For a long time people have been asking when U.S. Attorney Chris Christie is going after the Legislature. The answer is now. The Star-Ledger reports Christie wants documents related to whether lawmakers steered money to nonprofit organizations or institutions that would have benefited themselves or people connected to them. Naturally, the Legislature is fighting it tooth and nail. On Wednesday there is a closed meeting in federal court to determine whether the Legislature can be forced to turn over its records. This secret -- so called Christmas tree -- spending amounts to about $350 million. Nothing the Legislature does should be secret. It's not the Legislature's money, it belongs to New Jersey residents. The judge should let Christie have access to everything the Legislature has. If it leads to every member being indicted, so much the better. That would be a perp walk we'd all like to see.
Career Trough-Swiller Bryant Leaving
Sen. Wayne Bryant, a poster child for what's wrong with NJ politics, says he won't seek re-election. And he is stepping down from his law firm March 1. State and federal investigators are looking into deals Bryant made and a job he had with UMDNJ in which it wasn't clear what he was doing for the money. He was often called one of the state's most influential senators, but his area included Camden where the average resident's life never got much better for his being in office. Meanwhile, every member of his family seemed to be drawing a public paycheck. Bryant filed paperwork to get a $83,700 pension from the state. Bryant is a tool of George Norcross' Democrat machine in Camden County. The machine will back Dana Redd as a replacement in the Senate. She is vice president of the Camden City Council and vice chairwoman of the state Democratic Committee. As a member of the council, she voted to use eminent domain to displace more than 1,000 families in one of the better sections of Camden. She admitted she didn't read a report about whether displacements was necessary but took the word of city officials. A council opponent called Redd a "puppet of the political machine." Good riddance to Bryant and his use of the system for himself. Let history remember him for what he is.
