Werner Foerster, killed during a traffic stop in 1973, escaped East Germany as a young man. Who would have thought that in 2014 the USA would be more like Police State East Germany ?
Widow of N.J. trooper disappointed by court decision to parole husband’s killer
SEPTEMBER 30, 2014, 6:41 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2014, 11:41 PM BY ABBOTT KOLOFF STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
She has been largely quiet over the decades about the murder of her state trooper husband on the New Jersey Turnpike as his death became entangled in a crime involving a black anti-government movement and an armed prison escape by a woman who remains one of the nation’s most wanted fugitives.
But as one of Trooper Werner Foerster’s killers moved a step closer to freedom this week, his wife agreed on Tuesday to discuss some of their life together. She touched on her husband’s escape from communist East Germany as a young man and his reason for joining the state police after the couple moved to New Jersey and had a son.
“He just wanted to have a better life for us,” said Rosa Foerster, 73, who lives in Florida.
On Monday, a panel of appellate judges overturned a 2010 state Parole Board ruling denying parole for 77-year-old Sundiata Acoli, a member of the Black Liberation Army who was traveling with Joanne Chesimard and another man when they were pulled over for a faulty taillight by police in East Brunswick on May 2, 1973.
Here’s a look from @News12Chopper at the bear up in a tree in #Ridgewood MORE INFO> Lions tigers and yup… a bear ! In a tree in town! Megan Vega @MeganVegaTV
Ridgewood Nj,Bear tranquilized near Ridgewood schools; Students free to leaveABC news reported that students are now being held at 3 schools: GW Middle School, Orchard Elementary, in addition to Ridge Elementary because of bear in tree.
The bear was contained in a tree in a residential backyard .New Jersey Department of Fish and Wildlife is on the scene.
NJ Department of Fish And Wildlife are deploying nets in preparation of tranquilizing the bear.
Village ROBO calls went out warning residents especial after the bear attack last weekend residents need to know if there was one in their neighborhood.
Per the Reverse 911, the bear was spotted near Ridge School. Do not approach, call police at 201-652-3900.
Ridgewood PD is now reporting on twitter that the bear is on the loose again. Leaving his tree on Godwin Avenue . Children at Ridge school will not be released until it is safe to do so.
Residents have reported the Bear has been running rings around Ridgewood, from Megan Pace .
Ridgewood PD is now reporting on twitter that the bear is on the loose again. Leaving his tree on Godwin Avenue . Children at Ridge school will not be released until it is safe to do so.
Readers report It’s quite a circus ,Police blockades with lights-a-flashin’ 3 or 4 helicopters and a dozen news trucks in full regalia.
How Long Will It Take to Repair Damage Holder Has Done at Justice Department? Hans von Spakovsky / @HvonSpakovsky / September 27, 2014
Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement Thursday that he is resigning, effective when his successor is confirmed, is welcome news.
As John Fund and I outline in our recent book, “Obama’s Enforcer: Eric Holder’s Justice Department,” every time President Obama has broken, bent, ignored or changed the law, the person at his side advising him how to do it has been Eric Holder.
Mr. Holder is also responsible for spearheading an unprecedented politicization of the Justice Department, which should be of great concern to anyone who cares about the rule of law and the impartial administration of justice.
Why care about who runs the U.S. Justice Department? It matters because Justice is one of the most powerful executive branch agencies in the federal government. It has enormous discretionary power to pursue people accused of breaking the law and to exert major influence over social, economic and national security policies by the enforcement (or non-enforcement) choices made by its top officer.
Justice requires someone who understands that, while the attorney general is a political appointee, he (or she) has a sworn duty to uphold the Constitution and enforce the law in an objective, non-political manner. For the most part, Eric Holder failed in the execution of that duty.
Mr. Holder is the first attorney general in history to be held in contempt by the House of Representatives. He earned this dubious distinction by refusing to turn over documents related to what may be the most reckless law enforcement operation ever undertaken by the Justice Department: Operation Fast and Furious.
