Thursday, March 10, 2005
Thursday, March 10, 2005
John A. Kaye, the Monmouth prosecutor, interfered in a federal investigation in his county, some officials believe. But he has denied doing so. March 9, 2005 New Jersey Prosecutor Finds He's the One Investigated By LESLIE EATON
During two colorful and sometimes controversial decades as the prosecutor in Monmouth County, N.J., John A. Kaye has been the pursuer, going after drug dealers, drunken drivers, killers and assorted creeps. But now, the pursuer has become the pursued, or at least the reviewed. The state attorney general is looking into his conduct. Five of his investigators have been summoned to appear before a federal grand jury. And a prominent state senator says that Mr. Kaye should consider stepping down, contending that he has "repeatedly betrayed the public trust and compromised the integrity of his office." This scrutiny comes because some federal law enforcement officials believe that Mr. Kaye deliberately interfered in an investigation into government corruption in Monmouth. The United States attorney, Christopher J. Christie, has said publicly that Mr. Kaye's actions forced the Federal Bureau of Investigation to end its sting operation early, though not before it had enough evidence to charge 11 local officials. Mr. Christie and Mr. Kaye, both Republicans, have long been at odds over the extent of public corruption in the county, with Mr. Kaye insisting in a 2002 interview with The Asbury Park Press that his territory "may be the least corrupt county in this state." Subsequent criminal cases, including the most recent, suggest otherwise. Mr. Kaye declined to be interviewed for this article. But in earlier conversations, he denied interfering with the federal inquiry. Rather, he said, he was conducting several investigations of his own that prompted him to question some of the people who were subsequently arrested in the federal sweep. Disputes between local and federal prosecutors in New Jersey are not uncommon, though seldom so public. But this disagreement has cast a harsh spotlight on the career of the longest-serving county prosecutor in the state, with all of its highlights (Mr. Kaye became the president of the National District Attorneys Association in 1996) and darker moments, like losing two lawsuits against him that cost the county hundreds of thousands of dollars. And it comes as Mr. Kaye, 61, appears to be near the end of his career in law enforcement. County prosecutors are appointed by the governor on the recommendation of local officials and are confirmed by the State Senate. Mr. Kaye's term ends in June, and for reappointment he would need the backing of the acting governor, Richard J. Codey, a Democrat, who opposed his reappointment five years ago and has not become a supporter since. The prospect of such an ending to Mr. Kaye's tenure saddens some of his supporters, like John O. Bennett III, a longtime Republican state senator from Monmouth County who was defeated in 2003 after a controversy involving his overbilling a local township for legal work. He called it an innocent mistake; though Mr. Christie opened a criminal investigation, Mr. Bennett has never been charged. "I've been a big fan of his," Mr. Bennett said of Mr. Kaye. "I hope this does not taint what has been a stellar public service career." But Mr. Kaye's critics are saying, in essence, I told you so. "I really feel vindicated," said Larry S. Loigman, a lawyer in Red Bank who has butted heads with Mr. Kaye for many years over the way he runs his office and his attitude toward local corruption. According to his biography on his office's Web site, Mr. Kaye was a local boy who graduated from the University of Scranton and the Dickinson School of Law, which is now part of Pennsylvania State University. Admitted to the bar in 1968, he practiced law in Freehold, the Monmouth County seat, before being appointed prosecutor at the end of 1983. Almost immediately, he found himself involved in big cases, including prosecuting a big insurance-fraud ring that killed racehorses. Over the years, his office developed a reputation for aggressive prosecutions; he was also considered a leader in pursuing cases involving hazardous waste or pollution. More controversial was his office's handling of the 1997 case of Samuel Manzie, who as a 15-year-old molested and strangled an 11-year-old boy in nearby Ocean County. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 70 years in prison. But it turned out that Mr. Manzie had himself been sexually abused in Monmouth by Stephen P. Simmons, a pedophile he met over the Internet, and killed the child shortly after Mr. Kaye's office sought his help in collecting evidence against Mr. Simmons by secretly recording his phone calls with him. Mr. Manzie later rebelled, smashing the recording equipment and alerting Mr. Simmons. Later, when Mr. Kaye tried to prosecute Mr. Simmons, Mr. Manzie refused to testify, and many of the charges were thrown out. In 1999, Mr. Simmons pleaded guilty to two counts, criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child, and remains in prison under New Jersey's Sexually Violent Predators Act. Mr. Kaye has always defended his handling of the Manzie case, which was a major topic at his last confirmation hearings, in 2000. Some lawmakers also remain rankled by what they consider his lack of candor about two federal lawsuits brought by employees, back when he was reappointed in 1994. "There's a pattern of his acting above the law in certain ways," said State Senator John H. Adler, a Democrat from Cherry Hill, who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and who voted against Mr. Kaye in 2000. While he would not call on Mr. Kaye to step down now unless the attorney general finds that he did indeed interfere with the federal investigation, the senator said, "It's probably the honorable thing for him to resign." In 1993, a federal jury in Trenton found that Mr. Kaye had defamed James W. Kennedy, who had worked for him as an assistant prosecutor, and awarded Mr. Kennedy $100,000 in damages, which was upheld in 1995 by the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. In 1996, that same appellate court also affirmed a jury finding against Mr. Kaye in a lawsuit by Barbara A. Coleman, an investigator in his office. The jury found that she was repeatedly passed over for promotion because of her sex and awarded her $365,000 from the county and, in an unusual move, $60,000 from Mr. Kaye individually. Her lawyers were also awarded more than $100,000 in legal fees. The county freeholders voted to pay Mr. Kaye's penalties and the costs of defending him. (Mr. Loigman, the Red Bank lawyer, sued to block the county from picking up those costs but lost.) Critics of Mr. Kaye say that he could have settled both suits and saved taxpayers a great deal of money. "He cost us more than $1 million in defense and in judgments against him," said Ellen M. Karcher, a Democrat who replaced Mr. Bennett in the State Senate and who is also likely to have a big influence on who replaces Mr. Kaye. "Monmouth County residents deserve better," she said. But the criticism of Mr. Kaye that may sting the most these days is the suggestion that he has turned a blind eye to corruption and government misdeeds. His 2002 statement about the honesty of local officials followed the guilty plea of one mayor for taking bribes; about 20 people have since been charged, indicted or convicted or have pleaded guilty in corruption cases in the county. None were prosecuted by his office. Mr. Kaye, for his part, told The Asbury Park Press last month that his office did indeed investigate political corruption, citing the failed 1992 prosecution of John R. Merla, the mayor of Keyport, who was acquitted of taking a bribe involving a sewer hook-up. Mr. Merla was among the 11 local officials picked up by the F.B.I. last month. He was accused of accepting at least $11,500 from a Florida-based contractor in return for work. Mr. Merla has said he is innocent. Before those arrests, Mr. Kaye's office had interviewed Mr. Merla, along with a former Keyport councilman who was also picked up in the federal sweep. Mr. Kaye says he was not interfering, but was pursuing his own investigations concerning, among other things, truck thefts and a local suicide. Those inquiries also prompted him to send investigators to Florida, he said recently, and was not an effort to track down the contractor who is cooperating with the F.B.I. and appeared to play a key role in the federal investigation. He also insisted that he cleared his activities over the telephone with Mr. Christie, the United States attorney. But Mr. Christie's spokesman, Michael Drewniak, said that the "conversation, as described by Prosecutor Kaye, never occurred." John Holl contributed reporting for this article. Copyright 2005
