Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) today announced that John S. Windish, a former member of the Borough Council of Mount Arlington, in Morris County, has pleaded guilty in connection with his acceptance of a bribe in exchange for agreeing to support a lawyer’s bid to be reappointed as Mount Arlington’s municipal attorney.

Windish, 72, of Landing, New Jersey, appeared virtually from a nursing facility and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery in official and political matters (a 3rd-degree crime) during a May 29, 2025 hearing before Judge Peter Tober, Criminal Presiding Judge for New Jersey Superior Court in Somerset County.

Under the terms of a plea agreement with the OPIA Corruption Bureau, Windish must forfeit the $7,000 he received in connection with the crime and agreed to be permanently barred from any future public office or position in New Jersey.

“Elected officials who can be bought violate the law and are not worthy of the trust given by the electorate,” said Attorney General Platkin. “Decisions by municipal officials, particularly decisions that involve the spending of taxpayer dollars, should be made with the best interests of the community in mind, not the best interests of the officials’ bank account.”

“Those who would sell their public office, and the honor of being a public servant, for personal gain at the expense of taxpayers should know they will be investigated and prosecuted,” said Drew Skinner, Executive Director of OPIA.

In exchange for the guilty plea, the State will recommend that the court sentence Windish to noncustodial probation. Sentencing is scheduled for 9 a.m. on July 17, 2025.

Based on documents filed in court and statements made on the record, during the course of the investigation it was revealed that Windish solicited an unlawful campaign contribution from an attorney to support Windish’s re-election bid in 2018. In return, Windish promised that he would support the attorney’s reappointment as borough attorney for Mount Arlington. Windish accepted an envelope containing $7,000 in cash from the attorney at a hotel in Hanover, New Jersey. State election law prohibits cash contributions exceeding $200 from a single contributor for a single election. Windish lost the primary a month after receiving that bribe, and he has not served in public office since.

The other defendants charged with receiving separate bribe payments from the confidential informant included former Jersey City Board of Education President Sudhan Thomas, former State Assemblyman and former Bayonne Mayoral Candidate Jason O’Donnell of Bayonne, former Morris County Freeholder John Cesaro of Parsippany, and former candidate for Morris County freeholder Mary Dougherty of Morristown.

As alleged, the five defendants took thousands of dollars in bribes from the cooperating witness, who is a tax attorney, and in return they pledged to vote or use their official authority or influence to hire or continue to hire his law firm for government legal work.

The cases against Thomas, O’Donnell, and Cesaro are pending. The charges and allegations are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

Dougherty pleaded guilty on February 19, 2021 to false swearing (4th degree). She was sentenced on March 18, 2021 to probation and forfeiture of the unlawful $10,000 payment she had received.

The prosecution was handled by Assistant Attorneys General Michael Grillo and Andrew Wellbrock and Deputy Attorney General Adam Gerken of the OPIA Corruption Bureau, under the supervision of Bureau Co-Directors Jeffrey Manis and Eric Gibson, and OPIA Director Skinner.

Defense attorney:

Matthew Priore, Esq. and Scott DeRosa, Esq.