BLABBERMOUTH
September 25, 2006 NY POST

Jim McGreevey may have blabbed too much in his tell-all autobiography - and not just about his sex life.

It's "not inconceivable" that the gay former gov's confessions about New Jersey's notorious "pay-to-play" politics and his ties to a parade of corrupt power players could get him criminally prosecuted, a corruption expert told The Post.

"If I were in McGreevey's shoes, I wouldn't have written a book saying that everybody, including me, knew that there was deal-making going on - it's almost taunting the government," said Ed Stier, a former federal and New Jersey state prosecutor, who also headed the state's Department of Criminal Justice before going into private practice. "McGreevey's book may inadvertently supply enough information - or enough leads - to suggest that an already-closed investigation be reopened or expanded."

In the book, "The Confession," McGreevey describes political patronage as "the coin of the realm" in New Jersey, a "form of sanctioned bribery."

"I made [a] decision [to] let others cut deals on my behalf," he divulges, citing land deals and board appointments to the Port Authority, the state Sports Authority and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority as examples of sought-after paybacks.

Aside from McGreevey's politically fatal move of putting his lover Golan Cipel in a top homeland-security post, he headed an administration that had "a history of brushes with corrupt situations," Stier said.

U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie has successfully prosecuted many of McGreevey's closest political pals for corruption. They include his top fund-raiser, billionaire developer Charles Kushner; fund-raiser David "Machiavelli" D'Amaino and, most recently, McGreevey's political godfather, former state Senate President and Democratic uber-boss, John Lynch.

Stier hasn't read "The Confession," but noted, "It's not inconceivable that McGreevey has [put forth] enough information in the book to allow him to be prosecuted as a co-conspirator."