What Price Justice?

Can an indicted state politician use election funds to pay his attorney fees? We’ll find out when the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission rules on a request by an ex-state senator indicted on bribery.

Why was the politician indicted? The senator was paid a salary by a medical school in exchange for doling out state grants to them. In addition, he was also accused of steering work to his law firm while enjoying an expense account that included, among other things, $50 shots of Glenlivet. (Wondering what a $50 glass of whiskey tastes like?)

Among the legends of New York jurisprudence is the infamous Rule 20, which required that an attorney making a legal filing include a twenty dollar bill for the local court clerk.

What’s it cost to bribe an official today? That $20 patronage may be long gone, but if you’re wondering what the fee is for getting the inside track with a corrupt New York judge, apparently it’s about $10,000. That’s what one dad paid to influence a crooked justice in his custody case. The punishment for Dad’s bribery: three months jail time and an angry ex-spouse who told the New York Post, “I think for the crime he committed and for the pain he created, [three months] is very little.” That $10,000 figure also jibes with the fee for bribing a corrupt Ohio D.A.—at least that’s what one prosecutor charged for reducing a third DUI to a first-offense reckless driving charge.