Kudos to Cryan and Lesniak

The Elizabeth school board member would serve three under-represented constituencies better than any other prospective Democrat.

Yeah, it was the right thing to do. But, as noted above with reference to the Mark Foley situation, the right thing to do is not always done.

It looks like Cryan and Lesniak acted as soon as they knew something, which is what they should have done.

It's not that they deserve kudos, it's that in this day and age they could have gotten away with doing nothing and chose not to.

Juan, Joe Cryan is bad to the bone, extremely cold and has no conscience. It's all about Joe Cryan. And that is based on a litany of direct experience and observation.

Juan wrote, "Lesniak and Cryan often get tagged as the bad guys in Jersey politics." I don't know Lesniak at all.

If one accepts the nostrums of the hard left – that Blacks, Hispanics, and women are somehow societal victims and require massive governmental succor – they could find no greater advocate of Big Government than Neil Cohen. The notion that people can only be adequately represented by someone who shares their ethnicity, melanin level, or reproductive capacity is not only profound stupid, it’s pernicious.

Taking your argument to its logical conclusion, given that the majority of the American people are, in fact, of non-Hispanic European descent, should you not advocate for John McCain’s candidacy, as he "looks like us", while Barack Obama does not?

I assume that you support Obama because, despite the fact that he doesn’t "look like" White liberals, he thinks like you do (or, at least, endeavored to give that impression during the primaries, subsequent policy pronouncements to the contrary notwithstanding). Which is precisely as it should be. The contents of a candidate’s policy, not the birthplace of his grandmother, matters.

Indeed, what, pray tell, are the odds that you would support (say) a Clarence Thomas simply because of his race?

Before Stuart Rabner ascended to the Chief Justiceship, he felt the sting of being denied a trial court position in Essex County because he was the wrong sex, color, and religion. THAT is the measure of the costs of ethnic/racial/sexual nose counting: true talent gets ignored on the altar of political correctness.

Kudos', kudos' because they could have looked the other way! No, no they could not! You see, it was a STAFFER who found/saw/witnessed the child porn, not Cryan and Lesniack. However, once they were told of the porn by witnesses, they really had no choice. They're are incredibly sleazey politicians, but they're NOT MORONS. Save the KUDOS FOR THE STAFFERS, for this story would have never see the light of day if it had just been between Cryan, Lesniack and Cohen. Case in point, Jim McGreevey! What did they know about him and when did they know it, and when did they show it!!!!!!

These guys are getting "kudos" for covering their own asses in a case they would have obviously covered up if they thought they could have gotten away with it. They then would have sent poor Neil to "counseling" where he could have his hand patted and told that he had a "disease" that was "not his fault." You see, to liberals, nothing is ever anyone's fault. It is society's fault. Neil Cohen's crimes are our crimes. And we as a society must pay, and pay, and pay. This folks, is the logic behind the liberalism Neil Cohen championed, and his depravity is the result. This is the result of a society where human life has no value from people to whom unborn children are "inconvenient" and are good only for the stem cells they can provide to those "scientists" who make money using them in their sadistic research. And that is the story of Neil Cohen. The question is how many other Neil Cohens sit today in this and other legislatures around the country. My guess is quite a lot.

"And while we're on the topic, if the legislators are looking for bonus points, they can extend their do-gooder streak by pushing to make sure that whoever replaces Cohen looks a little more like the people they represent."

Uh, isn't the definition of racism judging people based on their race? If so, how would that be different? Based on your logic, a black man should not run for office in Morris or Sussex counties, right? And if there was one, would you still be saying "After he steps down, let's replace him with a white guy, like the people he represents"?

I say, in our democracy, let the best man/woman win. I guess that doesn't happen in Union, though.

Where were you all you blowhards when Dennis Hastert and Tom Reynolds were enabling Mark Foley's cyber-sex with congressional pages?

Joe Cryan is a top Law Enforcement officer in Union County.....and he goes to the Office of Legislative Services??? He had a responsibility to act immediately and not give Cohen time to settle into (hide actually) a treatment facility. Why didn't he get right on the horn with the County Prosecutors office? He knew who to call to handle the Golding situation. Seems to a lot of people that there is more to this mess with Cohen than we are currently aware.

This is a study in stark Cryan contrasts: I wish the following ideas didn't occur to me!

Joe Cryan (and Lesniak) did not call the police, the state police or the Union County Sheriff's Department on Neil Cohen or demand a full criminal investigation, immediate arrest and the apprehension of Neil Cohen.

Instead, Joe Cryan "called the doctor on behalf" of Neil Cohen!  Cryan is but one member of a comprehensive care team that helped Neil Cohen create and implement a temporary Cohen rescue and protect strategy: Voluntary committment to an inpatient psychiatric hospital! The kind of place that provides privacy, cover and temporary shelter from the impending storm of interrogations conducted by the Attorney General's office and not the police department.

Cryan and Lesniak launched their own internal investigation of extremely serious criminal charges lodged by staffers against Cohen. Several days later, Cryan and Lesniak, released their own findings to the Office of Legislative Services. Legislative Services reported Neil Cohen to the Attorney General's office while he was ensconced in a psychiatric inpatient facility.

That and this says it all!  

Joe Cryan called the police, state police and Union County Sheriff's Department on Karen Golding, a petite and emotionally distraught ex girlfriend. I have never spoken to or met Karen Golding but I do know based on newspaper reports that Joe Cryan used his full legal power and authority as a Sheriff of Union County to initiate a full criminal investigation of Karen Golding and her eventual arrest.

She was surrounded by police cars and arrested while rummaging for clues and missing pieces of a mysterious puzzle in Cryan's unlocked state car  parked in a garage underneath the capitol building. Karen Golding was thrown in jail until she made bail. That's no way to treat an otherwise upstanding but currently distraught women on the verge of a breakdown. Much to his credit, Jon Corzine came to her emotional and financial rescue and she was released from jail.

If Joe Cryan had only given Karen the kind of attention, time and thoughtful care that he gave Neil Cohen: she probably would have snapped out of it sooner than later!