Imprisoned Democrat aided a researcher for Kean campaign
2006-10-02
Source: New Jersey Star Ledger
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rss feedA researcher working for Republican Tom Kean Jr.'s campaign became pen pals with a jailed Democratic political boss in an effort to dig up damaging information on Kean's opponent, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez.
Former Hudson County Executive Robert Janiszewski, now serving time in a federal prison in Kentucky on corruption charges, offered political history and strategic advice to the Kean campaign in a chatty, friendly letter obtained by The Star-Ledger.
"Political intrigue is ... well ... intriguing," Janiszewski writes in the opening, summing up the unlikely alliance between himself and an agent for a Republican campaign. The letter, dated June 11, suggests an ongoing, secret correspondence.
"By the way, don't worry about the stamps -- the (Bureau of Prisons) rules prevent you from sending stamps anyway. And, I assure you that no one else is aware of our correspondence. You can imagine the position I would be in with a U.S. Senator breathing down my back -- I am a federal prisoner, after all," Janiszewski wrote.
Janiszewski, a sometime-ally, sometime-rival of Menendez's in Hudson County, offered a long list of local politicians who hold grudges against the senator and may be able to provide damaging information about him.
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