Indicted NJ mayor resigns after 3 weeks on job

HOBOKEN, N.J. (AP) - Mayor Peter Cammarano III resigned Friday, just three weeks after taking office and a week after vowing to stay in office and fight federal corruption charges against him.

Cammarano, who won a June runoff election, was snared last week in a sweeping federal corruption probe that resulted in the arrests of 44 people, including rabbis and dozens of public officials.

The 32-year-old—Hoboken's youngest mayor—sent a letter to the city clerk on Friday saying his resignation was effective at noon. City Council President Dawn Zimmer entered the city council chamber to a standing ovation and was sworn in moments later as the city's first female acting mayor.

"I apologize to the residents of Hoboken for the disruption and disappointment this case has caused," Cammarano said in his resignation letter.

Cammarano, an election-law attorney, is accused of accepting $25,000 in bribes in exchange for help on a purported high-rise building project in the city. He is the second elected official to resign in the wake of the arrests.

In the letter and through his attorney, he reiterated his innocence and said he still intends to fight the charges.

"It became clear in the past six or seven days that, given the controversy surrounding his case, he could not perform his duties," said Cammarano attorney Joseph Hayden. "It was injurious to Hoboken government for him to stay in there, not to mention the fact that the controversy was a burden on his family."

Gov. Jon Corzine had praised Cammarano as a rising star in the Democratic Party. But that turned to disgust after Cammarano's arrest and Corzine announced on Thursday that the mayor would resign.

He’s still less corrupt than the last 6 mayors of Hoboken.

Granted, that’s because he was only mayor for a few weeks.

But he still should be called “the least corrupt mayor of Hoboken in two generations.”

30 Louis De Pascale 1965, 1965-1973
31 Silvio Failla 1965
32 Steve Cappiello 1973-1985
33 Thomas Vezzetti 1985-1988
34 Patrick Pasculli 1988-1993
35 Anthony Russo 1993-2001
36 David Roberts 2001-2009
37 Peter Cammarano 2009 resigned

Corruption conviction

On September 29, 2004, Russo pleaded guilty to public corruption charges in federal court. Russo admitted that he took thousands of dollars in cash from the owner of a city accounting firm in exchange for his influence in awarding contracts to the firm. Russo was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $317,000 in restitution. Russo’s Prisoner ID (BOP) # is 25827-050. He served his sentence in the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina and was released in September 2007[1] [1].

Mayor Roberts is currently experiencing political turmoil due to his inability to manage the city’s budget, which has ballooned during his tenure to over $120MM. As a result, the city’s finances are being managed by a state monitor and real estate taxes were subsequently increased by 47% in one year to counter Mayor Roberts excessive spending. Many consider him to be the worst mayor in the history of Hoboken and protests at City Hall were called to demand his resignation. [3]

In February 2009, David Roberts again overspent the city’s budget by another $4.2MM after he enacted an unauthorized early retirement plan. As a result, the City owes the State of NJ $4.2MM for payment into the pension plan for the benefits associated with these early retirements. After the prior 47% tax increase caused by Mayor Robert’s overspending in 2008/2009, this additional oversight may further increase taxes in 2009/20

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