|
It sounds like a joke poking fun at New Jersey's soiled political reputation
Real estate news By Tom Hester Jr.
9:40 AM EDT, October 13, 2007
It sounds like a joke poking fun at New Jersey's soiled political reputation: Government corruption is so widespread in the state that it alone cannot turn off scandal-weary voters. Even as state Democrats seeking to keep legislative control in November's election endure high-profile corruption cases, many New Jersey voters seem to accept corruption as par for the course. New Jersey voters think their politicians are more corrupt than other states and link government corruption to the Democrats, but are no more likely to vote Republican, according to recent polls by Fairleigh Dickinson University and Quinnipiac University. "The results demonstrate how cynical the New Jersey electorate has become," said Michael Torpey, who was former Republican Gov. Christine Whitman's chief of staff.
Clay F. Richards, assistant director at the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, attributed continued support for Democrats to the party's strong voter registration edge. New Jersey has 1.1 million registered Democrats and 867,000 registered Republicans. The issue of corruption, Richards said, "probably will not be decisive in this year's legislative elections." New Jersey has long been known for government corruption, but in the last five years more than 100 government officials _ Republicans and Democrats _ have been charged and convicted on an array of federal corruption charges that involve somehow betraying the public trust, whether it be taking bribes, getting no-show jobs to boost benefits or lavishly spending public money on themselves.
Two of the biggest recent corruption cases involved Democrats. Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli quit his 2002 re-election amid ethics questions and Democratic Gov. James E. McGreevey resigned in 2004 after saying he had a gay affair while in office. This year, two Democratic senators have been indicted on federal corruption charges, with another dropping his re-election bid after federal prosecutors told him he was being targeted in a corruption inquiry. Also, two Democratic assemblymen and a Republican city councilman were among 12 people arrested by the FBI on bribe-taking charges in September. New Jersey Republicans have lobbied hard for Democratic Gov. Jon S. Corzine and Democratic legislative leaders to call a special session on ethics reform. Democrats quickly rejected the calls.
Send tips or a Letter to the Editor to editor@updatere.com
|
