As the political corruption trial of former state Sen. Wayne Bryant (D., Camden) resumed this morning, his attorneys called several witnesses in an attempt to re-frame many of the allegations against Bryant in a different context.

One witness, George Hampton, was a vice president at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, the public college where prosecutors say Bryant was given a low-show job in exchange for his influence in steering state money. Bryant was chair of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.

Prosecutors contend Bryant did almost no real work, spending just one morning a week at the job and reading newspapers and talking on the phone for most of that time. Hampton facilitated that job, arranging a meeting between Bryant and R. Michael Gallagher, a dean at one of UMDNJ's campuses, the School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford.

Gallagher now stands accused of rigging Bryant's hiring process and, essentially, giving him a job as a bribe.

Hampton said he thought Bryant's job was a "community relations" position. Hampton supervised others who held similar jobs at UMDNJ. Bryant attorney Lisa Mathewson asked Hampton if people who worked in that field had to be out of the office.

"There was a great deal of time spent away from their desks," he answered.

Mathewson also asked if community relations workers were required to read newspapers. Hampton said they were required to do so in order to keep up with current events.

Hampton also that he facilitated the meeting between Bryant and Gallagher "to see if there's any interest to collaborate."

"It wasn't a big deal to me," he said.

Former UMDNJ President Stuart Cook testified earlier in the trial that Bryant solicited a job from him during a meeting. Hampton said top UMDNJ management discussed whether hiring Bryant was a good idea, and Cook took the position that, "if it was okay with everybody else, it was okay with him."

Prosecutors will cross-exam Hampton in the afternoon.

The defense also called Colletta King, a former member of the Gloucester County Board of Social Services. Bryant worked for the board as an attorney, but sent his law firm associates to cover nearly all of his work. King said that was not uncommon among the lawyers who worked for the board.

Bryant was accused of pension fraud because that job counted toward his existing state retirement plan. He also signed time sheets every two weeks for the board, certifying that he had done the work. Under cross-examination from prosecutors, King said she had never seen those time sheets.

"We just assumed that as long as it got covered, we were not concerned," she said. 

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