October 8, 2009 - 4:11pm

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Indicted for misusing campaign funds, Chiappone pays wife/co-defendant $6k to manage his re-election bid

By Wally Edge

Less than a month after he and his wife were indicted on charges that they funneled legislative paychecks into a campaign account, Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone (D-Bayonne) used his campaign account to pay his wife $6,000 to manage his bid for re-election.

According to reports filed with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, Diane Chiappone was paid $6,000 on September 23 to serve as "campaign manager, coordinator, and record keeper."

State Attorney General Anne Milgram has alleged that Chiappone issued $7,532 in paychecks to a legislative aide, who in turn donated all of the money to the campaign along with $629 to a woman who they falsely claimed was a legislative aide. The state charges that that more than half of the money -- $4,299 - was deposited for personal use, and that the rest was put into the campaign account but not reported to the Election Law Enforcement Commission.

Chiappone has been tossed out of the Assembly Democratic Caucus, but remains on the Democratic line in the November general election.
Chiappone did not report any campaign contributions since his indictment. He has $16,020 cash-on-hand.

Wally Edge can be reached via email at politicsnj@aol.com.

Related topics: Diane Chiappone, Anthony Chiappone, Anne Milgram

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