Free Republic

TRETNTON - A long time friend of New Jersey Governor James McGreevy (D) was indicted yesterday on charges of extortion and bribery. David D'Amiano has been friends with McGreevy since the two were teenagers. D'Amiano was charged with attempting to extort thousands in political contributions and thousands more for personal enrichment and for that of his cronies. According to the indictment D'Amiano would enlist a scheme where in exchange for the contributions he would seek the help of influential government officials in disputes over land issues. The schemes and the agreements would be carried out on the basis of code...

NEWARK - New Jersey political fund raiser David D'Amiano was sentenced today to 24 months in prison for soliciting and accepting $40,000 in cash and political contributions from a Piscataway farm owner to influence state and county officials to offer a favorable price to preserve the farmland, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced. U.S. District Judge William H. Walls also ordered D'Amiano, 45, of Edison, to pay a $15,000 fine to the federal government and to make $1,000 in restitution to the Democratic State Committee. D'Amiano already has paid another $20,000 to the government - money which he took from...

TRENTON — A fund-raiser for New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey pleaded guilty yesterday to charges he solicited $40,000 in cash and campaign donations as part of a shakedown scheme in which the governor has been implicated. David D'Amiano, 44, entered his plea to two fraud charges 10 weeks after being charged with extortion, bribery and other offenses in an indictment that also said an unidentified state official used the code word "Machiavelli" to show that political officials were helping. McGreevey acknowledged he is the state official referred to. But he insisted he did nothing wrong, and said the mention of...

New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey is the embodiment of a new reality, in which homosexuality is the last refuge of scoundrels. New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey has managed to snatch martyrdom from the jaws of damnation. He would have the public believe that he didn't resign his governorship on August 12 because of the scandals that sprouted from his administration like crabgrass, but because he was the victim of a homophobic society. Since August 12, the socialist, mainstream media have worked their butts off, painting sympathetic portraits of McGreevey, who in spite of having resigned, refuses to leave office. McGreevey...

While the socialist, mainstream media have worked their butts off, painting sympathetic portraits of "gay" New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey, who sort of resigned on August 12, but who refuses to leave office, some hard-heads have insisted on committing journalism. McGreevey, the man who campaigned that he would "change the way things are done in Trenton," has proved to be as corrupt a chief executive as any in the history of a state that my colleague from New Jersey, Alan Caruba, has argued is the most crooked in the country. Caruba wrote in the Philadelphia Inquirer, "If anyone thinks his...

Democratic fund-raiser indicted on extortion chargesBy JOHN P. McALPIN The Associated Press 7/6/2004, 6:02 p.m. ET TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A Democratic fund-raiser linked to Gov. James E. McGreevey extorted $40,000 in campaign donations by promising a farmer that public officials would help him get top dollar for his land, federal authorities said Tuesday. Carteret businessman David D'Amiano is charged with extortion, mail fraud and bribery. According to an indictment released Tuesday, D'Amiano told the owner of a Piscataway farm he would not get premium value for his property unless he made donations to the Democratic Party. Middlesex County officials...

TRENTON, N.J. -- A Democratic fund-raiser linked to Gov. James E. McGreevey extorted $40,000 in campaign donations by promising a farmer that public officials would help him get more money for development rights to his land, federal authorities said Tuesday. David D'Amiano is charged with extortion, mail fraud and bribery. According to an indictment released Tuesday, D'Amiano told the owner of a Piscataway farm he would not get premium value for his property unless he made donations to the Democratic Party. Middlesex County officials had offered Mark Halper $3 million for development rights to his 74-acre family farm. After D'Amiano...