Coniglio trial a big headache for HUMC
The Record
Monday, March 30, 2009
BY MARY JO LAYTON and PETER J. SAMPSON
Hackensack University Medical Center is used to news stories touting its top rankings and stellar care. Now, the state’s busiest hospital is making all the wrong headlines.
Some of its executives are witnesses at the federal corruption trial of former state Sen. Joseph Coniglio. In her opening statements last week, the prosecutor bluntly said the hospital “bought and paid for” Coniglio’s help in steering state funds its way.
The trial comes at the worst possible time for HUMC, which is seeking millions of dollars for its new cancer center and needs the state to side with it over vocal opponents in its plan to reopen a hospital in Westwood.
“It doesn’t look good,” said Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy.
“It’s damaging because a non-profit institution needs to have a lot of credibility in the community,” he said. “It risks losing some of that by being in this type of hearing.”
No one at the medical center has been charged, but speculation about the possible involvement of hospital executives has been swirling since Coniglio was indicted on Valentine’s Dayin 2008.
In fact, the government’s key witness is Robert L. Torre, a vice president and chief operating officer of the hospital’s fund-raising arm. The government has agreed not to prosecute Torre as long as he testifies truthfully at trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachel Honig said.
Coniglio is accused of accepting $103,900 in what prosecutors called “a stream of corrupt payments” from the hospital’s foundation, and later the medical center, in exchange for using his influence as a member of the powerful Senate Budget Committee to obtain money for HUMC. Coniglio helped deliver more than $10 million in tax dollars to the medical center while on its payroll, Honig said. The grants ranged from $64,000 for designation as a stroke center to $9.9 million for its new cancer center.
Paying a lawmaker for his official influence and acts crossed the line into bribery, prosecutors charge. Coniglio denies any wrongdoing.
The case has riveted key political figures, the hospital’s competitors and Trenton insiders: Will this institution with the Midas touch — a $1 billion enterprise supported by radio shock jock Don Imus and other celebrities — emerge unscathed? Will the hospital have to forfeit the millions it received in grants if Coniglio is convicted? For some, the case is an example of HUMC’s arrogance and how it has wielded its power and influence to get its way.
