CNN: Menendez may face charges
A report issued by CNN Friday afternoon, as the Reporter was finishing production, said that the U.S. Justice Department is allegedly preparing corruption charges against U.S. Senator Robert Menendez. Menendez, one of the most powerful Democrats in the country, is a former mayor of Union City and Hoboken resident.
According to sources quoted by CNN, the Justice Department is preparing to bring criminal corruption charges against Menendez for allegedly helping promote the business interests of a Democratic donor in exchange for gifts.
The move apparently is prompted in part by statute of limitations that could keep the Justice Department from filing changes if the case is delayed.
The case allegedly involves Menendez relationship with Salomon Melgen, a Florida ophthalmologist, and in part on plane trips Menendez took in 2010 to the Dominican Republic as Melgen’s.
When the details emerged in 2013, Menendez reportedly paid back $58,000 to cover the costs of the trips, calling it an oversight.
Menendez has not yet responded to the CNN report, and when contacted by the Reporter on Friday, the staff said they were reviewing the details. – Al Sullivan
Former DEP official says Christie lawyer cut deal with Exxon
A former official of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has charged that Gov. Christopher Christie’s chief counsel intervened in talks to settle a 10 year old lawsuit between the state and Exxon Mobil, according to published reports on Thursday.
In an Op-Ed in the New York Times, Bradley M. Campbell cited “former colleagues of mine in state government” who told him Christopher S. Porrino “elbowed aside the attorney general and career employees who had developed and prosecuted the litigation, and cut the deal favorable to Exxon.” The company had already been found liable and the only question that remained was the amount of the judgment it would have to pay.
As a judge deliberated whether to assess the $8.9 billion in environmental damages the state sought, he said, the Christie administration stepped in, twice asked for and received delays in concluding the case, and agreed to take about $225 million to settle the case.
Campbell pointed out that while Christie was chairman of the Republican Governors Association in 2014, the group received $500,000 from Exxon and more from company employees, while the New Jersey trial was still underway.
The Times said Campbell, an attorney and former New Jersey DEP commissioner, was also administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s mid-Atlantic region from 1999 to 2001.
Campbell called the proposed settlement, which still must be approved by a judge, “an embarrassment to law enforcement and good government.”
A second Times story said Porrino, Christie’s general counsel since January 2014, had previously served two years as director of the Division of Law in the attorney general’s office, placing him in an oversight position over the Exxon litigation.
The state attorney general launched the lawsuit against Exxon in 2004, claiming the company contaminated more than 1,500 acres of wetlands, marshes, and meadows at two refinery sites in Bayonne and Linden. Exxon disputed the state’s arguments saying they “ignored the evidence, science, and the law.”
Neither Porrino or Exxon would give the Times a statement.
On Thursday, Kevin Roberts, a spokesman for the governor’s office, called Campbell’s allegations “baseless” and from a “known partisan” and said calling the Exxon settlement unfair was “absurd,” issuing details attributed to the attorney general’s office. He said the $225 million settlement comes “on top of ExxonMobil’s obligation to pay separately for the clean-up and remediation of these sites,” and that it “preserves the state’s claims against surface water pollution and damages at the Arthur Kill and Newark Bay and claims for Natural Resource Damage (NRD) related to the discharge of MTBE at hundreds of gas stations around the state.” He also cited past statements he attributed to Campbell that prove his allegations were “irresponsible, disingenuous, and baldly political.”
But environmentalists and other state officials have condemned the proposed settlement.
As reported by nj.com, State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) said Thursday if Campbell’s information is accurate, “Acting Attorney General [John] Hoffman has abdicated his responsibility as the chief law enforcement officer of the state,” and called for Hoffman’s resignation.
State Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D – Gloucester) said on Tuesday the Senate would seek to intervene in the lawsuit and try to block the deal from being approved. On Thursday, Sweeney reacted to Campbell’s allegations, according to nj.com, by saying if Campbell’s information is true U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman should investigate the circumstances surrounding the state’s Exxon settlement.
Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D – Secaucus) and the chairman of the Assembly’s Judiciary Committee, John F. McKeon, plan to hold hearings on March 19.
