Johnny truly feels like a Garden Stater now

When Johnny arrived here from Michigan in November of 2008 (Yes, this shitty blog enters it's 7th year later in 2015) he well knew of New Jersey's reputation for graft and corruption. Well, to be fair who didn't. They teach it in Michigan public schools. To that end Johnny had been numbed by watching the Kwame Kilpatrick mega-ripoff of the city of Detroit that took a Democratic Governor to call pest control and pull him out of his burrow and into a jail cell. That was some pretty good corruption and lying right there.

Soon after Johnny arrived a lot of people all over Hudson County went to jail. It was his first big foray into writing about Garden State grifters but so much of it had been in the works and blew up before Johnny had a true understanding of the area. Somehow he felt cheated. He learned names like Dwek, Cammarano, Vega and Beldini but this wasn't HIS New Jersey scandal.

Fast-forward to Governor Christie and his scandal du jour and Senator Menendez being under federal investigation again and well NOW Johnny feels like a true resident of New Jersey. The Governor, who has a lot of scandals already on the boil had the slimy audacity to send in his team of lawyers to give Exxon, who was ready to pay the state almost $9 BILLION dollars for polluting OUR state and they "supposedly" elbowed out the lawyers who had been working in the best interests of we the people to cut a sweetheart deal of only $225 MILLION for Exxon. Sure the acting AG had investments with Exxon but he was also put in a horrible position to be loyal by Christie. Here's the kicker. Just hours after cutting Exxon the sweetheart deal Governor Gone was off to Georgia for a fundraiser hosted by.....are you ready New Jersey......Exxon. Torches and pitchforks people, torches and pitchforks.....if he ever comes back here.

Senator Menendez, where do we start? He's seemingly been one step ahead of one investigation or another for decades, but as Augustin Torres says in the Jersey Journal, Menendez is steeled in the rough and tumble world of sleazy Hudson County politics has always been a survivor. He's taken money from some pretty dubious sources if you ask Johnny. Not just Dr. Salomon Melgen, but far worse. Menendez as many of you know is a hard-liner on Iran pretty much wishing the USA would attack yesterday. But did you know that Menendez has also taken money from a group not long ago considered a terrorist group in the Middle East:

"...Iranian exile opposition group the Mojahedin-e Khalq, often referred to as the MEK, but known to most Iranians as the Mojahedin."

It gets worse:

Since being legitimized, the Mojahedin’s influence on Capitol Hill spread from the fringes of Congress to include more mainstream and respected Republicans and Democrats. Most of the group’s lobbying focuses on its members’ well-being in Iraq, said a current Hill staffer, who works in foreign policy. But, the staffer added, “undergirding this is all this neocon-friendly warmongering, this intense push for regime change, this intense hatred for [Iranian president Hassan] Rouhani — they’re not subtle about this at all.”

Menendez’s advocacy for the Mojahedin at the October hearing wasn’t new, but it signaled that by 2013 the group had come full circle: from an outlaw terrorist outfit to a player on Capitol Hill. How that happened is a classic story of money, politics and the enduring appeal of exile groups promising regime change.

So you better believe Menendez needs to be investigated again and again if he's beating war drums and taking money from a group that no doubt stands to gain from US military action.

So, yes, Johnny now TRULY feels like he lives in New Jersey, where government at all levels and associated state offices are the biggest crime syndicate anywhere. Now pass a chunk of that White House submarine sandwich.