Do you live in Jersey? Yes or no, what are your thoughts on the latest corruption scandal?

Here is Gail Collin’s take on this, from the NYT. But all the news services carried the story. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/opinion/25collins.html?hpw

I used to live across the river from Cherry Hill in Philadelphia. I used to go to the Jersey Shore in the summer and to the Pine Barrens.

I would day it is business as usual in New Jersey.

@Marina: Day-o. The Pine Barrens is not really Jersey. And doesn’t this business seem a little more grandiose than the usual “Where is Jimmy Hoffa buried”?

I must admit, I only live here because it’s close enough to the city without being stupid expensive. :[

Quick question… is Gail Collins… you? :P

@gailcalled Andy & I have followed it avidly. It certainly is on a grand scale.

How are the pine barrens not jersey? They’re in my back yard….

hadnt heard about this whole scandal thing, ill get back to you with an opinion after some reading.

Ahhhh look at that, it happened in North Jersey…. Why am i not surprised? Once again, i push for two separate states….

Trafficking human organs is a definite low.

I’m from Jersey :) I live in Middlesex, so, um, wut.

@The_Compassionate_Heretic Admittedly, it could have been much worse. You know, like, trafficking the rest of the human as well.

Not in Jersey, of course. With these kinds of things anymore, I always wonder what the backstory is and who above them they betrayed, pissed off or got in the way of to warrant exposure. I think lots of politicians, etc. trade a degree of servitude to more dominant interests in exchange for their own fiefdom of power and unrestricted lechery, which is then held over their heads to maintain control from above. Case in point is Spitzer who’s hidden vice seemingly came to light out of nowhere (a banking “anomaly”) when it is more likely that he was exposed for meddling with the mortgage industry’s shell game, which Bu$hco was facilitating.

@Grisaille Yeah also low but at least the human is still in one piece if they themselves, are being trafficked. With organ trafficking, someone was cut open or scavenged.

1) Don’t I wish I were Gail Collins. Here she’d be gailcolled.

2) The Pine Barrens seem filled with mainly nature and some Quaker summer camps where the rustic toilet facilities are named after former campers and counselors named “John.” The head of the lower school at Germantown Friends was John Harkins, and he has his own outhouse at Camp Darkwater, named after the tannic colored water.

3) Spitzer was allegedly investigating prostitution and simultaneously visiting call girls.
Read all about it.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliot_Spitzer_prostitution_scandal
The money he was laundering was to pay the brothel charges.

4) And wasn’t a mayor of Providenc re-elected while in jail, or am I confused?

I’m glad to see it myself, sort of takes the heat off of Illinois for awhile. =)

@evelyns_pet_zebra: Probably tomorrow will be Palin’s next (and I hope, last) little flapdoodle, but what did happen to all those lovely guys in Ill., anyway?

@gailcalled they are still around, takes forever to get anyone convicted (or even to court) in this state.

@evelyns_pet_zebra: You’re not alone. At this point, NYS has no government as far as i can tell.

I’m from Philly. Nothing from Jersey really surprises me anymore.

@casheroo: Are you old enough to remember Frank Rizzo? He and his cronies certainly could have vied with present-day Jersey. And do you remember when the city burned down 6 blocks of residential homes in order to evict the Move family from one house? And the garbage strikes?

I lived in East Falls for a number of years and used to drive by Rizzo’s house in Chestnut Hill and see the police cars in the driveway.

@gailcalled I’m sorry, but whenever I hear the name Frank Rizzo, I think of The Jerky Boys.

@Grisaille: Sorry. I don’t get the reference. Pop music?

A big negative on that one. Crank callers. “Frank Rizzo” was one of their usual characters.

“In Jersey anything’s legal as long as you don’t get caught.”

—Bob Dylan

I don’t live in NJ, but most of my extended family does. I think in particular of one cousin who wouldn’t stop talking about how bad Illinois (where my immiediate family and I live) is because of the corruption there. I guess this turns the tables a bit.

Makes a benevolent dictatorship look almost attractive. At least then you only have to worry about 1 person’s level of corruption.

I’ve lived in NJ since infancy, and I wish I could say that I was surprised. The political system is sickeningly corrupt in both parties, which is why I don’t vote for either party anymore. Corruption exists in all states and all levels of government; but in NJ, they seem to have been setting the system up for decades and pushing the envelope.

I am more disgusted by the involvement of religious figures than the politicians. I live very close to the largest Hasidic community and I have heard that they use their religious freedoms to exploit loopholes in the system for tax evasion and public assistance. And it seems to be true, since they keep on building and building, and yet the town is getting poorer and poorer.

I can only hope that the investigation continues and that there will be pressure to make sweeping reforms throughout the government to make it less lucrative to be in public service in order to weed out the corrupt. This is an election year…

@uberbatman: South Jersey has debated cessation for decades, but the dividing line isn’t as clear anymore; and as Gail pointed out, Philly and the surrounding area have had their share of scandal, too.

Living dead-center of the state and getting media from both the NYC and Philly markets, as well as having worked in all regions of the state (from Newark to Cherry Hill) helps me get a clearer picture that one is not necessarily better than the other.

The Pine Barrens are no-mans land, but very beautiful for motorcycling, hiking and geocaching.

@hearkat you worked in Newark? Im sorry…..

@uberbatman: I worked in a couple hospitals there for several years. One was the Children’s hospital, and that really taught me a lot about life, and all that I have to be grateful for.

Oh, you mean the state of New Jersey, not the real Jersey