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September 28, 2006
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Report on Mercury, and Other News
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Hello all, I know it has been a while since I last sent you an update. I have been a bit under the weather for the past couple of weeks. On a personal note, I now realize--as a new father, that each stage of your child’s life brings new challenges and rewards. What I really didn’t expect was the onslaught of baby viruses that view my son as a virgin host body in which to grow and prosper. Needless to say, he has been sick for over two weeks. I too have become a welcome vessel for those coughs, colds, fevers etc. Thus, my lack of energy has impacted my distribution of the network updates. For that I apologize. I believe I am finally on an upward trend in my quest to quash these viruses, but I won’t count my chickens before they hatch. So, here is the latest update for you to peruse. I have included some political articles for your enjoyment. ------------------------------ Report Highlights Widespread Mercury Contamination in Wildlife On September 19 the National Wildlife Federation issued a report on mercury levels in mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians living in freshwater, marine, and forest habitats from across the country. The report, Poisoning Wildlife: The Reality of Mercury Pollution, is a compilation of over 65 published studies finding elevated levels of mercury in a wide range of wildlife species. While the accumulation of mercury in fish is well documented and understood, scientists have recently discovered that mercury accumulates in forest soils, indicating that wildlife that live and feed outside aquatic habitats are also at risk of exposure to mercury. “Scientific understanding of the extent of mercury contamination in wildlife has expanded significantly in recent years,” says Dr. David Evers of the Biodiversity Research Institute. “We are finding mercury accumulation in far more species, and at much higher levels, than we previously thought was occurring.” Although mercury deposition has been reduced in some areas, like the Northeastern U.S., mercury levels in birds and fish are continuing to increasing in other areas, including Alaska. The report recommended that federal action to reduce mercury emissions from power plants be accelerated and called for states to act where the federal government is not. It also called for a ban on the sale of mercury-containing items and for the safe disposal of mercury-containing items. The report is available at http://www.nwf.org/nwfwebadmin/binaryVault/PoisoningWildlifeMercuryPollution1.pdf. (SRT) Articles Eminent Domain Still an Issues in NJ Politics Oyster Creek, Safe or Not Safe? Wind Power on the Rise Link Between Cancer & Chlorine in Drinking Water? Major Health Organizations Say No Terminator Signs RGGI Bill in CA Minimum Wage to Rise on Sunday Monica Yant Kinney’s View on “The Confession” and NJ Politics Bad New for Menendez Still Piling up.
Politicians share views on eminent domain Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 09/28/06 BY CAROL GORGA WILLIAMS LONG BRANCH — Councilwoman Jackeline Biddle, targeted earlier this month for her failure to detail her position on the use of eminent domain in the city's ongoing redevelopment process, said the controversial practice should be used only as a last resort. She added, however, that in sections of the redevelopment where contracts already were signed with developers, it would be too damaging to the city to breach those contracts and face "multimillion dollar" lawsuits by developers. At a press conference Tuesday, Biddle clarified her position, saying she had formulated it after reading the city's redevelopment plan and the June 22 decision by Superior Court Judge Lawrence M. Lawson that ruled the city could use eminent domain to acquire properties in the Marine Terrace, Ocean Terrace, Seaview Avenue area. She also cited meetings with Mayor Adam Schneider, city council members, MTOTSA community members and others. To those directly affected by eminent domain, "I will utilize my position as a city leader to be an advocate for you, and I will fight for you to find every possible solution," Biddle said in a statement, sentiments she echoed during her press conference. "My hope and my belief is that there are still ways we can resolve these issues without having to resort to the use of eminent domain," she said. "Toward that end, I would like to sit down with my colleagues on council, the developer and the residents of MTOTSA and their representatives in order to open the lines of communication with the goal of facilitating a compromise that is in the best interest of all parties involved." As she prepared for her news conference, Brian A. Unger, one of her opponents in the November special election to fill the remaining term of former Councilman John Zambrano, was conducting his own. Unger offered a resolution he wants the council to endorse that asks cities to voluntarily curb their use of eminent domain, and called upon the Legislature, Gov. Corzine and Congress to put restrictions in place to protect citizens from eminent domain abuse. Unger said if the council approved