Every time President Obama has broken, bent, ignored or changed the law, the person at his side advising him how to do it has been Eric Holder.
During his tenure, the Justice Department launched more investigations and prosecutions of leaks than all prior attorneys general combined, while studiously ignoring high-level “friendly leaks” by White House officials designed to make the president look tough in the fight against terrorism.
Mr. Holder racialized the prosecution of federal anti-discrimination laws and led an unprecedented attack on election integrity laws, thus making it easier for people to commit voter fraud.
His handling of national security issues and his reinstitution of the Clinton-era criminal model for handling terrorists have endangered national security and the safety of the American public.
Mr. Holder has tried to restrict pro-life protesters’ First Amendment right to speak, has prosecuted American companies (under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act) for behavior that is routine among government officials, and has on numerous occasions ignored his duty to defend the law and to enforce statutes passed by Congress.
Photo: Christy Bowe/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom
In clear violation of civil service rules, Mr. Holder filled the career ranks of the Justice Department with political allies, cronies and Democratic Party donors.
He treated Congress with contempt and did everything he could to evade its oversight responsibilities by misleading, misinforming and ignoring members of Congress and its committees.
For these reasons and many others, a former career lawyer who served in the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations told us that, in his opinion, “Holder is the worst person to hold the position of Attorney General since the disgraced John Mitchell, who went to jail as a result of the Watergate scandal.” This is quite a criticism given that many DOJ veterans believe that the Department reached its nadir under Mitchell.
But in comparison to Holder, Mitchell seems like an amateur in corrupting the law enforcement duties of the Justice Department to carry out the political objectives of President Obama.
The many cases in which judges have accused DOJ prosecutors of engaging in prosecutorial abuse during Holder’s tenure shows, unfortunately, the extent to which this modus operandi has seeped into the lower levels of the Department.
How long it will take to repair the damage that Eric Holder has done to the management and operation of the Justice Department? There is no way to know.
In the end, it is the president who decides on the character, attributes and competence of the individual chosen to be the head of the largest law enforcement organization in the United States.
And it is the president who decides whether his administration – and his attorney general – will fulfill their obligation to “faithfully execute” their duty to enforce the law and “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
N.J. Supreme Court denies motion to block raises for Bergen County sheriff’s officers
SEPTEMBER 29, 2014, 7:24 PM LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014, 7:32 PM BY JEAN RIMBACH STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan is facing another defeat in her long-running bid to derail a contract negotiated by Sheriff Michael Saudino for his officers, with the state Supreme Court refusing to allow further delay in paying out raises to the union.
The court decision to deny the motion for a stay is one in a string of losses on the matter for the county executive, who remains hopeful the state’s top court will ultimately hear the case.
“This kind of money is just unconscionable for us as a county to be paying off,” Donovan said Monday during a visit to The Record’s Editorial Board, declaring “the case is not over.”
But sheriffs and corrections officers of PBA Local 134 are expected to soon begin seeing some of the millions of dollars due to them under a four-year-pact Donovan earlier deemed “reckless spending.”
“It’s been a long battle for us and this was the top, this was the Supreme Court making their decision and denying her the stay,” said Marcelo Hagopian, union president.
The administration says more than $8.6 million is now owed under the contract, which covers the time period from January 2011 through end of this year. Donovan said they’ll be paying the officers in stages, perhaps one year every four weeks.
09/30/147:30PMBoard of Adjustment Special Public Meeting 10/01/147:30PMVillage Council Public Work Session 10/07/147:30PMPlanning Board Public Meeting 10/08/148:00PMVillage Council Public Meeting 10/14/147:30PMBoard of Adjustment Regular Public Meeting 10/21/147:30PMPlanning Board Public Meeting 10/22/147:30PMVillage Council Public Work Session
Ridgewood BOE MEETS ON OCTOBER 20
The next Regular Public Meeting of the Ridgewood Board of Education will be held on Monday, October 20, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. The public is invited to attend the meeting at the Ed Center, 49 Cottage Place, Floor 3. The meeting will be aired live on FiOS channel 33 and Optimum channel 77. Or it may be viewed live via the district website at www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us using the “Link in Live” tab.
