America's Culture of Corruption: Spotlight on New Jersey

Although recipient of a $216,000-a-year salary, Peter Burnham, disgraced president of Brookdale Community College in New Jersey, pleaded guilty to two counts of official misconduct and theft by deception today. Another headline of a failed leader entrusted to inspire character; but instead represents greed, dishonesty and selfishness.

As noted in my articles, newest book and blogs over the years, such as referenced below from August 7, 2009, the crisis of ethics continues its affliction of moral depravity on our nation. America must rise again to its destiny as a great moral nation by reawakening its heart with character:

Massive New Jersey Corruption Bust: A Crisis of Character

For many years I have addressed the issue of a crisis of character in articles, blogs, and presentations, as well as in my newest book Listen To Their Cries. But on Thursday, July 23, 2009 the pervasiveness of moral decay exuded a suffocating stench in the state of New Jersey for all law abiding citizens struggling to make ends meet during this economic crisis.

At a press conference in Newark on the day of the arrests, Special Agent in Charge Weysan Dun said, "We hope that our actions today will be the clarion call that prompts significant change in the way business and politics are conducted in the state of New Jersey. Those who engage in this culture of corruption should know the cross hairs of justice will continue to be focused on them."

According to a Department of Justice Press Release posted on the Federal Bureau of Investigation Newark website, the arrests were based on a two track investigation of political corruption and International Money Laundering Rings which led to the arrest of 44 individuals. Tragically, these individuals are in positions of trust demanding the highest levels of dedication to their communities such as mayors, assemblymen, political operatives and even rabbis. These individuals violated their oaths of public office and desecrated the very faith they profess.

Reprinted from the FBI Newark Website
Department of Justice Press Release
July 23, 2009

http://newark.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/2009/nk072309.htm

Among those charged in criminal Complaints are:

• Peter Cammarano III, the newly elected mayor of Hoboken and an attorney, charged with accepting $25,000 in cash bribes, including $10,000 last Thursday, from an undercover cooperating witness.
  
• L. Harvey Smith, a New Jersey Assemblyman and recent mayoral candidate in Jersey City, charged along with an aide of taking $15,000 in bribes to help get approvals from high-level state agency officials for building projects.
  
• Daniel Van Pelt, a New Jersey Assemblyman, charged with accepting a $10,000 bribe.
  
• Dennis Elwell, mayor of Secaucus, charged with taking a $10,000 cash bribe.
  
• Anthony Suarez, mayor of Ridgefield and an attorney, charged with agreeing to accept a $10,000 corrupt cash payment for his legal defense fund.
  
• Louis Manzo, the recent unsuccessful challenger in the Jersey City mayoral election and former state Assemblyman, and his brother and political advisor Robert Manzo, both with taking $27,500 in corrupt cash payments for use in Louis Manzo’s campaign.
  
• Leona Beldini, the Jersey City deputy mayor and a campaign treasurer, charged with taking $20,000 in conduit campaign contributions and other self-dealing in her official capacity.
  
• Eliahu Ben Haim, of Long Branch, N.J., the principal rabbi of a synagogue in Deal, N.J., charged with money laundering of proceeds derived from criminal activity.
  
• Saul Kassin, of Brooklyn, N.Y., the chief rabbi of a synagogue in Brooklyn, New York, charged with money laundering of proceeds derived from criminal activity.
  
• Edmund Nahum, of Deal, N.J., the principal rabbi of a synagogue in Deal, charged with money laundering of proceeds derived from criminal activity.
  
• Mordchai Fish, of Brooklyn, N.Y., a rabbi at a synagogue in Brooklyn, charged with money laundering of proceeds derived from criminal activity. His brother, also a rabbi, was charged as well.

Most of the defendants were arrested early this morning by a large contingent of federal agents, led by Special Agents of the FBI Newark Division and IRS Criminal Investigation Division (See addendum of defendants, charges and arrest status). Court-authorized search warrants were also being executed approximately 20 locations in New Jersey and New York, to recover, among other things, large sums of cash and other evidence of criminal conduct. Additionally, 28 seizure warrants were being executed against bank accounts in the names of the money laundering defendants and entities they control.

