Election records from 2001 show that the entire time that former Hudson County Executive Robert Janiszewski was working for the federal government, he was apparently directing campaign funds to a private campaign account. When called on to give back the cash he had collected, Janiszewski apparently failed to give up all the money he had allegedly amassed.
State Election Law Enforcement Commission [ELEC] records show that Janiszewski not only continued to collect campaign contributions up until two days before his resignation became effective on Sept. 7, 2001, but that the fund paid checks for as much as $25,000 to Janiszewski’s wife for alleged “contracted services” from two accounts.
Janiszewski established The Hudson County Community Fund in 2000 to raise money for community projects – although political observers claim Janiszewski created the account during an intra-party dispute to control funds if the county Democratic party split into various factions. This fund remained dormant with less than $7,000 in its coffers from all of 2000 and the first quarter of 2001. Then starting in March 2001, while Janiszewski was cooperating with federal authorities in a massive anti-corruption FBI sting operation, he began to collect contributions to the account, with totals exceeding $200,000, before his resignation on Sept. 7, 2001.
Records indicate that during the last year of his administration, Janiszewski apparently used the fund as an alternative campaign collection center. Local politicians claim that many vendors donated to this fund believing the money would be deposited into the accounts for the Hudson County Democratic Organization – a fund that Janiszewski controlled at the time, but whose funds were supposed to go to the election efforts of Democratic candidates throughout the county.
This was an easy assumption, since state campaign reporting forms show Janiszewski used the Democratic County Headquarters address in Jersey City for the Community Fund.
Adding to the confusion was the fact that Tom Calvanico, executive director of the Hudson County Improvement Authority, was chairperson of the fund until Janiszewski’s resignation on Sept. 7, 2001, after which the address of the fund shifted to a Newark Post Office box and chairmanship was taken up by Maribeth J. Gnozzio, Janiszewski’s wife, who as of the annual report filed with the state this past January (and according to a fund officer), still controls the fund.
During the year after his arrest and while he was acting as an agent for federal law enforcement authorities, Janiszewski apparently churned up his fundraising efforts for this account, stashing as much as $200,000 from campaign donors into the account before his resignation.
In publicly seeking an investigation in 2002 into Janiszewski’s funds, Rep. Robert Menendez, then Democratic Chairman for Hudson County, said the party had two major fundraisers a year and that donations from both fundraisers went into the account for the Hudson County Community Fund rather than the account for the Hudson County Democratic Organization. Some donors said they believed they were contributing to the Democratic Organization.
“People were under the impression that [the Hudson County Community Fund] was another fund of the Hudson County Democratic Party, but it was not,” Menendez said at the time.
In December, 2001, Menendez called for an investigation into the account, seeking to get the money back.
Adding to the confusion was the fact that Janiszewski had also diverted money to his personal campaign accounts called The Election Fund for Robert C. Janiszewski, where he had amassed in excess of $700,000. This money was hidden from view by the fact that Janiszewski had converted the contributions into bank certificate of deposits. In an apparent effort to keep control of that money as well, Janiszewski prematurely cashed in the CDs, paying thousands of dollars in penalties, and shifted $709,000 into an unregistered charity called The Crossroads Foundation based in Newark in January 2002. The $709,000 from the Election Fund of Robert C. Janiszewski was eventually donated to a variety of charities as part of an agreement with federal officials.
Both the Crossroads fund and the Hudson County Community Fund listed the same Newark Post Office box as their address, but the money was never commingled. While the Crossroads money went to charity, the Hudson County Community Fund remained under the control of Janiszewski’s wife.
In 2001, Al Chowanec, then a Jersey City Democratic Committeeperson, filed suit to determine who the officers were of the Hudson County Community Fund. He did this after he discovered that money raised at a Jersey City fundraiser had been diverted.
“I’ve always been a good soldier and helped raise money for the Democratic Party,” he said at the time.
State ELEC records obtained by the Hudson Reporter newspapers last week show that Janiszewski’s wife apparently took control of the Hudson County Community Fund on Sept. 4, 2001, three days before her husband’s resignation as county executive. According to ELEC reports, she is the chairperson of the account under her maiden name.
The October 2001 quarterly report filed on Oct. 15, 2001 showed that the fund had accumulated more than $200,000 from January 2001 to September 2001, with a balance remaining of about $104,000 after donations and expenses, with an additional $114,000 loaned out to other entities.
The records also show that Robert Janiszewski continued to collect contributions up until two days before his resignation was effective on Sept. 7, 2001. He also issued two checks for $12,500 each to his wife, one from the Hudson County Community Fund account and one from the Election Fund for Robert C. Janiszewski on Aug. 31, 2001.
Calls made to the Janiszewski home in Steamboat Springs, Colo. were not returned. Detailed messages were also left at the cellular telephone number listed in the 2003 Hudson County Community Fund report but were not returned.
One of the officers of the Community Fund, however, did confirm that the money is sitting in an account in the Trust Company bank in Jersey City.
