July 23, 2009

Corruption in New Jersey — A Bottomless Well.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jim @ 9:06 pm

The FBI bust of 44 people in New Jersey on corruption and money laundering charges made national news, as well it should have, given that corruption that is as rampant as is the case in New Jersey is relatively foreign to people from other states. Louisiana and New York may seek to claim the title, but in Jersey crooks are like cockroaches in a tenement house.

Not surprisingly, most of the politicians and government officials, including the recently-elected mayor of Hoboken, are creatures of Hudson County, a place of which I have said on many occasions has made corruption an art form. (I should note here that Bob Menendez, before he became our U.S. Senator, was the Boss of Hudson County. Just an observation.)

The money laundering cruds arrested were rabbis and their “civilian” counterparts in Brooklyn and Jersey. I haven’t had time to dig into the details of the money laundering schemes, but I presume they were at least arguably sophisticated. By contrast, the politicians and officials displayed pure thuggery and boundless arrogance. I assume they were so brazen in their extortion because they felt certain of never getting caught. After all, they were risking everything in exchange for money that might only fund a weekend or two in Atlantic City.

And now, their lives have turned to shit. They were publicly hauled away in cuffs and they’ll learn the joy of dealing with a bail bondsmen who won’t be interested in the cruds’ proclamations of innocence, but rather will only want to talk about taking a mortgage on their homes (or parents’ home) to secure their bail bonds.

The formerly fat, arrogant and happy politicians and Hudson County officials will learn how few friends they really have. Their new best friend will instantly become their criminal attorneys (They’ll be your friend for $375 per hour), as they contemplate the possibility of spending time in a federal lockup. Some of these idiots are in their 50’s and 60’s. What the hell were they thinking?

Is it big news in Jersey? Well, maybe for a few days, but not for much more. You see, the FBI could arrest 44 crooked politicians and government officials per day and they would not exhaust the supply in my lifetime.

The cold, hard truth is that this kind of crap exists because the people of New Jersey elect cruds and tolerate their corruption. We get what we deserve.

12 Comments »

  1. That was a good haul. There are probably hundreds more that they missed.

    Comment by hammer — July 23, 2009 @ 9:22 pm

  2. Probably?

    Hundreds?

    You can’t possibly be from Jersey, hammer. The probability of there being more crooked politicians in New Jersey is 1.0. As for hundreds, you do realize that we have more than 500 mayors in this state? There are probably upwards of 4,000 city/township/boro councilmen, 5,000 school board members, and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (page 111), 661,700 people on various government payrolls.

    Comment by Ken Adams — July 23, 2009 @ 10:26 pm

  3. Heh, as you hinted, 44 per day is below the replacement rate. In order to clean house in NJ they would have to lock up–permanently–far more than just 44 per day.

    However, 44 per day will provide job security for the legal eagles doing the investigations and arrests, prosecutions and detentions. What irony if it were being paid for by the stimulus bill.

    Comment by joated — July 23, 2009 @ 10:55 pm

  4. Heh, as you hinted, 44 per day is below the replacement rate. In order to clean house in NJ they would have to lock up–permanently–far more than just 44 per day.

    However, 44 per day will provide job security for the legal eagles doing the investigations and arrests, prosecutions and detentions. What irony if it were being paid for by the stimulus bill.
    Oops…forgot to say great post! Looking forward to your next one.

    Comment by joated — July 24, 2009 @ 5:55 am

  5. noone has included “judges” as a politician. ever wonder why these guys got away with it for so long?

    Comment by esquire — July 24, 2009 @ 6:50 am

  6. Really, sincerely great post. Dooshbag Brooklyn rabbis…viscous Jersey swill…kidneys and Gucci handbags…I feel like this is a deep bonding experience for the two of us.

    Comment by Erica — July 24, 2009 @ 9:17 am

  7. Damn. New Jersey really has a problem. I’m “concerned.”

    Comment by dogette — July 24, 2009 @ 10:44 am

  8. Jimbo — there have been very few times when I wished I was still blogging. This is one of them. The only other growth industry in this godforsaken state these days is lawyers.

    Here’s a little nugget. Grace is down in Allentown NJ as her Roberto Clemente League softball team made the state championships. The coaches had to make an emergency call last night to get new jerseys sent down to them as the ones they had had Mariano Vega’s name all over them.

    Comment by Sluggo — July 24, 2009 @ 10:45 am

  9. I’m shocked…just shocked. Corruption in Jersey and here I thought corruption was just another word for “cost of doing business”.
    44 dooshbag politicians is hardly a good start. it is a good start indeed but there are probably another 440 worth immediately dragging in and waterboarding but 44 is a nice primer.

    Comment by RobbieRob — July 24, 2009 @ 2:00 pm

  10. Disgusting.

    Comment by Mr. Bingley — July 24, 2009 @ 2:18 pm

  11. You listed New York and Louisiana, but you forgot Chicago. They’re up there with the best of them…

    Seriously, any time I get bummed about our politics in FL, I just need to read your blog. I leave feeling very blessed…

    Comment by Bou — July 24, 2009 @ 11:42 pm

  12. Yep- and I moved from Bergen County to chicago. talk about out of the frying pan

    Comment by N5 — July 27, 2009 @ 9:43 pm

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