US Attorney Chris Christie is getting a lot of play with his investigation of BCDO Boss Joe Ferriero and BCDO attorney Dennis Oury.  But with so much pay-to-play corruption actually legal in New Jersey, it would take an act of extreme carelessness, blatant evidence tampering or a hamfisted coverup for these prominent Kleptocrats to actually get nailed for an illegality.  After all, NJ lets County Bosses do legally what is illegal for a government official to do.  For instance:

• As we mentioned back in March, according to State law, County bosses have a special legal advantage over actual candidates: bosses can collect up to 17 times more per donor than any candidate is legally allowed to collect on their own!  No wonder machine candidates bow before the bosses on bended knee. 

• In New Jersey, the pay-to-play system allows bosses to get their quid pro quo from the candidates they fund.  With their grateful and cooperative elected lackeys, bosses get to reward their donors with no-bid public contractors.

• It is legal for a County Boss to have his own personal campaign slush fund.

• And, for the icing on the cake, it is legal for Ferriero and Oury to make millions for themselves off of public business from their political network of backscratchers and cronies. 

Only carelessness or arrogance could possibly leave these New Jersey Kleptocrats vulnerable to prosecution, as a wide range of political corruption is not only legal in New Jersey -- it is the way we do our political business in the Tony Soprano State.

What to do?  At the very least, make a distinction between the national candidates and the local, machine supported ones.  By all means, vote the top of the national ticket.  But beware of the Kleptocrats, who camouflage themselves under the national party name.  In other words, don't be afraid to vote for the better local alternatives that reside off the line.