, sufficiently plain that the constitutional freedom from arrest does not exempt Members of Congress from the operation of the ordinary criminal laws,even though imprisonment may prevent or interfere with the performance of their duties as Members.”

Ending with ,”This is not the first time defendant Menendez has sought special treatment from this Court. At defendant Menendez’s very first appearance, he asked to be exempted from the routine requirement that defendants surrender their personal passports because of his status as a United States Senator,” the response continues. “This case began with defendant Menendez being treated like any other defendant, and it should end that way….only a United States Senator can try to hide behind the very office he corrupted to avoid accountability to the public for his actions.”

Posted on

Menendez bullish as jury selection begins in federal corruption trial

menednez_ridgewood trainstation_theridgewoodblog

file photo by Boyd Loving

NEWARK, N.J. – Sen. Bob Menendez said Tuesday that he expects to be exonerated of federal bribery charges, as lawyers began picking the jurors who will decide his fate in a trial set to begin next month.

“Looking forward to picking a good jury,” the New Jersey Democrat told reporters as he arrived at the federal courthouse here, flanked by his lawyers.

His arrival just before 9:30 a.m. set off a day in which U.S. District Judge William H. Walls, prosecutors, and Menendez’s defense team worked to winnow the pool of about 200 prospective jurors to the 12 men and women and four alternates who will hear the case.

Whatever verdict the panel reaches – after a trial expected to last one to two months — has the potential to reverberate far beyond the courtroom. Should Menendez be convicted, it almost certainly would mean the end of his four-decade political career in New Jersey and could dramatically shift the makeup of the Senate.

https://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/menendez-bullish-as-jury-selection-begins-in-federal-corruption-trial-20170822.html

Posted on

Reader reminds us when residents who spoke their mind were accused of GRANDSTANDING

village council meeting

I will never forget Jan Phillips at the town meeting when she accused those who were speaking from their hearts against having that Godzilla garage built as GRANDSTANDING. I was one of those people. Not at that particular occasion, but several other town meetings. Residents standing for hours on busy weekday nights, for the opportunity to express themselves about what kind of future they want for the town they love. Our town, Ridgewood,

I attended a few of the civility meetings and felt that she kow towed to former Mayor Aronshon, excessively agreeing with everything he said.

I do not believe , from what I observed, that she is sufficiently objective to be the leader of a the Community Advisory Board, she is not sensitive enough to diverse opinions. In my opinion.

Posted on

One Year Later same people/groups that spoon fed and pushed personal agendas are still at it in Ridgewood

Vote Ridgewood NJ

file photo by Dana Glazer

June 16,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog with a little help from our friends

Ridgewood NJ, a reader wrote us and said ,”I was cleaning up my posts and came across this Facebook thread from last year. It’s amazing that the same people/group that spoon fed and pushed personal agendas are still at it. Our current Mayor and Deputy Mayor remain under attack; false accusations, lies published in the local newspaper, public opinion letters etc.

Why would they still be at it? Answer: We have an election coming up next year. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor’s positions become available. Exactly two seats are needed for this group to resume block voting and to pick up where they left off. They are also desperately fighting the Council’s effort to review and restructure committees, which were previously formed and by them. Why? Answer: Establishing and enforcing committee Bylaws would greatly restrict pushing personal agendas and members would be appointed to these committees in a fair, term restricted, manner. Imagine the use of checks and balances, which doesn’t exist today. Their biggest threat, is loosing their self appointed positions or that these committees be dismantled. Why? Answer: They would loose their last public platform. Meaning, they would no longer have the same clout, wide reach or public accessibility. Note how every one of their publications lists their titles and positions served. Why? Because an official title or experience gives more weight.

Like Derek Schnure said, “the little guy is now able to counter the misinformation and party politics.” Residents beware and stay informed.

Posted on

Reader says Ridgewood used to be a nice place to live where you could peacefully go about your lives

CBD ridgewood ArtChick

file photo by ArtChick

Ridgewood used to be a nice place to live where you could peacefully go about your lives. Now these intruders are led by the Record editor & championed by a councilman & a developer (gigantic flag ruining the view of downtown) who is trying to change the face of the whole town. Zero interest in anything except that of the self centered kind. Why have these towns become targets of intrusion where previously there was none? This thing of theirs has gotten the village on edge where previousy there was none.

Posted on

Reader says Voigt is undoubtedly recruiting like-minded candidates to run

Jeff Voigt Ridgewood Council

file photo by Boyd Loving

Every time he seems to have calmed down, he comes out with another Aronsohn-like outrage. Dissing his fellow council members in public before the issue was even decided was pretty low and only makes him look bad.

