The Soprano State or Awearness

The Soprano State: New Jersey's Culture of Corruption

Author: Bob Ingl

It's Not a Joke

New Jersey leads the country in corruption

“Ingle and McClure have been chasing the people, politics,and plundering for years in the best Ben Hecht Front Page style. Investigative journalism in New Jersey is not for the faint at heart, the lazy, or the impatient.”

—from the Foreword by Dick Hughes 

“We’re often asked by people elsewhere if New Jersey residents are aware of what the rest of the country thinks and why they don’t do something about it. The answer to the first question is: They know. The second is harder. Do they like being the national butt of jokes? Do they wait for the day when they can get their share of graft? Are they too busy working more than one job to afford the extraordinary cost of living? Have they given up?”

—from The SopranoState 

“This book is a page-turner. You start out laughing and end up pounding the table for reform.  May the book inspire those who care about New Jersey to imagine a better place.”

—Tom Curley, CEO, The Associated Press

“New Jersey is arguably America’s most corrupt state, and it is not an achievement to be proud of, as Bob Ingle and Sandy McClure starkly demonstrate. Only the people of the Garden State can stop the jokes—both the ones elected to office and the ones told about the crooked truth of political life there.”

—Dr. Larry J. Sabato, author of A More Perfect Constitution and director of the Center for Politics, University of Virginia

This three-decade journey through the political and economic weeds of the Garden State, led by two ofits finest journalists, will astound, outrage, and empower any American taxpayer.

Kirkus Reviews

A pair of seasoned investigative reporters catalogue New Jersey's epic political dishonesty. Gannett Newspapers Trenton bureau chief Ingle and veteran journalist McClure (Christie Whitman for the People, 1996) demonstrate that, for Garden State pols, there is indeed such a thing as a free lunch-with lots of gravy. They point to the appointed culprits who administer the state's medical school, the thieves who manage various school districts, the municipalities carrying costly double dippers, long-dead pensioners and unborn employees. Law enforcement is selective, the authors note, with bench and bar contaminated by patronage. As far as the mob is concerned, ethnicity, gender and political affiliation matter not at all. Chiefly by recapping their own investigative articles, Ingle and McClure present a cheerless story of oligarchy and kleptocracy covering the length of the Turnpike from Cape May to Fort Lee, the executive mansion in Princeton to the statehouse in Trenton, horse country and the Pineys, Sinatra's native turf in Hoboken and Joe Piscopo's down at the shore. They nail the backroom intrigues in impressive scope and detail. Only occasionally do they weaken their case with faulty evidence, as when they base their claim that there are too many government workers on the national average per square mile, rather than on population; New Jersey is the most densely populated state. The authors close with a few suggestions for improvement. Readers won't be laughing: The Garden State doesn't smell too sweet here.

Table of Contents:

Acknowledgments     ix
Foreword     xi
Prologue     xv
Introduction     1
Deep in the Pits They Strike Gold     9
Lots of Power, Less Common Sense     19
Like Days of Yore Minus the Shining Knights     71
All Aboard the Gravy Train     105
"See No Evil" Law Enforcement and Court Jesters     127
The Run for the Roses Starts in the Boondocks     163
Speaking Authoritatively: No Oversight     189
The Gospel According to the Mob     219
On the Boardwalk: Sand, Sea, Sun, and Scandal     251
The Soviet Socialist Republic of Jersey     271
Notes     289
Index     305

Book about: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man or The Shadow Factory

Awearness: Inspiring Stories about How to Make a Difference

Author: Kenneth Col

Awearness: Using Ordinary Resources to Do Extraordinary Things introduces readers to a wide range of important social concerns through a collection of first-hand stories and conversations between well known, real-life advocates such as Eve Ensler, Rosie O'Donnell, Harry Belafonte, Sharon Stone, Robert Redford, Whoopi Goldberg, and Jon Bon Jovi. Through essays, interviews, informative sidebars, and compelling facts, each chapter tackles a specific cause—AIDS, the environment, animal rights, gun control, human rights—and features a short introduction by Kenneth Cole, an advocate with 25 years of addressing socially relevant issues under his belt. Each chapter highlights the issue in detail and outlines a number of effective ways—at varying levels of commitment—for readers to get involved. Awearness, the book, is the cornerstone of Kenneth Cole's AWEARNESS campaign, a wide-reaching initiative poised to raise awareness for various social issues, to stimulate public debate, and to provide inspiration and opportunity for people to get involved.