Feds turn up heat with arrest of two more Dem lawmakers; Corzine in hot water - again

Summer may be winding down, but the heat was turned up at the State House this week with the arrest of two Democrat state assemblymen on bribery charges and the emergence of yet another scandal involving Governor Jon Corzine and his ties to Carla Katz and her family.

“Thursday was another sad day for the people of New Jersey,” said Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce. “Once again New Jersey taxpayers woke up to news that the officials they elected to serve them stand accused of violating that trust and using their positions of power for personal gain.”

Added Assemblyman Joseph Malone, R-Burlington, “I don’t know what to say. I am just speechless. Where does it stop?”

On Thursday federal authorities arrested Assemblyman Mims Hackett, Jr., D-Essex, and the Rev. Alfred Steele, D-Passaic and Bergen, who serves as the Assembly’s deputy speaker along with nine other public officials. They are charged with taking bribes in exchange for their help in securing public contracts.

According to U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, the two state lawmakers were swept up in an 18-month FBI sting operation where he said FBI agents were “taken on a corruption tour of New Jersey almost as if there is a corrupt-public-officials underground.”

The probe began with evidence of corruption in the Pleasantville School District in Atlantic County, but quickly spread through virtually every layer of government from south to north with elected officials allegedly demanding and taking bribes in exchange for promises of securing insurance and roofing contracts.

State Senators Wayne Bryant, D-Camden and Gloucester, and Sharpe James, D-Essex and Union, are currently under indictment on unrelated federal corruption charges.

The bribery bust comes on the heels of another scandal this week involving the Governor and Rocco Riccio, the brother-in-law of Corzine’s former girlfriend and union boss Carla Katz which has GOP officials, including DeCroce calling for an investigation by state Attorney General Anne Milgram.

The Star Ledger on Monday reported that Corzine gave Riccio $15,000 along with promises of helping him obtain a private sector job, despite claims that the Governor severed all personal and financial relationships with Katz and her family prior to taking office.

According to the article, Corzine first denied giving Riccio the money, but when pressed by reporters, admitted he had done so in an interview on Thursday, August 30, 2007.

In addition, it is alleged that while Riccio was employed as an analyst in the State Department of Human Resources he accessed taxpayer records “to find information about political enemies” of the Governor whom he quietly campaigned for.

Riccio later admitted he reviewed the tax bills of state vendors during this Human Services tenure. Riccio contends Corzine also helped him obtain a promotion while employed by State Treasury.

According to news accounts Riccio also says that as press inquiries about his alleged activities at Human Services persisted and because of his ties to Katz, Corzine Administration officials forced him to resign both his Treasury position and a job he later obtained at the Turnpike Authority through the intervention of Corzine Administration officials.

According to the Ledger story it was after Riccio was pressured by Corzine’s then Chief of Staff Tom Shea and Chief Counsel Ken Zimmerman to leave his Turnpike position that Corzine gave Riccio the $15,000 – in small increments, including $5,000 of it in money orders - and a promise to find him a private sector job.

Corzine said he gave Riccio the money and job assistance because he was merely helping a friend in need, who, allegedly has been out of work since February and struggling to pay a $500,000 mortgage. The New York Post, however, reported that Riccio has been working part-time at Unity Mortgage in Old Bridge for the past six months. An executive there is quoted as saying the company wanted him to work full-time where he could earn about $60,000 annually, but Riccio just “hasn’t put in the time.”

Assembly Republicans say the payoff smacks of a cover-up. As a result, DeCroce sent a letter to Milgram Tuesday asking her to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the entire matter. Even the news media, he pointed out, agrees something is rotten in Trenton.

In an editorial Wednesday, The Star Ledger wrote, “The gist of this one is that Corzine paid $15,000 in what looks like hush money to Katz’s brother-in-law, Rocco Riccio. And that the tried at first to hide his involvement even when he was asked about it by Star-Ledger reporters Josh Margolin and John Martin.”

“These are very serious allegations concerning the behavior and activities of Governor Corzine, his Administration and Mr. Riccio,” wrote DeCroce to Milgram. “Anything short of a full investigation would be unacceptable.”

Specifically, DeCroce said Riccio needs to answer the following questions:

What exactly did Corzine Administration officials promise Mr. Riccio when he lost his job at the Turnpike Authority?
Why did Governor Corzine pay Mr. Riccio $15,000, and who was the first person to bring up the issue of money? Did Riccio ask for money? Did Corzine or his aides suggest a payment?
If this was a private matter between Governor Corzine and Mr. Riccio, as the Governor contends, then why were state resources and staff expended in an effort to obtain private sector employment for Mr. Riccio?
When and where did he meet with Tom Shea and Ken Zimmerman?
Whose tax records did Mr. Riccio look up and at whose instruction?
What did Mr. Riccio do with the information he accessed and who did he share this information with?
What was the reason officials gave Mr. Riccio for his firing?
If Mr. Riccio has nothing to hide, does he agree that an independent, special prosecutor should be appointed to investigate the matter and clear his name?
Ironically, the Governor on Tuesday signed four ethics reform bills, including a ban on dual office holding that does not apply to officials who currently hold two or more elected offices.

Following the signing, The Star Ledger reports that Corzine said, “I am committed to giving the people or our state the kind of open, transparent and accountable government they deserve.”

“Who is he kidding?” asked an exasperated DeCroce. “Everything he and his Administration does is veiled in secrecy. He refuses to reveal details about his plan to sell the state’s toll roads and increase fares, then he denies and later admits he gave Carla Katz’ brother-in-law $15,000 and promises of getting yet another job. And then he has the audacity to tell us that we should trust him because he’s all for transparency in government.”

Corzine was also reported as saying the dual office ban bill was not the bill he wanted, but that “it gets us down the road.” DeCroce, however, pointed out that the Governor had a golden opportunity to show real leadership by standing up to Democrat leadership and deleting through his veto power the grandfathering portion of the bill before signing it.

“‘Do as I say, not as I do’ doesn’t require leadership ability. Unfortunately, for the people of this state, that’s how the Governor, his Administration and Democrat leadership govern.”

Assemblyman Kevin O’Toole, R-Essex, Passaic and Bergen, who sponsored two of the other ethics reform bills signed into law Tuesday said, “We have to go the full 10 yards. We really have to ban dual-office holding across the board. Compromise isn’t good enough sometimes.”

And with corruption so deeply ingrained in New Jersey’s culture, now is not the time to be “playing politics,” by passing so-called ethics reform legislation that’s riddled with loopholes, said DeCroce, noting an editiorial in The Trenton Times on Thursday that said, “After another year of indictments for corruption against high-level legislators, we would think that lawmakers would get the measure: When it comes to reform, half-measures aren’t the answer.”

In regards to the recent Corzine debacle, DeCroce said he’s also prepared to call for legislative hearings because, “I think it’s that important that information should be brought out here. There’s a secret here. I don’t know what it is, but the public deserves to know the truth.”