Outrage Spreads Over NJ Bribery Probe

The AP reports:

New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine called for the resignations of two state lawmakers Friday, a day after the two men were among 11 public officials arrested on bribery charges.

Assemblymen Mims Hackett Jr. and Alfred Steele, both Democrats, should leave their elected posts by Sunday in light of the charges and the sweeping corruption probe, Corzine and other top Democratic leaders said in a news release.

Neither Hackett nor Steele immediately responded to the statement. A few hours earlier Republicans demanded Corzine call a special legislative session to deal with corruption.

"We need to see real ethics reform now, not next month, not next year, but next week," GOP Assemblyman Bill Baroni said.

Corzine said he will push hard for ethics reform, but discounted the call for an immediate session, saying efforts will likely come after November's legislative elections.

The probe into allegations that public contracts were awarded based on bribes culminated in the arrest Thursday of 11 public officials, all but one of them Democrats. Among the other arrests: two mayors, three city councilmen and several members of school board in Pleasantville, where the scandal had its roots.

All 11 officials, plus a private individual, are accused of taking cash payments of $1,500 to $17,500 to influence who received public contracts, according to criminal complaints filed by the office of U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, who was appointed by President Bush.

Democratic Senate President Richard J. Codey dismissed questions about whether Christie was targeting Democrats, a claim Christie denied on Thursday.

"These questions about whether the U.S. attorney is too political, that's not the question," Codey said. "He didn't put a gun to anyone's head and force them to put their hand in the cookie jar."

The arrests shook a state already suffering from an overdose of political corruption. Christie noted that 108 public officials in New Jersey have been convicted of federal corruption charges in the past five years.

The investigation began last year, focusing first on the Pleasantville schools. The FBI established a fake insurance brokerage purporting to employ the government's two cooperating witnesses and undercover agents.

The probe widened when Pleasantville school board members referred the cooperating witnesses to public officials in northern New Jersey, according to the criminal complaints released by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The arrests of Hackett, charged with taking $5,000, and Steele, charged with taking $14,000, mean four Democratic state legislators face federal corruption charges. Democratic Sens. Wayne Bryant of Lawnside and Sharpe James of Newark were indicted earlier this year.

In New Jersey,a significant percentage of the population doesn't mind corruption.That's why it exists.We shall see next election whether there's any fall out from this.