Free Republic

Among a variety of business interests, from real estate development to legal mediation, former U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli has also invested in an earthier pursuit -- a hygienic toilet seat cover manufacturer. That's a mechanical gadget that automatically spins a fresh plastic cover around the toilet seat in public restrooms after each use. According to Sean Jackson, vice president of Rosemont Associates and a Torricelli associate, it was an investment opportunity that came up and is just one of a wide variety of business dealings Torricelli has. "It's certainly not his main source of income," Jackson said. Torricelli's people have...

...How did Forrester turn all this fodder into his recent gains? Not with slash-and-burn attack ads, but with a pair of softer commercials that have proved a political powerhouse. One features a series of "ordinary" voters — all of them Democrats who say they've decided, because of corruption and taxes, to vote for Forrester this time around. It's the same kind of ad Mayor Bloomberg has been airing (just as effectively) in New York. The other commercial features Forrester's wife, Andrea, talking for 30 seconds about her husband's integrity and commitment to family values — a subtle dig both at...

<p>September 17, 2002 -- NEW Jersey voters already concerned about Sen. Robert Torricelli's low ethical threshold now learn that he's been a paid shill for a group the government identifies as a terrorist organization. Called on this by his Republican opponent, Douglas Forrester, in a debate Thursday, Torricelli said the group had been pulled from the State Department's global terror list and given a clean bill of health. Not true.</p>

After the denial of a second appeal of a ticket issued in 2003 for a Lambertville accident, former U.S. senator Robert Torricelli will accept his six-month loss of driving privileges.

It was September 2002. (Robert Torricelli's) re- election campaign had turned into a referendum on his ethics.............. He .....pulled out his cell phone, and punched in the number of his friend Bill Clinton. He was through......Clinton tried to talk him out of it. With that, Torricelli ended his lifelong passion for climbing the political ladder. He was 51 years old. Torricelli remains a busy man. With two former Senate staffers he formed a consulting business, Rosemont Associates, that advises the government of Taiwan, along with a list of corporate clients. He invests in real estate, including a handful of apartments,...

WASHINGTON - Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., led congressional efforts in the mid-1990s that handcuffed the CIA's abilities to recruit spies - a key policy that helped allow the attacks of Sept. 11 to take place with no intelligence warnings. Current and former CIA operatives say that Clinton administration policies, which forbade the CIA from recruiting known terrorists and other criminals, left the U.S. government bereft of all intelligence about such terrorist groups. In 1995, then-Rep. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., made secrets public at the behest of left-wing activist Bianca Jagger, his girlfriend at the time, according to Newark Star-Ledger columnist Paul...

Notwithstanding former President Jimmy Carter's recent statement to the contrary, Undersecretary of State John Bolton's remarks about Cuba's biological weapons capabilities underscore lingering concerns with the rogue island only 90 miles from the United States. Bolton, on May 6, told an audience at the Washington, D.C.-based Heritage Foundation that the U.S. is suspicious about Cuban biomedical laboratories and their ability to transfer biological weapons technology to Iraq, Syria and Libya, all countries that Cuban President Fidel Castro visited last year. Bolton also made remarks, which may be interpreted as a clear signal of hardening State Department policy toward Cuba, faulting...

Realty firm positions itself in anticipation of exec's imprisonment Sunday, January 16, 2005 BY GEORGE E. JORDAN Star-Ledger Staff Alan Hammer, acting chairman of Kushner Cos., said the real estate venture is selling some of its apartments simply because it is a good time to sell. The sale of an unspecified number of apartments, the backbone of the Kushner empire, with estimated assets of $3 billion, comes as the company has quietly sold off other pieces of its real estate portfolio and shut down some of its fledgling enterprises.

In an AP article Public corruption catching feds' eye published Dec. 25, Lolita Balder reports: "Ethical missteps ranging from improper campaign contributions and gifts to racketeering and tax fraud, also led to downfall of former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., Robert Torricelli, D-N.J. and Rep James Traficant, D-Ohio. And in a case that rocked the nation, former President Bill Clinton's dalliance with a White House intern led to his impeachment by the House. But he survived a Senate trial." Evidently AP is saying that Gingrich quit his leadership because of corruption. His transgressions rank with those of Torricelli, Traficant,...

Hillary's name filed for president FEC says entry made by 'unauthorized' group urging Clinton to run Posted: October 7, 2003 2:57 p.m. Eastern By Paul M. Rodriguez © 2003 News World Communications Inc. She's said it more than 140 times – and counting – despite hints, wants, wishes and hopes that she's not running for the White House in 2004. Then what to make of ID # P00003392, an electronic filing to be found at the Federal Election Commission (FEC) database? "Clinton, Hillary Rodham – Office Sought: President; Election year 2004; State: Presidential Candidate; District 03; Party: DEM (Democratic Party)." A call...

