Current, Former SJTA Board Members Indicted in Retaliation, Perjury Case: NJ AG

By Sam Barron From Daily Voice

A state grand jury has indicted a current and a former member of the South Jersey Transportation Authority Board of Commissioners, alleging they plotted to prevent the SJTA from paying an engineering firm and lied in grand jury testimony all over a feud involving the Mercer County  Executive's race, authorities announced Thursday, Aug. 14.

Christopher Milam, 46, a former vice chairman and current commissioner and former Board Commissioner Bryan Bush, 53, both residents of Sewell, are charged with conspiracy, official misconduct and perjury, Attorney General Matthew Platkin said.

Between February and May of 2023, Milam and Bush conspired and agreed to vote to deny payment for services that the firm had already performed for the authority, as an act of political retaliation, Platkin said. Milam and Bush made false statements under oath while testifying before the state grand jury about their reasons for voting to block the payment of the contractor’s invoices, Platkin said.

Milam and Bush unlawfully conspired to prevent the payment of invoices submitted to the SJTA board by a civil engineering firm for political purposes, effectively halting compensation to the company for work it had completed for the SJTA, Platkin said. Milam and Bush cast votes during three SJTA Board meetings in 2023 to prevent the SJTA  from making legitimate payments due to the engineering firm, Platkin said. They knew they did not have a legitimate basis to cast votes denying the payments, Platkiin said.

Because of their votes, he firm’s invoices were not approved and remained unpaid, with additional invoices piling up each month, Platkin said.

The no votes stem from a political feud that began when an employee of the engineering firm, who also served as Mercery County Commissioner, defied instructions from a South Jersey Democratic Party leader to remain neutral in the Democratic primary for Mercer County Executive, Platkin said. 

Milam, who previously served as chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee of Washington Township in Gloucester County. sent a text message to Bush in February 2023 writing, "“They cut South Jersey in Mercer County so now we vote no."

Milam later falsely testified to a grand jury, he voted against the payments because of various purported issues with the engineering firm — including an error made by the firm that was not discovered until after the defendants began voting no.