Former lawmaker to go on trial in N.J.
Posted on Sunday, September 7, 2008
MOUNT LAUREL, N. J. — A former New Jersey lawmaker with a national reputation for pushing welfare-policy change is facing charges of using his political clout to land no-work government jobs as a way to boost his income and increase his pension benefits — from $ 28, 000 a year to $ 81, 000.
Wayne Bryant is also accused of steering state money to one of his employers, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The Democrat could face several years in prison if convicted on all counts.
Jury selection is to begin Monday in federal court.
Bryant, 60, is the highest-profile member of a family that has been influential in state politics for the past century, starting with a grandfather who was the first black clerk of the New Jersey General Assembly.
As a member of the General Assembly in 1992, Bryant wrote laws that drastically changed the state’s welfare laws — including cutting benefits to women who had children while receiving assistance.
A judge rejected Bryant’s attempt to have the case dismissed on grounds that the charges were politically motivated.
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