Public Corruption in New Jersey

Chris Edwards and Yasmeen Kallash-Kyler

When you ask people which are the most corrupt states, New Jersey is often mentioned along with perhaps Illinois and Louisiana. We found here and here that New Jersey ranks only moderately high in terms of public corruption convictions, though we noted that convictions are an imperfect measure of underlying criminal activity.

This post focuses on one troubled city in the state—Newark. We summarize a dozen corruption scandals, many of which were identified in this article. Public corruption generally means elected or career officials stealing public property or receiving bribes from businesses and individuals in return for special treatment.

Why focus on corruption? Because it undermines investment, entrepreneurship, and growth. In Newark, corruption has tag-teamed with high unemployment and high poverty levels for a long time. The city has experienced massive losses in population, though it started reversing those losses about a decade ago.

Here are some notable corruption episodes in Newark:

• Mayor Hugh Addonizio: The former US representative and Newark mayor from 1962 to 1970 was charged for extorting kickbacks from city contractors. Addonizio and “four other defendants were found guilty on 64 counts each, one of conspiracy, and 63 of extortion.” Addonizio and partners took kickbacks of at least $1.4 million for city sewer and water contracts. The mayor was fined $25,000 and served five years of a 10-year sentence.
• Mayor Kenneth Gibson: After he left office, the Newark mayor from 1970 to 1986 was indicted for double-billing and padding expenses by $1 million on a contract his company had with a local school district. In a plea deal, 17 charges were dismissed, and Gibson got three years of probation for evading $78,000 in income taxes. He was also ordered to repay $349,000 stolen from the schools.
• Mayor Sharpe James: The Newark mayor from 1986 to 2006 perpetrated a scheme with his girlfriend to fraudulently obtain discounted city-owned land and resell it for large profits. Nine properties were bought from a program to rehabilitate blighted land for $46,000 and quickly resold for more than $600,000. James was sentenced to 27 months in prison and paid a $100,000 fine. In addition, a state court ruled that James had illegally used $94,000 in campaign funds to pay for personal legal fees.
• Executive Director Linda Watkins-Brashear: As head of the Newark Watershed Conservation and Development Corporation (NWCDC) from 2007 to 2013, Watkins-Brashear accepted $999,000 in kickbacks for steering funds to chosen contractors, including cleaners, media consultants, interior designers, and other businesses that performed little or no actual work. A state audit found “rampant abuse of public funds, illegal payments, and sweetheart deals at the NWCDC and said it operated free of meaningful oversight despite $10 million in annual service contracts from the city to manage water assets.” Watkins-Brashear saw the NWCDC as a “political entity” and said that she “pressured vendors to make campaign contributions to then-Mayor Cory Booker and his political friends.” She was sentenced to 102 months in prison.
• Police Officer Janell Robinson: The NWCDC generated a web of crime resulting in nine people sentenced for corruption-related offenses. One was police officer Janell Robinson, who set up a side hustle for herself by creating a fake security company and paying a $50,000 bribe to Watkins-Brashear in exchange for receiving $289,000 in no-work contracts. Robinson was sentenced to nine years in prison.
• Agency Manager Donald Bernard Sr.: Another crook in the NWCDC scandal was manager Donald Bernard Sr., who pleaded guilty to accepting $956,948 in kickbacks from numerous contractors, such as landscapers and snow removal firms. According to Politico, the NWCDC scandal’s scale was staggering even to jaded observers. Apparently, it was not uncovered by government auditors but by a citizens’ group.
• Information Technology Director Venancio Diaz: Diaz was the information technology director at the federally funded Newark Housing Authority (NHA). From 2013 to 2021, he used public funds to purchase electronic gear that he resold for personal gain. He bought 1,509 cell phones and other devices, briefly activated them on the NHA network, and then resold them online, directing $594,425 to his personal bank account. Diaz was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay $594,425 in restitution.
• City Council Member Joseph McCallum: Newark council member and board member of the Newark Community Economic Development Corporation McCallum pleaded guilty to corruption-related charges in 2022. He helped developers and other companies obtain city contracts and approvals in exchange for $91,000 in kickbacks between 2017 and 2020. If companies refused to pay, McCallum would block their projects and prevent them from obtaining contracts.
• Deputy Mayor Carmelo Garcia: As deputy mayor and director of the Newark Department of Economic and Housing Development from 2017 to 2019, Garcia accepted cash and jewelry as bribes in exchange for aiding businesspeople in redeveloping city-owned properties. In one incident in 2018, Garcia received an envelope with $25,000 in cash from Frank Valvano Jr. in the restroom of a New Jersey restaurant. Five days later, Newark passed the approval Valvano was seeking. Both Garcia and Valvano have pleaded guilty.
• Deputy Mayor Ronald Salahuddin: As deputy mayor for public safety in 2006 and 2007, Salahuddin aimed to steer city demolition work to a Newark business that he arranged to have a large financial stake in. He also extorted payments from businesses in exchange for various official actions. Salahuddin was sentenced to one year in jail. He was also a former detective with the Essex County Sheriff’s Office.
• Senior Aide Al-Tarik Onque: Former violent gang member and prison inmate Onque was given a second chance in 2007 when then-Mayor Cory Booker hired him as a senior aide. Alas, he blew his second chance. Onque pleaded guilty in 2025 to taking cash bribes from businesses for expediting certificates of code compliance. Sentencing is set for 2026.
• Code Enforcement Officer Sonia Rogers: Newark code enforcement officer Rogers has been indicted for bribery and related offences in 2025. She allegedly shut down a Newark retail establishment, threatened to fine the owners, and demanded cash bribes and merchandise in exchange for allowing the store to reopen and rescinding the fine. After reopening, Rogers allegedly made multiple visits to the store to demand additional bribes.

Newark is not the only jurisdiction in New Jersey suffering from corruption. In nearby Passaic, Mayor Alex Blanco was sentenced to prison in 2017 for taking $110,000 in bribes from developers for steering federal aid to them for low-income housing. Here is a rogues’ gallery of 15 more corrupt New Jersey officials.

A 2009 NBC article was titled “44 arrested in N.J. corruption probe”:

… Even for a state with a rich history of graft, the scale of wrongdoing alleged was breathtaking.

… Among the 44 people arrested were the mayors of Hoboken, Ridgefield and Secaucus, Jersey City’s deputy mayor, and two state assemblymen. A member of the governor’s cabinet resigned after agents searched his home, though he was not arrested.

… The number of arrests was remarkable even for New Jersey, where more than 130 public officials have pleaded guilty or have been convicted of corruption since 2001.

“New Jersey’s corruption problem is one of the worst, if not the worst, in the nation,” said Ed Kahrer, who heads the FBI’s white-collar and public corruption division. “Corruption is a cancer that is destroying the core values of this state.”

The arrests were part of Operation Bid Rig aimed at tackling New Jersey corruption. Numerous public officials were sentenced to jail.

It is now 16 years later: Has New Jersey begun to drain the swamp? Data on public corruption prosecutions show that federal convictions in the state are down. Hopefully that means underlying criminal activity is down, but it could just mean that enforcement efforts have waned.

New Jersey inaugurates a new governor in January 2026. Mikie Sherrill is ex-military and a former prosecutor, so she has the experience to crack down on the state’s notorious graft. In announcing her run for governor, Sherrill said, “We’ve had a series of corruption scandals.… So voters have demanded, and the people of New Jersey deserve, transparency and accountability.”

Let’s hope she keeps her promise and pushes the Garden State in a new, cleaner direction.