Night of poetry and food takes place March 14
Katie Meyler, founder of the More Than Me Foundation and Time Magazine’s Person of the Year, will perform her inspirational poems and her story about her battle for the lives of vulnerable young girls in Liberia, West Africa, on March 14 from 7 to 10 p.m. as part of a program called ‘Poetry & Food.’ The program is billed as “a night full of love and admiration shared over a four-course meal and a variety of teas all conceived by some of Jersey City’s newest creators.” The event is presented by ‘942 Summit’ in collaboration with @MoreThanMeOrg, @BoneInFood, @WhosGlutenFree, and @DoYouTea.
The event, which is BYOB, takes place at 942 Summit Ave., Jersey City. For tickets, which are $50 per person, go online to http://www.eventbrite.com/e/942-summit-presents-poetry-food-tickets-15981205215?aff=eac2.
Assembly candidate escorted from council meeting
As a result of a confrontation over not being allowed to speak, Assembly candidate Bruce Alston was escorted by police from the Jersey City Council meeting on Feb. 26.
Council President Rolando Lavarro warned Alston several times to keep comments on the subject of two bond ordinances.
Alston, who is running for a seat in the 31st Assembly district, said he was looking for answers to questions and threatened to filibuster if he had to.
This came after a previous altercation with Lavarro over sticking to the topic and a heated exchange in which Alston challenged Lavarro to have him thrown out.
Lavarro called the police guard to have Alston removed from the chamber saying “this is at his own request.”
Mia Scanga, who appeared a short time later at the regular public comment portion of the meeting, said, “It is turning into a Gestapo here.”
Lavarro, however, said that it was a matter of keeping order.
This strict protocol was adopted late last year after Lavarro came under fire for allowing extended unrelated comments resulting in very long meetings. Rather than impose a time limit on residents speaking on ordinances, Lavarro opted to be more vigilant in making sure speakers stayed on topic.
Child advocate group holding informational session
Hudson County CASA (court appointed special advocate) is recruiting volunteers to advance the best interests of abused and neglected children.
An informational session, addressing the program and the role of its volunteers, will be held on Tuesday, March 10, from 6 to 7 p.m. in Room 901 of the Hudson County Administration Building, 595 Newark Ave., Jersey City.
For more information, call (201) 795-9855, e-mail mgarcia@hudsoncountycasa.org or visit www.hudsoncountycasa.org.
St. Dominic Academy Glee Club and Dominoes set up spring performance schedule
The Saint Dominic Academy, Jersey City multi award-winning Glee Club and Dominoes have begun what is sure to be a very busy spring performance schedule.
The Dominoes, the Academy’s acclaimed treble choir, has been invited by Schola Cantorum on Hudson, a prestigious local choir, to join them along with the VOX Choir from Saint Peter’s Prep, in a performance of No Greater Love, featuring Pieta, a Chamber Oratorio composed by John Muehleisen. The concerts will take place on Saturday, March 7 at 8 p.m. at the Church of Saint Joseph in Greenwich Village, New York City and again on Sunday, March 8 at 5 p.m. at Immaculate Conception Church in Montclair.
On Saturday, March 28 and Sunday, March 29, the Dominoes will again collaborate with VOX, as well as with the Philippine-American Choral Project, the St. Peter’s College Schola and the Sanford Park School Choir in an Ignatian (1st Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam Choral) Festival to be held at St .Aedan’s Church on Bergen Avenue in Jersey City.
On Sunday, April 12 at 3 p.m., the Glee Club has been invited to present a concert at Holy Rosary Church in downtown Jersey City.
On Wednesday, April 15, the Glee Club and Dominoes, under the direction of Mr. Joseph Napoli, will head to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for their participation in the Fiesta-Val music festival for band, orchestra and chorus (www.fiestaval.com) where they are traditionally multi-award winners.
Shortly after the group’s return from Myrtle Beach, they will present their annual Spring Concert on Sunday, April 26 at 4 p.m. at St. Aloysius Church, located at 691 West Side Avenue in Jersey City.
They will conclude their spring performance schedule with an appearance at New York’s famed Carnegie Hall. For the tenth time and the seventh consecutive year, the Dominoes have been invited to sing in Carnegie Hall as part of a Treble Choir concert conducted by Tim Shelton of Westminster Choir College. Other invited choirs include the Sumner Hill Junior High Girls Ensemble from Clinton, MS, the Young Voices of the Carolinas from Charlotte, NC, the Greensboro Day School Choir from Greensboro, NC and the Princeton Girlchoir from Princeton, New Jersey. The concert will be held on Saturday, May 23 at 8 p.m.