Click here to view the agenda for the September 22, 2014 Regular Public Meeting.
Yard Signs Are Available for Scott Garrett for Congress email me at [email protected] with your name address and how many we can deliver them too you (Ridgewood Area)
School Crossing Guard Positions Available – Contact Ridgewood Police Dept.
The Ridgewood Police Department is accepting applications for School Crossing Guard Positions. Applications are Available at the Police Desk located at 131 North Maple Avenue Ridgewood NJ. P/T position, 10 hours per week (2 hours per day) starting at $17.49/hr. Send application to Police Chief John Ward, Ridgewood Police Dept, 131 N. Maple Ave., Ridgewood, NJ 07450 or return the application to the Police Records Room. The Village of Ridgewood is an EOE and civil service community. 201/652-3900
The Ridgewood Taxpayers’ Association is still looking to reactivate.
The Ridgewood Taxpayers’ Association is a non-profit corporation.
organized in the state of New Jersey in 1993 .
The purposes of the Ridgewood Taxpayers’ Association are as follows :
*To monitor and analyze of the Village and Board of Education ;
*To provide recommendations to the Village and BOE on how to operate on a cost effective basis ;
*To monitor the actions taken by the state of New Jersey , Bergen County the BOE and any governmental entity which has or may have an impact on the taxes of the Village of Ridgewood ;
*To provide information to the citizens of the Village of Ridgewood on the operation of their government and costs associated therewith :
*To promote local, regional and state legislation for the fair taxation of Ridgewood residents ;
*To evaluate candidates for public office .
Membership is available to residents of Ridgewood or anyone who maintains a business address in the Village of Ridgewood .
The Ridgewood Taxpayers’ Association is looking for Board Members and those interested should email there resume and a short cover letter to:[email protected]
Wildscape Clean Up – All Volunteers Welcome – October 5th
Ridgewood Wildscape Assn. Annual Community River Cleanup
to be held Sunday, October 5, 12:45-3PM. Wear old clothes. All equipment provided by the Village of Ridgewood. HoHoKus Brook between Ridgewood Ave-Overbrook Road.
Meet at the Ridgewood High School Parking Lot 12:45. ridgewoodwildscape.org
Downtown Tree Well Report 9.22.14 – Volunteers Welcome
9/22/14 Update; Oak, Chestnut and Broad still need to be weeded and mulched, but I need to work on labeling and identifying the trees before they lose their leaves. Tomorrow I am going to work on labeling wells and identifying trees. I am going to start on Maple and work my way up Ridgewood and down. I will initially label the wells in a inconspicuous place with a permanent marker. Once I have all trees counted I will investigate a more obvious and tasteful labeling method. I will have sheets to fill out for each tree and my plan is to take a picture of each tree that will help identify the species and condition. I would appreciate any and all help. This should be cleaner (and quicker) than weeding and mulching.
Parenting co-pilot, Lenore Skenazy will teach us how to let go so our kids fly!
Free Community Traffic Safety Forum – Wednesday – October 1 – 7PM BFMS
Good News Ridgewood Parents!!
Wednesday, October 1 from 7-9pm at Benjamin Franklin Middle School our parenting co-pilot, Lenore Skenazy will teach us how to let go so our kids fly!
DO NOT MISS THIS EVENT!
Lenore will make us laugh out loud!
She will teach us valuable lessons about trusting ourselves and our children.
The woman known as “America’s Worst Mom” will be the keynote speaker at a community safety forum on Wednesday, Oct. 1 in Ridgewood. The free event is open to anyone concerned about neighborhood and school zone traffic safety, including parents, school personnel and HSA members, law enforcement, public works, businesses, neighborhood organizations – anyone concerned about neighborhood and school zone traffic safety.
