Jersey City Corruption Quote of the Day: ‘According to Your Standards You’re Generous’
By Jon Whiten • Jul 28th, 2009 • Category: Blog, News, Politics
Blanket disclaimer time: All of the actions described below are allegations, and the person(s) who are charged have not been proven guilty.
At a meeting that went down at a Jersey City diner this month, cooperating witness Solomon Dwek was telling Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith about the help he wanted with state agencies for his purported development on Garfield Avenue and another one in Bayonne.
Dwek had already given Smith $5,000 in cash during Smith’s run for mayor for help with the Garfield Avenue project on the municipal level.
“Just like before the election, I was there for you, I’m a generous guy,” Dwek told Smith.
Responding to Dwek’s characterization of a $5,000 cash bribe, Smith pointed at him and said: “According to your standards you’re generous.”
Dwek’s response: “When I offer, I offer low, I’m a businessman.”
Later in that meeting, Dwek told Jersey City Housing Authority commissioner Edward Cheatam, who was there to facilitate the meeting and the cash flow, that he’d give Smith $10,000 since the Assemblyman had made it clear “he wasn’t happy with the five.”
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Jon Whiten is the founding editor of the Jersey City Independent; he now works for a public-policy nonprofit in Trenton.
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