Interesting post from Wally Edge on Politics NJ today that reminds us that Democrats are not the only ones who know how to use their office to take care of their own:
The Record‘s story this morning on the federal probe of legislators who received some personal benefit from state budget items suggests that only Democrats are being targeted. According to The Record, there are some similarities between State Senator Joseph Coniglio and Assemblyman Brian Stack, both Democrats who have received subpoenas, and two Republican legislators who have not: State Senator Robert Singer and Assemblyman David Wolfe.
Like Coniglio, Singer works for a hospital — he is with the St. Barnabas Health Care System, which runs two facilities in Ocean County — that has received “Christmas Tree” grants. And Wolfe, like Stack, has a wife who works for a non-profit organization that has received funding from the state; Carol Wolfe’s organization, Homes Now, received $500,000 from the state in 1999 to build a women’s shelter in their hometown, Brick. Carol Wolfe founded the group in 1997, but did not receive a salary until 2001.
While the statute of limitations for most non-capital federal offenses is five years but federal prosecutors can look back further in some cases. In the Jack Abramoff corruption case, they went as far back as 1997 to detail offenses he ultimately pled guilty to.
This brings into focus something that the GOP is unwilling to address, i.e., the party’s own complicity in the “Christmas Tree” program. While sites like Red Generation and Enlighten NJ like to use the flow of subpoenas around the state as an indictment of Democrats, the reality is that Republicans have been willing collaborators.
The difference right now between the Democrats and Republicans has far more to do with power than with anything endemic within the New Jersey Democratic soul.
“I don’t think the Christmas tree was planted in 2004,” said Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, D-Englewood.
Most of the subpoenas served on lawmakers and their aides in recent months seek records starting in 2004. That could be for a number of reasons, including the fact that the probe began with a senator who became chairman of the Budget Committee that year. But it also happens to be the year Democrats took full control of the Legislature. That has some wondering whether Republicans would be getting more of the subpoenas if investigators looked back a bit further.
In the context of the U.S. Attorney’s probe and the apparent politicization of the federal Department of Justice, it is a fair question to ask.
That said, the most important thing that can come out of this mess is reformation of the process, an opening up of the budget to ensure that these last-second grants are given the kind of scrutiny they deserve. At least some of the money in question was for legitimate programming, but all of it now is tainted by the actions of a handful of elected officials.
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Hank Kalet 