Republican lobbyist jailed for fraud and tax evasion (NJ)

[mwb970]

Bridge panel lobbyist gets 27 months for fraud
(by Danielle Camilli and Dave Levinsky, Burlington County (NJ) Times, March 1, 2008)

Robert Stears, a former spokesman and Republican lobbyist for the Burlington County Bridge Commission, was sentenced yesterday to 27 months on mail fraud and tax evasion charges and offered details about how he funneled money to political campaigns.

During a hearing in federal court, Stears said he was expected to donate as much as $4,000 a month in political contributions in return for a bridge commission contract that paid his firm more than $2 million over six years. He also said was cooperating in an ongoing criminal investigation.

“I allowed myself to engage in fraudulent schemes,” Stears said. “I got sucked into a group of corrupt people … I wasn’t willing to say no when I should have and I take full responsibility for that.”

In 2006, Stears, 53, pleaded guilty to the charges, admitting that, between 1997 and 2002, he billed the agency that operates the Burlington-Bristol and Tacony-Palmyra bridges for work that he never did. He then misreported his income on his tax returns and, in some years, did not file returns at all.

“(The fraud) continued as long as he made certain political contributions,” said U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Simandle. “It was a fraud upon the public and those who fund the commission through tolls and taxpayers.”

Since the entire Republican party is a fraud, I guess we shouldn't be surprised by news like this.

[tanyev]

1. GOP SOP

[tom_paine]

2. Now that the Bushies have taken over, only Democrats get investigated for that sort of thing,

and right before "election" time.