One criminal Complaint charges a Brooklyn man, Levy Izhak Rosenbaum, with conspiring to broker the sale of a human kidney for a transplant, at a cost of $160,000 to the transplant recipient. According to the Complaint, Rosenbaum said he had been brokering the sale of kidneys for 10 years.

Perhaps my response to these latest headlines of shameful corruption is best expressed through the words of an article of mine entitled America's Resolve in a New Era of Leadership published in 2006:

Moral outrage in a calm, demanding and persevering manner must be the order of the day and America must respond with a new resolution to leadership; highlighted by character, to expedite transformation from a culture of corruption to the ideals of service and dedication to community. America need only reflect retrospectively on the leadership and events of its noble past to be reignited with the call of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, "this generation has a rendezvous with destiny."

Abraham Lincoln is admired as a leader with masterful communication and persuasion skills. Lincoln developed these skills by keenly understanding the philosopher Aristotle's Treatise on Rhetoric which explains a leader's ability to persuade as: "Persuasion is only achieved by means of a moral character that renders the speaker worthy of confidence. Credibility is the most powerful means of persuasion."

If only the character of Abraham Lincoln were truly taken to heart by those in authority, life would ultimately be transformed within American society. Messages are more often heard and followed when the communicator is understood to be honest, sincere and truly concerned about others.

READ MORE

USDOJ 23-JUL-2009 Press Release	Click here to visit site
America's Resolve in a New Era of Leadership	Click here to visit site

Batman Movie Tragedy: A Call for Compassion, Community, Concern

The senseless killings of innocent people seeking a summer night of fun at the Batman movie must inspire compassion, community and concern for the victims and their loved ones.

As noted in a 2004 article titled The Culture of Violence, each community throughout America is a potential victim to this staggering proportion of violence. The soul of America must be examined and we must resolve to change the course with a reawakened heart. Otherwise, tragedies such as this and as noted below in a February 8, 2008 post, will continue:

Responding to the Culture of Violence: Leadership, Vigilance, Collaboration

Violence throughout the schools and workplaces of our nation took its toll this week. Headlines resonated with grim details of death and mayhem, evidence of the continuing culture of violence that plagues America.

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Five Women Slain at Store Outside Chicago
CHICAGO, IL—February 2, 2008—Washington Post
Read article...

Md. Teen Admits Killing Sleeping Family
COCKEYSVILLE, MD—February 4, 2008—CBSNews
Read article...

Family Blames Bullying For Teen's Death
OLATHE, KS—February 6, 2008—FoxNews
Read article...

Domestic Issues Lead to Shooting
PORTSMOUTH, OH—February 7, 2008—Associated Content
Read article...

Five killed in Los Angeles Standoff
LOS ANGELES, CA—February 7, 2008—CNN
Read article...

Six killed at City Council meeting
KIRKWOOD, MO—February 8, 2008—MSNBC
Read article...

Three killed at Louisiana Technical College
BATON ROUGE, LA—February 8, 2008—LSU-The Daily Reveille
Read article...

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As a speaker and educator, I am privileged to assist the schools, communities and law enforcement agencies with leadership, ethics and character training as well as numerous violence prevention initiatives. Since the Columbine High School tragedy in 1999, I have traveled the United States calling for a culture of preparedness and a renewal of character in response to the increase of violence throughout the nation.

Our society needs hope—individuals and organizations working together to create communities of trust. The ingredients for transformation are leadership, vigilance, and collaboration:

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LEADERSHIP—America is suffering a crisis of leadership. As John Quincy Adams once said, we need leaders who

"inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more."

Scandal and corruption have become too commonplace.
(Read SCANDAL AND CORRUPTION blogs)

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VIGILANCE—The picture above is from the entrance to the National Archives in Washington, DC, which houses the Charters of Freedom

• Declaration of Independence
• Constitution of the United States
• Bill of Rights

The inscribed quote can be found in a January 28, 1852 speech to the Massachusetts Antislavery Society by Wendell Phillips, abolitionist, orator and columnist for The Liberator.

