The formerly honorable James Treffinger, executive of Essex County, New Jersey, has just been indicted on corruption charges - specifically obstruction of justice, fraud, and extortion. This is the gravest corruption scandal in New Jersey politics since Thursday.
Well all right, not really, but that's how it feels. Treffinger, a Republican, is only the latest politician in the Garden State to be formally charged with corruption. Hudson County Executive Bob Janiesewski (I'm guessing at the spelling), a Democrat, was brought down some time ago on similar ethics violations. A former mayor of Camden was sent to prison after receiving kickbacks; one of Janiesewski's appointees was caught misrepresenting county documents (or something like that - I can't remember the details); and of course, there's Bob Torricelli. "Sopranos" writers can't possibly make up all this stuff. Next thing you know, we'll find out that the state government used Arthur Andersen for auditing purposes . . ..
Hmm, maybe I spoke too soon.
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