Senator John Adler, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, says there is nothing he can do about a bad appointee to the state Parole Board. Respectfully, here are two things that Adler can and should do immediately to help rid the board of an unqualified appointee.

Evelyn Williams, who may have set a new record: she lasted seven days from the time she took her oath as an Assemblywoman until the time of her arrest on shoplifting charges. Two days later, she was fired from her job with the Essex County Corrections Department for filing for and receiving illegal pension checks from the state Police and Firemen's Retirement System.  She resigned two weeks after her arrest. Williams is no stranger to controversy: she was the School Board president when the state took over the Newark public school system in the 1980's, and as an Essex County Jail employee in 2002, she escorted an inmate who had been a member of a major drug ring, to attend an outdoor concert.

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State Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Demarest) is so upset about what he sees as a lenient sentence for former Newark Mayor and State Senator Sharpe James that he’s fired off a letter to the editor of every daily newspaper in the state.

On Tuesday, James was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison and fined $100,000.

Cardinale’s letter contains some criticism of U.S. District Court Judge William J. Martini, a former Republican Congressman who presided over the trial and sentencing of James. Cardinale said staffers toned down more pointed criticism of the judge.

“It’s struck me that (Martini) has become an enabler, even an apologist for this culture of corruption,” he said in a phone interview.

Republican congressional candidate Chris Myers today demanded that his opponent, State Sen. John Adler, remove a controversial appointee from the state parole board.

Adler is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

State Parole Board member Charles Jones drew scrutiny when he wrote a letter to Judge William J. Martini asking for leniency for Sharpe James, who he used to work for as an aide. Jones was appointed to the board in early 2006, although judiciary committee members at the time questioned whether he was qualified for the position.

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.

U.S. Attorney Chris Christie: Politicker file photo 

NEWARK - U.S. Attorney Chris Christie rejoiced following the federal sentencing of former Newark Mayor Sharpe James today, but also acknowledged that a U.S. District Judge’s decision fell far short of what Christie and his prosecution team had sought.

He strove to focus on the positive.

"In seven weeks, Sharpe James will report to federal prison for one reason and one reason only: he is a criminal," Christie told reporters. "He is a federal felon."

Then he turned to U.S. District Judge William Martini’s imposition of a 27-month sentence on James instead of federal prosecutors’ suggestions of a 15-20 year penalty.

DeCROCE: JAMES SENTENCING CLOSES ANOTHER CHAPTER ON GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION

Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce said today’s sentencing of former Newark Mayor and State Sen. Sharpe James ends another chapter in New Jersey’s continuing saga of government corruption but sadly it will not be the last.

“James brought dishonor to his office and placed personal gain ahead of the public good,” said DeCroce, R-Morris and Passaic. “His indictment, conviction and incarceration should put all public servants on notice that political corruption will not be tolerated.

“Unfortunately, this is only one chapter in book that keeps growing longer and longer. I continue to believe much more needs to be done to wipe out the culture of corruption in New Jersey.”

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