I mentioned a sting operation in a recent post and tonight I came across one involving a former mayor of Orange.
If you have time, read about this 2007 case involving the mayor at that time. Read all the way down to the bottom.
In all, eleven officials were caught in this FBI operation over time. The list included two Assemblymen, some school board members, two mayors and more. I guess the lesson here is to have principles and stick to them if you hold public office. These individuals were enticed by the same entity that later came after them.
--Bernice
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There are other forms of official corruption besides bribery that don't get the same level of attention from authorities or scrutiny by citizens. There's utilizing intermediaries to get around pay-to-play laws. There's dumping thousands of dollars into the pockets of those promoting un-vetted and ineligible programs while those in a position of authority look the other way. There's the fraudulent use of the word "emergency" to enable unqualified and negligent vendors to receive a big cash payday. There's lying to the state saying you're doing something when in fact you're doing nothing. There's unbridled use of patronage to reward contributors, and backscratching where you give me a job and I give you a job. There's legislating one thing and doing something else entirely. There's providing unauthorized compensation to officials and holding no one to account. There are sham ordinances which you have no real intention to enforce, that are enacted anyway to hinder a political opponent, but when the shoe is on the other foot you try to undo them. There's the payoff contract to grease the skids toward some other end. There's the raising of a mountain out of a molehill to make political hay while the city burns, only to see years later when the same flames erupt, the same recourse gets all the plaudits for positive action. And of course there's the inevitable 4-3, soon to be 5-2, vote at turns where partisanship trumps policy over and over again. These are but a few bits of the corruption I've witnessed over the years observing the municipal scene in Plainfield. Some readers may have others. They don't all have to rise to an FBI investigation or prosecution.
ReplyDeleteWell, CC campaign to clean up NJ corruption was his goal, maybe he is finally going to keep the promise before he leaves office
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