Anne Milgram

NEWARK - In the middle of a political battlezone in the lead-up to the Nov. 4th presidential election, the forces of President George Bush aligned with the Democrats on the ground here in New Jersey to support the expansion of a prisoner re-entry program in the City of Newark.

Gov. Jon Corzine today stood with state Attorney General Anne Milgram, Mayor Cory Booker, representatives of the U.S. Department of Labor and others to announce the infusion of $5 million in county, state and federal prisoner re-entry funds.

The program expansion will beef up opportunities for Newark ex-cons to get job coaching, job readiness training and mentoring, Milgram told a packed crowd in the Dryden House near Lincoln Park.

The attorney general laid out the stats: 60 percent of those released from prison are re-arrested, and 50 percent are re-convicted. With the expansion of this program, "we know we can successfully drop the recidivism rate," Milgram said.

Crime fighters U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie and state Attorney General Anne Milgram will appear together at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey’s William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy on Thursday.

NJN’s lead anchor Kent Manahan will moderate a panel that is scheduled to focus on the issue of human trafficking, and will feature Christie and Milgram followed by a question-and-answer session.

U.S. Attorney Chris Christie: Politicker file photo 

NEWARK - U.S. Attorney Chris Christie rejoiced following the federal sentencing of former Newark Mayor Sharpe James today, but also acknowledged that a U.S. District Judge’s decision fell far short of what Christie and his prosecution team had sought.

He strove to focus on the positive.

"In seven weeks, Sharpe James will report to federal prison for one reason and one reason only: he is a criminal," Christie told reporters. "He is a federal felon."

Then he turned to U.S. District Judge William Martini’s imposition of a 27-month sentence on James instead of federal prosecutors’ suggestions of a 15-20 year penalty.

State Criminal Justice Division Director Gregory M. Paw will resign from his post on June 20th to take a job with at the law firm Pepper Hamilton LLP.

Paw, who became director in February, 2006, sent a letter on Friday to Attorney General Anne Milgram announcing his impending resignation.

“It has been my honor and pleasure to serve the people of New Jersey as the Director of the Division of Criminal Justice…” wrote Paw. “The Division has undergone tremendous improvement in our term, and I am very proud of our accomplishments.”

U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, right, and FBI Director Weysan Dun last year in Trenton on the day Mims Hackett was arrested.

NEWARK - The steps of City Hall.

That was the image U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie used to tell the bad ending story of former Assemblyman and Orange Mayor Mims Hackett, who twice pleaded guilty today: once in federal court to one count of attempted extortion, and once in state Superior Court to a charge of official misconduct.

Flanked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office by state Attorney General Anne Milgram and state FBI Director Weysan Dun, Christie made special mention of the fact that it was outside City Hall that Hackett took the bribe which started his fall.

"This is a public servant who decided that $5,000 was a good down payment for him to sell his office," said Christie.

The defiant U.S. Attorney recalled critics who questioned his office’s motives when Hackett and ten other elected officials first appeared in court last year to answer to federal corruption charges.

Former Bogota mayor and conservative activist Steve Lonegan said today that the Attorney General’s office is investigating him, and that he thinks it reeks of political retribution.

Lonegan is calling for the legislature to appoint an independent prosecutor to look into the matter and wants the U.S. Attorney to conduct a civil rights investigation on his behalf. 

Lonegan, who has spent the last week in the media spotlight after he was arrested for trespassing while protesting against the governor’s asset monetization plan outside of his Cape May County Town Hall meeting at a school in Middle Township, said that arrest was merely “the tip of the iceberg” in a campaign of intimidation on the part of the Corzine administration and Attorney General Anne Milgram.   

According to Lonegan, the investigation started at the peak of his own campaign against two ballot measures that went down in defeat in November’s elections.

Conservative activist Steve Lonegan says the state Attorney General is investigating him, alleging that while he has not been contacted, records from the Bogota Borough Hall have been subpoenaed and six unnamed associates of the former Mayor have been interviewed.

The former Bogota mayor said he suspects that the investigation is political retribution, and began during his campaign against a ballot initiative supported by Gov. Jon Corzine.

"I'm not afraid of Jon Corzine. I'm not afraid of the Attorney General’s office. They can come up with all kinds of phony claims if they want and intend to do so,” said Lonegan. “I challenge them to come out of the shadows and tell us what they're all about.”

Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr. wants the state Attorney General to investigate the possible violation of Steve Lonegan’s first amendment rights. Lonegan, a former Bogota Mayor and possible 2009 candidate for Governor, was arrested on Sunday outside Middle Township High School where Gov. Jon Corzine was holding a town meeting.

Republican State Chairman Tom Wilson sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee John Adler today accusing him of caving into political pressure and watering down a call for an investigation into Gov. Corzine's relationship with Rocco Riccio, the brother-in-law of his ex-girlfriend/paramour/companion Carla Katz.

But Senate Democrats say that Wilson's letter is based on a misconstrued premise.

On Monday, news outlets originally reported that Adler called on the Attorney General Anne Milgram to investigate the $15,000 gift Corzine made to Riccio after he was forced out of Turnpike Authority job by the Corzine administration. This took place at the confirmation hearing of comptroller nominee Matthew Boxer, who was present at a meeting with Riccio. But Adler's letter to the Attorney General sent later that day only asked for an investigation into whether Riccio illegally looked into tax records, and news acocunts amended accordingly.

Assemblywoman Nellie PouPicked on by her Republican opponent as the existing weak link of a 35th District ticket riven by scandal, Assemblywoman Nellie Pou today stood in the rain at the head of 100 workers outside the Majestic Restaurant in Wayne and promised to get state Attorney General Anne Milgram to enforce New Jersey’s labor laws.

Restaurant workers have already bound together here with union backing to force several area restaurants to pay fair wages, but places like the Majestic are dragging their heels, according to Tony Tsai, a former employee. Charging a slave labor situation, Tsai says Majestic’s management doesn’t pay workers a base wage and demands kickbacks of $15 per day from the buffet restaurant staff. On weekends, they demand $20 per day.