the resolution, it could act as a "cooling off period" between city officials and those who oppose what they call eminent domain abuse. MTOTSA is appealing Lawson's decision, and Unger acknowledged he once offered to allow the Seaview Avenue portion of MTOTSA be redeveloped, in an effort to secure a compromise with city officials. "I've talked with Brian about this issue," Schneider said. "It is quite clear there is no legal authority for the governor to declare a moratorium. I'm a little puzzled because" Unger acted as a MTOTSA advocate for a time but gave it up "because he didn't think their position that the entire area needs to be saved was reasonable. I find it somewhat disingenuous — "Stop what you're doing' on one hand and claiming he wants the redevelopment to continue" on the other. Unger challenged an opinion by the nonpartisan state Office of Legislative Services (OLS) that determined Corzine did not have the power to enact a statewide moratorium. Unger said he based his position on research by William Potter, a Princeton lawyer who heads Stop EDA, a statewide group formerly known as the New Jersey Coalition Against Eminent Domain Abuse. Potter said Wednesday he did not agree with the state office. "OLS has traditionally been very deferential to legislative prerogatives in the separation of powers area," said Potter, noting the OLS also issued opinions that governors Tom Kean and Brendan Byrne did not have that power, which they yielded anyway. During a recent interview with the Asbury Park Press editorial board, Corzine said he was not in favor of a statewide moratorium. Corzine said it would have to be decided "on a case-by-case basis" and that he does not "want to do a broad moratorium that doesn't reflect the differences in blight." "I think we have the tools to make sure eminent domain is not abused," he said. Robert H. Levin, section chief of the OLS's Local Government section, said the governor could order a moratorium only in very limited circumstances. "The answer is eminent domain is an inherent power," he had said in May. "It exists without any special authority. It is just a power of government, like taxation." The governor, Levin said, could order a moratorium be enacted upon the state departments he controls, or he could cut off state funds to communities using eminent domain, although that act would likely be challenged in court, and the governor would probably lose, Levin said. For "municipalities, he would need a legal basis, if he could show there was some dire emergency — after a hurricane, flood, something that is catastrophic" then he could have the power, Levin said. "I don't think such an emergency exists. Meanwhile, three other council candidates — Michael P. Sirianni, Vincent J. Maccioli and Ralph A. DeFillipo Sr. — are in agreement about eminent domain and MTOTSA and do not support use of the power there. Lawmakers raise questions over Oyster Creek safety Congressmen concerned about nuke plant seeking20-year license renewal BY NICHOLAS CLUNN TRENTON -- Five congressmen representing New Jersey have questioned the safety of a vessel meant to contain radiation at the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant, two weeks after plant officials said they had not monitored the steel structure as promised. The congressmen also said they were concerned about how much of the vessel plant operator AmerGen Energy Co. plans to measure next month to make sure it is thick enough for regulators to issue the plant a license renewal. AmerGen applied for a 20-year renewal with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last year. Without it, the Lacey plant will close in 2009, when its initial 40-year license is set to expire. Resembling an upside down light bulb, the 100-foot-tall vessel, called the drywell liner, surrounds a chamber in which atoms are split to make heat. The liner is designed to contain and push downward into a cooling area highly radioactive and pressurized steam that might be generated during a serious accident. Reps. H. James Saxton and Christopher H. Smith, both R-N.J., and Robert E. Andrews, Frank J. Pallone Jr. and Rush D. Holt, all D-N.J., forwarded their thoughts to the NRC in a letter. Their concerns were the basis for a Statehouse news conference, conducted by a coalition of residents and environmental groups opposed to the renewal. "We all want to know why the NRC thinks this plant is safe,"said Richard Webster, a Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic lawyer representing the activists. The letter came in response to a Sept. 13 disclosure made by NRC staff during a public meeting on the plant's renewal bid. Regulators had then reported that AmerGen, since assuming operational responsibilities of the plant eight years ago, had failed to periodically check jugs meant to collect water leaking from an upper portion of the plant. These leaks are a concern because they came in contact with the outside of the liner during the early 1980s. Subsequent rust caused sections of the liner to become thinner. Regulators became aware of the oversight during a March inspection tied to a review conducted to determine if they should issue the renewal. They were also told then by AmerGen that a plant worker, just before inspectors entered the room