Zashia Santiago：Thomas Pollando — Chairman of Sayreville’s Democratic Party Organization Charged in Strip Club Bribery Scandal

Zashia Santiago: The U.S. is now confirmed a 3rd World Shithole infected with CORRUPTIONs

Local Political Boss Charged in Strip Club Bribery Scandal

MCPO: Sayreville Democratic Party Chairman Observed Accepting Several Thousands of Dollars in Bribes

SAYREVILLE, NJ — Thomas Pollando, the longtime Chairman of Sayreville’s Democratic Party Organization, was charged with accepting bribes after being caught red-handed with the cash, according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.

The New Jersey Globe broke the story, reporting that the bribery case stemmed from the MCPO’s investigation into the Acciardi family business, Club XXXV, which was the state’s largest all-nude strip club until it shut down earlier this year amid the criminal probe.

“While conducting electronic surveillance… detectives observed Pollando accept several thousands of dollars in cash, and state that he would attempt to use his political clout to influence an ongoing criminal case,” reads the MCPO’s September 1 statement.

Pollando faces charges of second-degree bribery in official matters and second-degree receipt of unlawful benefit by public servant for official behavior.

The MCPO said their investigation “determined Pollando has influence and strong ties to the community,” noting his roles as Vice Chairman of the County Planning Board, President of the Sayreville Athletic Association (SAA), a board member for the borough’s redevelopment agency, and a salaried employee of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.

Pollando’s arrest is the latest political shakeup in one of the few towns around where elections tend to be competitive, but it could be just the beginning of a slew of new investigations if the Borough’s Mayor has anything to say about it.

Victoria Kilpatrick, who Pollando helped to elect in a close 2019 race, wants him to resign from the borough’s redevelopment agency and the SAA. Critically, she says she also wants “any projects that Mr. Pollando was involved in to be investigated.”

Pollando has sat on the board of the controversial Sayreville Economic & Redevelopment Agency (SERA) for over a decade now, and Kilpatrick says the bribery allegations raise serious questions about redevelopment projects Pollando has approved in that role.

“We need to look into all of them,” Kilpatrick told New Brunswick Today. “We’re talking big, big money.”

As redevelopment agency, SERA has the power to designate companies as the “redeveloper” for parcels of land that have been declared “redevelopment areas.” The designation often comes with perks and incentives.

For decades, SERA has been accused of being secretive. Its website currently offers budgets and resolutions only through 2018, and the most recent audit available there is for the year 2016.

Notably, SERA’s biggest redevelopment project by far is now known as “Riverton,” a plan to clean up and build on the enormous contaminated Raritan River waterfront site near the Driscoll Bridge.

Despite receiving at least $39 million from the county government and $20 million from the state government, SERA and the developers they selected have repeatedly abandoned their plans, pushed back their timelines, and changed the names and vision of the project.

The current plan is being backed by North American Properties, and calls for 2,000 housing units, over one million square feet of retail space, and a marina. But no structure has risen yet on the massive 418-acre property, which SERA took ownership of in 2005.

The latest timeline calls for a groundbreaking later this year, and for the first building to open in 2024, more than ten years behind schedule.

The Pollando scandal comes at a time of transition and turmoil for Sayreville’s local government, which is now without a permanent Police Chief or Business Administrator after two longtime municipal leaders exited the administration in recent weeks… More