Neil Cohen

There is nothing out of the ordinary about legislative staffers drawing down paychecks from both the government and from campaign committees.  But the case of Gleisha Givens, who served as Chief of Staff to Assemblyman Neil Cohen, looks a little strange.

Over the last seven months, Givens has received eighteen separate payments totaling $23,400 from Cohen’s campaign while working full-time for his legislative district office.  All of these payments came after the 2007 election, where Cohen had just token opposition.  They are listed on Cohen’s Election Law Enforcement Commission reports as bonus payments, or payments for extra work.

Cohen resigned Sunday amid allegations that he had child pornography on a legislative office computer. 

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State Sen. Leonard Lance’s congressional campaign yesterday questioned why his Democratic rival, Assemblywoman Linda Stender, was so quick to give her campaign donations back to former Assemblyman Neil Cohen, but has kept larger donations from U.S. Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.).

Rangel has faced scrutiny for leasing four rent stabilized apartments in his Harlem home district—one of which he uses as a campaign office and pays for with campaign funds. Cohen resigned from his Assembly seat on Monday amid allegations that he had child pornography on a legislative office computer.

HILLSIDE - Gov. Jon Corzine thought he heard a familiar tone of woe Gov. Jon Corzine: Politicker file photowhen New York’s new governor, David Paterson, addressed the dire state of the New York State budget this week.

"It sounded like my state of the budget, which I gave in February of last year," Corzine said.

Paterson on Tuesday announced a special legislative session to confront what he described as an economic crisis confronting New York State, including a budget shortfall of $6.4 billion.

Corzine this year shaved $600 million out of the state budget to help harness a state structural deficit of $2.5 billion, even as states like Pennsylvania and California are taking their own approaches to similar financial crises.

In an economic downturn nationwide in which food and gas prices are up and home values down, "This is crunch time on Main Street," said the governor - and most excruciatingly for the poor.

For Immediate Release: July 30, 2008

Contact: Amanda Woloshen, 908-267-1613

"It took Linda Stender five days to give back the $6,000 donated to her by Assemblyman Neil Cohen. But it has been 21 days since Stender fundraiser and supporter Rep. Charlie Rangel was reported to be under investigation for sweetheart housing deals and unethical fundraising practices.  Linda Stender should continue to cleanse herself of all of her questionable campaign contributions and return  the more than $20,000 she received from Rangel and cancel her fundraiser with him," said Lance Campaign  Manager Amanda Woloshen.

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Paid for by Lance for Congress

Linda Stender’s campaign has returned all of the donations it received from former Assemblyman Neil Cohen, according to Stender Chief of Staff Ed Oatman.

“We cut the check on Monday,” he said.

Cohen is under investigation for possessing child pornography on his legislative office computer. He resigned on Monday, which led the campaign to immediately give back the donations.

The Stender campaign returned a total of about $6,000 in Cohen donations from both the 2006 and 2008 election cycles.

"Whatever he's given us total, it's all given back," said Oatman.

Union County Republican Chairman Phil Morin today asked that funds for Assemblyman Neil Cohen’s reelection campaign be frozen, along with a joint campaign account Cohen held with Assemblyman and Democratic State Chairman Joe Cryan.

“As the investigation of child pornography allegations apparently continues against former Assemblyman Neil Cohen and election laws mandate that a special election be held this November as a result of the legislative vacancy, the Union County Republicans are calling for both his individual and joint legislative campaign accounts with Assemblyman Cryan to be frozen until the investigation is complete,” said Morin in a statement.

If the allegations against Cohen prove true, Morin said, he Cohen and Cryan should contribute the funds to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The Office of Legislative Services investigated pornography on Neil Cohen's office computer last year
Office of Legislative Services (OLS) Executive Director Albert Porroni confirmed that his office had received a call from District 20 legislators about "salacious material" found on the office's computer system long before pornographic images of minors were allegedly found on Neil Cohen's legislative office computer.

Porroni said that he could not recall the exact time frame of the complaint, but sources tell PolitickerNJ.com that it was made approximately one year ago.

At least one pornographic web site was accessed from a District 20 legislative office computer, and State Sen. Raymond Lesniak and Assemblyman Joseph Cryan had suspected Cohen, sources say. The web site was not suspected of having child pornography, however.

The Office of Legislative Services investigated pornography on Neil Cohen's office computer last year
Former Assemblyman Neil Cohen (D-Roselle) was suspected of harboring pornography on his district legislative office's computer system a year before he was allegedly caught with child pornography last week, according to several sources familiar with the Cohen investigation.

According to those sources, pornographic images - which did not appear to include children - were found on computers in the District 20 legislative office about one year ago. Although Cohen's office mates - state Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) and Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D-Union) - suspected that the images came from Cohen, they could not prove it.

The sources also said that Lesniak and Cryan notified the non-partisan state Office of Legislative Services and asked them to investigate the matter.