TRENTON — The subpoenas arrived within weeks of each other.
But why state investigators began examining the procurement practices of capital city officials remains a mystery.
“I can’t go into anything,” Kathy Riley, communications director for the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation (SCI), said in a phone interview Tuesday.
Records obtained by The Trentonian show the SCI, a state watchdog formed in the 1960s to target political corruption and organized crime, was the agency that dropped a pair of subpoenas on Trenton officials within a three-week span, not the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, as city officials claimed in previous emails and interviews.
The first, demanding a trove of documents and communications regarding the construction of South Broad Street radio tower, was issued by the commission’s attorney, Lisa Cialino, on Aug. 27.
A second subpoena to Mayor Reed Gusciora’s administration arrived Sept.16, three days after it was reported that Ben Delisle, Trenton’s former housing and economic development director, filed a bombshell lawsuit against city officials.
In it, he claimed that he was fired because he wouldn’t fast-track demolition projects that Gusciora wanted completed before the 2022 mayoral election.
The commission’s investigation into the Trenton’s procurement practices is a significant hurdle for Gusciora, as he seeks a second four-year term after beating out Paul Perez in the 2018 election to become the city’s first openly gay mayor.
SCI Subpoena1 by John Berry on Scribd
But for Gusciora’s rivals in City Hall pushing a pivotal a no-confidence vote at Thursday’s council meeting, the state watchdog-led probe is decidedly less juicy than a criminal investigation headed up by AG Andrew Bruck.
“We think at the end of the day, they’ll be able to see that everything was done properly,” said Gusciora, who was among city officials last week who mistakenly claimed the subpoenas were from the AG.
He called the agency flub a distinction without a difference, adding the city welcomed “any kind of review.”
“I’m a big believer in let the chips fall where they may,” Gusciora said.
The chips still could end up in criminal investigators’ laps, as the commission must by law hand over evidence of crimes that it may uncover in this probe to Bruck’s prosecutors.
For now, the probe is in the hands of SCI special agent Glenn Pender, whose name appears on the subpoenas.
As those documents prove, the commission has wide latitude to compel evidence and testimony, and grant immunity to witnesses in the cases that it handles.
SCI Subpoena2 by John Berry on Scribd
In 2019, the commission held a public hearing centered on the Pagan’s Motorcycle Club, then under new leadership, following a rise in violent clashes between the group and rival motorcycle gangs.
The commission issued a report the following year outlining how the Pagans had dramatically increased membership over a three-year period, nearly doubling its New Jersey chapters.
The feds ended up targeting the outlaw motorcycle gang as part of a sweeping probe that netted nearly a dozen members on criminal charges, including the group’s national president, Keith “Conan” Richter.
Trenton Makes, Authorities Take
In Trenton, SCI investigators have subpoenaed records in two separate matters examining whether public officials and city employees were “subverted, corrupted, or otherwise distorted by questionable, inconsistent, and/or improper conduct.”
The subpoenas were addressed to Trenton’s law director, Wes Bridges, and business administrator, Adam Cruz, and required them to produce records and separately testify. They were also both sworn to secrecy, according to the subpoenas.
Investigators demanded copies of contracts, plans, permits, bidding and inspection documents, council and planning board minutes and resolutions related to the construction of a South Broad Street radio tower that was installed by the city’s contracted provider, MPS Communications.
They also requested emails, letters and voicemails between Trenton officials and President Steven Budassi.
Budassi and the city are in the midst of a dispute over $218K in unpaid services. The company has threatened to file suit against the city if the bill isn’t paid by the end of the month.
At-large councilman Santiago Rodriguez has raised questions about the city’s continued business arrangement with MPS Communications, which no longer is under contract but has serviced the city since 2013.
MPS Communications acknowledged in a recent letter that it built the South Broad Street tower to address Trenton’s ongoing problems with the radio system, including a notable flap in 2019 that allowed a bank robber to get away during a $10,000 heist.
Rodriguez said he did not tip off SCI investigators to his issues with MPS Communications, but he suspects someone from the inside, possibly a former director, alerted state officials to possible procurement problems with the radio tower.
The Trentonian has filed a records request for documents that could shed light on the tower construction deal.
Budassi and his attorney did not respond to phone calls seeking comment about the commission’s investigation.
The second subpoena, focused on the Trenton’s “abandoned property abatement program,” was dropped on city officials three days after Delisle’s explosive lawsuit became public.
The ex-director claimed he was forced out because he wouldn’t fast-track illegal demolition projects that Gusciora wanted razed as part of a campaign promise.
Delisle claimed the administration promised he’d “cover” from construction code officials who were “on board with declaring the buildings to be imminent hazards” so they classify the demolitions as emergencies and bypass onerous public bidding mandates.
Delisle’s attorney did not respond to a message about whether the ex-director tipped off or was cooperating with state investigators.
The subpoena sought emails, letters, faxes, text messages and voicemails between city officials and Delisle for the period of April 15, 2019 to Aug. 2 of this year, according to records.
