Some Democrats may wish Attorney General Anne Milgram would take the summer off, especially since it's an election year.  Instead, Milgram has been going after Democrats in Essex, Middlesex and Union counties.

The Star-Ledger reported tonight that investigators from Milgram's office seized a computer last week from the office of the Essex County Superintendent of Elections in connection to their indictment of Antonio Santana, a volunteer on the 2007 campaign of State Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Newark).  Santana is accused of changing an absentee ballot in Ruiz's favor - a tactic that had no effect on the final results of the election.  But an investigation into the Ruiz campaign is an annoyance to her political mentor, Newark Democratic leader Stephen Adubato, and to Essex County, where Ruiz works as Deputy Chief of Staff to the County Executive. 

Milgram has also won an indictment against Assemblyman Joseph Vas (D-Perth Amboy), and has been conducting a probe of Union County Democratic Chair Charlotte DeFilippo.  State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) and Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan have formed a legal defense fund to help pay for DeFilippo's lawyers.

Lesniak and State Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Linden), both members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, are battling with Milgram over her pick to run the state Division of Civil Rights, Chinh Le.  Lesniak and Scutari sent a letter to Gov. Jon Corzine complaining that Le is not licensed to practice law in New Jersey, according to a Star-Ledger report

Word on the "internet street" has it that all the "King Street Men" supposedly are busy gathering cash for Union County Democratic Committee Chairwoman Charlotte DeFilippo's legal defense fund. Served with subpoenas in October 2007 to produce documents pertaining to both her personal business dealings and those of the Union County Improvement Authority; Charlotte the Director, crowed that in no time flat everyone would be apologizing to her for the inconvenience of the investigation.. "I've been involved in politics for 35 years, and I do it in the most aboveboard and transparent manner," she was quoted in the Star Ledger as having said. "I just want to know who's going to say, 'Sorry, Charlotte' when this is all over."

Two Democratic Senators seemed a bit piqued yesterday when the Hudson County Assignment Judge implied that the Senate Judiciary Committee was dragging a Superior Court Judge through the mud as they questioned him during a confirmation hearing that would give Frederick Theemling tenure until he reaches the mandatory retirement age of seventy.  The reaction of State Sens. Raymond Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) and Nicholas Scutari (D-Linden) sends a signal that the Judiciary Committee, in a change of direction, is prepared to question judicial nominees about their records.

Theemling, a former Hudson County Prosecutor and a candidate for Congress against Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken) in 1992, seemed incredibly unprepared for any questions from Senators regarding his nearly seven years on the bench.  Scutari was seeking an explanation for what appeared to be an unusually large number of appeals to his decisions - 114 of his cases were appealed since becoming a Superior Court Judge.

In Trenton to support and defend Theemling, Assignment Judge Maurice Gallipoli accused the Senators of treating Theemling harshly.  "I earnestly suggest to you that this is a good man who should not be dragged through the mud," Gallipoli told the panel.

That bothered Lesniak, who told Gallipoli that the role of the Judiciary Committee was to question nominees about their "qualification, character, ability and record." 

"Asking legitimate questions about that record has nothing to do with dragging a person through the mud," Lesniak said.

Would you believe this is Victor Scudiery?

PolitickerNJ.com strongly stands by our report that State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) and Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan (D-Union) are involved with a legal defense fund for Union County Democratic Chair Charlotte DeFilippo, despite denials by Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Victor Scudiery.

"I've known Charlotte for years. She's a friend of mine. She called and asked me to help her and I agreed. I don't know where the Lesniak and Cryan stuff is coming from," Scudiery, the Treasurer for the legal defense fund, told the editor of moremonmouthmusings.com, a political web site. "Charlotte sends me the checks and when there are bills to pay I pay them out of the fund."

It's possible, according to sources familiar with the fund, that Scudiery doesn't know who is raising the money to pay DeFilippo's legal bills. 

UnionCountyDems.org

Union County Democratic Chairwoman Charlotte DeFilippo

Some prominent Democrats have set up a trust to pay the legal expenses of Union County Democratic Chairwoman Charlotte DeFilippo, who is under investigation by the State Attorney General's Office.

State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Elizabeth), Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D-Union) and Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Victor Scudiery are organizing and administering the fund, according to two sources.