with the jugs, had improperly emptied the containers before the contents were measured and analyzed. According to NRC inspection team leader Michael Modes, the plant worker who had emptied jugs did so as he was preparing the room for NRC inspectors to make sure they would not hurt themselves by, for example, tripping or bumping their heads. In the letter, which was sent to NRC Commissioner Dale E. Klein, the congressmen mentioned the emptying of the containers as a reason for their concerns. A nuclear industry watchdog on Tuesday went as far as to suggest a coverup. In a letter to the NRC, David Lochbaum, director of the Nuclear Safety Project at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, D.C., said AmerGen violated longstanding NRC policies that prohibit the "preconditioning" of equipment prior to inspections. Lochbaum added that the jug incident raises questions about whether the public can trust the inspection results, which found that AmerGen's programs would be capable of managing the effects of aging during the proposed renewal period. "Perhaps AmerGen's sweepers in the other areas examined by the NRC team did a better job of not getting caught than the torus room gang," Lochbaum suggested, referring the location in the plant where the jugs were kept. xtease Guarding against rust NRC officials said the two incidents did not constitute violations because AmerGen was concurrently taking more effective steps to monitor the liner for rust. Every two years, the company inspected portions of an epoxy coating painted over a heavily rusted section. Applied in 1994, the coating helped stop the corrosion. "As long as the coating of the exterior surface ... is maintained, any amount of water can be present and have no effect on the corrosion rate," regulators wrote in a report released Thursday about the March inspection. Yielding to pressure applied by the NRC, AmerGen earlier this year agreed to use ultrasound to measure a section of the liner called the sand bed region next month. But activists and now the congressmen say the total area AmerGen plans to measure might not be large enough to provide an adequate sample. The area, they say, constitutes 1 percent of the 300-square-foot sand bed region. Neither AmerGen nor the NRC could confirm those figures. The congressmen also called for an independent analysis of the liner and suggested that the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards do the work. The committee is a branch of the NRC that reviews licensing decisions made by agency staff. NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said the committee will not conduct its own research into the drywell liner but will take a second look at conclusions made by NRC staff, as planned. The committee has been scheduled to hold a public meeting about Oyster Creek on Tuesday at NRC headquarters in Rockville, Md. September 27, 2006 Schwarzenegger Signs Landmark Greenhouse Gas LawBy REUTERS Filed at 5:20 p.m. ET SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - In a move backers hope will change the U.S. approach to the problem of global warming, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law on Wednesday aimed at reducing the state's greenhouse gas emissions. ``We have begun a bold new era of environmental protection here in California that will change the course of history,'' the Republican governor said. The measure passed by the Democratic-led Legislature last month caps the state's man-made greenhouse gas emissions. The most populous U.S. state seeks to reduce its emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, a cut of about 25 percent. The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 is also a direct challenge to the Bush administration -- which has opposed mandatory caps to fight climate change -- by a state that has often led the way nationally in new environmental standards. President George W. Bush pulled the United States out of the 160-nation Kyoto Protocol in 2001, saying forced reductions in greenhouse gases would damage the economy and unfairly excluded developing nations. ``Other countries like India and China, Brazil and Mexico will join us when they see all the great work that we are doing,'' Schwarzenegger said. ``Also our federal government will follow us -- trust me.'' Details on how the state will achieve the emission cuts have not been worked out.Schwarzenegger has benefited in a state dominated by Democrats. British Prime Minister Tony Blair also addressed the bill-signing ceremony by video link, further helping boost the governor's stature as he seeks re-election in November. ``This will echo right around the rest of the world,'' Blair said. ``You are showing brilliant leadership that will inspire a lot of people worldwide.'' Blair, a close ally of Bush, agreed during a visit to California in July to work with the state in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Opponents of the California measure say it will drive firms to states without such regulations and fail to lead to a meaningful reduction in greenhouse gas emissions if other states do not follow California's lead. WORKING WITH DEMOCRATS After a politically disastrous 2005 in which he badly lost a special initiative election he called, Schwarzenegger has worked closely