Anne Milgram

Attorney General Anne Milgram, who is building a case against former Perth Amboy Mayor Joseph Vas, won her second guilty plea form a Perth Amboy official today.

Perth Amboy recreation supervisor Ana Pastrana, 49, pleaded guilty today to using city funds to pay off a credit card in her name that she used for personal expenses for herself and Vas.  In her plea, Pastrana said that Vas directed her to reimburse the card for purchases of sneakers, beachwear and sportswear through a bank account for the city’s Housing Development Corporation.  

“With this second guilty plea, we continue to advance our case against former Perth Amboy mayor Joseph Vas, who we charge conspired with other officials to enrich himself at the expense of his struggling city and its taxpayers,” said Milgram.

A former president of the Orange City Council pleaded guilty today in state court to fraudulently billing the city for meal expenses.

Vivian Gaunt, 71, admitted that she billed the city for meals that she never ate during her travels to conferences as a representative of the city over a six year period.  

A press release issued by the State Attorney General’s office did not say the specific amount that Gaunt billed the city for, but it did say that she has agreed to pay $250 in restitution. 

Anne "Little Chris" Milgram has been on a roll lately, announcing six politically relevant indictments in the last two weeks.  With the exception of Assemblyman Joseph Vas (D-Perth Amboy), the others are relatively minor players: Antonio Santana, who allegedly falsified three absentee ballots in Newark; former Perth Amboy Democratic Chairman Raymond Geneske; two former Vas aides, Melvin Ramos and Jeffrey Gumbs; and Rosemary McClave, the Treasurer for the and Neil Cohen's campaign treasurer.

There is some speculation that the indictment of the 66-year-old McClave might be more about her longtime political alliance with fellow Hillside resident Charlotte DeFilippo than about allegations that she used Cohen's campaign account to pay for $5,562 in personal expenses charged to an American Express card.  According to published reports, Milgram's office has spent the last two years looking at top Union County officials, including DeFilippo, the Executive Director of the Union County Improvement Authority.

Attorney General Anne Milgram today charged former Assemblyman Neil Cohen’s campaign treasurer with stealing money from his election fund to use for personal expenses.

Milgram indicted Rosemary McClave, 66, a Hillside Democratic activist who works as the Borough of Teterboro’s (population 18 as of the 2000 census) chief financial officer, for allegedly writing $5,562.54 in checks to herself  (payable to American Express) that were purportedly meant to reimburse campaign expenses.  But Milgram charged that McClave never put any campaign expenses on the credit card, instead using it to buy clothing from QVC and toys.  

Cohen, for his part, was indicted by Milgram in December on child pornography charges.  He resigned last summer after his the legislators he shares an office with, state Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) and Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D-Union) reported him to the Attorney General’s after a staffer found pornographic images of what appeared to be an underage girl printed out from his legislative office computer.  

The State Attorney General’s office today charged a worker for the 2007 campaign of state Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Newark) with election fraud for allegedly changing three absentee ballot votes meant for a rival slate to votes for Ruiz’s slate.

Attorney General Anne Milgram charged that 58-year-old Newark resident Antonio Santana, whose responsibilities included soliciting absentee ballots, collected three from one family that were marked for Ruiz opponent Luis Quintana and assembly candidates Bessie Walker and Carolotta Hall.  Santana allegedly unsealed the ballots, erased the family’s votes and changed them in favor of Ruiz and her running mates, Grace Spencer (D-Newark) and Albert Coutinho (D-Newark). 

Does Gov. Jon Corzine view Joe Vas as part of the Steele/Hackett group, or the James/Bryant group?

In 2007, Gov. Jon Corzine had a litmus test when it comes to pushing state legislators accused of corrupt acts to resign: are they seeking re-election.  That's how Corzine came to call for the resignations of Assemblymen Mims Hackett (D-Orange) and Alfred Steele (D-Paterson) after their September 2007 arrests, but did not seek the ouster of State Sens. Wayne Bryant (D-Camden) and Sharpe James (D-Newark) following their indictments on federal corruption charges.  At the time, Corzine's spokeswoman explained that Hackett and Steele were candidates for office, while Bryant and James had already announced they were not seeking re-election.

