Evelyn Williams, who may have set a new record: she lasted seven days from the time she took her oath as an Assemblywoman until the time of her arrest on shoplifting charges. Two days later, she was fired from her job with the Essex County Corrections Department for filing for and receiving illegal pension checks from the state Police and Firemen's Retirement System. She resigned two weeks after her arrest. Williams is no stranger to controversy: she was the School Board president when the state took over the Newark public school system in the 1980's, and as an Essex County Jail employee in 2002, she escorted an inmate who had been a member of a major drug ring, to attend an outdoor concert.
Addressing the Assembly after taking her oath of office just seven days ago, among those Williams singled out to thank was Jackie Mattison, who had served in the Assembly until his 1997 bribery conviction Mattison, who was Chief of Staff to Sharpe James, had over $150,000 in cash hidden under the floorboards of his home. Mattison served nearly three years in a federal prison.
