First Assistant Attorney General Thomas R. Calcagni announced that Birdsall Services Group pleaded guilty today to charges that the firm engaged in a criminal scheme to make hundreds of thousands of dollars in corporate political contributions through employees to evade New Jersey’s pay-to-play law and obtain millions of dollars in public contracts for which it should have been disqualified.

Birdsall Services Group, through its defense counsel, Joseph A. Hayden Jr., pleaded guilty to charges of first-degree money laundering and second-degree making false representations for government contracts before Superior Court Judge Wendel E. Daniels in Ocean County, First Assistant Attorney General Calcagni announced.  Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman is recused from this matter.

U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-12), Hopewell, calls himself the progressive problem-solver in the U.S. Senate contest, and identifies public education as a key area distinguishing himself from front-runner Newark Mayor Cory Booker.

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6), Long Branch, also the self-identified progressive problem-solver in the race, likewise has a problem with Booker's record and cites education.

On the Brian Lehrer Show Tuesday, Pallone said Booker is cozying up to Republican Gov. Chris Christie in a way that does not advance the interests of most New Jerseyans.

Jersey City Mayor-elect Steven Fulop today announced that he has filled two key positions.

Jeremy Farrell, an associate with the Morristown office of McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, was named corporation counsel and Muhammed Akil, who works in the city’s Health and Human Services Department, was named chief of staff to the mayor.