Lenore Skenazy is a New York City newspaper columnist-turned-reality-TV show host who earned the moniker after she let her 9-year-old son take the subway – alone. In response to the media blowback, she founded the book and blog “Free-Range Kids” (freerangekids.com), which helped launch the anti-helicopter parenting movement.
Titled “Community Traffic Safety: It’s No Accident,” the event will also feature Tom Everson, founder of Keep Kids Alive Drive 25, a non-profit group, in sponsorship with Teachers’ Insurance of New Jersey. The event, sponsored by the Ridgewood Citizens Safety Advisory Committee, will run from 7:00 to 9 p.m. at Ben Franklin Middle School, 335 N. Van Dien Ave., Ridgewood. Reservations are not necessary.
The purpose of the event is to educate and engage communities on how to implement a community-wide “Keep Kids Alive Drive 25” traffic safety education initiative (KeepKidsAliveDrive25.org). It will focus on speeding, stop-sign running, cell phone use, tailgating, and seat belt use. The first 50 participants will receive a Keep Kids Alive Drive 25 yard sign and five trash can decals. In addition Bookends will provide copies of Lenore Skenazy’s book Free Range Kids.
-Skenazy, a Yale University graduate, believes that children are safer and smarter than comtemporary culture gives them credit for, and her opinions have landed her on talk shows from Dr. Phil to The View. She lectures internationally and has written for everyone from The Washington Post to Mad Magazine (yes – she is funny too). Her reality show on Discovery/TLC International, “World’s Worst Mom,” airs in about a third of the world but not currently in the United States.
The goal of Free-Range Kids! is “fighting the belief that our children are in constant danger from creeps, kidnapping, germs, grades, flashers, frustration, failure, baby snatchers, bugs, bullies, men, sleepovers and/or the perils of a non-organic grape.”
For more information about the event, contact Jeanne Johnson 201-851-3262
After night of tear gas, Hong Kong protesters dig in By Jethro Mullen, CNN updated 10:33 AM EDT, Mon September 29, 2014
Hong Kong (CNN) — Thousands of pro-democracy protesters remained camped out on major highways in the heart of Hong Kong on Monday, defying government attempts to both coerce and cajole them into giving up their extraordinary demonstration.
The protests have brought widespread disruption to the heart of one of Asia’s biggest financial centers, blocking traffic on multilane roads and prompting the suspension of school classes.
CNN’s Ivan Watson, at the scene, described it as a “sea of humanity,” the biggest crowd he had witnessed since protests began last week.
“The young people — predominantly 21, 22 years old — have been chanting out here, repeating the word ‘hah toih,’ meaning ‘resign,'” Watson said, against a backdrop of chanting and waving cellphones.
A police crackdown on demonstrators on Sunday — involving tear gas, batons and pepper spray — resulted in clashes that injured more than 40 people but failed to eject the protesters from their positions among the city’s glittering skyscrapers.
The government adopted a more conciliatory approach Monday, saying it had withdrawn riot police from the protest areas. It urged people to disperse and allow traffic to return to the roads.
Reps. Garrett and Cárdenas Introduce Bipartisan FAIR Act to Protect Americans from Unconstitutional Civil Asset Forfeitures
Sep 17, 2014
Bill is House Companion to Sen. Rand Paul’s Legislation
WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Chairman of the Congressional Constitution Caucus, and Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-CA), Co-Chairman of the bipartisan Crime Prevention and Youth Development Caucus, today introduced H.R. 5502, the Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration (FAIR) Act, to protect Americans from having their property seized without the due process of law. The FAIR Act makes a number of changes to civil asset forfeiture laws to restore the constitutional protections guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment.