Known and unknown detractors and calumniators of our mayor are diligent, working toward her political reduction and the resurrection of the Aronsohn faction. There is a level of sophistication in their machinations that our Village has never before seen or experienced. In some ways this speaks well of ordinary citizens in Ridgewood, in that the big guns of political warfare are now being rolled out to try to disarm and discourage them, and yet our non-political municipal heritage is not really yielding to the pressure. Most towns get caught unawares, leading to easy takeovers by the democratic machine. The reader who posted this is quite astute. Voight is undoubtedly recruiting like-minded candidates to run, win, and serve with him for at least a two-year period as a new majority that would marginalize Councilpersons Coughlin-Walsh and Hache much like the present Mayor and Deputy Mayor suffered at the hands of former Mayor Aronsohn and his cronies. Their treatment was atrocious and they are due a debt of gratitude for persisting and waiting for the dawn the way they did.

Posted on

Reader says Roberta’s Letter is part of a much larger scheme to discredit Mayor Susan Knudsen

3 amigos

Roberta is, was and will always be Paul Aronsohn’s puppet. This move is part of a much larger scheme to discredit Susan Knudsen. Why? Because they are gearing up for the next election. The dark side has to win the two opening spots so they can regain the voting block. Jeff Voight is holding their third spot. Salivating for 2018. They have a lot of shady agendas waiting to push through.

Posted on

Fights, arrests after 300 youths converge on N.J. downtown

CBD high density housing

James – you should post about the ruckus last night in village of South Orange by 300 ‘youth’

The future of the village of Ridgewood once the urbanists have had their way with downtown.

Fights, arrests after 300 youths converge on N.J. downtown

By Noah Cohen | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on May 02, 2017 at 2:46 PM, updated May 03, 2017 at 12:37 AM

SOUTH ORANGE — Police plan to boost patrols after officers from several departments were needed to disperse at least 300 young people who gathered in downtown South Orange late Saturday, sparking fights and blocking traffic.

South Orange Police Chief Kyle Kroll said Tuesday the crowd contained a mix of village teens and others from nearby communities, including Newark, East Orange and Irvington residents, who apparently arrived by public transportation.

The unruly crowd formed around 8 p.m. and kept officers busy until around midnight, according to police. Kroll said he requested assistance from the Essex County Sheriff’s Office, Maplewood and Orange police as altercations broke out among the throngs of teens and young adults.

“We just didn’t have enough officers to handle a crowd that large,” the chief said. “The agreement we have with surrounding [police departments] worked out well.

https://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2017/05/fights_arrests_after_300_youths_converge_on_nj_dow.html

Posted on

Reader says supporting simple, low-cost, low-impact, high-ROI programs undermines their entire narrative of over-developing Ridgewood

ridgewood train station parkiong

The crowd who loves high-density CBD housing, massive hospital expansions, and giant money losing garages hate adding more parking to the train station and CBD in a simple and low-cost manner. Why? Because supporting simple, low-cost, low-impact, high-ROI programs undermines their entire narrative of over-developing. Is Sears failing from a lack of parking? Is Englewood, NJ struggling with store-front retail due to a lack of parking? We have the parking, the very well done Walker and Maser reports show we don’t use what we have. Why don’t we try maximizing all the space we have already dedicated to parking first, then think about building. The garages all lose money even while requiring huge fee increases and are really subsidies for the local developer and a couple land owners in the CBD.

Posted on

Supreme Court refuses to dismiss Menendez corruption charges

menednez_ridgewood trainstation_theridgewoodblog

file photo by Boyd Loving

By JOHN BRESNAHAN

03/20/17 10:48 AM EDT

Updated 03/20/17 03:12 PM EDT

The Supreme Court has rejected Sen. Bob Menendez’s attempt to throw out the bribery and corruption charges against him, setting the stage for a trial for the New Jersey Democrat this fall.

With Monday’s announcement, Menendez can no longer block the proceedings against him from moving forward, a major setback for his efforts to avoid criminal trial.

Abbe Lowell, Menendez’s lead defense attorney, said the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the appeal was “disappointing,” but still said Menendez will be “vindicated when all the facts are heard at trial.”

“It’s disappointing that the Supreme Court did not take this opportunity to set a clear, bright line of the separation of powers to ensure that Congress remains an independent and co-equal branch of government, free of interference and retribution from the executive as the Framers intended,” Lowell said in a statement. “While the senator always understood it is rare that the Supreme Court hears any case before trial, given the gravity of the Constitutional issues raised, he believed it was important to try.”

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/bob-menendez-supreme-court-corruption-charges-236252