John Lynch

In addition to being incarcerated until April 2010, former Senate President John Lynch must pay a $50,000 fine and cannot hold public office for at least two years after his release from prison. The ban on Lynch's return to public service before the spring of 2012 is not entirely off the wall: voters in Linden returned John Gregorio to office in 1990, eight years after his criminal conviction (and just months after his gubernatorial pardon), and voters in Union City re-elected William Vincent Musto as Mayor on the day he was sentenced to prison following his own criminal conviction.

Republican State Chairman Tom Wilson has always been good for a quick quip, especially when he was talking about the ethical challenges of his Democratic rivals. He was also the leading GOP pit bull when it came to attacks on U.S. Senator Bob Menendez's ethics over the last year. That's what makes it odd that Wilson has declined several requests for comment on the upcoming criminal sentencing of former Senate President John Lynch.

Wilson and the Republican State Committee have not issued any formal statements since the Monday after Thanksgiving, and there has been no partisan comment from Wilson on anything political (including the Democratic Civil War over property tax reform) since his former business partner, Robert Stears, admitted to overbilling the Burlington County Bridge Commission on a public relations contract. Some insiders suggest that Wilson, under fire from Democrats who are demanding that he return his share of The Strategy Group's revenues from the BCBC, may have lost his standing to criticize Democrats on ethics issues.

The federal Judge who will sentence former Senate President John Lynch next week is a career prosecutor who has spent nineteen years on the bench. Stanley R. Chesler, 59, graduated law school in 1974 and served as an Assistant Bronx District Attorney from 1974 to 1980. He worked for the U.S. Department of Justice's Organized Crime Strike Force in Newark from 1980 to 1986, and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for New Jersey from 1986 to 1987. He served as a U.S. Magistrate from 1987 to 2002, when President George W. Bush nominated him to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in 2002.

Eleven current and former New Jersey state legislators who served with John Lynch are among the 172 people who are asking a federal judge to give the former Senate President a lenient sentence during a hearing next week, according to a Star-Ledger report. Lynch, who was among the state's most powerful politicians for two decades, faces up to 41 months in prison after pleading guilty to corruption charges.

Lynch's backers are: Robert Smith, a Middlesex County Democrat who moved up to the Senate when Lynch retired in 2001; Middlesex County Democratic Assemblymen Peter Barnes and Joseph Egan, a longtime Lynch ally who has spent 25 years as a New Brunswick City Councilman; former Democratic State Senators John Russo (who preceeded Lynch as the Senate President), William Hamilton, Thomas Paterniti, and Gerald Stockman; former Republican State Senators Raymond Bateman (who served in the Senate with Lynch's father), John Dorsey, Jack Sinagra and John Gallagher.

MENENDEZ: I'll Stand Up To The Corrupt...Unless They Want To Contribute To My Campaign!
GOP Calls on Menendez to Rid Campaign of Contributions from Felons

Trenton, NJ - Republican State Committee Chairman Tom Wilson issued the following statement today:

MENENDEZ TAKES THOUSANDS OF $$ FROM CONVICTED FELONS

Trenton, NJ - Republican State Committee Chairman Tom Wilson issued the following statement regarding Bob Menendez's hypocritical press conference this morning:

Assembly Democrats Just As Blind to Ethical Crisis as They Are to Property Tax Crisis

Trenton, NJ - New Jersey Republican State Chairman Tom Wilson issued the following statement today in response to Majority Leader Bonnie Watson-Coleman's criticisms of Republican initiatives to combat corruption in New Jersey:

NEWS RELEASE

CHIUSOLO FOR COUNTY EXECUTIVE

“Does Joe DiVincenzo know the source of the $14,400 he took from John Lynch – and what if any strings were attached to that money?�

GOP CANDIDATE SAYS DiVINCENZO SHOULD GIVE $14,400 HE TOOK FROM CORRUPT POLITICIAN SHOULD BE SENT TO CHARITY

Joe D Took Lynch’s Money

Call Thom Ammirato

973-403-7836 September 21, 2006

Among the donors to John Lynch's New Directions Through Responsible Leadership PAC in the second quarter of 2006 was Sean Gormley, the son of Republican State Senator Bill Gormley. The younger Gormley, an Insurance Broker, contributed $2,500 to Lynch's PAC, which supports Democratic candidates. Lynch, who faces 33-41 months in a federal prison after pleading guilty last week to corruption charges, had $92,763 remaining in his political action committee, as of his July 2006 ELEC report.

Brush tries to hide his ties with corrupt political party boss by opposing a development application he was tied to.
September 19, 2006 - - On January 1, 2006, an expose on New Jersey party boss, John Lynch was published in "The New York Times", not usually a GOP friendly newspaper. That story detailed how the disgraced and now admitted criminal boss and his close associate, Jack Morris, a well known developer, together gave "$65,000 in donations to Mayoral candidate Paul Brush in early 2003."
Brush won election in 2003 as an Independent and then changed parties some months later after a secret meeting between Brush, disgraced ex- governor, Jim McGreevey, then Ocean County Democratic Chairman Fred Potter and Brush political advisor Sal Mattia.
The timing of the decision to flip parties was also suspicious because it very closely coincided with a significant donation from the local Democrats to Brush. Those details are also part of a massive ELEC Law violation complaint filed in 2005 and still under investigation according to NJ ELEC.
"The New York Times" article further stated that "Mr. Brush embraced the plan (referring to a Morris project entitled JSM at Hickory) and appointed one of Mr. Lynch's allies to the local planning board. The project’s new found support on the local level helped JSM at Hickory win two state zoning changes even though hundreds of community residents had rallied against the development."
Then fast forward to two months ago when Mr. Brush and several other members of the planning board, appointed by Mr. Brush, voted against the very project "The Times" reported that he embraced after receiving the donations from Lynch and Morris.
"The timing is more than a little suspicious" says Ginny Haines, President of the Dover Township Republicans.
"In voting against Mr. Morris’s project, Brush was clearly trying to get himself some political cover given the pending guilty pleas by Mr. Lynch for official corruption and bribe taking", says Ginny Haines, President of the Dover Township Republican Organization.
"Given the circumstances, Mr. Brush at the very least should return the tainted $65,000 he received from Lynch and Morris" she said.
"But much more importantly, Mr. Brush must explain to the public the complete nature of the connection between Brush, Morris, Lynch, and the on again – off again approval of the Morris project", she continued.
"Finally," said Haines, "it’s clear some sort of a deal was made by these gentlemen, one of who is now an admitted criminal. The information provided by "The New York Times," and Mr. Brush’s failure to adequately address the issue when the story was published and to let it stand on its merits, give us reason to believe that not only is it true, but it is problematic for our boisterous Mayor."