(Touro's) board members include politically connected developer Charles Kushner, and other prominent New Jersey developers and businessmen.......and plans to build a medical school in Livingston and enlisted former Sen. Robert Torricelli as its consultant on that project........ Golan Cipel was helping Touro with its medical school plans, and now federal investigators have made Touro part of their probe into the sex-and-blackmail scandal that last week all but ended the political career of Gov. James E. McGreevey. The FBI is reviewing allegations that Cipel's attorneys asked McGreevey's administration to help fast-track the Manhattan-based college's application to open what would be the...

... Obviously, being gay today isn't something that a politician need apologize for or be ashamed of. What's shameful is the way Mr. McGreevey is manipulating the political calendar. If there's a need to leave office at all, there's a need to leave immediately. Delaying the Governor's resignation until November 15 is nothing short of a Democratic trifecta: The party avoids a special election to replace Mr. McGreevey in the fall; it guarantees that another Democrat -- Senate President Richard Codey -- serves out Mr. McGreevey's term; and it uses its incumbent status to grease the wheels for U.S. Senator...

TRENTON BUREAU Governor McGreevey's resignation and confession about a gay affair came after a series of demands for money and then, mysteriously, for government approval of a medical school, according to a ranking administration official. A lawyer representing Golan Cipel, the former homeland security aide identified by administration sources as the man who had the affair with McGreevey, began asking for money to stop a lawsuit in late July, the official said. The demands continued until shortly before the governor's startling announcement Thursday, when a Cipel representative asked that the governor help New York-based Touro College get state approval for...

Robert G. Torricelli, the former United States senator from New Jersey, is once again emerging as a principal fund-raiser for Democratic candidates and, as overseer of $2.3 million left from his own campaign fund, as a donor as well. The ex-senator has come under scrutiny this week as his fund-raising efforts for Senator John Kerry's presidential campaign have drawn attention, leading some Democrats to distance themselves from Mr. Torricelli. Many others, however, are seeking support and receiving money from Mr. Torricelli, who dropped his 2002 re-election bid after accusations of ethical missteps and an admonishment from the Senate ethics committee...

Governor McGreevey has announced his resignation, effective November 15. If the effective date of his resignation were only one day earlier, the people of New Jersey would elect their new governor on Nov. 2. The selection of November 15 and not any earlier date is clearly a sleazy maneuver which will elicit calls for his immediate resignation, and/or for his impeachment (assuming that the NJ constitution contains such a provision). But it is only August 13. When it comes to the right of the citizens of the State of New Jersey to elect their governor, the difference between November...

Developer waives his right to speedy U.S. court trial Charles Kushner is discussing a plea deal with federal prosecutors that could spare the multimillionaire developer a public trial over allegations that he hired prostitutes to lure enemies into videotaped sex acts, according to a court filing. An order signed Friday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald Hedges said Kushner has waived his right to a speedy trial in part because of ongoing talks between prosecutors and Kushner's defense team. "Plea negotiations are currently in progress and both the U.S. and defendant desire additional time to enter the plea in Court, which...

The hooker hired by New Jersey real-estate tycoon Charles Kushner to carry out the steamy videotaped seduction of a key tax-fraud witness against him is cooperating with federal authorities, The Post has learned. The blond bombshell agreed to testify against Kushner after she was given two options — cooperate or face arrest, according to sources familiar with the case. Kushner, 50, was arrested Tuesday on charges he set up and taped the compromising motel-room sex romp in a bid to intimidate the witness — his brother-in-law William Schulder, who had worked for Kushner, according to a criminal complaint filed in...

Kushner allegedly interfered with probe NEWARK The man, described by his well-tanned attorney as "one of the great philanthropists of this century," had no belt, no tie. But Charlie Kushner, the multimillion-dollar real estate mogul who became Governor McGreevey's top campaign contributor, definitely had leg irons and handcuffs as he shuffled into a federal courtroom Tuesday and came face to face with a problem that no amount of cash may erase. During the past two years, The Record has printed major investigative articles about fund-raising conflicts involving both Charles Kushner and Commerce Bank. For background on Tuesday's events, check: Paying...

Is there Any evidence that Kerry was served notice about his inability to make progress against a reeling President Bush? The NYTimes power brokers can use all the Hanoi John Kerry, Kommunist Kerry, Viet Kong Kerry, Flip-Flop Kerry angles to DESTROY him and he knows it.

Jersey should be proud. People all over the country are talking about what some have called "the Torricelli option." The Torricelli option, of course, is named after the former U.S. senator from New Jersey named Bob who bolted from the ballot in 2002 after a precipitous drop in the polls. The last-minute switcheroo permitted the Democrats to save the Senate seat. You can't argue with success, I guess. That's why we're hearing rumblings within both parties about pulling a Torricelli in the event their presidential candidates tank in the polls. Republicans are afraid that the public will finally realize that...