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McGreevey backer's $75,000 deal Power broker from Philadelphia hired by UMDNJ to serve on governor's transition team

Sunday, March 06, 2005

Two days after James E. McGreevey was elected governor in 2001, one of his top fund-raisers was hired by the state-owned health care university and then paid $75,000 over the next three months as a liaison to the gubernatorial transition team.

The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey's contract with Philadelphia power broker Ronald White was not approved by UMDNJ's board of directors, and school officials last week said they have no records to show anywork was done for the money.

The contract came to light in the past two weeks after one of UMDNJ's checks was entered into evidence in a Philadelphia corruption trial. White was to be a defendant in that trial but died last year of cancer.

White had close ties with McGreevey's top campaign officials and was a business partner of Robert Feldman, the former governor's No.1 fund-raiser. His company, International Brokerage Concepts Inc., received three checks worth $25,000 each from UMDNJ, according to documents released last week by the university.

Susan Preston, a UMDNJ spokeswoman, said she could not offer any explanation of the contract or White's work and said officials could find nothing to show what White did.

"We have no further documentation beyond what has been provided," Preston said, adding that the contract was approved and overseen by an administrator who has since left the university. She said school policy permits the administration to sign agreements worth less than $100,000 without board approval.

According to university documents, White's firm was retained to represent the university "during the transition of Governor-elect James McGreevey ... (to keep) the university up to date with the evolving plans, policies, budget goals and financial considerations regarding the McGreevey 'health vision for New Jersey.'"

The contract also called for White to be responsible for "communicating as effectively as possible to the transition team the university's priorities, problems and abilities and opportunities to serve the people of New Jersey."

"It does seem strange," UMDNJ's new president, John Petillo, said of the White contract.

Acting Gov. Richard Codey said: "It certainly is strange that we would need somebody from Philadelphia to do that for us. The other question is how did (the university) and Mr. White get together."

As a result of inquiries by The Star-Ledger, Codey said he told Petillo: "I want a report on it. Why was this done? That's a lot of money."

UMDNJ's president at the time of the contract, Stuart Cook, is out of the country on a three-month sabbatical. He did not respond to phone messages or e-mails seeking comment.

McGreevey, who resigned from office in November after a gay sex scandal, did not respond to requests for comment.

Cook signed the checks to White, but the man who approved the contract was former Deputy State Treasurer James Archibald, then a senior vice president at UMDNJ. Now in a similar post at Drexel University's medical school in Philadelphia, Archibald said last week that he could not shed any light on the circumstances that led to White getting the contract.

"You know, we hired a lot of public consultants up there," Archibald said. "I just don't remember. I couldn't begin to tell you today what happened at that time. We had different folks for different reasons, and we're a billion-dollar-a-year company. It doesn't stand out, unfortunately."

Two other officials who signed documents associated with White's payments are still working at the university. They are Denise Mulkern, vice president for finance, and Linda Luciano, executive director of administration and finance. Neither returned calls in the past week seeking comment.

Calls to White's former office and former attorney, Edwin Jacobs, were not returned. Feldman's lawyer, Henry Hockeimer, said his client "had no knowledge of -- or participation in -- such a contract."

Based in Newark, UMDNJ is a major health care organization that includes three medical schools and a dental school, as well as hospitals and programs to train other health professionals. It has an annual budget of $1.6 billion, received $199 million this year in state aid and costs more than $20,000 a year in tuition for medical and dental students.

White, a powerful Philadelphia figure with ties to South Jersey, was among a dozen people indicted last year as part of a federal investigation into corruption in Philadelphia City Hall and the administration of Mayor John Street.

More than 15 months after the probe first made national headlines, a former Philadelphia city treasurer and two Commerce Bank executives went on trial last month, charged with trading political contributions and direct payments for millions in municipal bond work.

One of the UMDNJ checks to White was included with thousands of pages of documents entered as evidence in the trial.

Also among the records introduced by prosecutors is a June 2002 memo in which a former bank executive, convicted of wire fraud in the Philadelphia case, told colleagues a network of McGreevey's political backers was ready to help them win lucrative New Jersey contracts. In it, the banker relayed White's claim that his connections with McGreevey supporters, including Feldman and former state Senate President John Lynch, would prove useful.

White and Feldman were prominent backers of McGreevey's successful run for governor four years ago. White served on the executive committee of one of the campaign's first fund-raisers in 2000. Feldman, his business partner, raised hundreds of thousands for McGreevey.

At the time White was hired by UMDNJ, Republican Donald DiFrancesco was acting governor. DiFrancesco's chief of staff at the time, Jeff Michaels, said he never heard about the contract and found it out of the ordinary.

"It's very unusual," Michaels said. "I couldn't think of any other authority or college that would have hired any consultant for that (specific) purpose."

Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance, a frequent critic of the McGreevey administration, said: "This is a gross abuse of discretion. We need a full explanation. Why does UMDNJ, a public institution, need to hire a lobbyist to lobby the incoming administration?"

Lance (R-Hunterdon) said White's involvement in the McGreevey campaign "indicates that this may be yet another example of pay-to-play," the award of public contracts to campaign contributors.

"Mr. White was permitted to play to the tune of $75,000, which is more than most New Jerseyans make in a year."