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty—power is ever stealing from the many to the few… The hand entrusted with power becomes … the necessary enemy of the people. Only by continual oversight can the democrat in office be prevented from hardening into a despot: only by unintermitted Agitation can a people be kept sufficiently awake to principle not to let liberty be smothered in material prosperity."

The preservation of liberty is in the hands of the people. It is our duty to keep our leaders honest.

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COLLABORATION—Parents, educators, law enforcement, community and faith-based leaders must stand together for the common good. Combating the culture of violence and building a community of trust cannot happen in a vacuum.

"When bad men combine,
    the good must associate;
else they will fall one by one,
    an unpitied sacrifice
in a contemptible struggle."
    —Edmund Burke

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Together, let us vow as never before to rise up with courage to transform our nation and lay the foundation for a bright future for generations to come.

Workplace Violence Awareness and Prevention Program on Long Island

On Friday, July 13, 2012, I delivered a presentation titled Workplace Violence Awareness: Prevention, Preparedness, Empowerment to 85 members of the Community Development Corporation of Long Island in East Patchogue. The presentation as organized by Lisa J. Dolan, CPP, President of Securit, covered basic issues of workplace violence and it was designed to increase awareness and initiate additional training, programs and protocols.

As addressed with all of my violence prevention presentations, articles and blogs, such as noted below, this is a serious issue for companies that deserves proactive full force viglilance.

EXERCISING LEADERSHIP TO PROTECT FACILITIES

According to its website, the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) is the premier professional association for facility management and supports the largest community of facility management professionals in the industry. IFMA membership comprises more then 17,500 facility professionals throughout 50 countries and its members have a voice in 126 chapters and 14 councils.

The mission of the New Jersey Chapter of IFMA is to enhance the value of the organization to the professional facility manager. The goal of the New Jersey Chapter is to serve as a user friendly,easily accessible resource of interaction, education and empowerment of professional skills and knowledge.

Complimenting the mission and goal of the New Jersey Chapter of IFMA, I was honored to be the guest speaker for their Wednesday, February 21, 2007 event at the Marriott in Somerset, New Jersey and presented, "Exercising Leadership to Protect Facilities" to over 50 facility management professionals representing New Jersey corporations and schools. The venue was generously sponsored by Bravo Building Services.

The agenda for the evening was:

• Setting the Stage (Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned-the need for a culture of preparedness, leadership, partnerships and unity of effort)
  
• A Crisis of Leadership (Public, Corporate and Professional Sports Scandals)
  
• A Culture of Violence (School and Workplace Violence/Terrorism)
  
• Exercising Leadership (Security Vulnerability Assessments, Risk Management, Target Hardening, Defense in Depth, Emergency Planning, Personnel Security, Sensitive Information Protection, Security Management, Crisis Management Committee's and Security Protocols including lockdowns, sheltering in place, evacuations, partial and full scale drills)

The presentation highlighted the cornerstone of facility protection as moral leadership, heightened vigilance and dedicated collaboration and the six pillars of practical day-to-day leadership as:

• Affirmation
  
• A Sense of Urgency
  
• Dignity
  
• Respect
  
• Honesty
  
• Compassion

As with all of my presentations, the program was punctuated with a moment of silence to reflect and remember those who are serving in our military and their families, especially those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice.

The attendees provided significant insights into their work and current concerns. Their commitment and dedication reminds us that:

"Leadership is key for those responsible for facilities and vigilance demands updated, tested and effective emergency plans to protect the lives of individuals entrusted to their care and to safeguard the very survival of their organizations."

READ MORE

International Facility Management Association (IFMA)	Click here to visit site
IFMA – New Jersey Chapter	Click here to visit site

Penn State Sexual Abuse Scandal: A Crisis of Leadership

The release of the Penn State probe by former FBI Director Louis Freeh today highlights the crisis of leadership, ethics and character at one of the country's most renowned universities. As detailed in the remarks of Freeh, "our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky's child victims by the most senior leaders at Penn State".

As detailed in my previous presentations and writings, such as noted below in the May 15, 2007 blog, this new and blistering scandal is one of a long list of leadership deficiencies in our nation's private, public, educational, faith based and sports sectors. It is a reminder that America needs a reawakening of character, leadership, ethics and moral courage.

