A decade after a scandal that led to his resignation as Camden County Surrogate, Bart Mueller is back in the news following Inspector General Mary Jane Cooper’s scathing allegations of waste, abuse and even possible fraud by the South Jersey Transportation Authority (SJTA), where Mueller has worked since 2003.

In 2000, Mueller resigned as Surrogate amidst allegations that some of his employees worked on ex-Gov. Jim Florio’s campaign for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination.  He was given a soft landing as the Camden County parks director before getting hired by the SJTA; with Corzine’s help, he became Executive Director in 2006 – after Cooper launched her probe of the SJTA.

Gov. Christopher Christie has been waging a battle against independent authorities since taking office in January, taking on the embattled Passaic Valley Sewerage Authority (PVSA).  Bryan Christiansen stepped down as PVSA executive director yesterday.   But taking on the SJTA could set up a potential conflict between Christie and South Jersey Democrats.

Two Republican Assemblymen, John Amodeo (R-Margate) and Vincent Polistina (R-Egg Harbor Township), have called for the resignation of the entire SJTA Authority Board of Commissioners.  They include: Atlantic City Democratic Municipal Chairman Robert McDevitt, the powerful president of Local 54 of UNITE-HERE, the union representing Atlantic City's casino hotel employees; Southern NJ AFL-CIO Central Labor Council vice president Mark Summerville; Camden County Clerk Joseph Ripa; Rowan University vice president for Civic and Governmental Relations James Gaymon>; Cape May County Democratic State Committeeman Jeffrey April; and Louis Toscano, who was an aide to then-Atlantic City Mayor (now State Senator) James Whelan.