In November, 2007, The Star-Ledger reported that the Attorney General's office subpoenaed documents relating to DeFilippo's "public and private business dealings" - including documents from the Union County Improvement Authority, which she heads; information on her duties as a legislative aide to former Assemblyman Neil Cohen, who has since been indicted on child pornography charges; documents relating to the Union County Democrats' involvement in the 2006 Roselle primary; and a client list a financial records from Camelot Title Agency, in which DeFilippo and Cryan hold minority stakes.

MEDIA ADVISORY - TONIGHT: LESNIAK SPEECH RE-ENACTMENT AND BOOK SIGNING

UNION – Senator Raymond Lesniak will re-enact his international award-winning speech on how the death penalty violates fundamental human rights and conduct a book signing for his speech tonight at the Kean University Conference Center from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM.

The event will be hosted by former Senator Robert Martin and the Board of Trustees for the Road to Justice and Peace, a non-profit organization which aims to advance the abolition of the death penalty around the globe, to support the families of murder victims and to promote alternatives to incarceration.

State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) is a lucky man after surviving a robbery at his home early Saturday morning.  Lesniak can be a bit of a lightening rod in New Jersey politics, so his story will spark political water cooler conversation for the next few days, at least. 

When it comes to crime, New Jersey politicians are more accustomed to being the offender that the victim.  But Lesniak is not the only victim.  In 2007, U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-Harding) helped Washington, D.C. police officers arrest a man who stole his wallet.  NBC4 in Washington said that Frelinghuysen "was walking in the Georgetown section of the city about 9:30 p.m. when he was approached by a group of young men. The congressman told officers he felt someone grab at his wallet. But when he turned, the person started running away. Frelinghuysen began chasing the man and was joined by two D.C. police officers who happened to be driving by." An 18-year-old man was arrested

One memorable legislative crime victim was Assemblyman Silvio J. Failla of Hudson County, who was in his first term in Trenton when he was murdered by a pimp and a prostitute outside a bar in Neptune. At 62-years-old, Failla had an fine resume for a legislator: he studied to be a pharmacist at Columbia University, went to law school, and then became an undertaker. He spent twenty years as the Executive Director of the New Jersey Funeral Home Directors Association, eleven years on the Hoboken Board of Education, and in 1965, and six weeks as the Mayor of Hoboken.

State Sen. Raymond Lesniak says he was robbed early Friday morning by two robbers who entered the bedroom of his Elizabeth home,  according to a report in the Sunday Star-Ledger.   Lesniak said the two intruders discussed whether to shoot him.

 "We just want some money -- just don't do anything crazy," Lesniak told the Star-Ledger one said. "We're good people, we're just in a bad place right now."   Lesniak said he gave them several hundred dollars, his blackberry, and the keys to his Lexus, which was left untouched.

State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) today accused radio personality Laura Ingraham of denigrating the U.S. Navy SEALs' rescue of a ship captain held hostage by pirates off the coast of Somalia.  This morning, Ingraham said that the "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency could have taken these teenagers."

 "The SEALs are highly trained and dedicated US Servicemen who are counted on for precision fire from concealed positions, including taking aim from a ship at a small boat riding the waves.  They are also trained to wait for the right moment so as to minimize the risk to any hostage, like Capt. Richard Phillips," said Lesniak.  "They deserve as much praise as we can give them, and more, not cheap shots by master cheap shot artists like Laura Ingraham."

"Ingraham so much wants America to fail under President Obama's leadership that she is willing to make fun of and minimize the heroic rescue by our men and women in the Armed Services."

LESNIAK CALLS ON INGRAHAM TO APOLOGIZE FOR REMARKS AGAINST SEALS

UNION – This morning, shock jock radio commentator Laura Ingraham denigrated the United States SEALs’ heroic efforts to rescue Capt. Richard Phillips and stated, “The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency could have taken these teenagers.”

In response, Senator Raymond Lesniak released the following statement:

“The SEALs are highly trained and dedicated US Servicemen who are counted on for precision fire from concealed positions, including taking aim from a ship at a small boat riding the waves. They are also trained to wait for the right moment so as to minimize the risk to any hostage, like Capt. Richard Phillips.