Could Jerry Green face federal charges in job-for-affidavit allegation?

Assemblyman Jerry Green is chair of the Plainfield and Union County
Democratic Committees as well as Speaker Pro Tempore
of the New Jersey Assembly.

David Rutherford made a startling allegation in a blog post on The Plainfield View yesterday (see post here).

In recapping the history of the Jerry Green 'motherf***er' video (see video here), Rutherford says that Rickey Williams -- shown in an altercation with Green in the video clip -- was present when Rutherford originally uploaded the clip's from the camera of the person who took them.

Not only that, David says Rickey Williams asked him to edit out footage showing Williams as he is a state employee. (The clips as now posted are unedited and clearly include Rickey Williams and Assemblyman Green arguing.)

More interestingly, David says that Williams held out for a state fire inspector's job as a condition of swearing the affidavit now at the heart of the video cease-and-desist wrangle.

CEASE-AND-DESIST

Jerry Green's attorney enclosed Rickey Williams' affidavit alleging the video had been edited or dubbed with a cease-and-desist letter hand-delivered to blogger (and Council candidate) Rebecca Williams address on May 29. David received a copy of the same letter on May 30, which he scanned and posted on his blog here. Further, a copy of the cease-and-desist letter was mailed to the New Democrats treasurer and received on Saturday.

That Jerry Green is trying to stamp out the video is quite clear.

Did Rickey Williams and Jerry Green engage in a quid-pro-quo exchange of a job for a suborned sworn affidavit?

That is the gist of David's report of events.

Rickey Williams retired in 2009 after more than 25 years as a Plainfield firefighter and collects a $51,999 annual pension, according to data published by the Asbury Park Press (see here). The same source shows him as a state employee in the Special Services (Unit Q) of the Department of Community Affairs (see here), where he is listed as an hourly employee at $26/hour.

Coincidentally, the Department of Community Affairs is under the oversight of the legislative committee which Jerry Green chairs. Interesting coincidence.

If Rickey Williams was made a state fire inspector as David says, it would appear to be since the January data captured by the APP. That would jibe with David's story that a job was part of the deal for Rickey Williams to swear that the original video was tampered with.

THE SATURDAY MAILER

All this huffing and puffing about the video comes into focus when we look at the mailer, paid for by Jerry Green's campaign committee, that landed in voters' mailboxes Saturday, May 31.

In this piece, Jerry Green asserts that the video was 'doctored' by Council incumbent (and candidate) Rebecca Williams to smear him. The allegation against Rebecca co-stars with another Green makes against Mayor Adrian Mapp over Mapp's recent video putting forward his vision for Plainfield (see here, where the video has picked up 500 views since last Thursday).

Tellingly, Jerry Green says in the mailer that 'the Plainfield City Council has voted to investigate' the Mayor's video.

This is where it gets interesting. Follow me for a moment.

In order for the mailer to be delivered on Saturday, it would have had to be MAILED on Thursday. Which means the printing would most likely had to have been done by TUESDAY, MAY 27, in order to allow time for the ink to dry and set before it could be addressed by the mailing house. Which means that the design and layout -- including all these assertions by Green -- would have had to been finished BEFORE even Tuesday.

So, a man who claims he never said 'I run this motherf***er' has to be able to know in advance that Council President Bridget Rivers was going to call a special Council meeting for Thursday, May 29 -- which the public only learned of at the special Council meeting on Tuesday, May 27.

And not only know that a meeting was to be called -- but know in advance the outcome of the vote to be taken at that meeting. And that Councilors Gloria Taylor (a Green candidate), Bill Reid (treasurer for Green's council candidates committees), and Vera Greaves could be counted on to line up with Council President Bridget Rivers to do the deed.

Nice hat trick for Green, huh?

A FEDERAL CASE?

So, did Jerry Green suborn a perjured affidavit from Rickey Williams?

Did Rickey Williams extort a state job from Jerry Green in exchange for a perjured affidavit?

Did Council President Bridget Rivers conspire with Assemblyman Green to rig a special Council meeting and vote to give Green cover for a campaign mailer?

Did Green's council candidate Gloria Taylor take part in planning these 'dirty politics' (to use her phrase)?

These are the kinds of questions a prosecutor might ask.

But is it a federal offense? If, as David says, emails can be found that discuss a job-for-affidavit deal, the answer could be yes.

The late Donna Vose, who wore a wire for the FBI during the years that Mark Fury was mayor and she was on the City Counil, always told me that Jerry Green was terrified that people with whom he dealt might be 'wired'.

Could the canny politician be undone not by a tape recording, but by an email?

We will have to watch and see.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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