FBI raids Trenton mayor's home
FBI agents staged a middle-of-the-night raid Wednesday at
the home of Trenton's mayor, whose two-year administration of New Jersey's
impoverished capital city has been marked by accusations of nepotism and
reckless spending.
Mayor Tony Mack, 46, emerging later in the morning from
his home, denied any wrongdoing.
"We have not violated the public trust nor have I
violated any of my public duties and that's all I have to say on the
matter," he said.
Rebekah Carmichael, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's
Office in New Jersey, said the FBI was present at Mack's home earlier but said
she could not provide any other details.
Mack's administration has been in turmoil from Day 1,
staggering from one crisis to another. A housecleaning of staff at City Hall
opened the door for Mack's own appointees, who quickly turned it into a
revolving door. Some left over questions about their credentials, others to
face criminal charges.
Under an agreement reached last year, the Democrat can
only hire department heads from a pool of applicants the state offers or he
risks losing $6 million in state aid.
A citizens group last year failed to get enough
signatures to force a recall election.
In just Mack's first year in office in Trenton, a city of
85,000, he ran through a string of business administrators. The first resigned
after a month, saying the mayor didn't believe in "good government."
Another resigned just ahead of pleading guilty to embezzlement on another job.
His housing director quit after it was learned he had a
theft conviction. His chief of staff was arrested trying to buy heroin. His
half-brother, whose authority he elevated at the city water plant, was arrested
on charges of stealing.
Questions have also been raised about how he financed his
campaign for mayor.
A former longtime city employee sued the mayor late last
year. The parks department employee said she was let go after refusing to dole
out jobs for the mayor's friends, refusing to give federal grant money to
people who didn't apply and for inquiring about city funds she said were
missing.
The ex-employee also said she was replaced by a Mack
supporter who never showed up for his $40,000-a-year job.
Trenton Councilman George Muschal, a retired police
officer who had initially supported Mack but then became a harsh critic, said
he didn't know the focus of the investigation but said "when the feds come
after you, they come after you for a good reason."
Muschal said city workers regularly come to him with a
wide range of complaints but that Mack is many times impossible to reach.
"He's the commander-in- chief, he's leading the ship and I don't know
where it's going. The man does what he wants," he said.
A year ago, Muschal told The Associated Press that City
Hall had become corrupted by the Mack administration.
"It won't stop until someone takes him out in
handcuffs or he's removed by recall," Muschal said at the time.
Trenton ranks as one of the nation's poorest state
capitals, with about 20 percent of the population living below the poverty
line. It also ranks among the country's most dangerous cities.
Mack, who has a master's degree in public policy from
Fairleigh Dickinson University, has spent most of his adult life working for
municipal government and as an elected county official.
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