Joe Cardwell, a well-connected Jersey City political consultant who was arrested in July along with 43 others on corruption charges, was indicted today for allegedly taking bribes in order to influence a city official.
The indictment charges that Cardwell accepted a $10,000 payment from Solomon Dwek, an FBI informant posing as a crooked developer, to make introductions to officials who could speed through zoning approvals for a purported residential high rise development on Garfield Avenue. At a later meeting, according to the indictment, Cardwell took another $20,000 from Dwek -- $10,000 for himself and $10,000 for someone identified in the indictment only as “JC Official.”
The official, who Cardwell allegedly described as “my guy,” turned down Dwek when he tried to hand him $10,000. According to the July criminal complaint against Cardwell, the official, who in that complaint was identified as “JC Official 3,” “told the CW that he did not do that, and that the CW should deal with defendant Cardwell, who knew both JC Official 3 and the mayor. JC Official 3 told the CW that there would be events and tickets and that defendant Cardwell knew the “playing field.”
Cardwell then allegedly accepted the money intended for the official, and later told Dwek that the official had requested that Cardwell use the money to purchase tickets for a political fundraiser.
Although not identified in the indictment, PolitickerNJ.com named the Jersey City official in July as Carl Czaplicki, a former chief of staff to Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy who heads up the city’s Department of Housing, Economic Development and Commerce. Czaplicki has not been charged with a crime.
Joe Cardwell, a well-connected Jersey City political consultant who was arrested in July along with 43 others on corruption charges, was indicted today for allegedly taking bribes in order to influence a city official.
Burlington County GOP Chairman Bill Layton has signed on as a partner with a lobbying firm run by two prominent Democrats.
Layton says he’ll work primarily on environment and transportation issues with the firm, Cammarano & Hagan Partners. He also plans to remain as executive director of the New Jersey Concrete and Aggregate Association.
The firm’s two partners are Peter Cammarano, a former chief of staff for outgoing Senate President and Acting Gov. Dick Codey (D-Roseland) (not to be confused with the arrested former Hoboken mayor of the same name), and Kevin Hagan, a veteran political operative who served as deputy chief of staff to former Gov. Jim McGreevey.
Burlington County GOP Chairman Bill Layton has signed on as a partner with a lobbying firm run by two prominent Democrats.
Layton says he’ll work primarily on environment and transportation issues with the firm, Cammarano & Hagan Partners. He also plans to remain as executive director of the New Jersey Concrete and Aggregate Association.