NJ Corruption Watch; Now With Resignations; UPDATE: And With A Casualty

While some of those politicians busted last week are holding on to their offices defiantly, at least one has resigned in response to the scandal that took down 44 people around the New York metro region.

Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, one of three New Jersey mayors arrested last week, is going to resign according to his lawyer. That's in stark contrast to Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez who refuses to resign, despite protests held outside his office over the weekend. Others are protesting their innocence:

In Hoboken, where a bar fight over the mayoralty was brewing Monday, Mayor Peter Cammarano III faced the fiercest public backlash of the three mayors. Cammarano, who reported to work as usual, slipped out the back door of city hall at 5 p.m. as the large crowd of protesters began to gather.

Meanwhile, Joseph Doria, the former state Assembly speaker whose home and offices were searched by the FBI last week, made his first public comments about the case.

“I did nothing wrong, and I feel very confident that the truth will come out,” he said in a brief statement at the door of his Bayonne home. Doria, once one of the most powerful legislators in the state, has not been charged with any crime.

Doria resigned as commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs and as chairman of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission on Thursday, the same day the FBI charged 44 people in a public corruption and money laundering sting.

Some people are calling for Gov. Jon Corzine to step down in the wake of the scandal, but so far he isn't personally implicated. I don't see a reason for him to step down as a result of this scandal.

UPDATE:
The FBI issued subpoenas for various phone records and day planner information of Mayor Anthony Suarez, and requested similar information from Jersey City, Secaucus, and Hoboken.

UPDATE:
Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano's chief of staff resigned today.

Joseph Garcia, a Columbia Law School-educated attorney, is quitting his position as Cammarano's chief-of-staff, he said this afternoon.

"When Peter offered me this position, I was genuinely excited," he said. "Given the recent allegations, I don't see how it's possible to work towards those goals."

Garcia officially handed in his resignation to the mayor and State Monitor Judy Tripodi this afternoon. He is walking away from a $125,000 per year job to serve as Cammarano's right-hand man. Before coming aboard with Cammarano, Garcia was an associate with Manhattan law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

UPDATE:
Jack Shaw, one of the 44 people indicted last week, was found dead in his home, according to investigators. The long time political consultant was among the 44 people who were indicted in a massive corruption probe. As to cause of death, it looks like a drug overdose.

Two officials with knowledge of the investigation said Shaw was found at home with several bottles of pills nearby.

One of the officials said Shaw, 61, had an unspecified medical condition, and authorities are not jumping to conclusions about the cause of his death, according to The Star Ledger.

Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio says a relative found Shaw's body and called police shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Federal prosecutors had accused Shaw of taking $10,000 in bribes for himself from a government informant and proposing that the cooperating witness make a $10,000 campaign contribution to an unnamed Jersey City official.

DeFazio told The Jersey Journal of Jersey City that the death does not appear to be a homicide. He said an autopsy will determine the cause of death.

UPDATE:
Shaw was an operative close to former Governor Jim Florio, and was well connected. While I think he likely did himself in, it remains to be seen what an autopsy provides.