A federal grand jury indicted Hackett earlier this month on charges of attempted extortion and bribery. He allegedly accepted a $5,000 bribe from an insurance brokerage firm seeking city contracts in Orange. He also agreed to accept another $250,000 once the city approved the contracts, according to the indictment. The firm turned out to be an FBI front and the conversations were secretly recorded, authorities said.Jeff Whelan, the reporter who produced this story, happened to skip the political affiliation portion of the story.
Azzarello said he was not concerned about Steele's guilty plea on Friday.
Steele's attorney and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Gramiccioni and David Bocian have declined to say whether Steele is cooperating with authorities.
During his guilty plea hearing in Trenton Friday, Steele said that he set up a meeting between the FBI front company and officials from Orange. He did not identity the officials by name, but according to criminal complaints filed in the case, Steele set up meetings between the phony insurance firm and Hackett. During taped conversations, according to the complaints, Steele also said Hackett would be amenable to bribes.
Hackett faces up to 20 years in prison. Under his guilty plea, Steele faces between 37 and 46 months in prison.
That Christie was able to secure a plea deal with a lengthy prison term tells you the strength of the cases arrayed against the corrupt politicians he snared in his latest corruption probe.
Meanwhile, Sen. Frank Lautenberg will be facing a GOP challenger not named Forrester. Anne Evans Estabrook will be seeking the GOP nod, although there may be competition. Estabrook is the CEO of a real estate company.
The report suggests that age might play a role in voter decisions to vote for Lautenberg as he is 82. I think some people might be getting tired of his uber-liberal voting positions.
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