The Field Of Criminals Posing As Politicians Just Got Bigger

Newark's Ex-Mayor Guilty Of Fraud

Newark, New Jersey has some issues. No, not the soaring crime rate, the disturbing unemployment numbers, or the deteriorating schools.

We're talking about the original gangsta, Sharpe James, who was pimpin the city for his own selfish benefit. Now pops and his jump-off, co-defendant Tamika Riley, find themselves facing 3 hots and a cot for charges related to property fraud.

Prosecutors said James, 72, hijacked a program designed to encourage urban renewal by offering developers land at low costs, and approved the sale of city-owned properties to Riley, 39, then his girlfriend, at a fraction of their actual value from 2001 to 2005.

Yes that's right, homegirl was thirty-three years Sharpe's junior! And she was selling city property while improperly receiving about $27,000 in federal housing subsidies for her apartment in Jersey City. Clearly no shame in Tamika's game.

With hizzoner "steering" land to her, Riley bought multiple discounted properties and resold them at market rate without attempting to first rehabilitate them, as required by the program, prosecutors said. Riley collected about $500,000 in profits from the transactions, they said.

When it was the defense’s turn to try to rebut the prosecution’s case, lawyers for Mr. James called just two witnesses — two former councilwomen who tried to bolster the assertion of Mr. James that he could not approve property sales unilaterally.

Mr. James stood stony-faced and Ms. Riley appeared stunned as the jury foreman delivered the verdict, then quickly left the courtroom. Mr. James then took an elevator to the first floor of the federal courthouse, where he kissed his wife, Mary, on the cheek. They then drove off with his attorney.

What a tawdry fall from grace for a black man who was the powerful Democratic mayor of New Jersey’s largest city for 20 years, until 2006, and a state senator from 1999 to 2008. And to think that folks we're telling current Mayor Cory Booker that he needed to wait his turn and let this older, wiser, vetted politico stay in office.

Sound familiar???

Under federal guidelines, prosecutors say the two face up to about eight years in prison. For now, both are free on bail and will face sentencing on July 29. Mr. James’s lead attorney, Thomas Ashley, said he intended to appeal the verdict. Legal experts are predicting that the two will probably face four- to five-year sentences, district attorney spokesman Mike Drewniak said.

In a separate case, da mayor is accused of charging nearly $60,000 on city-issued credit cards between 2001 and 2006 for vacations for himself and several women other than his wife in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and the Dominican Republic.

The brotha claims that his visit to Rio de Janeiro in 2006 was to meet with the region's consulate general on city business and that a trip to the Dominican Republic was to "assess the tropical gardens on a resort property there to determine if those gardens could be replicated near Penn Station in Newark."

Yeah, and I got swap land in Palm Springs that I can get you on the cheap. Disgraceful! [CNN]

Black Councilman Oliver Thomas Busted, While Mansfield Brothers Must Now Pony-Up For Showing Their Butts

Is Anyone In New Orleans Politics Legit???

Once believed to be a likely candidate for mayor in 2010, Oliver M. Thomas, Jr, pleaded guilty for accepting $15,000 in bribes. He resigned effectively immediately from the New Orleans City Council after serving 13 years.

The African-American vice president apologized and said he hoped his troubles do not become a distraction to Hurricane Katrina recovery. "I'm sorry I didn't live up to the faith you put in me," Thomas said. "It was wrong and I accept full responsibility for using incredibly poor judgment."

Released on bond pending sentencing on Nov. 14, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The corruption probe apparently took a heavy psychic toll on the 50-year-old brother as he confessed that he even contemplated suicide. His lawyer and family "helped save my life," Thomas said. "I have made peace with my God."

Hurricane Katrina Aid Goes Toward Luxury Condos

Thomas admitted to taking those pretty little green ones in 2002 from Stan "Pampy" Barre, a member of former Mayor Marc Morial's inner circle and a key figure in a long-standing federal investigation into known City Hall corruption.

Urban League President Marc Morial

Barre is cooperating with investigators after pleading guilty in a separate case. Morial, now the president of the National Urban League, has not been accused of wrongdoing. Barre contacted Thomas asking him for help in maintaining a contract to operate two parking lots near the famed French Quarter.

In the separate case, Barre pleaded guilty in January to plotting to skim more than $1 million from a $64 million, 20-year contract for energy management services signed in the last days of Morial's administration in 2002.

Councilman Thomas's troubles come as New Orleans continues to struggling with recovery from Katrina two years ago. "This is a body blow to a community already reeling under a wave of corruption," U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance said at the hearing for Thomas. "If this city is ever to recover, we have to have an end to this kind of venality."

What she wanted to say was bull****! Case in point:

U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, a Democrat from New Orleans, was indicted on corruption charges linked to business deals in Africa. Police found $90,000 in cash in the freezer of his home. And U.S. Sen. David Vitter, a Republican from the New Orleans suburbs, admitted last month to having committed a "very serious sin" after his number was found in the phone records of a woman accused of running a Washington prostitution ring.

Meanwhile, a violent crime problem in parts of the city has further marred the hurricane recovery. New Orleans led the nation in murders per capita in 2006.

“Pull ‘em up or pay up.”

Anyone wearing sagging pants who exposes his or her underwear will face a fine of up to $150 plus court costs, or face up to 15 days in jail under a new law that takes effect in Mansfield.

Starting Sept. 15, folks can now be found guilty of indecent or lewd behavior when found in a “state of nudity, or partial nudity, when your drawals are exposed. Several municipalities and other parish governments in Louisiana have enacted similar laws recently.