with Democrats in recent months. Two polls out on Wednesday showed him with a comfortable lead over his Democratic rival, state Treasurer Phil Angelides. Joining the event was New York Gov. George Pataki, a fellow Republican, who said states should not wait for Washington to take action. Pataki came a week after New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg pledged to work with Schwarzenegger on the issue. ``States should be taking the leadership,'' Pataki told Reuters. ``As more states take these type of actions, as more people become aware that this is right not just for the environment but also for the economy, Washington will follow.'' Schwarzenegger also signed a bill that will prohibit California utilities from signing long-term contracts to buy electricity from out-of-state, coal-fired power plants. About a fifth of the electricity used in California comes from coal-fired plants out of state. The law will not affect contracts already in place. The law requires new out-of-state coal-fired power plants to meet California's stringent emissions rules for new natural gas-fired power plants. This requirement in effect prohibits new coal-fired plants from selling power to California. September 28, 2006 The Ascent of Wind PowerKHORI, India — Dilip Pantosh Patil uses an ox-drawn wooden plow to till the same land as his father, grandfather and great-grandfather. But now he has a new neighbor: a shiny white wind turbine taller than a 20-story building, generating electricity at the edge of his bean field. Wind power may still have an image as something of a plaything of environmentalists more concerned with clean energy than saving money. But it is quickly emerging as a serious alternative not just in affluent areas of the world but in fast-growing countries like India and China that are avidly seeking new energy sources. And leading the charge here in west-central India and elsewhere is an unlikely champion, Suzlon Energy, a homegrown Indian company. Suzlon already dominates the Indian market and is now expanding rapidly abroad, having erected factories in locations as far away as Pipestone, Minn., and Tianjin, China. Four-fifths of the orders in Suzlon’s packed book now come from outside India. Not even on the list of the world’s top 10 wind-turbine manufacturers as recently as 2002, Suzlon passed Siemens of Germany last year to become the fifth-largest producer by installed megawatts of capacity. It still trails the market leader, Vestas Wind Systems of Denmark, as well as General Electric, Enercon of Germany and Gamesa Tecnológica of Spain. Suzlon’s past shows how a company can prosper by tackling the special needs of a developing country. Its present suggests a way of serving expanding energy needs without relying quite so much on coal, the fastest-growth fossil fuel now but also the most polluting. And Suzlon’s future is likely to be a case study of how a manufacturer copes with China, both in capturing sales there and in confronting competition from Chinese companies. Suzlon is an outgrowth in many ways of India’s dysfunctional power- distribution system. Electricity boards owned by state governments charge industrial users more than twice as much for each kilowatt-hour as such customers pay in the United States — and they still suffer blackouts almost every day, especially in northern India. Subject to political pressures, the boards are often slow to collect payments from residential consumers and well-connected businesses, especially before elections. As a result, they often lack the money to invest in new equipment. To stay open and prevent crucial industrial or computer processes from stopping, a wide range of businesses — including auto parts factories and outsourcing giants — rely on still more costly diesel generators. With natural gas prices climbing as well, wind turbines have become attractive to Indian business. The Essar Group of Mumbai, a big industrial conglomerate active in shipping, steel and construction, is now working on plans for a wind farm near Chennai, formerly Madras, after concluding that regulatory changes in India have made it financially attractive. “The mechanisms didn’t used to be there; now they are,” said Jose Numpeli, vice president for operations at Essar Power. The electricity boards “know how to cost it, they know how to pay for it.” Roughly 70 percent of the demand for wind turbines in India comes from industrial users seeking alternatives to relying on the grid, said Tulsi R. Tanti, Suzlon’s managing director. The rest of the purchases are made by a small group of wealthy families in India, for whom the tax breaks for wind turbines are attractive. Wind will remain competitive as long as the price of crude oil remains above $40 a barrel, Mr. Tanti estimated. To remain cost-effective below $40 a barrel, wind energy may require subsidies, or possibly carbon-based taxes on oil and other fossil fuels. Mr. Tanti and his three younger brothers were running a textile business in Gujarat, in northwestern India, when they purchased a German wind turbine — only to find that they could not keep it running. So they decided to build and maintain turbines themselves, starting Suzlon in 1995 and later leaving the textile business. To minimize land costs, wind farms are typically