The Jersey Sting, by Sherman & Margolin: on Principles & Values
Albio Sires:
2002: Avoided prosecution when chief fundraiser convicted
Early in the case, Altman had told Dwek in recorded conversation that he had previously passed a bribe to Albio Sires. At the time Altman made that comment, Sires was a Democratic congressman representing Hudson County. According to Altman's story,
the bribe had been given to Sires while he was mayor of West New York, the town neighboring Union City--where so much of Altman's development work had been centered before he met Dwek, and when Sires was also speaker of the state assembly.
To federal prosecutors, Sires was always viewed as one of the ones that got away. In 2002, the US Attorney's office indicted Sires' chief fundraiser and one of his closest friends, Rene Abreu, on 42 counts of bank fraud, bribery, and extortion.
Abreu was ultimately convicted, but the feds really didn't want him. They had told Abreu repeatedly that they had a Get Out of Jail Free card waiting for him if he would roll over on Sires. Abreu wouldn't.
Source: The Jersey Sting, by Sherman & Margolin, p.276-277
Apr 10, 2012
Barbara Buono:
2009: Initially selected as Jon Corzine's running mate
[In 2009] was the first time in modern NJ history that lieutenant governor nominees would be on the tickets, and Christie had already announced his. Corzine wasn't thrilled with his final decision, but he had finally made one and it was a relief to
his whole team. The running mate would be Barbara Buono, a state senator from Central Jersey with a law degree and the chairmanship of the powerful budget committee on her resume.
She was 5 years younger than Corzine, attractive (by NJ political standards, very attractive), and a capable debater and public speaker.
She was a strong choice but not Corzine's first, and the governor, his staff, and even Buono herself all knew it. [Buono was ultimately not selected]
Source: The Jersey Sting, by Sherman & Margolin, p.286
Apr 10, 2012
Chris Christie:
His idol: Bruce Springsteen; favorite song: Thunder Road
In Christie's 7th-floor office was a bottle of Mr. Clean household cleanser, emblazoned with a photo of the US Attorney's face on the label. The office itself was a shrine to Christie the fanatic, decorated with all sorts of memorabilia from his beloved
NY Mets and a signed Fender guitar from his idol, NJ rocker Bruce Springsteen.
A Springsteen freak, Christie was known to shut the door before a news conference and turn up the volume on classics from the E Street Band, getting himself juiced before meeting the press to talk about a major arrest.
More often than not, it was the song "Thunder Road," and Christie, who once flew to London, England, just to catch a live Springsteen performance, had a tendency to sing aloud.
Source: The Jersey Sting, by Sherman & Margolin, p. 84
Apr 10, 2012
Chris Christie:
OpEd: U.S. Attorney office often leads to statewide posts
In a state where law, politics, crime, and headlines create a powerful alchemy, there is no appointed post more powerful or sought after than the US Attorney. On top of everything else the position has going for it,
US Attorney is one of only a tiny handful of jobs with statewide authority. NJ, because of its compact geography and its past as a small population bedroom for NY and Philadelphia, has only one Justice Department district.
So the US Attorney is the undisputed top federal law enforcement official in the state. It is a perch from which many have graduated to lucrative legal practices and judgeships, including a spot on the US Supreme Court
(Justice Samuel Alito is a former NJ US Attorney). And it's the place that revived Chris Christie's dead political career.
Source: The Jersey Sting, by Sherman & Margolin, p.255
Apr 10, 2012
Chris Christie:
2006: Questioned for subpoenas timing to affect elections
The US Attorney's office--under the control of Chris Christie--took on a central role in Menendez's life. Two months before the 2006 election, federal prosecutors very publicly subpoenaed records connected to a rental deal between
Menendez and a community-service agency that won federal grants.
The controversial subpoena would multiply into a small series and it became a critical element of the election. Inside the US Attorney's office, Christie authorized the first subpoena in 2006, ignoring the potential effect it could have on the
Kean-Menendez balloting.It was a move that infuriated Democrats, who accused Christie of issuing the subpoena specifically to affect the election.
Source: The Jersey Sting, by Sherman & Margolin, p.260-261
Apr 10, 2012
Jon Corzine:
2004: Suspicious payments of $10,000 a month
In December 2004, Christie and his team went so far as to interrogate NJ's senior US Senator at the time, Jon Corzine, who had just announced he was running for governor.
