The verdict was swift and unanimous: Hamilton Mayor John Bencivengo is guilty of abusing his office for personal gain.
While the cash-strapped mayor legally could have remained in office earning his $108,000-a-year salary until he is sentenced to up to 20 years in prison in February, Bencivengo promptly and appropriately resigned tonight.
In reality, he forfeited his right to serve the state’s largest suburban municipality the moment he began peddling his influence over township business for cash. Bencivengo is yet another in a long line of New Jersey public officials who could be bought. His price was $12,400.
Bencivengo took that amount in bribes from health insurance broker Marliese Ljuba, who needed the mayor’s sway over the school district contract. Her former company, Allen Associates, was paid $3.96 million in commissions over the last three years, and Ljuba’s cut was estimated at $500,000.
Bencivengo’s friend Rob Warney, who resigned as Hamilton’s director of community planning and compliance, admitted he helped funnel a portion of the bribe money to Bencivengo. Warney also admitted he took $10,000 in bribes from Ljuba while he was a Hamilton school board member in March 2006 and November 2007, long before Ljuba became an FBI informant and began recording her shady dealings. Warney is also awaiting sentencing.
The revelations during the Bencivengo trial and in the reporting of Times staffer Jenna Pizzi began to resemble an octopus in their reach.
Ljuba said she plied multiple township officials with cash, gifts, trips and illegal campaign contributions.
On Monday, Hamilton’s recreation director, Catherine Tramontana, was fired. Ljuba testified that Tramontana was her “best friend” and that she had frequently paid for trips and meals for Tramontana and her husband, Joseph, the school district’s business administrator. Joseph Tramontana was placed on paid administrative leave last week by the school district.
Robbinsville placed its business adminstrator, Joy Tozzi, on leave last week after Ljuba testified she gave thousands of dollars to Tozzi in cash bribes and gifts, including a trip to Disneyland. These latest revelations must be fully investigated and dealt with as swiftly as the Bencivengo jury’s verdict.
It’s a tangled, sordid tale.
And it once again erodes the public’s trust in elected officials — trust that may never be restored.
Complete coverage of the Bencivengo corruption case: