Trenton Mayor Tony Mack is found guilty of corruption

Trenton Mayor Tony Mack (center) and brother Ralphiel Mack (L) outside the Federal Court House in Trenton, NJ, January 17, 2014.

By Alex Zdan and Jenna Pizzi

TRENTON — Trenton Mayor Tony Mack, convicted on Feb. 7 but still serving as mayor, thinks a Superior Court judge should wait until his May 14 sentencing to expel him from office because his federal conviction is not "guaranteed," due to motions for a new trial, Mack said in a court filing yesterday.

State law mandates no elected official can serve after being convicted of a crime.

In his written response to the state Attorney General's Office attempt to remove him, Mack admitted he's "forever disqualified" from holding office in New Jersey "because the crimes for which he was convicted involved or touched upon his position as Mayor for the city of Trenton."

But also yesterday, in the first phone interview since his conviction on conspiring to accept bribes from city developers, Mack said he didn’t mean to agree that he should be forever barred from holding office, only to acknowledge what the state statute says.

Mack refused to address other questions about his response filed with the court.

“You can ask your questions, but I am not going to answer them,” Mack said.

“Wednesday, you’ll get all of the pertinent information as it pertains to the case,” Mack added.

In the court filing, the mayor asserts his innocence in the corruption case where he was found guilty.

Asking for a delay in the proceedings, Mack said he wants to be heard in front of Judge Mary Jacobson at 9 a.m. tomorrow, 2½ hours before the hearing on his removal is scheduled. Mack said he will ask for a delay during the earlier hearing.

On Feb. 10, the Monday after Mack’s conviction, the state Attorney General’s Office went to court, saying Mack is in violation of state law and should be removed from power. However, Mack has refused to resign and the federal judge will not remove Mack from office until the sentencing date.

A spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office did not answer a request for comment yesterday.

In the interview yesterday, Mack did not say if he was assisted in writing his appeal for more time, and he refused to say if he was the one who signed the document.

Mack has gotten a little fuzzy on the details of his trial, according to the court paperwork he filed in Superior Court yesterday morning. Despite sitting at the defense table every minute of his federal corruption trial, Mack said in the papers yesterday that he does not have enough information to deny or affirm the trial began on Jan. 6 or that after five weeks he was found guilty on all six counts against him.

He argues that a finding of guilt is the not the same as a conviction.

“A judgment of conviction cannot exist before the date of sentencing,” Mack wrote.

During the interview yesterday, Mack did not say if he was assisted in writing the response and refused to say if he was the one who signed the document. The signature on the response shows marked differences between the mayor’s signature on other documents signed as recently as last week. The oddities include the lack of the middle initial “F.” which Mack had previously used in his signature, along with wider letters and a new curlicue encircling his last name.

In its complaint seeking Mack’s removal, the state Attorney General’s Office asked for a ban on Mack holding future public office, and the seizure of his pension and benefits. The mayor argued he has a 401(k) and not a pension, as part of the $4,800 paycheck he receives every two weeks. Since it is a savings account, it cannot be taken away, Mack said.

“The statute makes no statement of paying back earned money as salary upon conviction,” Mack wrote. “The maintenance of this account comes at no further cost to the public and as such, he should be allowed to keep it.”

Mack’s assertion that he has a 401(k) may be inaccurate, however. Christopher Santarelli, a spokesman with the state Department of Treasury, said Mack has two retirement accounts: one from before he was mayor, the other after he took office.

From his various stints as Trenton’s recycling director, county freeholder and state Department of Education investigator, Mack has a Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) account with 18½ years of credit.

When he was inaugurated as mayor on July 1, 2010, Mack enrolled in a deferred contribution retirement program (DCRP), which as of two weeks ago had $43,016 in it, records show.

“It’s not a 401(k), but the DCRP kind of operates like a 401(k) in that it has an annual benefit,” Santarelli said.

In 2026, when Mack turns 60 years old, he could be able to get a maximum of just more than $33,000 per year from the PERS account, Santarelli said, based on a final average salary of $98,753. Mack has not filed any retirement papers.

“In the event Mr. Mack applies for the receipt of retirement benefits from either PERS or DCRP, a review of the charges against him would be required,” Santarelli said.

On Thursday, Mack asked the court for a delay in the removal hearing because the city was not providing him with paid legal counsel. Mack’s defense attorney in the corruption case, Mark Davis, said he consulted on the brief, but Davis’ name is not on yesterday’s filing.

In the response to the request for a delay, the state Attorney General’s Office filed a motion with Jacobson saying that Mack’s removal due to conviction “is not only clearly warranted, but a virtual certainty.”

On Friday, Jacobson rejected Mack’s argument for a delay in the removal hearing. As of late yesterday, Mack had apparently gotten no response from the judge to his request for a second, earlier hearing tomorrow.

As of yesterday, a court schedule only showed one hearing for Mack: the one at 11:30 a.m. set up nearly two weeks ago.

Contact Alex Zdan at azdan@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5705.

Contact Jenna Pizzi at jpizzi@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5717.

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