"Da Jersey Code."

The image accompanying this post may be blocked by Jersey hoodlums, so I suggest that you stare at one of the judges making these horrors possible through a surprising lethargy:

Pictured to the left is Anthony "Tony" Soprano, who bears a suspicious resemblance to Federal District Court Judge, Jose Linares. Perhaps because they wear the same sunglasses.

http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/supreme/images/soto.jpg and see "What is law?" at http://wwwCritique@msn.groups.com/ .

Reported in The New York Times, March 14, 2006, at p. B1:

"... a review by the State Commission of Investigation, examined the payrolls of dozens of school districts and found that boards of education around the state have lavished officials with cars, computers, cellphones, improper pension increases and donations to tax deferred annuities. ...."

And there are usually trips to strip clubs thrown in:

"In one instance, the superintendent of a district in Bergen County was granted nearly $600,000.00 in payments for 'unused' sick time, vacation days and compensatory leave over five years, including $300,000.00 that was paid to his estate upon his death."

Furthermore, there were "discrepancies" between the salaries reported as being paid and what was, in fact, paid to superintendents. To take one example, quoted in The New York Times, March 14, 2006, at p. B1, B7: "Hudson County Vocational School reported [superintendent] salary of $173,902.00; actual compensation was $217,832.00." New York Times, March 14, 2006, at p. B7.

Do you still do the legal "work" for the "Vo Tech" schools, Alex Booth, Esq.? Disbarred? I wonder where the difference went, if it wasn't on the recipient's tax return? Geez. I wonder how the bill for legal services at the "Vo-Tech" schools was "split up"? Alex? You would never engage in cybercrime or alterations of copyright-protected writings, right Al?

"The state provides about $7.7 billion in taxpayer money each year to help pay for public education. About $20 billion of the roughly $34 billion collected through property taxes each year is also used for schools." (p. B7.)

Somehow that money does not seem to reach the teachers or students who need it most. There are those who say that the difference between reported salaries and actual payments comes back to some Jersey politicians and judges in kickbacks. Of course, this is only speculation. There is no evidence at this time to support such allegations. It seems that the investigation is on-going. Collateral issues may be of interest to federal law enforcement, but it is too soon to tell.

"[The New Jersey School Construction Corporation] was responsible for overseeing the state's $8.6 billion dollar school building program, which has concentrated on the state's poorest districts. It has already spent $3.1 billion in those areas, where it has built 31 schools. But the corporation's interim chief executive Scott A. Weiner, said yesterday that it had run out of money to build 59 more schools planned in poorer districts and would need $300 million more to construct them, nearly half of that due to inflation."

But notice what the aptly-named Mr. "Weiner" did not say:

"Mr. Weiner, who was put in charge of the corporation by Governor Corzine and also sits on the task force, said the corporation's financial problems should not be viewed as the overrun of a budget. 'It is not that the budget was exceeded, but that there were no budgets.' [emphasis added] Cost 'estimates' for a project were used instead of formal budgets."

Guess what happens next? In my neighborhood that's called STEALING:

"The corporation was criticized for paying high fees [emphasis added] to project management firms and for buying school sites that required [expensive] environmental improvement."

There are many who believe that those "project management firms" are politically connected, run by "contributors" to the political "process" -- no doubt financial contributions are always based on contributors' interest in the "issues" and nothing more -- but it is troubling that the absence of a precise budget makes it impossible to trace every penny spent.

It is worrisome that the same politicians receiving contributions appoint the very public officials making use of such "firms," though there is no proof at all -- at this time -- that some of those high fees might have "circulated" more widely than is now known. Jersey politicians are known to whisper, with a chuckle, "cement is gold." "Green Acres" -- right, Alex Booth, Esq.?

Tina Kelley, "Panel Urges Replacing New Jersey School Building Unit," The New York Times, March 16, 2006, at p. B5.

Reported in The New York Times, Match 15, 2006, at p. B2: "New Jersey has settled on a state slogan ('New Jersey: come see for yourself' ...)." I have a better suggestion: "200 convictions for legal and political corruption are not enough!" (Ethics, Stuart?)

Governor Jon S. Corzine's first budget proposal called for tax increases with painful spending cuts and contained a veiled criticism of previous administrations' "gimmicks." Those "gimmicks" hurt ordinary people in more ways than one. Are the attorneys making all of these shenanigans possible "ethical"? Many such attorneys deliver the cash to politicians, but they say that I am unethical. I think they are unethical in Trenton. What do you say?

"In a grave 31 minute speech to the New Jersey Legislature that elicited only two instances of applause, Mr. Corzine proposed a rise in the sales tax for the first time since 1990 and higher taxes on cigarettes, alcohol, and luxury and gas guzzling cars."

Notice what the "gimmicks" of the past are costing the middle class, more taxes and fewer government services, together with a legal system that is in need of a makeover. N.J. does lead the nation in child porn, allegedly. An underage prostitute will be delivered to your door anywhere in the state, right fellas? Governor Corzine warned:

"All of us have been warned that a day of reckoning was near with respect to our troubled state finances."

David W. Chen & Richard G. Jones, "Corzine Proposes Increased taxes and Cost Cutting," in The New York Times, March 22, 2006, at p. A1, B6.

I can only hope that the day of reckoning is here. Have a potato chip, Stuart. Bagel chip?