Indictments reveal depth of corruption

And the indictments just keep on coming. At least that’s the feeling one gets every week as the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark continues to ring up indictments of people associated with development in this little corner of the world.

Two weeks ago Frank G. Abate, of Marlboro, the former executive director of the Western Monmouth Utilities Authority, was indicted on charges that he used his position as the head of a regional sewerage authority to secure personal benefits.

Last week developers Steven Meiterman, of Marlboro, his brother, Bernard Meiterman, of Manalapan, and their business partner, Edward Kay, of Marlboro, were indicted and charged with, in essence, paying off Abate and an unnamed Marlboro Planning Board member in order to obtain needed municipal and sewer approvals for their retail and commercial projects.

The list of people who have already been snared in the U.S. Attorney’s ongoing investigation into public corruption now includes Abate; the Meitermans; Kay; former Marlboro Mayor Matthew Scannapieco; former Marlboro Democratic leader Richard Vuola; developer Anthony Spalliero — whose deals have resulted in significant numbers of homes being built in Marlboro; and former Marlboro Planning Board member Stanley Young.

We can only wonder who is next on U.S. Attorney Chris Christie’s list of targets.

The corrupt behavior admitted to by some of these people and alleged against others is shameful. The prevailing attitude on the part of the elected and appointed officials who have been caught up in this net appears to be “What can I get for myself?” instead of “What can I do to help my town?”

The misdeeds cut across party lines; corruption is not the sole province of Democrats or Republicans. For some of these elected and appointed officials, corruption is a benefit they seem to think comes with the job. For developers, corruption may be the cost of doing business.

For residents, corruption represents public service gone terribly wrong and it will take years to regain the trust of the public. The behavior of a few casts a shadow of doubt on all who serve in elected and appointed positions. That is unfortunate and unfair, but it is the truth.

The guilty deserve to be punished with jail time and fines.

The indictments themselves blur the line between reality and fantasy, and in some cases read more like scenes from a movie about gangsters instead of legal documents that have a person’s future hanging in the balance.

Here are a few examples:

• Developers allegedly instructing an architect how to lie to a federal grand jury and allegedly pressuring the architect to get him to draw up plans for an addition to Abate’s home.

• One developer saying of a federal grand jury, “They’re not gonna get in my records.”

• One public official who was caught on tape trying to involve a state senator in his corrupt activities.

• One developer telling a public official how to bury money to keep it from disintegrating in the dirt.

• A cash payoff to a Marlboro Planning Board member from a developer, with the money delivered in a covered plastic foam cup. The payment was made prior to the board member’s trip to Walt Disney World.

• Invoices with names blacked out.

While gangster films may come and go, we are certain that investigations into New Jersey’s real-life dirty dealing can, and should, continue well into the future.