in rural areas, chosen for the strength of the wind there as well as low prices for land. But that can mean culture shock. “There were no big changes until the turbines came,” Mr. Patil said, pausing from plowing here with his father in this remote, hilly, tribal area 200 miles northeast of Mumbai, where oxen remain at the center of farm life and motorized vehicles are uncommon. Doing business in rural areas of the developing world carries special challenges. The new Suzlon Energy wind farm in Khori is a subject of national pride. More than 300 giant wind turbines, with 110-foot blades, snatch electricity from the air. But it has also struggled with the sporadic lawlessness that bedevils India. S. Mohammed Farook, the installation’s manager, was far from happy one recent afternoon. At least 63 new turbines, worth $1.3 million apiece and each capable of lighting several thousand homes when the wind blows, could not be put into service because thieves had stolen their copper power cables and aluminum service ladders for sale as scrap. The copper or aluminum fetches as little as $1 from black-market scrap dealers. But each repair costs thousands of dollars in parts and staff time, in a country that is desperately short of electricity and technicians. “I am crying inside,” Mr. Farook said. Despite such problems, Suzlon has expanded rapidly as global demand for wind energy has taken off. Its sales and earnings tripled in the quarter ended June 30, as the company earned the equivalent of $41.6 million on sales of $202.4 million. The demand for wind turbines has particularly accelerated in India, where installations rose nearly 48 percent last year, and in China, where they rose 65 percent, although from a lower base. Wind farms are starting to dot the coastline of east-central China and the southern tip of India, as well as scattered mesas and hills across central India and even Inner Mongolia. Coal is the main alternative in the two countries, and is causing acid rain and respiratory ailments while contributing to global warming. China accounted for 79 percent of the world’s growth in coal consumption last year and India used 7 percent more, according to statistics from BP. Worried by its reliance on coal, China has imposed a requirement that power companies generate a fifth of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. This target calls for expanding wind power almost as much as nuclear energy over the next 15 years. India already leads China in wind power and is quickly building more wind turbines. Chinese and Indian officials are optimistic about relying much more heavily on wind. “I believe we may break through these targets — if not, we should at least have no problem reaching them,” said Zhang Yuan, vice general manager of the China Longyuan Electric Power Group, the renewable-energy arm of one of China’s five state-owned electric utilities, China Guodian. Kamal Nath, India’s minister of commerce and industry, was even more enthusiastic. “India is ideally suited for wind energy,” he said. “The cost of it works well and we have the manufacturing capability.” International experts are more skeptical that wind will displace coal to a considerable extent, saying that while electricity production from wind is likely to increase rapidly, the sheer scale of energy demands suggests that coal burning will expand even more. Suzlon still sees plenty of opportunity in China and has decided to build some of its latest designs in China for the market there, despite the risk of having them copied by Chinese manufacturers. “Being an Asian leader,” Mr. Tanti said, “we cannot afford to ignore China.” A dozen Chinese manufacturers have jumped into wind-turbine manufacturing as well. They have struggled with quality problems and have limited production capacity so far, resulting in long delivery delays. But the Chinese producers already have an edge on price over imported equipment, according to Meiya Power of Hong Kong, which owns and operates power plants in China and across Asia, and is considering a wind farm in windswept Inner Mongolia. Mr. Tanti said that rapid innovation and design changes would allow Suzlon to stay ahead of copycats. “It’s a time-consuming process,” he said, estimating that it would take two to three years for rivals to clone Suzlon turbines because they use unique or proprietary parts. Suzlon manufactures its turbines at two factories in India, but has begun test production at a just-completed turbine-blade factory in Minnesota, where it already supplies turbines for a wind farm operated by the Edison Mission Group and Deere & Company. It has also begun test production at a Chinese factory that will make both turbines and blades. To reach the Suzlon wind farm here, the huge rotors travel by night on special trucks for a 300-mile journey from northwestern India on a succession of paved and dirt roads. Squatter huts have had to be removed along the way to allow the long trucks to turn; Suzlon is not required to pay compensation but often makes donations in these cases, Mr. Farook said. The truck crews also carry wooden poles to prop up electricity wires across the road and pass underneath. The trucks sometimes attract gawkers, and live wires occasionally burn bystanders. “With human error, it may