PURDUE PHARMA EXECUTIVES: CRISIS OF CHARACTER

According to a May 10, 2007 U.S. Department of Justice press release, Purdue Pharma L.P., the maker of the powerful painkiller OxyContin, and three of its former executives pleaded guilty to misleading the public about the drugs risk of addiction.

"Purdue's claims that OxyContin was less addictive and less subject to abuse and diversion were false – and Purdue knew its claims were false."
From the USDOJ Press Release

Joseph A. Califano, Jr., Chairman and President of The National Center of Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, made a statement regarding Purdue Pharma Executives misleading the public on OxyContin:

"If Purdue Pharma and its executives had been street drug dealers they would be in prison for a very long time. Their fraudulent and misleading marketing has led to thousands of deaths from overdose use of OxyContin and many more kids have their lives ruined by addiction to the drug. They have made billions of dollars. A fine of several hundred million dollars is hardly appropriate for the ruined lives and deaths they have caused lying about the addictive nature of this drug. Prescription drug abuse has exploded in America and OxyContin is the chief culprit."

[Reprinted from U.S. Department of Justice Press Release – http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/vaw/]

One of the oldest and most challenging medical mysteries is the treatment of pain. For centuries, scientists and doctors have searched for a drug that would safely relieve patients of their chronic pain without inflicting the dangerous side effects that routinely come from the use of addictive narcotics. The discovery of this "wonder" drug would bring hope and relief to millions of suffering patients and wealth beyond one’s imagination to its creators.

In 1996, Purdue and its top executives claimed that they had developed such a drug; a safe drug that would help those suffering in pain. The name of that drug was OxyContin. Backed by an aggressive marketing campaign, Purdue's OxyContin became the new pain medication of choice for many doctors and patients. Purdue claimed it had created the miracle drug – a low risk drug that could provide long acting pain relief but was less addictive and less subject to abuse. Purdue's marketing campaign worked, and sales for OxyContin skyrocketed – making billions for Purdue and millions for its top executives.

But OxyContin offered no miracles to those suffering in pain. Purdue's claims that OxyContin was less addictive and less subject to abuse and diversion were false – and Purdue knew its claims were false. The result of their misrepresentations and crimes sparked one of our nation's greatest prescription drug failures. OxyContin is nothing more than pure oxycodone – a habit forming narcotic derived from the opium poppy. Purdue's OxyContin never lived up to its hype and never offered a low risk way of reducing pain as promised. Simply put, the genesis of OxyContin was not the result of good science or laboratory experiment. OxyContin was the child of marketeers and bottom line financial decision making.

Accordingly, this morning, in a federal courtroom in Abingdon, Virginia, the Purdue Frederick Company, the manufacturer and distributor of OxyContin, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of illegally misbranding OxyContin in an effort to mislead and defraud physicians and consumers. Purdue has agreed to pay over $600 million in criminal and civil penalties, fines and forfeitures, subjected itself to independent monitoring and an extensive remedial action program, and acknowledged that it illegally marketed and promoted OxyContin by falsely claiming that OxyContin was less addictive, less subject to abuse and diversion, and less likely to cause withdrawal symptoms than other pain medications – all in an effort to maximize its profits. Also, Purdue's Chief Executive Officer Michael Friedman, General Counsel Howard Udell, and former Chief Medical Officer Paul Goldenheim pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of misbranding OxyContin and collectively agreed to pay $34.5 million in penalties. With its OxyContin, Purdue unleashed a highly abusable, addictive, and potentially dangerous drug on an unsuspecting and unknowing public. For these misrepresentations and crimes, Purdue and its executives have been brought to justice.

America is suffering from a crisis of character accentuated by greed, arrogance and dishonesty. The Purdue Pharma scandal is a clear example of how pervasive corruption is in our country and how low a company will go, to the point of destroying lives for the sake of profits.

Punishment for corporate corruption should be comparable to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) penalties – it must be severe and should include prison sentences and forfeiture of all ill-gotten gains. Fines that take just a small part of the illegal profit are only a slap on the wrist and serve to encourage future corruption. It's time for these corporate criminals to exchange their pinstripes for prison stripes.