Health not a factor

U.S. Attorney Christie said Wednesday that Larrison's health was not a factor in bringing the charges but might play a role as the case progresses.

"We'll see how that turns out over time," he said.

Noting Larrison is the 82nd public official in New Jersey to have been charged with corruption in the past three years, Christie called him "another in a rogue's gallery of people who believe that public service is self-service."

In February, Christie brought extortion charges against 10 officials and a money-laundering charge against an 11th.

The men, including the mayors of Keyport, Hazlet and West Long Branch, are accused of accepting thousands of dollars from a demolition contractor — who was cooperating with the FBI — in exchange for promises of steering municipal contracts to his business. The contractor, identified as Robert "Duke" Steffer, also posed as a loan shark.

In March, Christie charged three men — two major Monmouth County contractors and a former councilman from Far Hills, Somerset County — with laundering more than $450,000 for Steffer's phony loan-sharking business.

Then on April 12, former Marlboro Mayor Matthew V. Scannapieco pleaded guilty to accepting $245,000 in bribes in exchange for his support for housing and commercial developments opposed by many township residents.

Authorities did not identify the alleged briber in the Scannapieco case but did list the locations of the developments involved; township planning records indicate the sites involve Spalliero.

Monmouth County Prosecutor John Kaye said Larrison's name "has never come up" in his office's investigations, including a corruption and bribery probe related to Colts Neck Crossing, a housing project in Howell backed by Spalliero and Sherman.

While Kaye's investigation is nearly complete, a municipal inquiry found that massive political contributions to county Democrats by Spalliero, Sherman and their business entities could have been "wheeled" into Howell to buy votes for a requested zoning change.

"Wheeling" involves sending money from one political organization to another to hide the source of the original contribution.

Some not surprised

Jeffrey Pringle, a Democrat from Tinton Falls who has run unsuccessfully for the freeholder board three times, said the Monmouth County corruption charges unveiled since late February represent "a personal vindication."

"It doesn't surprise me in the least," Pringle said.

Pringle, who had made numerous allegations of mismanagement by county officials during his campaigns, said the bribery charges against Larrison "go with the whole culture of corruption in county government."

"The freeholders try to present this image as reformers, but they are the problem," said Pringle. "The only way to get rid of the problem is to get rid of the career politicians."

State Sen. Ellen Karcher, D-Monmouth, also said she wasn't surprised.

"There were certainly concerns in the past, when Democrats ran candidates for freeholder, but there was no proof that these things were going on, only a sense of it," said Karcher, predicting that Larrison's case "will have wide consequences and pretty massive reverberations."

State Sen. Joseph A. Palaia, R-Monmouth, has known Larrison for decades. The two graduated in 1945 from Neptune High School, where they were co-captains of the basketball team.

"This shakes me. It really does," Palaia said. "I never thought his name would be involved with any of this."

Palaia said Larrison has made Monmouth County the envy of many other counties, from its roads to its open space to its sound financial condition.

"It just bothers me that his legacy would have this as part of it," Palaia said. "He's had a fantastic legacy here."

Others weren't as impressed.

"It is just another example of these guys making a living off of public service and being more concerned with building their power base than serving their constituency," said Brian Daneman, 44, of Little Silver.

Daneman called on voters to become more politically active and change a system that allows the same people to serve in office for decades.

"The system that is in place allows these people to become lifelong party hacks. . . . They get corrupted from being in their positions for a long time," he said.

Some residents were glad to see corruption being rooted out.

"I am very relieved there are some big names coming out," said David Jarashow, 38, of the Morganville section of Marlboro. "I hope that everyone who is corrupt . . . I hope that it is all purged from the system. It is better to get it all out as soon as possible."

Neptune resident Patrick Daugherty, 78, a longtime watchdog of the freeholder board and a critic of Larrison, invoked a famous quote by a British historian to characterize Wednesday's events.

"Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely," he said, adding that the charges against Larrison represent "an extraordinary wake-up" call to Monmouth County residents.

"Because of the very sparsely attended (freeholder) meetings, we have ourselves to blame," he said. "We don't function in a way that democracy calls us to."

Staff writers Andrea Alexander, Bob Cullinane, Jason Method and Karen Sudol contributed to this story. Kathy Matheson: (732) 643-4230 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it