Once you read the first paragraph of this story, can you guess which political party this high ranking NJ elected official is affiliated with?  After the second para?  The third?  Still no clue?  If you are alert, in the fourth paragraph you will see the single reference to Sen. Wayne Bryant’s party, where the word democrat is mentioned.  

When was the last time you saw a ‘news’ article having to do with corruption involving a republican where the perp’s party affiliation did not immediately follow his name?  It is the usual convention for identifying politicians, umm, when criminal behavior is not an issue I guess?  When it is, then the D’s are omitted.

TRENTON – State Sen. Wayne Bryant, until recently one of New Jersey’s most influential lawmakers, was charged today with abusing his power and the public trust.

A federal grand jury indicted Bryant, 59, of Lawnside, on public corruption and fraud charges tied to his employment at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and two other publicly funded agencies and institutions.

The 20-count indictment also charges R. Michael Gallagher, the former dean of UMDNJ’s School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford, whom prosecutors allege schemed with Bryant to defraud the system.

According to the 40-page indictment, the powerful Camden County Democrat effectively sold his political influence to Gallagher and the osteopathic school. In return for lobbying on behalf of the school and securing millions in extra state funds, prosecutors allege, Bryant was rewarded with a $35,000-a-year, no-show job.

Camden, New Jersey is the city where the school system is in shambles, has been taken over by a state appointee, because the administration was more concerned with graft, kickbacks, and cheating on test scores than actually teaching their kids. 

As for Sen. Wayne Bryant, he has a distinguished record of corruption going back to 1990.

It only gets worse the higher up the food chain you go.  Take Rep. William ‘Dollar Bill’ Jefferson (D-La) for example.  That investigation isn’t finished.   Did you even know there was one?  Think hurricane Katrina, National Guard, and you might remember his name.  Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi recently put him on the House Homeland Security Committee.   Having $90,000 in bribe money in your freezer is just one of the criteria for getting appointed to that highly sensitive and important committee.  Majority leader Pelosi apparently isn’t concerned with that ‘culture of corruption’ thing when one of her own is concerned.

Apparently that’s what Sen. James Webb (D-Va.) did. In explaining how a gun could have found its way into his assistant’s possession and be carried onto the grounds of the Russell Senate Office building, Webb seemed to say, ‘well hey, we had the gun because we had been in New Orleans over the weekend.’

Hear that Mayor Ray Nagin? The senator feels compelled to arm himself when visiting your fine city. He actually said it more like this in speaking of his staffer’s arrest:

‘I think this is one of those very unfortunate situations where, completely inadvertently, he took the weapon into the Senate yesterday,’ Webb added. The senator noted that he was in New Orleans from Friday until Monday. He speculated that the incident happened because three of his cars were moved because of the trip.

I don’t think it will do much for the city’s recovery when lawmakers are afraid to visit without the special protection of Smith and Wesson.

In a related post, there is a solution to the crime problem in N.O. I wonder if the mayor saw it?