Trial in the political corruption trial of former state Sen. Wayne Bryant (D., Camden) opens this morning with David Rosen, the budget guru for the non-partisan Office of Legislative Services still on the stand.

Rosen testified last week about how money was steered between 2003 and 2005 to the School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford. That's the public medical school where prosecutors say Bryant was given a low-show job in exchange for his influence as chair of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.

The Office of Legislative Services staffs legislative committees and helps shepherd each year's state budget into law. 

Bryant has been accused of accepting a job at the osteopathic school as a bribe. The job illegally increased the value of his existing state pension, prosecutors said. The school's dean, R. Michael Gallagher, also is standing trial in the case. Prosecutors said Gallagher rigged the hiring process to bring Bryant on the payroll.

Rosen faces cross-examination today from defense attorneys for both men.

The trial is scheduled to end early today - around mid-afternoon - because of the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah, and not resume until Thursday.

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The Inquirer's Cindy Burton reports today that:

"The greatest concern of voters in the most significant congressional elections in South Jersey is the worst economic crisis in decades.

Even before talk of the $700 billion bailout, in poll after poll, voters said their paychecks weren’t going as far as they once did and blamed rising costs of essentials like food and health care, and a loss of value in their homes and other investments. They worried about losing their jobs and finding new ones.

As Congress mulls the biggest bailout of the financial industry in history, voters are wondering: where’s their bailout?

"Everything we do has changed,” said Gwen Herzalla, 44, of Cherry Hill. She works as a restaurant manager and took a second job waitressing to bring in extra income for her family. But it’s not enough.

“People aren’t going out to eat anymore. Business is cut in half. The restaurant business has died,” she said. So she’s going back to school in January to study pharmacy.
Candidates in the New Jersey U.S. Senate and local congressional races say they have plans to ease voters’ pain.

Read the full story in today's Inquirer.

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Ever since former state Sen. Wayne Bryant was indicted last year, federal prosecutors have been saying that he directed millions of dollars to a public university where he was given a job, and where he performed almost no work in exchange for his pay and credit to his existing public pension.

This afternoon, the budget guru for the Office of Legislative Services, which each year helps shepherd the budget into law, explained how that could have happened.

The most direct link to Bryant was in a 2003 memo, shown in court, from the former dean of the School of Osteopathic Medicine. Bryant had been given a job at the school a few months before the e-mail was written.

The memo, sent to the senator, suggested language for inserting an $800,000 appropriation into the budget for a children’s support institute at the school.

The suggested language was included in the budget almost verbatim, testified David Rosen, with the non-partisan Office of Legislative Services.

For more on this story, see Friday's Inquirer or philly.com.

The political corruption trial resumes on Monday.

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Corzine

A day after Gov. Corzine unveiled a package of ethics reforms that could boost his clean-government bonafides, the e-mail saga involving his ex-girlfriend, Carla Katz, is back in the news, providing a political counterpoint.

The Associated Press is reporting that Katz' lawyer filed a brief saying some e-mails she and Corzine exchanged during 2006 contract negotiations were related to collective bargaining and should not be released. Republicans are suing to have the communications between Corzine and Katz, until recently a powerful New Jersey labor leader, made public.

There isn't a lot new in the report, but it brings back into the spotlight a titillating saga that has dogged Corzine for months and is sure to play a role in next year's election. (The Star-Ledger has reported that the Corzine camp has done polling on the story's impact and found some ugly results for the governor; we posted a link earlier today). Republicans are likely to run on an ethics platform in 2009, especially if their nominee ends up being corruptiong-fighting U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, a man whose office includes a bottle of Mr. Clean with his face on it.

Corzine has said the e-mails are covered by executive privilege and Katz says negotiations don't have to be released. Republicans say the public has a right to know about the negotiations. Regardless of who is right, the political damage to Corzine comes every time the story, with all its attention-grabbing elements, makes news. After all, it involves the governor, an ex-girlfriend with a talent for getting her name in the tabloids, untold gifts he once gave her and negotiations over tax dollars.

Corzine clearly hopes to burnish his anti-corruption credentials with his ethics package, involving sweeping campaign finance reforms.

But which one do you think plays better in a campaign ad?

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That was the disclosure in this Star-Ledger story. Here's the first few graphs:

Jon Corzine won the governorship three years ago by using integrity as an issue, saying he would not be bossed by political warlords or bought by special interests.

But a confidential poll commissioned by Corzine last month shows more than half of New Jersey's voters question the first-term governor's integrity because of his relationship with ousted state-worker union leader Carla Katz

More than half believe e-mails between Corzine's office and Katz should be released, and 49 percent say they "have lost confidence in Corzine because of the Katz controversy."

In an interview, the governor sought to downplay the findings of the opinion survey conducted by his longtime pollster, Doug Schoen, but said it is an important step as he plans a bid for re-election next year. The Star-Ledger obtained a section of the poll's summary pertaining to Katz.
"We need to be realistic about what are the concerns and considerations of the public," Corzine said.

Click on the link above to read more.

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With the political corruption trial of former state Sen. Wayne Bryant (D., Camden) nearing the end of its second week, prosecutors plowed through six witnesses this morning, by far the quickest pace so far.

The seventh witness of the day, David Rosen, figures to be on the stand much longer than the previous six. Rosen is, essentially, the budget guru for the Office of Legislative Services, the non-partisan agency that provides legal advice and other services to lawmakers and staffs legislative committees.

Bryant has been accused of accepting as a bribe a job at the School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford in exchange for using his position as chair of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee to steer millions of dollars to the school. He is accused of doing little work for his pay, which increased the value of his existing state pension.

The school's dean, R. Michael Gallagher, also is on trial for arranging Bryant's job.

Two of this morning's witnesses are secretaries at the school, and they became at least the third and fourth witnesses to attest to Bryant's slim work habits while on campus. Like the others, they testified that he spent most of his one morning a week in his office reading newspapers and talking on the phone.

Another witness, Tom Jones, is the director of urban and community development for the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, of which the osteopathic school is a part. Jones also is Bryant's first cousin.

Jones took part in Bryant's interview before he was hired at the osteopathic school in 2003. Jones said their relationship was well-known, and he had taken steps throughout his life not to mingle his business with Bryant's.

Bryant's job description at the school was nearly identical to Jones's in three passages read in court. Yet, the two men never worked together during the three years Bryant was employed, prosecutors noted.

U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, who's office is prosecuting Bryant, arrived in court shortly before the lunch break to listen to testimony - the first time he has attended court since last week's opening arguments. Christie said he simply had a free afternoon.

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During an interview for his job at the School of Osteopathic Medicine, former state Sen. Wayne Bryant promised to vet his employment with the non-partisan agency that gives legal advice to lawmakers.

He later told his interviewer, John Crosbie, that the Office of Legislative Services had told him there was “no problem” with him working at the school, which is part of the public University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

This afternoon, during Bryant’s federal corruption trial, OLS Executive Director Albert Porroni took the stand.

“At any time, did Sen. Bryant seek advice or counsel regarding his employment or possible employment at UMDNJ?” asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Lurie.

“Not to my knowledge,” Porroni answered.

Bryant is on trial for accepting the job at the osteopathic school as a bribe for his influence in steering millions of dollars there. Prosecutors said he did little to no work for his pay, which illegally enriched the value of his existing public pension.

Check tomorrow's newspaper for more details on today's testimony.

And check this blog tomorrow for the latest updates, as the trial continues.

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Andrews (AP photo)

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