touch human flesh,” Mr. Farook said. “In that case, we have to pay compensation.” Villagers in Khori said that thievery and even robberies by rock-throwing gangs were nothing new, and were a problem long before Suzlon began setting up wind turbines. The company’s response — stepping up patrols by security guards — has reduced everyday crime. That has made villagers more willing to rent land at the edge of their fields for the turbines. At first, “we were really confused about what was going on,” Mr. Patil said. “But now we’re O.K. on it.” September 26, 2006 Really? The Claim: Chlorine in Drinking Water Can Increase the Risk of CancerBy ANAHAD O’CONNOR THE FACTS Companies that sell water filters often claim that the chlorine in most tap water causes cancer. Is it true? Scientists say chlorination can produce at least one group of chemical byproducts, trihalomethanes, that are considered carcinogenic. But studies over the years have differed on whether levels of these compounds in tap water adversely affect health. Some studies have found a link to cancer; others have not. The most reliable findings may be those of meta-analyses, large studies that pool results of many smaller ones. Three such meta-analyses, in 1992, 2003 and 2004, linked long-term consumption of chlorinated water to small increases in the rates of bladder cancer, particularly in men. The analyses adjusted for other risk factors, like age, socioeconomic status and smoking. Some studies analyzed were from the 1970’s, before federal standards for chlorine byproducts were tightened. Several agencies, including the World Health Organization, say the evidence is weak and point out that any risk from chlorine byproducts is tiny compared with risks associated with nonchlorinated water. Many countries that have relaxed chlorination standards have seen outbreaks of cholera and other diseases. The Environmental Protection Agency has set the maximum level for trihalomethanes in tap water at 80 micrograms a liter. In most cities, the levels fall far below that. In New York City, according to the 2005 Drinking Water Supply and Quality Report, the levels average about half that limit. THE BOTTOM LINE Some studies have found byproducts of chlorination associated with a slight increase in cancer risk, but the findings are disputed by major health organizations. ANAHAD O’CONNOR N.J. minimum wage to rise $1 per hour Sunday Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 09/28/06 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS TRENTON — New Jersey's minimum wage will increase to $7.15 per hour on Sunday under a law passed last year. The minimum wage is currently $6.15 per hour. Gov. Corzine talked about the increase during a speech Wednesday before labor unions in Atlantic City. "We honor and value New Jersey's working families," Corzine said. "This increase in the minimum wage is an important step towards helping them afford a better quality of life, and we need to continue in this direction. It's the right thing for our workers, our state and our economy." At $6.15 an hour with a 40-hour work week, a minimum-wage earner makes about $12,300 annually. At the revised rate of $7.15 an hour, annual earnings increase to $14,300. Of an estimated 1.86 million hourly wage earners in New Jersey, about 264,400 people make less than $7.15, although some of those workers are employed as servers in res-taurants or other jobs where tips are a significant part of their income. The legislation also created a New Jersey Minimum Wage Advisory Commission to annually evaluate the adequacy of the minimum wage and report its findings and recommendations to the governor and the Legislature. The first report will be due no later than December 2007. Subsequent reports will follow at one-year intervals. The commission includes the state labor commissioner and members appointed by the governor, business organizations and the New Jersey AFL-CIO. Monica Yant Kinney | N.J.'s flood tide of dirty doings I'm always wary of declaring a particular moment in time the lowest ever in New Jersey politics, since anyone who lives here knows we don't set the bar that high to begin with. But surely, the past week has to be a contender for some dishonor. I get paid to wallow in sleaze, and even I feel like I need a shower. First, we had former Gov. Jim McGreevey releasing a tell-all book in which he vividly recalls getting naked with another teenage boy in a YMCA pool, but conveniently forgets his dirty deeds as an adult in Trenton. State Sen. Wayne Bryant gets caught reading the newspaper at a quid-pro-quo university job and has to be noogied into taking a vacation from his post as the guy in charge of doling out state dollars? Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tom Kean Jr. is so desperate to level the financial playing field in a tight race that he throws up radio ads ominously declaring that his opponent, Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, is under federal criminal investigation. Menendez is so desperate to have people think he's clean that he's pretending the Republican U.S. attorney's ill-timed seizure of records involving a business deal of his has nothing to do with him - and everything to do with President Bush. So one candidate is a liar and one's a crook? And one of them is going to be our next U.S. senator. Act 2: There are no second acts Only a petty person would revel in the fact that the McGreevey media machine doomed his book, The Confession, to the discount bin. So I'm shallow and small. If it makes a difference, I'm following McGreevey's lead, seeking therapy and memorizing those 12 steps. I'll own my ire, to borrow one of his new-age catch phrases. I'll get authentic. By Monday, I'd seen and heard so much of McGreevey, I half expected him to be sitting at my breakfast table, ready to regale me with tales of life on the down-low over coffee and a bowl of Honey-Nut Cheerios. Tuesday, my colleague Toni Callas confirmed a hunch: The briefly bestselling book benefited from the Oprah bump, but is already busting. By Wednesday, The Confession hovered at No. 68 on Amazon.com's list of top sellers and No. 79 on Barnes & Noble's - where used salesmen were already hawking "like new, never read" copies at a deep discount. McGreevey is suffering from a chronic case of WTMI (Way Too Much Information). If he's out there revealing his own climax on The View and It's Your Call with Lynn Doyle for free, why bother buying the book? At this point, McGreevey's best bet for getting rich is Hollywood. My guess is that somewhere out West, there's a film producer putting together a deal to bring The Confession to the big screen. Exactly where melodrama belongs. Reading is his right Speaking of books, everyone in Trenton is wondering if or when one will be thrown at Bryant. For now, he's accused of political piggishness by a federal monitor with as much power to 'cuff the corrupt as I have. He's been accused of hiking state aid for the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in exchange for $35,000 a year and a pension boost. Those who thought the famously arrogant Bryant might be shamed into an attitude adjustment by the claims are in for disappointment. "I don't mean to be rude, but my statements on these matters are what I said in public," Bryant scolded reporters daring to mind his business. No matter that all he's said - rather, written; he does not deign to speak - is that the allegations are "not accurate in many respects." Wouldn't say how or why. It's on a need-to-know basis and the public is not worthy. That left Senate President Dick Codey - a man who adores being adored and wants to keep it that way - to muscle Bryant into action. Hence the great Trenton getaway. Bryant won't quit the Senate outright, but he did agree to temporarily depart from his spot atop the Budget and Appropriations Committee. Ever the diplomat, he signed the note signaling his intentions, "Yours in humanity." Tape adds to Menendez ethics debate WASHINGTON - For nearly two years, Oscar Sandoval worked as an FBI informant in a criminal probe resulting in convictions of a half-dozen North Jersey politicians and government vendors, shaking the state's political establishment. But fallout from his role in Hudson County government may not be over, as new ethical questions are raised in a highly charged U.S. Senate race in which Sen. Robert Menendez's activities in county politics and patronage have come under scrutiny. In court papers filed in March, the North Jersey psychiatrist says he was pressured in 1999 to hire a doctor favored by Menendez or risk losing $1 million in government contracts. Sandoval surreptitiously tape-recorded what he took as the threatening conversation, and provided a copy of the previously unreleased recording to The Inquirer. In the 20-minute taped telephone call, Donald Scarinci - a powerful North Jersey lawyer, political fund-raiser, and confidant of Menendez's - tells Sandoval that Menendez would consider it "a favor" if Sandoval hired the doctor. He also said hiring Vicente Ruiz would afford him "protection." Sandoval said the implication was clear: Either he hire Ruiz or risk losing psychiatric-services contracts at the Hudson County Jail, a county psychiatric hospital, and a youth detention center. Failing to hire the doctor could result in "the law of the jungle," Scarinci says on the tape. "I mean, he is very polite," Sandoval said in an interview, "but he is saying, look, Menendez wants you to do this if you want to be protected. Otherwise, you are done." After reviewing a transcript of the conversation, a Menendez spokesman said yesterday that Scarinci would no longer be affiliated with the campaign. "Donald Scarinci does not speak for Bob Menendez," Menendez spokesman Matt Miller said. If the tape "is accurate, then Scarinci was using Menendez's name without his authorization or his knowledge." "That was an unacceptable lapse in judgment, and because of it Mr. Scarinci will no longer have any role in our campaign." Scarinci, a fund-raiser for Menendez's Democratic Senate campaign, declined to be interviewed, but in a statement did not concede that the transcript provided by The Inquirer was authentic. "The tape and its contents have long been part of a civil lawsuit brought by Hudson County to retrieve millions of dollars" from Sandoval, Scarinci said. "As I am party to the lawsuit and represented companies owned by Dr. Sandoval during the time it is contended this recording was made, regretfully I am legally constrained from making any further statements