While Bush's mess was being funded by Jack Abramoff, Chris Myers' team was funded by convicted lobbyists Robert Stears.
Chris Myers is hoping you don't notice that his entire career has been funded by the corrupt political bosses at the Burlington County Republican Party. You remember them, right? Fraud... Graft... No-show jobs... Wasted tax dollars... Criminal investigations. Yeah, them.
Chris Myers has accepted thousands of dollars from corrupt Burlington party bosses.
According to recent FEC filings, Myers has accepted $2,300 from former Burlington County Republican Chairman Glenn Paulsen and $2,300 former Burlington County Bridge Commission Chairman J. Garfield DeMarco.
(Press of Atlantic City, 3/2/2008)
Burlington party bosses Paulsen and DeMarco received kickbacks from convicted lobbyist Robert Stears.
Corruption engulfed the Burlington County Bridge Commission while DeMarco served as chairman, Paulsen handpicked the Commission's members as the head of the county Republican Party. Under DeMarco's watch, Republican lobbyist Robert Stears was convicted of corruption and sentenced to 27 months for bilking taxpayers over $1 million by overbilling the Bridge Commission.
At his sentencing hearing, Stears said "he was forced to contribute between $3,000 and $4,000 every month to the Republican Party as a condition of keeping his lucrative contract with the bridge commission."
(Courier Post, 3/1/08)
Stears received a lengthy jail sentence for defrauding the Bridge Commission.
Stears, a former spokesman and lobbyist for the Burlington County Bridge Commission, was sentenced to 27 months in prison for mail fraud and tax evasion related to money he earned by overbilling the bridge commission.
Stears first admitted in Federal court in Dec. 2006 that he prepared and mailed invoices to the Burlington County Bridge Commission overstating work performed by The Strategy Group, a government relations firm he formed in 1997.
The Strategy Group was a paid consultant for the commission from 1997 to 2002, with Stears serving as the primary contact. The Trenton-based firm was paid $300,000 annually by the commission starting in 1997.
(Burlington County Times, 2/29/2008)
In 2006, Stears pleaded guilty to defrauding the Bridge Commission.
Stears pleaded guilty to defrauding the Burlington County Bridge Commission of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and failing to pay federal taxes for six years.
He admitted to bilking the Commission— and ultimately New Jersey taxpayers— for more than $2.5 million.
Stears told the court that he created Strategy Group, a Trenton consulting firm with partner Tom Wilson. The group performed lobbying and public-relations work for the commission from 1997 to 2002.
Stears admitted to the U.S. Justice Department he was the liaison between the commission and the consulting group and was aware of "virtually all transactions." Stears also said he prepared the invoices that were submitted monthly to the commission.
In 2002, Stears received more than $300,000 in taxable income on which he did not pay income taxes; he owes $112,863 in taxes on this income alone. He admitted he tried to hide that money from the government in a checking account under the name of his new venture, Governmental Strategies. He did not file federal income taxes from 1999 to 2004, the Justice Department said.
(Philadelphia Inquirer, 12/2/2006)
Stears admitted to bilking New Jersey taxpayers for more than $2.5 million while giving more than $110,000 in kickbacks to Burlington Republicans.
Stears pled guilty to using "inflated and fraudulent" invoices to collect more than $2.5 million in fees from the Burlington County Bridge Commission over seven years.
Stears said he routinely submitted invoices to the commission for lobbying and other work that was never done.
During the years Stears said he collected more than $2.5 million in payments from the Republican-controlled bridge commission, the Strategy Group was a generous supporter of the Burlington County Republican party.
Disclosure forms filed with the state Election Law Enforcement Commission show the firm gave more than $110,000 to the Burlington County Republican Committee between 1998 and 2002.
Court documents indicate the campaign contributions were an element in the federal case against Stears.
(Star-Ledger, 12/2/2006)
The Courier-Post blasted Burlington Republicans, calling their conduct in the Bridge Commission scandal “disgusting.”
From the Courier-Post:
“Here's a perfect example of why New Jersey desperately needs pay-to-play reform.
The Republican-controlled Burlington County Bridge Commission paid campaign donor Robert Stears -- whose firms have given $160,000 to the county GOP since 1998 -- $548,000 to lobby and do public relations work on behalf of the commission.Disturbingly, one of the bills Stears' firms lobbied against is a comprehensive pay-to-play ban proposed by state Sen. Diane Allen, R-Edgewater Park.
Pay to play describes the practice of professionals donating money to politicians and then being repaid for their donations through no-bid government work. Taxpayers are the losers in this system because contracts often are extended or costs inflated so the donor gets his or her donations back and turns a profit.
In essence, then, the bridge commission is wasting public funds to ensure that it continues to have the opportunity to cheat the public. That's simply disgusting.”
(Courier-Post, 5/14/2004)
Former Burlington Republican Senator Martha Bark held no-show jobs that paid her over $330,000.
The senator worked at the bridge commission from 1997 to 2001, earning a total of more than $230,000. According to bridge officials, she was responsible for researching the development of Palmyra Cove Nature Park, a bridge commission-managed nature preserve at the foot of the Palmyra-Tacony Bridge that opened in phases over the last two years.
From 2002 to 2003, Bark worked for the vocational school district, earning a total of $100,000. According to school officials, she aided adult-school students who needed assistance with child care, job placement and other issues to remain enrolled.
The Burlington County Times reported there were few public records detailing the scope of Bark's duties in those jobs. She listed the jobs on mandatory legislative financial disclosure forms, the story said, but they were never included on her Web site or biography.
In response to open public records requests from the BCT, the school district, citing concerns about student confidentiality, declined to produce documents showing how many students she met with, or how often she met with them.
The bridge commission, meanwhile, could produce no documents written by or to Bark explicitly linking her to the job. The only documents with her name on them they could provide were payroll records.
(Burlington County Times, 3/17/2004)
Bark was investigated by the State Attorney General’s office.
The State Attorney General's Office sought records relating to state Sen. Martha Bark's jobs at the Burlington County Bridge Commission and Burlington County Institute of Technology.
State investigators delivered subpoenas to commission headquarters in Palmyra and the Westampton campus of the vocational-technical school district, seeking documents regarding the employment of Bark.
(Burlington County Times, 3/17/2004)