“Most Americans assume that the government cannot take your things without due process, but it is happening,” said Garrett. “Under current law, federal, state and local police can seize your property unless you can prove you acquired it legally. This must change. The FAIR Act will protect our constitutional rights and save American families from a costly and messy legal process to regain what is legally theirs.”
“Two principles that we as Americans hold dear are innocent until proven guilty; and that the government may not seize our property without just cause,” said Cárdenas. “Satisfying a profit motive must never be the reason for law enforcement, and it certainly must never be allowed to support the seizure of personal property by those who we trust to protect and defend our nation and our Constitution.”
The FAIR Act would ensure that Americans are innocent until proven guilty by requiring the government to meet a higher legal standard before seizing an individual’s property. This legislation would raise the standard to seize assets from a preponderance of evidence to a higher standard of clear and convincing evidence. In addition, the FAIR Act would eliminate the practice of equitable sharing and eliminate all profit incentives by requiring that all funds seized by the federal government go into the general treasury fund.
Click here for a one-page explanation of the bill, and click here for a section-by-section summary.
To read the Washington Post’s three-part series on civil asset forfeitures, click here.
Sign Up for this Special Family Event – Revised Date – October 5
“Come Alive Outside”
The Harvest Moon Family Hoedown
(Revised Date is November 5th )
On Sunday, October 5th (revised date), Ridgewood Parks & Recreation, with co-sponsorship by Jacobsen Landscape Design and Construction of Midland Park, will host an exciting family hoedown, complete with pony rides, a petting zoo, hot air balloon tether rides, square dancing and a food court. So put on your country best and come join the fun.
Embrace the national “Come Alive Outside” campaign which began in 2010 by Jim Paluch in hopes of reducing the sedentary, indoor lifestyle that is contributing to adverse effects in our society. Playing outside has many benefits – improving physical and social skills, stress reduction, increased self-confidence and so much more. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, 60 minutes of free play outside daily is essential for a child’s development. It is the “Come Alive Outside” campaign’s mission to create opportunities for children to get outside for some “good healthy fun”.
Held at Habernickel Family Park, 1037 Hillcrest Road, Ridgewood, the schedule of events will be as follows:
3:30 to 5:30 pm – Petting zoo and pony rides
4:30 to 6:30 pm – Hot air balloon tether rides*
5:00 pm – Food court opens
5:30 pm – Music and dancing
Save by purchasing admission in advance – $10 per person ($15 at the gate). *Hot air balloon tether rides are $20 per person and the food court is additional. Register online at www.ridgewoodnj.net/communitypass or in person/by mail to The Stable at 259 N. Maple Ave. You may locate the registration form on the Recreation homepage at www.ridgewoodnj.net/recreation. Please call the Parks & Recreation Department at 201-670-5560 with any questions or if special accommodations are needed.
YWCA Early Learning Center Invites You to Attend Our OPEN HO– USE Tue, September 30, 2014 Time: 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
YWCA Early Learning Center, 98 Pleasant Avenue, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458
Join the YWCA and explore their beautiful Early Learning Center at their Open House! Meet the teachers, staff and have your questions answered.
Bring your whole family for a morning filled with fun activities, games, crafts, apple cider and donuts! $5.00 suggested donation per family.
Limited space available in all classrooms. Register before October 30 to have the registration fee waived and a 10% discount on the first 3 months of your child’s tuition.
For more information please contact Diane at 201-236-3126
Maintaining a safe community requires effort from all stakeholders
Maintaining a safe community requires effort from all stakeholders. Dedicated police professionals working in collaboration with vigilant and engaged citizens can truly make a significant difference in the overall safety and security of a community. We are fortunate to have both in our community. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the hard work of our law enforcement professionals our citizens for helping to keep our community safe.
While the current trends are positive, we must continue to take proactive steps to make our community less attractive to criminals. Each of us can take steps to ensure that individually we are less vulnerable to criminal activity as well as looking out for our neighbors. On our end the department will continue our proactive efforts to keep the community safe. We have several trained crime prevention officers ready to provide information and assistance to any resident and/or business owner wishing information on better securing their persons and/or property.
