Wayne's World

State Senator Wayne Bryant, he of the no-show job at UMDNJ, has stepped down from his chairmanship of the Senate budget committee. This came after calls by Gov. Corzine for Bryant to step down. But that's not the whole story:

Bryant not only stepped down as budget chairman, but resigned from the committee entirely.

Bryant repeatedly refused comment Monday, citing a statement he released last week that deemed the monitor's report inaccurate and a letter he sent to Codey Monday that simply stated, "After thoughtful discussion with you during the week, I request that I temporarily step down from the Budget and Appropriations process and that an interim chairperson be appointed."

On Friday, Bryant said he would "continue to do my senatorial duties," but didn't indicate that he planned to resign his powerful chairmanship.

Bryant has not been charged with a crime. The monitor's report was delivered to U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie.

Bryant was the main engineer of a 2002 state bailout package for the city of Camden. In it, the state agreed to give the impoverished city $175 million to go toward expanding the city's hospitals and universities, building infrastructure and other projects.

Within a year after the bill was passed, he was on the payroll of both UMDNJ and Rutgers-Camden, two major recipients of the state's help.

So, he's only temporarily stepped down, despite the federal monitor finding that Bryant worked only one morning a week, and even then it was spent reading newspapers.

The investigations continue.

New Jersey has lots of those investigations ongoing these days.