Howard Schoor

The only thing more shocking than Governor Jon "Zero Tolerance" Corzine publicly embracing a man convicted of bribing a public official is that Republicans have not seized on Corzine's statements as a campaign issue.  This seems to have been a one day story.

Howard Schoor, the founder of a politically influential engineering firm, who pleaded guilty last year to paying a $15,000 bribe to influence a sewerage authority contract in Ocean Township, was among the attendees at a Corzine campaign fundraiser at the Borgota Hotel Casino in Atlantic City on April 22, hosted by a law firm and an engineering firm.  In February, Schoor was sentenced to two years on probation.

"I publicly acknowledged him and said I thought he's a good man," Corzine told the Star-Ledger's Josh Margolin, who broke the story this week.  "I think he is a good man. If he actually was involved in bribes and payoffs -- I don't think he was ever convicted of that particular element -- I wouldn't approve of that. I don't approve of it. But I think he's a good man. He's been very philanthropic."

Schoor admitted that he paid a bribe to then-Ocean Township Mayor Terrance Weldon and Sewerage Authority Chairman Stephen Kessler while the three were attending the New Jersey League of Municipalities Convention in Atlantic City in November 2001. 

Republican gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie, who was the U.S. Attorney who prosecuted Schoor, Weldon and Kessler, was critical of Corzine in response to Margolin's question.  "Only in Jon Corzine's Trenton would a convicted felon who engaged in political corruption be invited to a political event by the governor and then be praised by him publicly," Christie said.  While Christie addressed the issue with Margolin, the type of stampede of condemnation that would normally come from a story like this has not occurred.

But the ability to use the attendance of a someone who has admitted to bribing a public official at the governor's fundraiser as a campaign issue is somewhat diminished by this twist: Christie's campaign chairman, State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Middletown), was among the people who wrote letters offering a character reference for Schoor prior to his sentencing.  Schoor got a slap on the wrists compared to Kessler, who was sentenced six weeks later to one year in a federal prison.

Former Ocean Township Sewerage Authority Chairman Stephen Kessler was sentenced to one year in a federal prison for accepting $15,000 in bribes from Howard Schoor, the head of a politically active engineering firm.  Kessler's sentencing comes six weeks after Schoor, a founder of Schoor DePalma, avoided prison and was sentenced to two years on probation.  The U.S. District Court Judges in the two cases were different: William Walls sentenced Kessler, while Dennis Cavanaugh handled Schoor.

Schoor DePalma founder Howard Schoor won't have to serve jail time after pleading guilty to bribing two Ocean Township officials.

Worth noting was U.S. District Court Judge Dennis Cavanaugh's decision to spare the onetime head of a politically active engineering firm jail time.  Howard Schoor, a founder of Schoor DePalma, faced up to fourteen months in prison after admitting that he paid a $15,000 bribe to former Ocean Township Mayor Terrance Weldon and Sewerage Authority Chairman Stephen Kessler. Instead, Schoor will spend the next two years on probation. 

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Howard Schoor, who founded one of New Jersey’s most politically powerful engineering firms, pleaded guilty today in federal court to bribing two former Ocean Township officials in exchange for contracts. 

Schoor admitted paying $15,000 to former Mayor Terrence Weldon and former Township of Ocean Sewerage Authority (TOSA)chairman Stephen Kessler, who in exchange delivered contracts to Schoor’s company, Schoor DePalma.

Kessler pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from a then-unnamed representative of an engineering firm back in 2005, for which he and Weldon – who at the time of the payments both sat on the TOSA’s board – rewarded the firm with contracts relating to a sewer-line project and the renovation of the authority’s sewerage treatment plant.