Peter Cammarano

Peter J. Cammarano III (born July 22, 1977) is an American disbarred attorney, former Democratic politician and a convicted felon. He was the 37th Mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey, serving from July 1 until July 31, 2009. Cammarano was arrested by the FBI on corruption charges on July 23, 2009 as part of an international criminal investigation known as Operation Bid Rig; he resigned from office eight days later. He pleaded guilty to extortion in April 2010 and was later sentenced to 24 months in federal prison.

Peter Cammarano
37th Mayor of Hoboken
In office
July 1, 2009 – July 31, 2009
Preceded byDavid Roberts
Succeeded byDawn Zimmer
Personal details
Born (1977-07-22) July 22, 1977
Wayne, New Jersey, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Political partyDemocratic
Alma materBoston University
Seton Hall University School of Law

Biography

Cammarano was born on July 22, 1977 in Wayne, New Jersey. He graduated from Boston University[1] and Seton Hall University School of Law.[2] In 2001, Cammarano moved to Hoboken, New Jersey.[3] He served as the Hoboken coordinator of the 2004 John Kerry presidential campaign and as the New Jersey legal director for U.S. Senator Robert Menendez's 2006 campaign.[4]

A Democrat,[5] Cammarano was elected Councilman-at-Large in Hoboken in a 2005 run-off election.[1][6] At the time, he was an associate attorney at Genova, Burns & Vernoia, an election law firm.[7]

On June 9, 2009, Cammarano won the Hoboken Mayor's race in a runoff election, defeating Dawn Zimmer by 161 votes. Observers credited his victory to absentee and provisional ballots, along with the hiring of many residents from districts that eventually voted in large numbers for him. Zimmer's three running mates won control of the City Council despite Cammarano's mayoral victory.[8] Cammarano was sworn into office on July 1, 2009. At age 32, he became the youngest mayor in city history.[9]

On July 23, 2009, just 22 days after assuming office, Cammarano was arrested by the FBI as part of a major political corruption and international money laundering conspiracy probe known as Operation Bid Rig.[10] Cammarano was charged by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey with accepting $25,000 in cash bribes from an undercover cooperating witness.[11] Cammarano announced his resignation on July 31, 2009.[12] In his resignation letter, Cammarano said, "I apologize to the residents of Hoboken for the disruption and disappointment this case has caused". He was succeeded by Zimmer, who had been elected City Council president and as such was next in line as acting mayor until elections could be held.[13]

Cammarano pleaded guilty on April 20, 2010 to extorting cash contributions in return for official influence and admitted accepting $25,000 in illicit cash contributions in exchange for exercising his future official influence and authority. Cammarano remained free on a $100,000 bond pending his sentence. The guilty plea effectively ended his political career; New Jersey, like most states, does not allow convicted felons to hold office.[14]

On August 5, 2010, Cammarano was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison.[15] In late September, 2010, Cammarano was designated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to serve his 24-month sentence at the minimum security component at Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary in Pennsylvania and was scheduled to report there on October 4, 2010. He was released from Lewisburg Federal Prison Camp in Pennsylvania on Wednesday September 14, 2011 and sent to a halfway house in New York.[16][17][18]

After his conviction, the New Jersey Supreme Court disciplinary review board suspended Cammarano's law license for three years. This decision was appealed to the Supreme Court, which disbarred him in September 2014.[19]

References
  1. Nate Schweber (July 25, 2009). "Hoboken Mayor, From Reformer to Defendant". New York Times. Retrieved 2015-02-17. Born in Wayne, N.J., Mr. Cammarano graduated from Boston University and moved to Hoboken while at Seton Hall University Law School. He joined a law firm, but his heart clearly was in politics. He was the city’s coordinator of the Kerry-Edwards campaign, and two years later was the state legal director in Senator Robert Menendez’s campaign. He was elected to Hoboken’s City Council in 2005.
  2. Heinis, John (17 September 2014). "Over 5 years after Bid Rig arrest, ex-Hoboken Mayor Cammarano disbarred". Hudson County View.
  3. John R. D. Celock (2010). The Next Generation: Young Elected Officials and Their Impact. p. 176. ISBN 9781441193940.
  4. Schweber, Nate (25 July 2009). "Hoboken Mayor, From Reformer to Defendant" – via NYTimes.com.
  5. Ryan, Joe (21 April 2010). "Ex-Hoboken mayor Peter Cammarano III pleads guilty to extortion in N.J. corruption bust". nj.com.
  6. "Hoboken Mayor Official biodata". Hobokennj.org. July 23, 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-23.
  7. "Hoboken Mayoral Candidate Peter Cammarano No Longer Working at Genova, Burns and Vernoia". NJ.com. June 8, 2009. Retrieved 2012-05-19.
  8. "Election wrapup: Cammarano elected Hoboken mayor; Zimmer not conceding, has majority of council". NJ.com. June 13, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-13.
  9. The Jersey Journal (July 1, 2009). "Peter Cammarano is sworn in as Hoboken's youngest mayor, Councilman Ravi Bhalla is the first Sikh to hold an elected public office in New Jersey". Archived from the original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
  10. "Jersey Mayors Stung in Graft Probe". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2015-02-17. The arrests in the public-corruption portion of the probe included the Democratic mayors of Hoboken and Secaucus, Peter Cammarano III and Dennis Elwell; Republican state Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt; and Democrat Leona Beldini, the deputy mayor of Jersey City.
  11. "Criminal Complaint" (PDF). 2009-07-23. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-08-23. Retrieved 2009-07-23.
  12. "Hoboken's Mayor Resigns in Corruption Sweep". New York Times. July 31, 2009. Retrieved 2015-02-17. Peter Cammarano III, the mayor of Hoboken, N.J., who was arrested July 23 in a huge state corruption sweep, resigned effective at noon on Friday. ...
  13. "Acting Hoboken mayor sworn in after Cammarano's resignation". The Star-Ledger. 2009-07-31. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
  14. Cammarano pleads guilty to one count Hoboken411.com; accessed January 24, 2014.
  15. Cammarano sentenced to 24 months in prison Archived 2012-07-09 at Archive.today, hoboken,patch.com; accessed January 24, 2014.
  16. Cammarano released from prison, newyork.cbslocal.com; September 15, 2011; accessed January 24, 2014.
  17. "Former Hoboken mayor released to halfway house", chron.com; accessed January 24, 2014.
  18. "NJ Supreme Court disbars ex-Hoboken mayor who admitted taking bribes". Jersey Journal. September 17, 2014. Retrieved 2015-02-14. Former Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, who was sentenced to two years behind bars after admitting to accepting bribes from a corrupt developer, has been disbarred by the state Supreme Court
  19. Philis, Micheal (September 17, 2014). "Ex-Hoboken mayor disbarred for taking bribes". The Record. Retrieved 2014-09-15.
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