The first of, (hopefully) many federal indictments of the members of the New Jersey State senate are in.

The first fat cat is senator Wayne Bryant, the former chairman of the State senate Budget Committee has been indicted on corruption charges for allegedly bilking the New Jersey tax payers out of millions of dollars. He used his position on the State budget committee to steer millions of dollars to UMDNJ's School of Osteopathic Medicine and others in exchange for no-work jobs in order to triple his taxpayer-funded pension.

Millennium Radio New Jersey

"When you read this indictment" says U-S Attorney Chris Christie, "you will see the lengths to which Senator (Wayne) Bryant went to be able to defraud the New Jersey taxpayers of their money in order to put it in his own pocket…, what you see in this indictment is unparalleled greed bore naked for the public to see."

Christie says Bryant faces mail fraud, wire fraud and bribery charges for taking salaries from UMDNJ, Rutgers University-Camden and the Gloucester County Board of Social Services for allegedly doing little to no meaningful work, "all to feed his own insatiable desire for more public money to put in his own pocket."

The jobs helped Bryant boost the pension he would receive from $28,000 to $81,000, prosecutors allege. Mark Perkiss, a spokesman with the State Department of Treasury says Bryant is not currently collecting a pension. He has applied according to Perkiss, but the pension board has not yet acted on the application. Typically, if charges are pending against an applicant, a pension decision will not be made until such time the case is adjudicated.

Christie says, "He (Bryant) leveraged his position as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and the power that was given to him by the senate leadership to distribute money in order to put money in his own pocket." He adds, "This is pretty brazen conduct….every time I think I can no longer be shocked in this job it seems like somebody else comes along to shock me." Christie explains, "As the evidence was unfolding in this case, I found it just incredible that someone would act in such blatant and brazen way, such a transparent way for his own self-enrichment."

The indictment says UMDNJ created the job for Bryant in 2003 and that he showed up only one morning per week at most and did little more than read newspapers, yet earned up to $40,000 per year and brought millions in state money to the school. The charges also claim Bryant worked just 14.8 hours for Gloucester County Board of Social Services over four years, yet received about $200,000, largely by billing the board for work performed by others. He is also alleged to have done little work in exchange for the income he received from Rutgers-Camden.

The most serious charges against Bryant carry maximum penalties of 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. A 20 count indictment adds up to about 275 years in the slammer.

It's about time. These slugs have to go to jail.