State Sen. Bernard Kenny, the current Hudson County Municipal Chairman and majority leader of the state Senate, confirmed that Menendez had called for an inquiry, but did not know what the results were from that investigation, and directed the Hudson Reporter to Javier Inclan, HDCO executive director. Calls to Inclan had not been answered by press time.
SIDE BAR
What’s a bribe?
Attorney Peter Willis will appear before U.S. District Judge William Bassler on Nov. 24 to make his case why the jury was wrong in convicting former County Freeholder Nidia Davila-Colon of passing bribes to former County Executive Robert Janiszewski from county contractor Dr. Oscar Sandoval, a psychiatrist. The seven-term freeholder faces sentencing in December for mail fraud and helping in an extortion scheme. Willis claims the government entrapped her.
Davila-Colon was found guilty by a jury this summer, based on testimony from Janiszewski that she was a conduit for bribes between him and Dr. Sandoval in 1995.
A conversation that Willis had with Janiszewski during the trial, about the nature of “bribes,” may provide insight into his defense.
Janiszewski testified that he had taken his first bribe in 1988, a few days after he had become county executive. He said that he had not taken another bribe for nearly seven years until Davila-Colon allegedly passed him money from Sandoval, a psychiatrist who was also Davila-Colon’s lover.
Janiszewski, in his testimony before the court, admitted that his cooperation in other investigations would win him some favor when it came to his own sentencing. He admitted taking more than $100,000 in bribes during his 13 years as county executive. In his testimony, Janiszewski claimed he had taken bribes as early 1988 and named six others from whom he had taken bribes, including childhood friend Paul Byrne, Hoboken accountant Jerry Lisa, and developer Joseph Barry – all of whom have been since indicted, as well as three others who have not yet been indicted.
Janiszewski, in cross examination during the June trial, however, seemed a bit unclear as to what constituted a bribe, although he accused the late Sam Klein, an auditor for Hudson County, of giving a bribe just after Janiszewski took office in 1988.
In cross examination in June, 2003, Willis tried to get Janiszewski to go into more details about the bribe in 1988. He asked if there were any other gratuities taken during the years when Janiszewski served in public office other than those Janiszewski had already detailed for the prosecution.
Janiszewski said he could recall no other incidents. But Janiszewski admitted he might have received a gift from friends such as a decorative plate or a shirt for Christmas or his birthday.
Willis then asked if Janiszewski knew the difference between a gift and a bribe.
Janiszewski said he thought he did.
Had Janiszewski ever taken a vacation from someone connected to his position as county executive or head of the Hudson County Democratic Organization? If so, would that have been a bribe?
“I can’t recall that ever occurring,” Janiszewski replied.
“Yet you claim that Sam Klein came to you with $5,000?”
“Yes, that is true.”
“But you don’t know if it had anything to do with politics or government?”
“Sam said it was a contribution to my campaign,” Janiszewski said, noting that Klein had a $300,000 contract up for renewal in 90 days.
“Did Sam Klein mention the renewal?” Willis asked. “Did he ask for any money?”
“No,” Janiszewski admitted.
Sam Klein, Janiszewski admitted, never said it was a bribe. In fact, Klein had claimed it was a contribution to Janiszewski’s campaign.
“In those days, you could still accept campaign contributions in cash, is that not right?”
“Yes,” Janiszewski said.
“Yet you’ve told this court that you believed this money was a bribe. Why?”
“Because it happened behind closed doors,” Janiszewski said. “He handed me a sealed envelope with cash in it. It was unusual to get campaign contributions like that.”
“Yet you took the envelope, thinking what you were doing was illegal, and put it into your pocket?” Willis asked.
“Yes,” Janiszewski said.
“But Sam Klein never said it was a bribe?”
“No, he did not,” Janiszewski said.
“Do you know what a bribe is?” Willis asked.
“A bribe is money taken improperly to give someone special treatment,” Janiszewski replied.
“But Klein didn’t ask for any special treatment, did he?”
“He never said a word about the contract,” Janiszewski admitted. “But in my heart I knew it was a bribe.”
“Even though he said it was a campaign contribution?” Willis asked.
“Yes,” Janiszewski said.
“And what did you ultimately do with the money Sam Klein gave you? Did you put it into the filing cabinet in your home?” Willis asked, referring to a cabinet in which federal authorities said they later found $88,000 in cash, some of which were marked bills traced back to the 1999 bribe from Dr. Sandoval.
“I think I used some of it for street money during the next election,” Janiszewski said.
Street money, Janiszewski said, was cash used to pay people on election day, such as people walking the streets handing out literature, ringing door bells to get out the vote or giving rides to people to the polls. Janiszewski said workers could receive $10, $20 or even $100 depending upon the work they did.
“So you used the money Sam Klein gave you as a contribution for an election?” Willis asked.
“Yes,” Janiszewski admitted.
“Then how could it be a bribe?”
“I knew it was a bribe,” Janiszewski said. – Al Sullivan