N.J. State Senator,
Former Dean Indicted
By AP from the
NYTimes on the Web, March 30, 2007
TRENTON, N.J. -- A
once-powerful New Jersey lawmaker was indicted Thursday on corruption charges
tied to a state medical school job that a federal monitor said paid him up to
$40,000 a year to do little more than read the newspaper.
State Sen. Wayne Bryant, a former chairman of the budget committee, also is
accused of using that job and two others where he did little or no work to
fraudulently triple his state pension. The Democrat was charged with mail
fraud, wire fraud and bribery.
''Today, one of New Jersey's most powerful politicians has been charged with
placing his own personal greed ahead of the interests of the good people of the
state of New Jersey,'' U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said.
Also charged with fraud was R. Michael Gallagher, former dean at the University
of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey's School of Osteopathic Medicine in
Stratford. He's accused of creating a phony job for Bryant, using the
legislator's influence to become dean and devising phony profits on financial
statements to receive bonuses.
The charges stem from a federal monitor's report in September that looked into
suspected corruption at the state medical school.
The monitor found that the school created a job for Bryant in 2003 and that he
showed up only one morning per week at most and did little more than read
newspapers. Over four years, Bryant helped bring $12.8 million in state
money to the school through his role as the Senate budget chairman.
The senator also is accused of boosting his pension fraudulently with a job at
Rutgers University-Camden, where he was paid as a part-time adjunct and student
mentor but reportedly did little work.
The indictment also said Bryant got about $200,000 for working 15 hours for the
Gloucester County Board of Social Services over four years, largely by billing
the board for work performed by others in his law firm.
The three jobs helped Bryant boost the pension he would receive from $28,000 to
$81,000, prosecutors allege.
Messages left at Bryant's offices were not immediately returned. Christie
said that Bryant was vacationing in Mexico, but that he expected the senator to
surrender to authorities next week.
Gallagher's lawyer, Jeremy Frey of Philadelphia, declined to comment.
Bryant, 59, joined the Assembly in 1982 and became a senator in 1995. He
represents Camden, the nation's poorest city.
''This has to be one of the saddest days in New Jersey politics,'' said Assembly
Minority Leader Alex DeCroce, a Republican.
Bryant called the monitor's report inaccurate last year, saying he performed
duties ''consistent with my job description.''
He resigned from the budget panel shortly after the release of the report and
recently announced that he would not seek re-election.
The federal investigation into Bryant has grown into a larger investigation
delving into the state budget. Christie has subpoenaed budget documents
from the governor's office, legislative leaders and staff, at least three
lawmakers, and two state departments.
''New Jersey is being suffocated by a cloud of political corruption, and there
is no indication that it will dissipate anytime soon,'' Republican Assemblyman
Peter Biondi said.
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