Tag: NJ Corruption

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Criminal Corruption Charges Filed Against Five Public Officials including a School Board President and a Political Candidate

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Trenton NJ,  Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal today announced that five current and former public officials and political candidates in New Jersey – including Jersey City School Board President Sudhan Thomas and former State Assemblyman Jason O’Donnell – have been charged with taking bribes in a major investigation of political corruption in Hudson and Morris counties conducted by the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA).

The five defendants are charged with taking thousands of dollars in bribes from a cooperating witness in the form of campaign contributions. In return, the defendants allegedly promised the cooperating witness, who is a tax attorney, that they would vote or use their official authority or influence to hire or continue to hire his law firm for lucrative government legal work. Envelopes and paper bags filled with cash – and even a coffee cup stuffed with cash – were delivered to the defendants by the cooperating witness at restaurants, parking lots, a political fundraiser, and a campaign headquarters. Other times the cooperating witness offered checks from illegal “straw donors” – individuals reimbursed to write checks to the defendant’s campaign in amounts that complied with the legal limit on individual donations.

Continue reading Criminal Corruption Charges Filed Against Five Public Officials including a School Board President and a Political Candidate

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JOLT Ridgewood joins other Groups to Protests Corruption in New Jersey Politics at Chamber Train

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Coalition to Restore Democracy: Grassroots and community leaders to launch efforts to tackle corruption in New Jersey politics at Chamber Train

Ridgewood NJ, On Thursday, February 28, at 11am in Newark, community leaders and activists, many of which played integral roles in the 2018 midterm victories and defeated state Democrats’ efforts to gerrymander legislative districts, will join together to launch a coalition focused on tackling and transforming New Jersey’s pay-to-play system of governing.

They will convene together at Newark Penn Station in the morning as passengers board the Chamber Train for the Walk to Washington, one of NJ’s premier private political events of the year, attended by elected officials and political insiders.

Continue reading JOLT Ridgewood joins other Groups to Protests Corruption in New Jersey Politics at Chamber Train
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Justice Department: Harry Reid pressured Obama administration to help Bob Menendez ally

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by Melissa Quinn | Aug 31, 2017, 3:04 PM

The Justice Department alleged this week that Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., pushed his colleagues and the Obama administration to change federal policy in order to help a man that authorities charge lavished him with gifts.

In a brief filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, the department said Menendez asked then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to pressure the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to reverse a decision that hurt Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen. Melgen is thought to have plied Menendez with lavish vacations, and authorities are trying to show those gifts influenced Menendez’s actions in the corruption case they are bringing against him.

 

read:https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/justice-department-harry-reid-pressured-obama-administration-to-help-bob-menendez-ally/article/2633116

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Reader says NO “A Democratic Corruption Scandal Will Not Help Repeal ObamaCare”

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file photo by Boyd Loving

Q: “Could A Democratic Corruption Scandal Help Repeal ObamaCare?”

A: No

1. Democrats are way too corrupt, way too shameless, way too ideological to a) admit Menendez is wrong, b) admit Obomacare is a failure and is about to implode c) serve the people over the party by replacing Obamacare with something that actually works

2. Republicans are too spineless to a) do the right thing for the people since they will then face the wrath of the media and the far left violent agitators, b) support the president since he is not a get-along-go-along establishment lackey

3. Mitch McConnell is a useless individual who cannot rally the Republicans in the Senate to do what they have been promising to do for the last 8 years (and he also does not want to repeal Obamacare)

4. Chris Christie is just mad enough at the president to appoint a Republican Senator who will NOT support his agenda.

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N.J. took $1.4B from your phone bill for new 911 system but never delivered

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By Alex Napoliello and Stephen Stirling | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on October 13, 2016 at 7:03 AM, updated October 14, 2016 at 2:52 PM

In the fall of 2013, shoppers at the Garden State Plaza mall in Paramus fled in terror as a man with a rifle stalked the halls. Police officers, going through each store one by one, rescued dozens of people with no injuries.

But what if those in the mall could have given police an eye into the madness? What if they could have sent cell phone photos and videos, revealing their location and helping track the gunman’s whereabouts?

That life-saving technology exists. And for more than a decade, every person in New Jersey with a phone has paid a tax on their monthly bill to make it happen, handing over a whopping $1.37 billion to Trenton.

https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2016/10/rescue_911_how_nj_used_11b_of_your_money_on_everyt.html?utm_campaign=Observer_NJ_Politics&utm_content=New%20Campaign&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=New%20Jersey%20Politics#incart_most-read_

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In a Media Coordinated Push Bergen Democrats Attack Garret over Oath Keepers, but Fail to Distance themselves from Financial ties to Middle East Terror Supporting Nations

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“This article is desperate and ridiculous at best. Rather than attack Scott Garrett for attending a meet and great with constituents at a diner in River Edge why won’t my democratic colleagues condemn and demand the return of tens of millions of dollars received by the Clinton Foundation from countries which promote awful human rights violations against women and gay people such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.”
Assemblywomen Holly Schepisi 39th District

Weinberg Calls on AG to Investigate Garrett’s Ties to Domestic Terror Organization

By Max Pizarro • 10/11/16 1:36pm

Democrats smell blood in the 5th Congressional district, where GOP discombobulation has incumbent U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-Wantage) blowing the whistle on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and seeking to harden his own brand.

That’s a troublesome brand in its own right, according to Senate Majority leader Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), who today demanded that Governor Chris Christie denounce Garrett for his ties to the domestic terror organization, the Oath Keepers.

Weinberg, moreover, also called on New Jersey Attorney General Christopher Porrino to conduct an investigation into whether Garrett violated New Jersey law.

https://observer.com/2016/10/weinberg-calls-on-ag-to-investigate-garretts-ties-to-domestic-terror-organization