This is what politics looks like in NJ:
FBI agents arrested 11 public officials in towns across New Jersey Thursday on charges of taking bribes in exchange for influencing the awarding of public contracts, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.(via)
Two of those arrested are state lawmakers, two are mayors, three are city councilmen, and several served on the school board in Pleasantville, where the scandal began.
All 11, plus a private individual, are accused of taking cash payments of $1,500 to $17,500 to influence who received public contracts, according to criminal complaints.
"Today we witnessed another example of the disease that affects the state of New Jersey; the disease of public corruption that spread like wildfire from south to north," said the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, Christopher J. Christie.
[...]
"This is another sad day for the people of New Jersey," said Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce. "Once again, New Jersey's culture of corruption is national news."
Rivera is a former police officer and professional wrestler.
[...]
More than 100 public officials in the state have been convicted on federal corruption charges in the last five years. Two other Democratic state senators, Wayne Bryant of Lawnside and Sharpe James of Newark, are among others facing pending corruption charges.
I wonder how many of them are Democrats? I guess we can be happy that at least they're being caught.
