Questions swirl around latest charges against former New Jersey legislator Bryant

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Former State Sen. Wayne Bryant, viewed in some circles as a poster boy for New Jersey's culture of corruption, may be going it alone when he finally gets in front of a federal jury to defend himself against the latest political pay-to-play charges lodged against him.

Bryant's codefendant, lawyer Eric D. Wisler, who has been battling cancer for several years, may not make it to trial. Indications from recent court filings are that Wisler's lawyer hopes to work out a plea deal or have him declared incompetent to stand trial because of his health.

"There are thousands of documents in this case," Wisler's lawyer, Michael Critchley, said after his client's arraignment Nov. 3. "He's not capable of reading them and taking part in preparing his own defense."

Critchley said that at times Wisler, 53, has difficulty holding a piece of paper, let alone reading it.

In an order this month granting a 60-day delay in the proceedings, U.S. District Judge Faith Hochberg wrote that "plea negotiations are currently in progress" between the U.S. Attorney's Office and Wisler. She also said she and the attorneys would have to determine whether Wisler "is competent to stand trial" because of his health.

Bryant, who is serving a four-year prison sentence for a July 2009 corruption conviction, is prepared to fight the case, his lawyer, Carl Poplar, said after the Nov. 3 arraignments.

Poplar and cocounsel Lisa A. Mathewson would not comment on the specific charges or on speculation that the latest indictment, coming on the heels of last year's conviction, is an attempt by federal investigators to convince Bryant that he should cooperate.

Bryant, 63, spent most of his career as a player in the Camden County Democratic organization led by George Norcross.

Whether Bryant has information that could implicate other major figures in the county is one of several unanswered questions that swirl around the pending case. Another is whether he would be willing to share that information with investigators.

"I think they want him to open up," said one former Camden County politico who, like several other individuals, asked not to be identified. "I think the indictment was the feds saying to him, 'Forget about getting out in four years.' "

But others said that even if he cooperated, there wasn't a lot he could deliver.

"He could try, but it would be a stretch," said a Camden County political operative. "Wayne was a free agent. He was part of the Democratic Party, but he went his own way. He was part of the organization when it benefited him."

Two former colleagues in the Senate, who said they had also heard the speculation about authorities pressuring Bryant to cooperate, said they remained puzzled by his alleged criminal activity.

"Wayne's a bright guy," said Republican William Gormley, a former senator from Atlantic County. "This is very perplexing. He did some very good things [in the Legislature]. . . . He was too bright for this kind of thing. He didn't have to do any of this."

Former Gov. Richard Codey, a Democratic senator from Essex County, echoed Gormley's remarks.

Bryant "was always a complete gentleman," Codey said. "He could have been one of the finest legislators ever."

Bryant's conviction last year and indictment this year have come as the media continue to portray New Jersey as a nesting place for corruption.

Fighting that corruption is a theme that Gov. Christie, a former U.S. attorney, used to get elected last year and one that the Republican continues to champion amid speculation that he is building a national platform and may aspire to an even higher office.

The state's dysfunctional political system is also the central theme in the popular book The Soprano State: New Jersey's Culture of Corruption. Bryant's fall is one of more than a dozen cases cited by the writers, longtime New Jersey reporters Bob Ingle and Sandy McClure.

The new indictment alleges that Wisler paid Bryant $192,000 between 2004 and 2006 to ensure that the senator would use his legislative influence to aid development projects proposed by Wisler's clients.

The projects were a residential gentrification development in the Cramer Hill section of Camden, a golf course and residential development on Petty's Island in the Delaware River off Pennsauken, and a $1 billion golf course, luxury hotel, and residential development on the site of a former landfill in the Meadowlands in North Jersey.

The money was paid as an $8,000-a-month legal retainer to Bryant, who was a lawyer. But the indictment alleges he did no legal work.

The charges were filed after Bryant began serving his prison sentence on charges that he funneled about $11 million in state aid to the University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey in exchange for a job in which he showed up occasionally and did not work. He also was convicted of padding his state pension through other appointed "low-show" positions.

The conduct depicted in the two cases against Bryant is "an example of the worst of the excesses of corruption in New Jersey" and demonstrates "how intertwined this corruption can be," said Patrick Murray, a political scientist and polling director at Monmouth University.

The Bryant case, he said, reinforces the stereotype of the politician on the take that is part of The Soprano State.

Gormley, who spent nearly 30 years in state government, said he believed Christie, whom he strongly supports, was trying to do something about that reputation.

"He's doing a good job of cultural and behavioral modification," Gormley said.

But Murray said it was too soon to tell.

He recalled with a laugh how Christie, while still the top federal prosecutor in the state, launched an anticorruption campaign by warning politicians that "if somebody's offering you an envelope with cash, it's likely to be the feds."

Still, Murray said, dozens of elected officials got caught taking bribes in a series of FBI sting operations.

Part of the problem, he said, is that the attitude in New Jersey for too long has been, "This is how we do business. This is how we get things done."

The cases against Bryant, he said, "epitomize" that attitude and that business model.