Have N.J. ethics laws curtailed illegal behavior?

When then-State Sen. Wayne Bryant was indicted on federal charges in early 2007, he was just the first of several state lawmakers to be accused of corruption that year.

In July 2007, State Sen. Sharpe James, a former mayor of Newark, was charged with using city money to pay for vacations to tropical locales and orchestrating land deals to benefit a companion.

That month, State Sen. Joseph Coniglio of Bergen County was notified he was the target of a federal criminal investigation. Later in 2007, Assemblymen Mims Hackett Jr. and Alfred E. Steele were among a group of 11 public officials charged with taking bribes.

Even for a state with a rich history of corrupt politicians, it was a tough year to be a lawmaker.

Now, as Bryant awaits his sentencing Friday on 12 corruption counts, mostly stemming from wielding his influence in exchange for a public job that padded his taxpayer-provided pension, it is unclear whether the changes in ethics laws since the troubles of 2007 have changed the culture in Trenton in any meaningful way.

"I don't know that the creation of more laws is the answer," said Brigid Harrison, a Montclair State University political-science professor. "Part of the personality of someone who engages in these egregious actions is that they're too powerful to be caught, and we continue to see instances where public officials engage in these types of behavior.

"No one goes into public office saying, 'I'm going to become a corrupt politician,' " Harrison added. "There are gray areas, people cross into the gray areas, and they think the state is their MAC machine. That culture is part of the problem and what needs to be changed."

In Bryant's case, State Sen. Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester) said last week, "I think a lot of people are still surprised with the outcome," because what Bryant did was "throughout New Jersey, the way things were done for years."

"It was kind of like they convicted him under new rules from stuff that was done in the past," Sweeney said.

But former U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie, whose string of successes prosecuting crimes large and small paved the way for him to become the Republican nominee seeking to unseat Gov. Corzine, saw a lot less gray in Bryant's case. He recently declined to comment on the forthcoming sentencing but said after the conviction that Bryant "stole in plain sight and said, 'Catch me if you can.' "

"Wayne Bryant is a disgrace and [he] is now a federal felon headed for prison, which is where he belongs," Christie said at the time. "It is an absolute abomination that Wayne Bryant ever held a position of authority and prominence."

A Camden County Democrat whose family has been involved in politics for generations, Bryant was a dominating force in state politics before his fall from grace. Elected to the Assembly in 1982 and to the Senate in 1995, Bryant rose through the ranks to become the chairman of the powerful Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.

He drew national attention for his tough position on welfare reform well before President Bill Clinton made it a national issue. Locally, he was the architect of the 2002 Camden Recovery Act, which steered $175 million in state funds into the troubled city.

But throughout Bryant's career, he was also criticized for enriching himself and his inner circle at the public expense. At the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Bryant worked a part-time job that involved little or no actual work but boosted his paycheck and his pension. In return, prosecutors argued, he steered $10.5 million in state money to UMDNJ's School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford.

Bryant was convicted of 12 charges, including two related to pension fraud at UMDNJ and the Gloucester County Board of Social Services.

Prosecutors have asked for Bryant to be sentenced to as much as 10 years, although U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson has broad discretion to sentence Bryant as she sees fit. In James' case, prosecutors asked for about 20 years and he received 27 months.

Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D., Bergen), who has long fought for stricter ethics in politics and the statehouse, said she believed Bryant's case served as a wake-up call to those who might have been engaging in behavior that might be considered unethical, if not downright illegal.

"I think people are more sensitive to what might have been considered acceptable behavior in the past," Weinberg said. "I think there are people who probably thought that there was nothing incorrect about a sitting legislator having a position with a public or quasi-public entity and not having clearly delineated responsibilities."

Ingrid Reed, director of the NJ project at Rutgers' Eagleton Institute, said she was surprised Bryant was unchecked until the criminal charges.

"It seems to me somebody should have called Wayne Bryant on this before it got to the stage where it becomes a criminal issue and he has to go to jail," Reed said. "I just don't think in New Jersey we're comfortable even talking about these things. I don't think it has changed. It's so entrenched in New Jersey somehow not to have that discussion" about conflicts of interest.

Lawmakers have taken various steps in recent years to tighten controls over ethics and pension abuses.

Last year, lawmakers increased the minimum salary required for new workers to qualify for pension credits to $7,500 a year for most government workers. The measure was intended to prevent people from using part-time jobs to inflate their pensions, as Bryant did.

One bill, signed into law in the spring of 2007, requires prison sentences, fines, and loss of pensions for public officials convicted of corruption.

Other bills passed in recent years attempt to rein in nepotism and ban lawmakers from becoming lobbyists for one year after they leave office.

Bill Schluter, a former Republican state senator who now serves on the State Ethics Commission, said there was plenty of behavior in the Legislature that was unethical but not necessarily illegal.

"It's like drug enforcement," Schluter concluded. "You don't give up just because it's difficult. You just keep after it."

Former State Senate President John A. Lynch Jr. (D., Middlesex) was sentenced in 2006 to 39 months for tax evasion and influence peddling. As of last month, Lynch was reported to have been released from prison to serve the remainder of his sentence at a halfway house in Newark.

Former Newark Mayor and State Sen. Sharpe James (D., Essex) was convicted of corruption charges in 2008 and sentenced to 27 months.

Former State Sen. Joseph Coniglio (D., Bergen) was convicted of extortion and mail fraud for directing millions of dollars of state money to Hackensack University Medical Center in exchange for "consulting fees." He is awaiting sentencing.

Former Assemblyman Alfred Steele (D., Passaic), who cooperated with federal investigators, is serving 15 months in prison for accepting bribes.

Former Assemblyman Mims Hackett Jr. (D., Essex), former mayor of Orange, pleaded guilty to accepting a bribe and was sentenced to two years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.

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