Despite rumors that there will be federal indictments after Labor Day related to former County Executive Robert Janiszewski, you can’t blame him completely for acquiring his $709,000 retirement nest egg. (That’s the money that had been in his campaign fund last year when he resigned from office amidst a federal probe – and by state election law, if he resigns, he6 can keep the money. As part of a plea bargain with the feds reported two weeks ago, he probably will have to give the money to charity.)
When Janiszewski resigned last year, there were reports that he had been caught in a sting operation in which he allegedly took or made plans to take a kickback from a vendor doing business with the county. But much of what he is rumored to have done to collect his wealth during his time in office was legal under existing election laws.
For instance, although they are staunch Democrats, Bobby J and his wife, Marybeth, may have taken a chapter out of President Ronald Reagan’s book of politics many years ago. During the same week in the early 1980s when President Reagan declared catsup a vegetable in school lunches, his wife Nancy purchased new dinnerware for the White House with government funds. Marybeth – according to insiders in the administration in the late 1980s – asked for and got permission from the state election officials to use election funds to purchase china and silverware for her administration. The provision, however, was that these articles of consumption could only be used during fundraising functions – one small loophole in election law among the hundreds Bobby J used to gain wealth for his administration or campaigns.
Although Bob Janiszewski frequently called the Hudson County Improvement Authority his “cash cow,” in many ways, he seemed to see the entire county as a cash reserve, which he could legally milk money when needed for government or campaign funds.
The HCIA was the most lucrative of these ventures, partly because of its change of roles during his 12-year administration. Although the HCIA was ostensibly created to help deal with the burgeoning trash disposal problems – dumps in the Meadowlands were closing down – Janiszewski and others soon realized the autonomous body could leverage capital, using its budget as a kind of bank through which municipalities and other government agencies could borrow money. It was by these means that Janiszewski managed to sell Pollak and Meadowview hospitals to meet the county budget in 1995. The HCIA bought the buildings, and though taxpayers still footed the bill, there was a shift of cash from one pocket to the other, giving the county an extra cash boost. The HCIA even refinanced Union City City Hall in 1999, helping to give then-Mayor Rudy Garcia’s municipal budget a lift.
Each of these transactions, however, generated private wealth for professionals contracted to do the various paperwork, lawyers and financial people, who in turn often contributed to Janiszewski’s campaign fund, ostensibly for the humble privilege of being allowed to serve the public.
Some could also point to the HCIA as a creative way to finance several beneficial projects during Janiszewski’s term, but that wasn’t its original intent.
Even as Janiszewski boasted of reducing the county’s work load, county government on every level began to grow more and more dependent on various professional service contracts to complete work formerly done by county employees. Each new or renewed contract produced equally grateful professionals who could show their appreciation with increased donations to Janiszwewski’s campaign – every bit of it legal under existing election laws.
While these same laws allow anyone – friend or foe of the administration – to check the election funds of various candidates to get a fair idea of how much Janiszewski or another political figure has collected and from whom, Janiszewski apparently found a way to disguise his wealth in a way that surprised people even in his own political party.
When cash accumulated in his re-election account, sources say, Janiszewski ordered his campaign staff to use it to purchase certificates of deposit, some in amounts as high as $50,000. Not only did Janiszewski’s money earn a significantly higher interest rate, but under election law, the purchase was recorded as an expense – so to the casual observer, Janiszewski’s election account seemed to go down by the amount of the CD.
The money was still in the account, but the general public would not have been able to see it on state election reports that Janiszewski was required to file, and other politicians wouldn’t know how much he had to run with. The Hudson County Democratic Organization is seeking a refund for $250,000 of the $709,000, according to U.S. Rep. Bob Menendez. Janiszewski apparently transferred that amount from the organization’s account to his own, but most of the remaining money came through legal loopholes.
These are the things schemes are made of.
To give him credit, Janiszewski still may have been the one of the best leaders the county had, having brought the county up to date, computerizing it during his 12 years and streamlining government.
The odd couple
By far the most curious questions about the recent reunion between Former Jersey City Mayor Gerry McCann and the current Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningham are: Which one gets to play Oscar? Which one gets to play Felix? And which one gets to throw the plate of spaghetti against the wall when their relationship sours?
As outcasts from the HCDO, McCann and Cunningham are indeed an odd couple, a marriage made from convenience. Although dubious allies in the late 1980s when McCann was mayor and Cunningham, council president, they bickered constantly, and perpetually threatened divorce.
If they are indeed reunited as reports claim, can these two keep from driving each other crazy? Can Jersey City survive?
We shall overcome?
The arrival in Hudson County of Douglas Forrester, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, has a little of the feel of Christmas for local Republican candidates. With the faltering fortunes of Democratic Incumbent Senator Robert Torricelli, Forrester has a better than even chance of victory. This is the biggest event for Hudson County Republicans since the 1995 county executive race and promises a flood of national Republican cash to help cut the traditionally Democratic vote in Hudson County. The big question will be: Can local Republicans handle the sudden notoriety without self-destructing?