Guttenberg mayor denies pocketing campaign funds

[Heracles 417]

Guttenberg mayor denies pocketing campaign funds

by Brian Donohue/The Star-Ledger

Thursday April 17, 2008, 6:26 PM

Taking the stand at his own federal corruption trial today, Guttenberg Mayor David Delle Donna testified he never accepted an envelope full of cash campaign contributions he and his wife are accused of pocketing.

Delle Donna, who continues to serve as mayor of the tiny Hudson County town of 11,000 residents, also denied a slew of other claims made by prosecution witnesses in the three-week-old trial, saying he never accepted gifts from a local bar owner, fixed tickets issued for code violations or performed other favors for the barkeep.

His testimony conflicted most sharply with that of Javier Inclan, the mayor's former protege who is now a deputy chief of staff to Gov. Jon Corzine. Inclan testified he handed an envelope he "had every reason to believe" contained $3,000 cash to Delle Donna at a campaign dinner in April 2002.

"I never accepted an envelope with cash as a donation from Javier Inclan or anyone else," Delle Donna said in response to a question from his attorney, Ralph Lamparello.

Delle Donna and his wife, Anna, a former planning board member, are charged with conspiring to divert campaign contributions for their personal use, extorting campaign contributions, gifts and bribes from a bar owner to take care of problems she was having with the town inspectors, and failing to report rental income on their 2004 and 2005 tax returns.

The bar owner, Luisa Medrano, earlier testified she showered the Delle Donnas with gifts and cash campaign contributions to keep the town from closing down her bar and to keep code enforcement from issuing violations to the tavern.

Medrano is awaiting sentencing on separate charges stemming from her arrest as a central figure in a human trafficking ring that smuggled girls and young women from Honduras and forced them to work in her bars, dancing with men and serving drinks. Some of the women were encouraged to prostitute themselves, prosecutors say.

David Delle Donna is expected to be on the stand when the trial resumes Friday morning before Judge Harold A. Ackerman in U.S. District Court in Newark.

Read the full story in Friday's Star-Ledger.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/04/g...s_pocket_1.html