City Council chambers may be named after former Mayor Cucci
Mayor Steven Fulop is expected to ask the City Council to name its chambers after recently deceased former Mayor Anthony Cucci.
Cucci passed away on Feb. 26. He served as mayor twice during the 1980s, and later was elected to the Jersey City Board of Education.
Berry Lane Park skatepark gets grant funding
Mayor Steven M. Fulop said that Jersey City was selected from nearly 100 applicants as the top 2015 grant recipient by the Tony Hawk Foundation for a $25,000 grant to install a state-of-the-art skatepark in Berry Lane Park as the Fulop Administration continues to develop Berry Lane Park into Jersey City’s most dynamic recreational facility.
The foundation was created by legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk as a way to give back to communities, promote the sport of skateboarding and expand opportunities for youth.
“We couldn’t be more excited about this grant, which will allow us to build a state-of-the-art skatepark at Berry Lane,” Fulop said. “Our local skateboarders were instrumental in the design process and this will be one of the best skate parks in the country. We can’t wait to invite Tony Hawk here to personally thank him.”
The skatepark, which will be approximately 12,000 square feet, will incorporate a combination of street and transition features, including a large, below grade concrete bowl. It will be the first poured in place concrete skatepark in Hudson County, and one of a small number in New Jersey. It was designed by SITE Design Group, Inc. of Carlsbad, Calif., an internationally known designer of skateparks.
Ramchal named to JCIA
Khemraj “Chico” Ramchal has been appointed to the Jersey City Incinerator Authority (JCIA) Board of Commissioners.
Ramchal, who also serves as a city councilman, has been a resident Jersey City for about 17 years. He is the former chairman of the South Hudson Civic Association. Ramchal is a member of the Jersey City Tax Abatement Committee in addition to the Knights of Rizal, Knights of Columbus and Moose Lodge 226.
One of the challenges facing the JCIA is recycling, according to Commissioner Ramchal. “There is a huge amount of recycling products being disposed of in the curbside collection of household waste,” he said. “Therefore we need to reduce, reuse and recycle more. Having a sustainable materials management program in Jersey City can be a benchmark for realistic goals. Programs as simple as curbside collection audits can easily reduce the trash we generate by 30 percent. Such programs can show the community how many recycling products they are disposing into the solid waste stream.”
“As a civic leader who is committed to a sustainable Jersey City, Khemraj “Chico” Ramchal will help JCIA in its mission of making our community a cleaner, greener and healthier place to live,” said Oren K. Dabney Sr., JCIA’s chief executive officer. “We are honored to have Commissioner Ramchal serving on our board.”
JCIA provides a variety of environmental quality-of-life services including the collection and disposal of residential waste and recycling materials, environmental-compliance education and enforcement, graffiti removal, litter patrol, mechanical street sweeping, property maintenance, roll-off neighborhood cleanup and private rental container services, demolition, snow plowing/salting and removal services, and any other emergency cleanup services that may arise.
For more information, please visit www.jciaonline.org.
HCCC established cultural task force
In February, Hudson County Community College (HCCC) convened an introductory meeting of its newly-formed Cultural Affairs Task Force.
Established by the College’s Board of Trustees and Administration, the HCCC Cultural Affairs Task Force is intended to provide the college with guidance and assistance in setting up policies that will enhance the college’s cultural mission. This would include guidelines for events and how to maintain its art collections.
HCCC President Dr. Glen Gabert said the Cultural Affairs Task Force is comprised of three committees which are composed of a wide-ranging group of individuals from the community including educators, business people, members of local governmental cultural affairs departments, and individuals from the graphics, fine, visual, theater, dance, music and spoken arts arenas.
Hudson County Surrogate to speak at Rotary Club on March 10
Hudson County Surrogate Joseph J. Ryglicki, Esq. will be addressing the Rotary Club of Secaucus on the topics of advanced health directives, guardianships, investments, long term care planning, powers of attorney, taxes and trusts, and the responsibilities of administrators and executors, on March 10 at 12:15 p.m. at La Reggia Restaurant, Meadowland Plaza Hotel, 40 Wood Ave.