37° and Sunny
Image
Grand jury accuses current and former commissioners of blocking contractor payments and lying under oath amid intra-party political feud
8-18-2025 2:43pm
SJTA Board Members Indicted in Alleged Political Retaliation and Perjury Scheme
NEW JERSEY - A state grand jury has indicted one current and one former member of the South Jersey Transportation Authority (SJTA) Board of Commissioners on charges tied to an alleged political retaliation scheme and subsequent perjury, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced.
Christopher Milam, 46, a current SJTA commissioner and former vice chairman of the board, and Bryan Bush, 53, a former board commissioner, both of Sewell in Gloucester County, are facing six criminal counts. The charges include conspiracy (second degree), official misconduct (second degree), and perjury (third degree), following an investigation by the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability’s (OPIA) Corruption Bureau.
“The defendants allegedly used their positions at the South Jersey Transportation Authority as leverage to pursue a political vendetta, betraying the public that they were meant to serve,” said Drew Skinner, Executive Director of the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability. “As alleged, they then lied about the scheme under oath.”
According to the indictment, between February and May 2023, Milam and Bush allegedly orchestrated a scheme to prevent the SJTA from paying a civil engineering firm for services it had already performed. The alleged motive, authorities say, was political retaliation tied to internal disputes within the Democratic Party.
The investigation revealed that the two men conspired to withhold approval of the contractor’s invoices by casting dissenting votes during three separate SJTA board meetings in 2023. The board requires five affirmative votes to approve payments; by voting against them, Milam and Bush allegedly caused multiple invoices to go unpaid for three consecutive months, resulting in an accumulation of unpaid bills.
Evidence cited in court documents includes a February 8, 2023, text message from Milam to Bush reading, “They cut South Jersey in Mercer County so now we vote no.” Investigators allege this was a reference to a Mercer County Commissioner employed by the engineering firm, who had disregarded directives from a South Jersey Democratic Party leader to stay neutral in a contested Democratic primary race.
Milam, a Democratic Party activist and then-chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee for Washington Township, allegedly used his position on the SJTA board to retaliate against the commissioner’s political actions, according to the grand jury findings. Bush, also allegedly involved in the scheme, joined Milam in voting down the payments without a legitimate basis for doing so, authorities said.
The charges of perjury stem from allegedly false statements both men made under oath during grand jury testimony. Milam reportedly claimed that his opposition to the payments stemmed from technical issues with the engineering firm’s performance, but investigators determined those concerns were raised only after the votes had already been cast.
“This indictment indicates that these defendants abused their positions of power to get retribution,” said Attorney General Platkin. “Scheming to unjustly use a public office as a weapon to manipulate and punish political opponents is misconduct, and those who engage in this type of behavior will be held to account.”
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Michael Grillo and Deputy Attorney General Amanda Nini under the direction of OPIA Corruption Bureau Co-Directors Eric Gibson and Jeffrey J. Manis, along with Executive Director Thomas Eicher.
If convicted, the defendants face significant penalties. Second-degree charges are punishable by five to ten years in New Jersey State Prison and fines of up to $150,000. Third-degree charges carry three to five years in prison and fines of up to $15,000.
Both Milam and Bush are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
The South Jersey Transportation Authority is a public agency responsible for transportation infrastructure and operations in the region, including management of the Atlantic City Expressway and transportation facilities at the Atlantic City International Airport.
