April 4, 2008
It Doesn’t Get Any More Corrupt Than This
In In The News, New Jersey | 1 comment | permalink
Sharpe James, once the mayor of Newark, New Jersey and a state senator was indited last year on various charges of corruption and fraud. Currently he is standing trial for those charges in a New Jersey courtroom. Here is a list of the various charges brought against him.
- Illegally charging over $58,000 on two city credit cards for Jacuzzi dips, movies, meals, and weekend gateways with friends.
- Selling of city property to a friend for the amount of $46,000. This friend (who was a frequent traveling partner with James) quickly resold the property for $665,000.
- James reportedly spent $1,440 for a trip to the Dominican Republic (and I guarantee he didn’t book cheap flights), where he wanted to assess the gardens to see if they could be replicated in Newark.
- James also spend $167.22 at clubs in Rio de Janeiro’s red light district (was he there on business?) and $297 to inspect a yacht he wanted to buy in Maryland.
- He also spent $2,976 to rent a storage unit where he hid records about the city’s and sales to his friend. The contract read “Authorized Users: None.”
Of course, Governor Corzine doesn’t think there is any corruption in New Jersey!
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[...] I posted earlier about Sharpe James, the dishonest ex-Mayor of Newark. He spent over $58,000 in city funds on personal items. PLUS, he sold city property to a “friend” (i.e. girlfriend) for only $46,000. She quickly resold this property for over $600,000. This is money that the city of Newark could have utilized. [...]