Officials react to the arrest of their peers

“What we discovered is that this was business as usual across a surprisingly wide swath of Monmouth County, where an attitude of greed, arrogance and entitlement prevailed. These complaints portray a shocking eagerness and ease with which these public officials engaged in criminal activity, to trade contracts for cash or even to be involved in money laundering. I can assure you that we and the FBI are not done in Monmouth County.”

— U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie

“As far as I am concerned, we should line up every public official at every level of government and connect them to a polygraph. Ask them if they are engaged in illegal activity and investigate those who aren’t being truthful. I’d be the first in line to volunteer.”

— Assemblyman Michael Panter (D-Monmouth/Mercer)

“It is time for New Jersey to stop being the national joke when it comes to corruption — it is time for us to clean up our act and lead so that we can become the national model for good, ethical government.”

— Assemblyman Sam Thompson (R-Monmouth/Middlesex)

“It’s a very sad day for Monmouth County. Though everyone deserves his day in court, the extent of corruption alleged in today’s indictments and investigated over a seven-year period is shocking and cannot be tolerated.”

— State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Monmouth/Middlesex)

“The Monmouth County Republican Organization has a zero tolerance policy toward corruption and the appearance of corruption. We applaud the U.S. Attorney’s hard work and encourage him to continue to root out corruption in every corner of the state.”

— Monmouth County Republican Organization Executive Director Dan Gallic

“[Middletown Committeeman Raymond O’Grady] has clearly lost the confidence of the people of Middletown and he should not burden the township with his presence at governmental meetings and other activities. Frankly, that would be adding insult to injury and embarrassing.”

— Joint statement on behalf of Middletown Republican Chairman Peter Carton and the four other members of the Middletown Township Committee

“All too often our elected officials see public service as a means to personal financial gain. Hopefully, these arrests put our other public officials on notice that such corrupt activities will not be tolerated.”

— FBI Special Agent Joseph Billy Jr.