Who did not take Dwek’s bait?

By Ricardo Kaulessar / Hudson Reporter
August 23, 2009 

Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega won a council-at-large seat in the May 12 municipal election, running with seven other candidates on Mayor Jerremiah Healy’s election slate. But that victory seems fleeting in light of his arrest on July 23 as one of the 44 religious and political leaders in New Jersey and New York who’ve been tagged with public corruption or money laundering charges.

Vega has not resigned his council post, although Councilman Steven Fulop and some members of the public have called for him to step down.

But Vega’s arrest has raised suspicions that other council members either met with the federal government’s “cooperating witness” Solomon Dwek, or were approached indirectly, even though they were not accused of crime.

Dwek (employing the first name David with varying last names) allegedly went to various local officials with FBI-provided bribe money, saying he wanted approval for a purported condo project on Garfield Avenue.

At least two City Council members told the Jersey City Reporter in recent weeks that they had contact with Dwek, directly or indirectly, but did not take the bait.

Three other council members said they did not meet Dwek, while another three were not available for comment. 

‘Testing people’s greed’

Councilman Bill Gaughan is the city’s longest serving council member, first elected in 1993 to serve Ward D, which covers most of the Jersey City Heights. Gaughan is also chief of staff for Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise, making him a powerful figure in local politics and a potentially big fish for the FBI’s corruption bait.

Gaughan said after the Aug. 12 council meeting that he had been approached by Dwek about the purported development project on Garfield Avenue that would call for a condo tower.

Gaughan was not named in any of the complaints pertaining to the 44 arrested.

Gaughan did not reveal the date of the meeting, although it is believed they met during the election season. He remembered that Dwek offered no paperwork or details about his project, which made Gaughan suspicious.

“It was very obvious,” he said. “I asked for plans; I asked for site control; [Dwek] had nothing,” Gaughan said. “All he had was a good line of [expletive].”

Gaughan also blasted Dwek as a “con man entrapping people into a situation” who was “testing people’s greed.”

Viola Richardson was recently reelected to a third term to represent Ward D, encompassing most of the city’s Bergen-Lafayette section. Richardson last week said Dwek allegedly approached an “intermediary” (whom she did not name) before and after the May 12 election to set up a meeting with her, although no name was given other than a “rich Jewish developer.” [...]

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