Unaware of the irony still to come, Corzine, without any public voice, had drawn the attention of the FBI and federal prosecutors after he was found to have been making unexplained payments of $10,000 a month to the wife of former senate president and
Democratic political boss John Lynch, who went to federal prison early in Corzine's term as governor.
The payments were suspicious but proved to be little more than an inconvenience for Corzine that was never made public.
Source: The Jersey Sting, by Sherman & Margolin, p. 87
Apr 10, 2012
Jon Corzine:
OpEd: "tone-deaf" when trying to connect with voters
It soon became clear that as adept as Corzine had been at trading bonds and running Goldman Sachs, he was as awful as a politician. He looked down on backroom operators such as Jim McGreevey and brawlers such as Bob Menendez for not having his pedigree,
but those were the guys who knew how to connect with voters, how to stay on message, how to explain their positions, and how to fight when necessary. In NJ, it's necessary a lot. Corzine could do none of that. He was personable and eager to try to talk
people into his viewpoint, but the hallmark of his politics--more than liberal or Democratic--was simply ineptitude.He could not deliver a speech or a sound bite & was apt to blurt out whatever it was he had just been told in private. As the insiders
say, he was "tone-deaf" to both the politics on the ground and what the political class was thinking.
Once the 2008 presidential election kicked off, the governor had already decided it was time to move on from the claustrophobic State House in Trenton
Source: The Jersey Sting, by Sherman & Margolin, p.271
Apr 10, 2012
Richard Codey:
OpEd: Saved N.J. Democratic party after McGreevey affair
Was there anyone popular enough to actually pose a challenge to the juggernaut that Christie had become?The only answer was Richard Codey. He was state senate president and, as a result, became acting governor after McGreevey's resignation and before
Corzine won. Codey had wanted the job in his own right, but Corzine and his wallet shoved Codey aside in 2005. Codey was legitimately viewed as the man who had saved NJ's Democratic Party after
McGreevey, and he parlayed that into serious statewide popularity--something that only increased after he took on a talk radio shock jock who mocked his wife's battle with depression.
By July 2009 it seemed Codey was poised to take over Corzine's campaign. The problem with that was Codey had never been seriously tested in a statewide race.[Corzine stayed in; Codey stayed out; Chris Christie won].
Source: The Jersey Sting, by Sherman & Margolin, p.321
Apr 10, 2012
Robert Menendez:
Child of Cuban emigrants
In the heated 2006 US Senate race, Democratic incumbent Robert Menendez was running against Tom Kean Jr., the son of the popular former governor. The election pitted the First Family of NJ against the child of Cuban emigrants who had clawed his way to
the top of the political food chain. At the time, Menendez--the de facto political boss of Hudson County--was trying to run away from a pedigree that can kill a candidate in the white-bread suburbs of NJ horse country.
Source: The Jersey Sting, by Sherman & Margolin, p.157
Apr 10, 2012
Robert Menendez:
2006: Investigated for grants to community service agency
Menendez and the US Attorney's office had a long history. In 1980, Menendez was used by prosecutors in that office to help them convict Menendez's mentor, Bill Musto, at the time a state senator and the occupant of the Union City's mayor office that
Menendez would ultimately take over. More than 25 years after the Musto affair, the US Attorney's office--under the control of Chris Christie--took on an even more central role in Menendez's life. That time, he looked to be the hunted.
Two months before that election, federal prosecutors very publicly subpoenaed records connected to a rental deal between Menendez and a community-service agency that won federal grants.
The controversial subpoena would multiply into a small series and it became a critical element of the election. Democrats accused Chris Christie of issuing the subpoena specifically to affect the election.
Source: The Jersey Sting, by Sherman & Margolin, p.260-261
Apr 10, 2012
Samuel Alito:
Former New Jersey U.S. Attorney (1987-1990)
In a state where law, politics, crime, and headlines create a powerful alchemy, there is no appointed post more powerful or sought after than the US Attorney. On top of everything else the position has going for it,
US Attorney is one of only a tiny handful of jobs with statewide authority. NJ, because of its compact geography and its past as a small population bedroom for NY and Philadelphia, has only one Justice Department district.
So the US Attorney is the undisputed top federal law enforcement official in the state. It is a perch from which many have graduated to lucrative legal practices and judgeships, including a spot on the US Supreme Court
(Justice Samuel Alito is a former NJ US Attorney). And it's the place that revived Chris Christie's dead political career.
Source: The Jersey Sting, by Sherman & Margolin, p.255
Apr 10, 2012
Page last updated: Jul 12, 2015