The Beer Defense
Written by Brian Garst, Posted in General/Misc.
Not quite the “twinkie defense”, but a New Jersey mayor’s defense for taking bribes is certainly easier for the average Joe to understand than Al Gore’s ice tea defense.
A New Jersey mayor who took a $3,000 bribe from the owner of a demolition company in exchange for a city contract claims he was impaired by alcohol when he accepted the cash and that authorities took advantage of his drinking problem.
The corrupt former mayor of Hazlet, Paul Coughlin, was charged with extortion, conspiracy and accepting corrupt payments. This week a judge sentenced him to 24 months in prison, two years of supervised probation and he must pay a $5,000 fine. His attorneys say the booze made him do it.
As Mr. Coughlin found out, being drunk is not cause to be granted the judicial equivalent of a mulligan.
I serve as Vice President of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, a non-profit think tank dedicated to preserving tax competition and free markets. This site features my personal views, which are not reflective of CF&P.