at this time. "That being said, I will clearly state that none of my dealings with Dr. Sandoval were either directed or requested by Bob Menendez." The tape opens a rare window on the behind-the-scenes bartering and negotiation that take place in connection with government contracts. It also illustrates the degree to which small government contractors are exposed to pressure, real or perceived, from their powerful political patrons. Menendez, one of the state's most powerful politicians, was a member of the U.S. House from 1993 until Gov. Corzine appointed him to the Senate in January. The campaign of Republican challenger Thomas Kean Jr. has attacked him for weeks after the disclosure that he had leased a three-story house in Union City, N.J., to a local antipoverty organization that had benefited from his efforts to obtain federal funding. County contracts were at the heart of the criminal probe of former Hudson County Executive Robert Janiszewski, who pleaded guilty to participating in a kickback-for-contracts scheme in 2002. Sandoval said the conversation took place in February 1999 while he was seeking to build his psychiatric practice in Hudson County. At the time, Scarinci was Menendez's campaign treasurer. Sandoval said Scarinci had approached him earlier about hiring Ruiz as a favor to Menendez for his psychiatric practice at Meadowview Psychiatric Hospital in Secaucus, a county institution. At one point in the conversation, Scarinci says, "The only reason I stuck my nose in this Ruiz thing is because Menendez asked me." Shortly afterward, he adds, "My point of view, it makes sense for you because it gives you protection." Ruiz, a Hudson County-based psychiatrist whose clients include the Union City school system, did not return telephone calls for comment. Menendez's spokesman said the senator had long known Ruiz and his family, but declined to characterize the relationship. He said Menendez on no occasion had sought to find employment for Ruiz or contracts with local government in Hudson County. Scarinci is one of New Jersey's most prominent lawyers. His Lyndhurst law firm, Scarinci & Hollenbeck, represents government agencies in New Jersey, including the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, along with private clients. He is widely known as a longtime political ally and friend of Menendez's. The two started their political careers together as young aides to former Union City Mayor William Musto, who went to jail after his conviction in 1982 for conspiring to help mobsters and a contractor skim public-school money. Menendez provided key testimony in the criminal case against Musto. Scarinci has been a prominent fund-raiser and contributor to Menendez's campaigns and has served as a treasurer of Menendez's House campaigns. Records show Scarinci and members of his law firm have given $61,655 to Menendez's political committees since the 1992 election cycle, when Menendez first ran for the House. Menendez maintains his campaign-finance headquarters in the building that houses Scarinci & Hollenbeck. In the last two years, the Menendez campaign has paid $33,568 in rent and other costs to 1100 Valley Brook Associates. In an e-mail, Scarinci wrote that he is a member of the corporation that owns the building. Sandoval himself is a controversial and enigmatic figure. He worked as an undercover FBI informant from 1999 through 2001 - meeting federal agents under a bridge on the New Jersey Turnpike in Kearny. An FBI agent testified during one of the cases that resulted from the investigation that Sandoval had approached the government and volunteered to act as an informant. He was part of an FBI sting operation, passing bribes through an intermediary, a former Hudson freeholder with whom he had been romantically linked, to Janiszewski, who later pleaded guilty. But in court documents, prosecutors also said Sandoval had funneled cash on two earlier occasions to Janiszewski before he volunteered as an informant. Hudson County has now named Sandoval, along with other players in the corruption case, as a defendant in a lawsuit seeking to recover payments made under contracts that it contends were the result of corruption. Sandoval, a native of Colombia, said that he had hired Ruiz after meeting with Scarinci, but that his days as a Hudson County contractor were numbered. He lost his county and municipal work after it was disclosed that he had worked as an FBI informant. His practice now consists mostly of forensic work, and treating poor and middle-income Hispanic patients covered by Medicaid and Medicare. Scarinci Statement "I have been provided a transcript of what is claimed to be a conversation that took place more than seven years ago. The tape and its contents have long been part of a civil lawsuit brought by the County of Hudson to retrieve millions of dollars that Dr. Sandoval allegedly stole. As I am party to the lawsuit and represented companies owned by Dr. Sandoval during the time it is contended this recording was made, regretfully I am legally constrained from making any further statement at this time. That being said, I will clearly state that none of my dealings with Dr. Sandoval were either directed or requested by Bob Menendez." |
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