| Last week, Luisa Medrano gave some pretty damning testimony against Guttenberg Mayor David della Donna. Among the mini-bombs she dropped was the inclusion of Jon Corzine's Deputy Chief of Staff Javier Inclan as the bag man in a corruption ring that allowed human trafficking, slavery, and forced prostitution to flourish in North Hudson County. Today, she testified that it was just business as usual to pay off mayors to get the police off her back - so she could keep forcing undergage girls into whoredom. So she could get rich off of oppressing other human beings.
This was not entirely unexpected. Brian Stack had to donate to charity contributions made by Medrano after she was indicted for human trafficking, forced alien labor, and conspiracy charges. At the time, Stack defended his honor by pointing out that Medrano had used her Fairview address to mislead his campaign. He stated: "Anyone who knows my record knows how strong I have been on [the bar establishments]," said Stack. "My biggest opposition has come from the bar owners."
Exactly. Just like Elliot Spitzer busted a couple of prostitution rings - but that didn't stop him from blowing $80,000 on whores. The question facing Mr. Stack would be: Why were you so hard on bars and why did they oppose his election?
Is it the rice pudding, baby? Click on through. |
From Steve Hart's The Last Three Miles: Politics, Murder, and the Construction of America's First Superhighway:During the 1890s, it was not uncommon for men swilling down nickel beers at the local tavern to line up a few Liberty Heads in advance, so the suds would flow without interruption. It was also not unheard of for bartenders, swabbing down the bar amid the loud noises and distractions, to accidentally on-purpose knock a few coins down into their palms as they buffed up the wood. This under-the-counter compensation was known as 'rice pudding'.
As the 1920s roared to their disastrous end, "rice pudding day" had become entrenched on the Jersey City calendar as the day municipal employees ponied up 3 percent of their annual salaries to Mayor Frank Hague's machine - or, as his minions preferred to call it, the organization...But except for the occasional grumbling of malcontents, who could be browbeaten into line or expelled from the payroll, the annual tithe was paid. After all, most employees were so well paid that even after serving up their share of pudding, they were still considerably ahead of their less-fortunate neighbors.
"Rice pudding" is the time-honored Hudson County phrase to refer to political payoffs. It pays (pun half-heartedly intended) to remember that Hague was more than willing to turn a blind-eye to bootleggers, prostitutes, and numbers-runners - so long as they kept the rice pudding served up regularly.
Cracking down on "public nuisances" - like rowdy bars with underage girls flashing their bodies for dollar bills - is a good way for a savvy politician to pick up the "quality of life" vote (and it can be remembered that Hague rose to power with the nodding gratitude of suffragettes, temperance blue-noses, and the Catholic Church). But it also gives a crooked politician the opportunity to sell his or her services to the owners of those same bars. The cops respond quickly to a public complaint and write a citation. The mayor sits across his desk from the bar-owner and winks as he tears up the citation. When the bar owner leaves, they are much lighter for having left a wad of cash to be used according to the mayor's discretion.
It hasn't been proven that Brian Stack was involved in this. After all, Chris Christie couldn't find enough evidence to indict Mr. Stack. But it is odd that Ms. Medrano would be willing to toss that line out when she had already fulfilled the terms of her agreement with federal prosecutors to get David della Donna. It is at least understandable that a bar owner would understand that this is simply the way business is conducted in Hudson County.
Medrano should be buried under a rock for her part in the most heinous of crimes against another living human being. But David della Donna and his merry band of mobsters - which apperently includes Javier Inclan (who, for some reason still hasn't been fired by the Governor) shouldn't be far behind. I can't, in good faith, include Brian Stack in that bad - yet - but I can say this: Maybe if he weren't so busy running for the State Senate, he'd know what was going on in his own town. If he's going to be "tough on bars" then he can't claim total ignorance about such abhorrent crimes being committed in his own back yard.
Good God, the blame hasn't even been half-way exposed and the puke bucket is already running over. If the Governor doesn't want it leaking onto his shoes, then he needs to get it planted firmly in Javier Inclan's ass. Della Donna is going to be looking through bars soon - and Stack, if he's connected to it, will likely follow. Inclan simply can't be allowed to escape punishment for his loyal contribution to modern day slavery and rape-for-hire. |