After Joseph Vas was indicted on state corruption charges last week, Corzine called for his resignation from the State Assembly.  But now that Vas has said he won't be a candidate for a fourth term in 2009, will Corzine shift Vas from the Hackett/Steele category to the one reserved for Bryant/James?  His staff says no, suggesting that Corzine has a new litmus test for the current cycle: hard evidence.  According to a Corzine spokesperson, prosecutors had hard evidence - a tape - against Hackett and Steele, but did not have such evidence against Bryant and James. 

But if one were to follow Corzine's logic, the governor's call for Vas' resignation would be rescinded under both litmus tests.  Vas is not a candidate for re-election, and unless the Governor knows something that was not in Anne Milgram's indictment, no video tape of Vas' theft exists.

Source: Perth Amboy Chamber of Commerce Web site

Ray Geneske, shown here in 2005, was charged today with campaign contribution fraud

The chairman and the treasurer of former Perth Amboy Mayor Joseph Vas’s ill-fated 2006 congressional campaign were charged today by the State Attorney General’s Office with soliciting fraudulent campaign contributions.

Raymond Geneske, 73, a member of the Perth Amboy Board of Education and former municipal Democratic chairman who headed up Vas’s campaign, and Melvin Ramos, 53, a formal mayoral aide to Vas who served as his campaign treasurer in 2006, were each charged with three counts for conspiracy, official misconduct and money laundering.  

Geneske and Ramos are accused of pressuring city employees to write checks to Vas’s campaign fund and reimbursing them with cash, thereby skirting federal reporting requirements.  

“We charge that these defendants engaged in an elaborate fraud to pump cash into Joseph Vas’ congressional campaign,” said Attorney General Anne Milgram. “By pressuring city employees to go along with their scheme, they were able to conceal the source of the cash and skirt bank reporting requirements.”

If convicted of the corruption charges filed against him today by Attorney General Anne Milgram, Assemblyman Joseph Vas (D-Perth Amboy) could face a stiff sentence.

Three of the charges against Vas - for second degree official misconduct - carry a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison without parole because the crime allegedly occurred on or after April 14, 2007 - the effective date of the state's public corruption sentencing enhancement law.

Assenblyman Joe Vas is already facing calls from Democratic leaders that he resign.

Assemblyman Joseph Vas (D-Perth Amboy) was indicted today on charges that he conspired to steal about $5,000 in funds of Perth Amboy city funds to pay for personal purchases and expenses and rigged a public lottery so that his personal driver could buy a two-family home through a local program

Vas was charged by a state grand jury with second-degree conspiracy, six counts of second-degree official misconduct, second-degree pattern of official misconduct, third-degree theft by unlawful taking, third-degree misapplication of government property, and third-degree tampering with public records or information, According to Deborah Gramiccioni, the director of the Division of Criminal Justice,   The driver, Anthony Jones was charged with one count each of conspiracy and official misconduct, both in the second degree.

"Joseph Vas took an oath as mayor to honestly and faithfully serve his city, but instead he shamelessly exploited his position for personal gain," said Attorney General Anne Milgram. "We charge that he stole taxpayer money from Perth Amboy's recreation department to pay for personal expenses, including hundreds of dollars for clothing and sneakers for himself and $1,450 for basketball camps for his son. And by rigging a housing lottery, he rewarded his personal driver at the expense of the city, denying deserving families who might have been able to purchase this two-family home.  Public officials are elected to serve the public, not exploit their positions for private gain."

According to the indictment, Vas received payment from the Perth Amboy Recreation Department for personal expenses, "including $1,450 in fees for two basketball camps for his son, $289 for refreshments for his father's funeral, and hundreds of dollars for sportswear, sneakers, beachwear and other personal items for himself."

Neil Cohen resigned from the State Assembly last July after his running mates alerted authorities that he had child pornography on his state computer.

Former Assemblyman Neil Cohen is scheduled to be appear in court this morning to be arraigned on child pornography charges, according to a report in The Star-Ledger.  

Cohen was indicted on four counts in December – months after legislative officemates state Sen.  Ray Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) and Assemblyman Joe Cryan (D-Union) alerted the Office of Legislative Services to a printout of a nude girl found by a staffer on an office computer.
    
Cohen is set to appear before Superior Court Judge Gerald Council in Trenton.