NEWARK - The frosty phrase that slid around the courtroom today was "collateral consequences," a legal term that doesn't nearly capture the intense personal fallout that it indicates.

Due to report for a two-year prison sentence on September 20, just last year Peter Cammarano, 32 years old, was basking in a mayoral victory, emerging from an intense battle royale in the working class-meets-upper class Hudson River city.

He lived in a brownstone with his wife and three-year old daughter. He was pulling in segments of the population that people didn’t expect he would. Then-Gov. Jon Corzine and Newark Mayor Cory Booker lauded his efforts at his inauguration on July 1. Three weeks later, the dominoes fell. Handcuffs. Dwek. Bid Rig. Headlines. Resignation letter. Collateral consequences.

His wife left him and took their daughter. He could not find work and his law license was suspended in New Jersey pending his sentencing. He owes the state of New Jersey $25,000 from the illegal campaign contributions. His friends "abandoned" him, according to a letter submitted to the court. And he'll never be able to seek office, devastating every childhood dream of the young Democrat.

"He has been in and around political campaigns by his own admission since the age of 15," U.S. Attorney Brian R. Howe said. "He was as well-equipped as anyone to know he was wrong."

Veteran attorney Joseph Hayden, who represented Cammarano, called these pre-sentencing consequences the worst he has ever seen.

"He already started serving his sentence the day he was arrested," Hayden told U.S. District Judge Jose Linares this morning.

Howe recognized the "collateral consequences" that the city of Hoboken suffered. He also minimized Cammarano's tribulations as a consequence of most crimes: "He's not alone."

The government argued that Cammarano showed "no hesitation" in accepting the $25,000 in bribes and "no reluctance" in agreeing to help the purported developer, FBI cooperating witness Solomon Dwek.

Hayden contested, "Each solicitation and overture (…) came from the government." Cammarano, he said, is showing remorse and has volunteered at a soup kitchen in Hoboken for months; he'll continue until he reports to prison. Hayden proffered some of the struggles Cammarano had already transcended in life, for instance "physical and mental" abuse at the hands of his drug-addicted father and a "nomadic existence" as a youth, details that Cammarano had not shared publicly before today.

Hayden bemoaned the chaotic nature of the campaign: "One's judgment can be warped."

The prosecution retorted that it wasn't just a "crime of a campaign" but it was a crime that continued after Cammarano was elected when he continued to "exact retribution on the people who did not elect him," said Howe, arguably a reference to Cammarano's quote in a meeting with Dwek after the election, which was detailed in the criminal complaint.

"We get to the point where I'm sworn in on July 1st, and we're breaking down the world into three categories at that point," the feds quoted Cammarano in the complaint. "There's the people who were with us, and that's you guys. There's the people who climbed aboard in the runoff. They can get in line ... and there are the people who were against us the whole way. They get ground ... they get ground into powder."

That line didn't play well in Hoboken and when residents protested out front of his house, the sign read: "Powder to the People."

The government downgraded the sentencing from a recommended 30-37 months to a "reasonable, appropriate, and just" 20-24 months, according to the prosecutor. Howe noted especially Cammarano's assisting the government for their upcoming case against Cammarano's alleged bagman Michael Schaffer.

Linares agreed and booked Cammarano's prison stay for two years beginning on September 20.

Hayden requested Cammarano be placed at Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary in Pennsylvania, a high security/low security former home to Jimmy Hoffa, John Gotti, and Henry Hill, but that will be decided by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Cammarano was terse in his remarks.

"It is with profound regret that I stand before the court today. I apologize for the disappointment I caused," he said, naming his family, friends, and the city of Hoboken as those he left in his wake. "I will spend the rest of my life trying to amend the conduct in this case."

Linares called the sentencing "difficult," especially for "someone as promising" as Cammarano, a "rising political star in the state of New Jersey." 

Cammarano beat current-Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer in the mayoral runoff last year by only 161 of over 12,000 votes. After his fall, Zimmer went on to become mayor in a special election.

Hayden told reporters outside the courtroom that Cammarano will "accept punishment" for his "catastrophic mistake" and "ultimately make positive contributions to society."