Cohen campaign gave staffer 18 bonuses over last 7 months

By Wally Edge | August 1st, 2008 - 12:14pm
| More

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. 

Givens was also reimbursed at least $500 each month (sometimes as much as $700) for reimbursement for her cell phone – almost always in very round numbers.  And since the last election, she’s been reimbursed nearly $6,000 for postage stamps. 

PolitickerNJ.com contacted Givens on her cell phone with the hope that she might explain why she received so many extra payments.  She referred inquiries to the campaign treasurer, Rosemary McClave.  McClave, a Democratic activist from Hillside who is also the Chief Financial Officer for Teterboro, is on vacation.  She didn’t return messages left at her office and home.

Givens' annual salary in Cohen's legislative district office was $38,000.

Websites

Those websites must cost a ton!!

$500 phone

Who and where is she calling? You get unlimited with Sprint for $99 a month now. Wonder if some non 1800 numbers were being called.

State AG calling in!

Let's get moving here!

Come on Wally...

Come on Wally. How can you expect someone to live on $38,000 a year in the NY Metro area... Supplementary salary exists all the time in politics. Stop making something out of nothing.

I agree with njpolitico

I'm with you: staffers work extraordinary hours, face immense frustrations, and get paid very poorly for their important work.

I'm probably in the minority here, but I actually believe both state senators and assemblymen/women should get paid better as well. Many keep a second a second job on the side, which can distract them.

Cohen's a Tax Cheat Too!

Cohen didn't take withholding tax out. He treated his aide like a 1099 Independent Contractor. The problem is, and Cohen being an attorney knew this but ignored it, is that Givens was an employee of the campaign. She did not have a business name and probably Cohen was her only "client." Cohen's campaign cheated the IRS out of withholding tax payments.

This is typical of liberals who demand everyone else pay more taxes and then cheat the government on their own end. Cohen deserves to be investigated for failure to pay withholding tax, and Givens needs to get ready for an IRS audit.

Political Payrolls

Current legislator staffers drawing expenses from political accounts is something that should have been banned long ago.

Its absolutely a conflict of interest.

If current staffers can't work on political campaigns, how can they draw political campaign salaries too? I just don't get it.

Definitely, ELEC, AG and Christie should call in!

"There is nothing out of the ordinary about legislative staffers drawing down paychecks from both the government and from campaign committees." I am sorry, but it seems to me that it is illegal in NJ. I might be stupid though.

Smells Fishy To Me Too!!! Milgram Cn U RD Ths??? n/t

From Frederick Douglass

If there is no struggle there is no progress......Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.

Wake-Up Call

Morning News Digest: February 9, 2010

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