Barack Obama’s first speech to the UN was filled with the giddy hopes that won him the presidency in the first place. “More than at any point in human history, the interests of nations and peoples are shared,” he told world leaders in 2009.
Five years later, it was a greyer and more sombre Mr Obama who warned the UN this week about the “generational task” of defeating Islamist militants in the Middle East, two days after he launched his first air strikes in Syria. “The only language understood by killers like this is the language of force,” he said.
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Replete with George W Bush-style rhetoric about a “network of death” and “this brand of evil”, Mr Obama’s speech this week was an effort to reboot his flagging presidency.
In political terms, the more martial Mr Obama was trying to shake of the Jimmy Carter aura that has been hanging over his White House; the steady corrosion of leverage at home and influence abroad in the face of Middle East turmoil that slowly leaves an incumbent looking impotent.
Eric Holder’s Rap Sheet
September 26, 2014 10:30 AM
By The Editors
Eric Holder’s legal mercies have typically been reserved for Clinton donors and unrepentant terrorists, but his decision yesterday to step down as attorney general of the United States after nearly six years is an act of mercy toward the American public.
In an administration characterized by outsized misadventures — from the use of the nation’s tax bureau to suppress political opponents to the use of secret waiting lists at government hospitals that killed American servicemen — Eric Holder managed to make his Justice Department a source of special, nay, historic attention: In June 2012, Holder became the first U.S. attorney general to be held in contempt by the House of Representatives. He earned every vote.
Achieving “justice” via the Justice Department may be an intrinsically unlikely prospect, but none of Holder’s recent predecessors — Janet Reno, John Ashcroft, Michael Mukasey, even the much-maligned Alberto Gonzales — exhibited his sheer contempt for the rule of law. Much to his preference was employing the law for political purposes; or, when necessary, dispensing with the law completely.
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The latter was largely Holder’s policy as chief legal counsel to the president. The duty of the attorney general has historically been to advise against unconstitutional or illegal activity; Holder instead regularly aided and abetted it. When the president unilaterally delayed deportations for a select group of illegal immigrants, Holder concocted specious legal rationales to justify it. Regular slap-downs from the Supreme Court — on the president’s unconstitutional NLRB appointees, on his contraception mandate, on his unconstitutional effort to control ministerial hiring — have proven Holder’s legal work insupportable.
Nowhere was Holder’s rank partisanship more clearly on display than on issues of race: for instance, his refusal to prosecute the New Black Panther Party for voter intimidation — despite video evidence of truncheon-wielding men warding voters away from a Philadelphia polling station in November 2008. Those whose political expression was inhibited in Philadelphia were not, Holder later suggested to the House Oversight Committee, “my people” — and thus apparently did not deserve the protection of the law. This from the lips of the nation’s chief law-enforcement officer. Meanwhile, Holder dismissed his critics as racists, eager to destroy him and the president because “we’re both African American.” This same “nation of cowards” was, by Holder’s reckoning, responsible for the voter-identification laws that his Justice Department has worked stridently — and largely unsuccessfully — to suppress in North Carolina, Wisconsin, and elsewhere.
The Khorosan Group Does Not Exist
It’s a fictitious name the Obama administration invented to deceive us.
September 27, 2014 4:00 AM
By Andrew C. McCarthy
We’re being had. Again.
For six years, President Obama has endeavored to will the country into accepting two pillars of his alternative national-security reality. First, he claims to have dealt decisively with the terrorist threat, rendering it a disparate series of ragtag jayvees. Second, he asserts that the threat is unrelated to Islam, which is innately peaceful, moderate, and opposed to the wanton “violent extremists” who purport to act in its name.
