Senator extorted funds, U.S. says

NEWARK, N.J. - A former New Jersey state senator was indicted yesterday on influence-peddling charges, accused of funneling millions of state dollars to a hospital in return for a $5,000-a-month consulting fee.

Federal prosecutors charged that Joseph Coniglio approached Hackensack University Medical Center soon after being appointed to the influential Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee in 2004 and eventually received about $103,900 by the time the arrangement ended in early 2006.

Coniglio, the latest in a string of state lawmakers accused of corruption, was also charged with concealing the payments from the public and from the Legislature's ethics panel by creating a sham company to accept the money.

The retired plumber was paid as a "hospital relations" consultant despite no experience in that field, the indictment said.

At one point, Coniglio told an official of the hospital's foundation that Coniglio "would decide what was right and what was wrong, and what he could and could not do for" the hospital, according to the indictment.

The federal inquiry into Coniglio is part of a broader investigation by federal officials into whether legislators have benefited from grant money inserted into the state budget without public review since 2002.

"Whether they like it or not, the era of trading public positions for private profit is coming to an end," U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie said outside the federal courthouse following Coniglio's initial hearing yesterday.

Christie said that because the investigation was continuing he would not comment on who else might be charged.

Coniglio, 65, was released on $250,000 bond following a four-minute appearance before U.S. Magistrate Michael A. Shipp. Shackled at the wrists and ankles during the hearing, Coniglio answered several questions from Shipp, saying he understood his rights.

He was released an hour later and stood silently outside the courthouse while his attorney, Gerald Krovatin, asserted that the former senator never compromised his public position and would have his reputation restored.

"He did not commit any of these crimes. He is an innocent man," Krovatin said. The two walked away without answering questions.

Coniglio faces one charge of extortion and eight counts of mail fraud; each charge carries up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.

The former legislator from Bergen County dropped his reelection bid in September after being told he was targeted in a federal corruption probe regarding the hospital. His term expired last month.

Coniglio, of Paramus, came to the Senate in 2002. Federal prosecutors said he took consulting fees in exchange for supporting hospital grants stuffed into the state budget, and for helping to secure hospital funding from other state agencies.

As a result of his efforts, the state treasury sent three checks totaling $1.22 million, and the state Department of Health and Senior Services awarded grants of $9 million and $64,000, the indictment said. The indictment did not specify whether the grants were received by the hospital, and prosecutors declined to comment beyond the indictment.

Hospital spokeswoman Anne Marie Campbell issued a two-sentence statement that said, in part, "We are cooperating fully with this matter."