Ex-partner of Democrat Lynch sentenced in scheme

A business partner of former State Sen. John A. Lynch Jr. was sentenced yesterday to three months in federal prison for tax evasion, the scheme that sent the Democratic power broker to prison.

John E. Westlake must pay a fine of $30,000 and spend seven months under house arrest after completing his term under the sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler. Westlake, 76, of Red Bank, could have faced up to 16 months in prison. He must surrender by Feb. 28.

Lynch, 68, was a former New Brunswick mayor who spent a quarter-century shaping New Jersey politics. He began serving his 39-month sentence on Jan. 16. Lynch and Westlake were partners in a consulting business that took money from a sand-mining company in exchange for Lynch's influence to get a public park project approved for the company. They pleaded guilty Sept. 15 - Westlake to failing to report $350,000 of income on his 1999 return, and Lynch to accepting $25,000 while a state senator from the Dallenbach Sand Co. of South Brunswick from March 1998 to February 2002. - AP