After jail, new world awaits N.J. lobbyist

After living lavishly as a political operative and lobbyist, Robert Stears landed a new job - as federal inmate No. 41335-050 - serving food to fellow prisoners for $45 a month.

He went to prison after telling a judge in 2008 that he overbilled the Burlington County Bridge Commission in a scheme to kick back contributions to the county Republican Party.

Lately he's been getting ready for freedom.

His release, scheduled for last weekend, coincides with a changed political climate in New Jersey, where opportunities for shenanigans with the public's money still abound but are under a harsher spotlight.

And Stears, 55, has changed, too.

Expressing disgust at his crimes, he said in a recent interview: "You know any reformed smokers? They think smoking is a disgusting habit. You see the error of your ways."

Stears, speaking by phone last month from a halfway house in Brooklyn, said he planned to head for Long Island to live with his brother's family.

Since his guilty plea, tougher laws on financial disclosures and campaign contributions have been enacted, and, more recently, Gov. Christie has been attacking waste and abuse in government during the state's fiscal crisis.

As U.S. attorney, Christie soared to prominence by prosecuting corruption cases like the one involving Stears. The lobbyist pleaded guilty in December 2006 to mail fraud and tax evasion for overbilling the bridge commission $330,000.

He told the judge at his sentencing that he had been directed how much to bill and how much to contribute to the Burlington County GOP, which has reigned in county government for 30 years. Republicans have disputed Stears' assertion, and no one else was charged.

Most public contractors are now required to report to the state how much they earn annually in contracts and contributions. Anyone with Internet access can pull such reports off the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission website.

With the tougher campaign-finance restrictions, donations from public contractors have fallen by 29 percent since 2006, the state announced last month.

Christie has also come down hard on lobbyists and independent authorities in general. He issued an executive order in February requiring state authorities to cancel lobbying contracts. Though the directive didn't apply to local authorities such as the bridge commission, the governor has urged those authorities to follow the state's lead.

The bridge commission takes in nearly $30 million a year from $2 tolls on the Tacony-Palmyra and Burlington-Bristol Bridges. It also acts as Burlington County's improvement authority.

In late 2009, the commission decided not to renew its contract with the lobbying firm Public Strategies Impact.

Records show the firm was retained in 2006, while the commission was still paying Stears, and was paid $120,000 through 2009. The firm caters to both parties: its founders are Republican Roger Bodman, a former state commissioner of transportation; and Harry Hodes, who is active in Democratic politics.

Commission officials said the firm did not do lobbying work for the agency, but was hired to consult on its economic-development initiatives. In an e-mail, spokeswoman Liz Verna said the contract was not renewed because the commission agreed to assume certain economic-development responsibilities from the county government and decided "it made sense to wait until that transition took place to determine more precisely our needs."

She added that the improvement authority director's recent resignation confirmed the agency's decision to evaluate all economic-development and improvement authority functions.

The firm started contributing to Republicans in Burlington County after winning the contract, giving $19,250 in all between 2006 and 2009. The firm also is the longtime lobbyist for the New Jersey Concrete & Aggregate Association, headed by county GOP chairman Bill Layton.

Commission officials have repeatedly emphasized that there is no connection between agency contracts and Republican contributions. Layton, who took office in 2008, said that he had known members of Public Strategies Impact for a long time and that those who believe in and contribute to the party "are like-minded people who believe in what we're doing."

Stears, for his part, had a high profile in GOP circles. Before coming to the bridge commission, he worked for state and congressional campaigns and the Republican National Committee. His business partner was Tom Wilson, formerly chairman of the New Jersey State Republican Committee.

Divorced with no children, Stears was president of the Log Cabin Republicans, a national organization for gay and lesbian members of the GOP.

"I got into politics because I wanted to change the environment in which I live," he said. "You don't wake up one day and decide to be corrupt."

He blew through much of what he stole on a ritzy lifestyle featuring travel, cocaine, and fancy houses.

"I had become something I despised," he said. "There were days I couldn't get out of bed."

From jail, Stears followed New Jersey politics and became an unlikely admirer of Christie. Praising the governor's shake-up of Trenton, he offered his own suggestions for how to reform New Jersey's famously corrupt political culture.

Stears said the solution is making far more information available online to the public. He suggested that governments be required to post all resolutions, minutes, and details of their spending on the Web instantaneously.

He recommended Christie direct local governments to post more on the Internet when he gets a breather from the budget crisis.

"A vigilant public is needed to preserve a decent form of government. . . . They have to have the information they need to make proper decisions," Stears said.

The Burlington County Republican Committee, whose image received a blow from the Stears scandal, today is at the top of its game, raising more money than any of its 20 GOP counterparts across New Jersey, and crushing Democratic opposition.

That opposition is at an all-time low. Former county Democratic Party chairman Rick Perr aggressively targeted the GOP, and his digging into the bridge commission led to the investigation of Stears. But party members forced Perr's ouster last summer over a fund-raising controversy and the party – broke and plagued by infighting – hasn't been the same since.

"There's no doubt about it, one-party rule is an opportunity for people to make mischief on a very large scale," Stears said. "I don't know the answer to that, except . . . going over the heads of the party and the leaders and the politicians and getting the information directly to the public."

Layton said his organization had "consistently changed with the times, regardless of whether Democrats were pressing us or not to do the right thing by taxpayers. . . . We've kind of policed ourselves in a lot of ways."

"In Burlington County, we've really challenged ourselves to come up with reforms and checks to make sure that we limit our exposure to those types of issues," he said.

The bridge commission has followed Christie's calls for reform on several fronts. Among other things, commissioners have voted to limit payouts for accrued sick and vacation time upon retirement.

"We've become a leader in self-scrutiny and reforming our own agency. These new steps further the commission's commitment to being a model agency," chairman John Comegno said in a statement after the new rules were passed.

Under a judge's order, Stears is to pay the commission at least $400 a month.

Stears said that he wasn't sure what he'll do with his life next but that he had learned, "Once you've been through this system, you know what you need to be happy is very little."