Now, the president has been compelled to act against a jihad that has neither ended nor been “decimated.” The jihad, in fact, has inevitably intensified under his counterfactual worldview, which holds that empowering Islamic supremacists is the path to security and stability. Yet even as war intensifies in Iraq and Syria — even as jihadists continue advancing, continue killing and capturing hapless opposition forces on the ground despite Obama’s futile air raids — the president won’t let go of the charade.
New Jersey union complaint on pension ‘ethics’ is full of holes
by Dan Primack
September 15, 2014, 2:30 PM EDT
Before the AFL-CIO files another ethics report to embarrass Chris Christie, it should double-check its dates. And the law.
The New Jersey State AFL-CIO last week filed an 11-page complaint with the State Ethics Commission, referring to what it called “a disturbing pattern of big contributions to Christie for Governor or Republican organizations by firms handpicked to manage hundreds of millions in state pension funds.” If the union’s goal was to generate headlines that would embarrass a political foe, then the AFL-CIO did its job. If it wanted to make credible allegations of wrongdoing, then it failed miserably.
At issue are New Jersey laws that prevent that state’s public pension system from investing in certain types of funds whose managers have contributed to in-state political candidates or parties during the 24 months prior to receiving the commitment. In other words, ‘pay-to-play’ restrictions designed to prevent pension officials (and their bosses) from giving new business to political patrons.
AFL-CIO believes it has found five examples of such behavior. The problem is that at least three of them involve investment decisions made before Christie entered office. Moreover, the political contributions came years after the pension’s investments were made, and were made by individuals who don’t actually fall under the rule’s purview.
For example, the complaint cites:
Gleacher and Company, which manages such monies even though William Sapoch, who is listed as an investment management professional with the firm, gave $3,800 in December 2012 to Christie for Governor.
According to state investment records, the only state pension monies managed by Gleacher & Co. relate to Gleacher Mezzanine Fund II, a private debt fund that was raised back in 2006. Hard to imagine how a political donation six years later would have impacted that decision (which was made during the Corzine administration). It also is worth noting that William Sapoch appears to have been a financial advisor with Gleacher who never worked on the mezzanine business — a business that actually spun out from Gleacher (and renamed itself Arrowhead Mezzanine) back in 2010.
Here’s another:
JP Morgan, a $3,800 contribution from Robert F. Cummings, listed as the vice chairman for Investment Banking, in January 2013 to Christie for Governor and a $15,000 to the State Republican Party by Greg Onken, who is listed as a managing director and financial advisor.
New Jersey has multiple investments in JP Morgan-related securities but most of it is in publicly-traded equities and bonds that do not fall under the New Jersey statute (because these are passive holdings that do not involve the bank “recommending investment management decisions”). The only exception is a venture capital fund investment called JP Morgan Venture Capital III, which was raised in 2006 and was not managed by either of the aforementioned JP Morgan professionals (Cummings didn’t even join JPMorgan until late 2010, while Onken is a private wealth manager).
The one AFL-CIO example that does hold water is a 2011 investment in a venture capital fund managed by General Catalyst Partners, which had a part-timer who had made a $10,000 contribution to the NJ Republican State Committee just months earlier. That deal has been under investigation since this past May, while Fortune reported earlier today that the New Jersey Division of Investments has sold its interest in the fund. AFL-CIO also mentions State Street, in which New Jersey appears to have briefly invested in via a money market fund. It is unclear when that investment began and ended.
But it gets worse. Here is what AFL-CIO wrote in its press release announcing the complaint:
Many of the state’s relationships with Wall Street firms coincide with generous political contributions, even though state ethics rules require a two-year lag before a donor can be a pension investor. For example, an employee of the Blackstone Group donated $10,000 to the NJ Republican State Committee in 2011, the same year new investment business was being proposed for the firm.
The Blackstone employee being referred to here in Anthony Grillo, who actually left the firm back in 2005 (according to both a press release and contemporaneous media coverage). This example was not included in the actual complaint, but remains in the press release posted on the union’s website.
