Former schol aide continues testimony in Bryant trial

Within months of hiring Wayne Bryant, the former chairman of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, the cash-strapped School of Osteopathic Medicine received $2.3 million in new state funding.

Robert Prodoehl said he then went to see his boss, the school's dean, R. Michael Gallagher.

"I joked that we should have that kind of return on investment with every employee," Prodoehl testified yesterday. "Dr. Gallagher just laughed and smiled."

Gallagher and former State Sen. Bryant, a Camden County Democrat, are now on trial in federal court for political corruption. Prodoehl, Gallagher's former chief-of-staff, was given immunity and testified yesterday for the second day in a row.

On Wednesday, he described the osteopathic school, which is part of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, as suffering "unprecedented" financial strain and a lack of political clout before hiring Bryant.

Prodoehl said a position was created specifically for Bryant, then school officials went through a phony hiring process and created a "paper trail" to justify giving Bryant a $35,000-a-year, part-time job.

In 2003, his first year of employment, Bryant steered $3.1 million to the school, prosecutors said. Prodoehl testified Bryant was given a $5,000 bonus and a 5 percent raise after that year.

In 2005, Prodoehl said, he was talking with another UMDNJ employee, Constance Spencer, who said Bryant had alerted the school to a $200,000 grant that would be available if the school applied.

He said Gallagher overheard the conversation and "exploded." Gallagher pulled Spencer aside and said, " 'What are you, stupid? You can't have a conversation like that,' " Prodoehl testified.

Aside from an occasional lecture to first-year medical students, Bryant did not perform any of the duties outlined for his job as a "program support coordinator," Prodoehl said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Lurie asked what Bryant actually did during the one morning each week that he spent in his school office.

"The senator occasionally made telephone calls from his office across the hall from mine," Prodoehl said. "Most of the time, the senator read the newspaper."

Bryant also has been charged with pension fraud because his UMDNJ job inflated the value of his public retirement plan. He has been accused of performing virtually no work in a second public job that also contributed to his pension.

Bryant, who did not run for reelection last year after being indicted, resigned from UMDNJ in January 2006, citing the demands of his law practice. Gallagher stepped down later that same year.

Bryant's attorney, Carl Poplar, spent the afternoon cross-examining Prodoehl, who will face more defense questions when trial resumes on Monday.

Poplar attempted to draw some parallels between Prodoehl's hiring and employment at UMDNJ and Bryant's experience there.

Prodoehl was a retired Naval flier and commander with experience working in the Pentagon when he applied to the osteopathic school. He said he was deemed over-qualified for the position, but Gallagher met with him and brought him back when the school found a position for him.

Later, when he moved up to become Gallagher's chief-of-staff, his job title and description did not change.

"If I had gone back through the bowels of UMDNJ in 2002 . . . would I find a job description for chief-of-staff?" Poplar asked. Prodoehl said he would not.

He also asked Prodoehl if Bryant had been shown any of the documents and memos created during the senator's hiring process. Prodoehl said that Bryant was not consulted.

Poplar suggested Bryant performed other duties consistent with his job description, such as bringing in high-profile speakers and meeting with business groups on behalf of the school.

Poplar also spent time discussing the programs at UMDNJ that benefited from state money during Bryant's tenure, such as a center for abused children and an aging institute.

Prodoehl acknowledged that the money "went to good use."