Alfred Steele

Staffers working for a legislator who resigns or dies in office keep their jobs until a successor is elected and seated.  While there are no formal rules dictating how legislative offices should operate in the event of a vacancy, in recent years the Senate President and Assembly Speaker have authorized district offices to remain open and staff to continue to be paid.  Those staffs are supervised by the Senate Secretary or the Assembly Clerk, although there is relatively little oversight in those situations.

The staff of former Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt (R-Ocean) remains intact, even though Van Pelt resigned last week after being arrested on federal corruption charges.  And while Speaker Joseph Roberts has effectively suspended two legislators facing criminal charges without pay, Joseph Vas (D-Perth Amboy) and L. Harvey Smith (D-Jersey City) continue to have district offices and staffs who report to them.

Does Gov. Jon Corzine view Joe Vas as part of the Steele/Hackett group, or the James/Bryant group?

In 2007, Gov. Jon Corzine had a litmus test when it comes to pushing state legislators accused of corrupt acts to resign: are they seeking re-election.  That's how Corzine came to call for the resignations of Assemblymen Mims Hackett (D-Orange) and Alfred Steele (D-Paterson) after their September 2007 arrests, but did not seek the ouster of State Sens. Wayne Bryant (D-Camden) and Sharpe James (D-Newark) following their indictments on federal corruption charges.  At the time, Corzine's spokeswoman explained that Hackett and Steele were candidates for office, while Bryant and James had already announced they were not seeking re-election.

After Joseph Vas was indicted on state corruption charges last week, Corzine called for his resignation from the State Assembly.  But now that Vas has said he won't be a candidate for a fourth term in 2009, will Corzine shift Vas from the Hackett/Steele category to the one reserved for Bryant/James?  His staff says no, suggesting that Corzine has a new litmus test for the current cycle: hard evidence.  According to a Corzine spokesperson, prosecutors had hard evidence - a tape - against Hackett and Steele, but did not have such evidence against Bryant and James. 

But if one were to follow Corzine's logic, the governor's call for Vas' resignation would be rescinded under both litmus tests.  Vas is not a candidate for re-election, and unless the Governor knows something that was not in Anne Milgram's indictment, no video tape of Vas' theft exists.

If Democratic leaders follow the precedent set when Alfred Steele and Mims Hackett were arrested in 2007, there will be a call for Assemblyman Joseph Vas (D-Perth Amboy) to resign his seat.  That ends the Middlesex County Democratic convention fight between Vas and South Amboy Mayor Jack O'Leary. 

Marcellus Jackson, who resigned his seat as a Passaic City Councilman after admitting that he took $26,000 in bribes from an undercover FBI agent, remains involved in politics as a he awaits sentencing.  According to a report by PolitickerNJ.com's Max Pizarro, Passaic mayoral candidate Vincent Capuana has ackowledged that Jackson has been volunteering on his campaign.  Last night, he worked the door at a Capuana fundraiser collecting money from donors. “Twenty years of friendship are 20 years of friendship,” said Capuana campaign manager Jose Alex Ybarra told Pizarro.   “Loyalty is very big with many of us.” 

Updated: A sentencing hearing for former Assemblyman/Orange Mayor Mims Hackett will be postponed until October 21, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.  U.S. District Court Judge Jose Linares made the scheduling change.  Hackett was expected to be sentenced tomorrow.

The leading candidate to replace Assemblywoman Elease Evans on the Passaic County Board of Freeholders is Greyson Hannigan, a former Assistant Passaic County Counsel (Bill Pascrell III is the County Counsel).  Hannigan is an attorney who represented former Assemblyman Alfred Steele in his criminal case last year. 

Former Assemblyman Alfred Steele admitted today that he accepted bribes to deliver local insurance and roofing contracts, and will face 37-46 months in a federal prison. Steele, a Minister and former Passaic County Undersheriff, resigned from the State Assembly, where he was Deputy Speaker, following his arrest in September.

Former Assemblyman Alfred Steele will appear in court todayRev. Alfred Steele, who resigned from the State Assembly in September following his arrest on bribery charges, is expected to appear in federal court today. U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie says he will offer comment after the 3PM hearing, and there is some chatter that Steele could enter a guilty plea as early as today.

In case you missed it: New Jersey's three newest Assembly candidates were effectively annointed by individual party leaders, unencumbered by the need to present themselves to voters -- in this case, elected members of the County Committee.  Elease Evans, a Passaic County Freeholder who was elected to fill Alfred Steele's unexpired term, was picked by County Chairman John Currie; Bergen County Freeholder Connie Wagner, who will be the Democratic candidate for Assemblywoman in the 38th district (replacing Bob Gordon, who is running for Joseph Coniglio's Senate seat) was selected by County Chairman Joseph Ferriero; and Mila Jasey, a South Orange Board of Education member, was handpicked by Senate President Richard Codey to replace Mims Hackett in the Legislature. 

State Sen. John Girgenti (left) and Passaic County Democratic Chairman John Currie with Assembly candidate Elease Evans
The Democratic Party chiefs in the 35th district united today behind a woman they say is a powerful community presence: a social worker, grandmother, public servant and churchgoer; someone with deep and important community ties in Paterson and the environs.

Hoping to represent a nearly 2-1 Democratic district, Passaic County Freeholder Director Elease Evans will have the added challenge of proving that the trust she built in her grassroots work and public service means something in a legislative district where a man with many of those same credentials on paper violated his office, according to the U.S. Attorney.

The Passaic County Democratic Organization this morning unanimously decided on Evans to replace former Assemblyman (and Passaic County Undersheriff) the Rev. Pastor Alfred Steele on the 35th district legislative ticket, and immediately made a statement regarding the new candidate’s intentions. Acknowledging that dual public office-holding isn’t a practice the public will tolerate, Evans said if elected to the Assembly on Nov. 6th she would hold dual office only for a period of months, and would not seek re-election to the freeholder board when her term expires at the end of 2008.