Federal surveillance tapes this week gave new meaning to the term “out to lunch” when the video showed Harold “Buddy” Demellier meeting with FBI informant Solomon Dwek during the period that led up to the eventual arrest of 44 people in New Jersey and New York on corruption and other charges in July 2009. Dwek was pretending to be a prospective real estate developer in Hudson County, and Demellier was hired by him as a consultant.
Demellier is arguably one of the most powerful political figures in Hudson County, but one who is often invisible to the general public, a shock trooper sent in to straighten out a situation, as when West New York Mayor Sal Vega needed someone to handle business operations in West New York early in his administration.
Demellier is seen as one of the key people in the Hudson County Democratic Organization, where he and Craig Guy are viewed as the go-to people for political organizing.
Along with Guy and former Freeholder Neil Carroll, Demellier is considered one of the top three advisors to Bayonne Mayor Mark Smith, the HCDO chairman.
The fact that Demellier met with Dwek should be less of a surprise than if he hadn’t, since there is almost nothing that goes on with local Democrats that Demellier doesn’t have a hand in.
The fact that he became a paid political consultant to Dwek should not be a surprise either, since of all people in Hudson County, Buddy probably has the most connections, as someone who helped run elections for Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy.
Feds may be behind new book on Dwek case
The Demellier revelations appear in the epilogue to a new book on the Dwek saga, “The Jersey Sting,” which largely reads like an advertisement for federal investigators, who apparently gave the authors free access to information that would have been significantly harder for them to obtain through regular freedom of information channels.
The book raises more questions than it actually answers, such as why federal authorities have sealed the file on a dead man, former Jersey City Councilman Tom Fricchone, with whom Demellier had contact. The book alludes to another investigation into an Elizabeth convention center and a waste facility, suggesting that the feds may have been targeting County Freeholder Bill O’Dea but did not have time to follow up on the investigation with the governor’s election looming. O’Dea has confirmed that Dwek did meet with him.
The book touches upon Bayonne, especially the outrageous behavior the feds engaged in to humiliate then-state DCA Commissioner and former Bayonne Mayor Joseph Doria, by carrying empty boxes out of his house in Bayonne to make it look like they were investigating him. Sources close to Doria said he flatly refused to cooperate with Dwek in any way, apparently frustrating federal efforts to undermine Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine during his election against former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie.
In accommodating the authors of “The Jersey Sting,” federal authorities appear to be trying to dispel some of the criticism that their investigation and the charges that resulted were part of an effort to help Christie’s campaign.
The Bayonne connection
Another huge gap in the book involves Dwek’s meetings with Bayonne officials. Mayor Mark Smith and his staff – including chief of Staff Steve Gallo and current state Assemblyman Jason O’Donnell – met with Dwek a number of times. O’Donnell met with Dwek twice separately, and on the second occasion in the parking lot of the Chart House in Weehawken, he was offered a bribe, which he refused.
The meetings, however, did send Dwek to Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith, who was later tried and found not guilty in the sting.
The book, while using detailed federal records in other areas, barely touches on what happened in Bayonne.
Federal authorities, when sent a request through the Freedom of Information Act by the Bayonne Community News early in 2010, refused to supply copies of tapes or transcripts of these tapes, saying the request violated the privacy of individuals. The reply did not say which individuals had been the subject of federal surveillance.
With the records sealed on Fricchone, the book hints at a continuing investigation, and that there may be other people in the state and county that are currently working with the feds as “sleepers” for a future series of arrests.
The book alleges that Demellier took a cash payment of $20,000 from Dwek while inside a county building. He has said that this was part of his consulting pay. But it raises the question as to why Demellier was not charged while Joe Cardwell and others who allegedly took cash from Dwek were. Demellier was never charged with a crime, nor were several other public officials who met with Dwek during the investigation. The sting ultimately netted a host of public officials in 2009, with results including the conviction of former Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano.
Former Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith, who also met with Dwek and was charged with corruption, was found not guilty late last year, and extortion charges against former Assemblyman Louis Manzo and his brother Ronald Manzo were thrown out by a federal judge. Mark Smith, O’Donnell, O’Dea, and possibly many others were not charged. Of course, they didn’t commit a crime, but others who met with Dwek and didn’t take money were still charged.
Some of the defense attorneys in the case claim federal records show that there were numerous other officials who received money but were not charged, suggesting that these people either coorporated with the current crop of arrests or those that might be pending.
The question is: who did the federal informants working with Dwek give up and who did they choose to protect from the feds?
On or off
Meanwhile, Demellier faces stiff criticism as to when he conducted his private consulting business. The county attorney looking into the matter received comment from Demellier that said he had done private work on his own time, lunch or its equivalent, not on county time.
“Buddy had numerous opportunities on tape but didn’t sell his county office, and never offered to use influence through county work to influence anyone,” said county spokesperson Jim Kennelly. “That’s why he was never charged.”