Veteran political writers Bob Ingle and Sandy McClure do: In "The Soprano State" (St. Martin's Press), their tough-minded new book about New Jersey's culture of corruption, we meet Michael Taccetta on page 229: "Taccetta," described by law enforcement as a capo (mob lingo for a captain), "was sentenced (in 1991) to 25 years. Court TV's online Crime Library describes the 5-foot-7, 215-pound Taccetta as the real-life Tony Soprano."

Taccetta, capo of the New Jersey organized crime Lucchese family, popped right out when Garden State native David Chase was writing "The Sopranos," the long-running, much acclaimed HBO TV series about New Jersey's mobsters that concluded its run last year.

As viewers know, "The Sopranos" could be titillating, and it could be a downer. You have a similar see-saw feeling reading this exhaustive new book by Ingle, the Trenton bureau chief for Gannett's New Jersey newspapers, and McClure, a political reporter who previously wrote "Christie Whitman: A Political Biography."

But mobsters are not the writers' primary target: Elected officials from small towns to the highest office in the state, employees on the public payroll and political "bosses" are the object of the writers' damning scalpel.

"No matter who gets elected, it doesn't make a difference," they muse with regret as they begin their sorry tale of what's ailing New Jersey. Ingle and McClure dedicate their book "for taxpayers everywhere."

Ingle and McClure spell out how the heavily burdened New Jersey taxpayer pays for the political favoritism and corruption that leads to rip-offs in pension systems, bond repayments, hiring practices, noncompetitive bidding contracts and inflated employee rosters.

They cull their stories from their own and other staffers' previously published reporting in Gannett newspapers, which include the Courier-Post, Asbury Park Press, Courier News and Home News Tribune, as well as the Record of Hackensack, The Star-Ledger, the Trentonian and The New York Times.

Ten briskly written chapters, laced with appropriately acerbic humor, have such titles as "Lots of Power, Less Common Sense," "All Aboard the Gravy Train," "On the Boardwalk: Sand, Sea, Sun, and Scandal" and, my favorite, "The Soviet Socialist Republic of Jersey."

Ingle and McClure tell us that the leading corrupt local government is in Monmouth County. With the fourth largest population, it has the second largest government payroll and "many employees got there the old-fashioned way -- their political connections."

Bribery in high places

Citing the 2005 "Club Monmouth" series that ran in the Asbury Park Press, they write that "Decades of single party control by the GOP (Republican Party), (and a) windfall of tax dollars from soaring property values have produced a culture of perks, patronage and fiscal excess."

But this particular tale, which includes bribery in high places (a developer, a mayor) isn't unique: Similar incidents occur statewide, Ingle and McClure say.

In dozens of examples, the authors lay the blame at a political system ripe for financial exploiting, including 566 municipalities, each requiring its own judge, police chief and staffs, all receiving generous pensions and health coverage for life; 616 school districts, with suburban taxpayers supporting less prosperous urban districts, thus hiking their own property taxes to make up the difference at their districts; and 50 state authorities floating billions of dollars in bonds with no supervision or public vote.

The authors say there are 81 government workers per square mile in New Jersey, versus the national average of six. Your tax dollars also are high because of "tacking," whereby public employees string jobs together in the public sector to enlarge their pension.

There are no-bid contracts, a powerful political boss receiving kickbacks, state legislators with too many other jobs to spend much time legislating with acumen and even an attorney general who was fined by the state ethics committee, the first time that had happened in its history.

As the writers say, "You can't make this stuff up."

Ingle and McClure provide countless stories of chicanery in high and low places. Frankly, it's depressing. Don't read "The Soprano State" at one sitting -- it's too disheartening.

Yet there are heroes among the dreck -- "prosecutors like U. S. Attorney (Chris) Christie who keep pursuing the crooks, and the efforts of whistleblowers" who speak out for what's right.

In their last chapter, Ingle and McClure offer some well-reasoned advice about how New Jersey can climb out of the sewer of corruption. Their suggestions include eliminating "senatorial courtesy," whereby a senator can block anything he wants for any reason; better and quicker disclosure of the origin of campaign money; banning handing out no-bid contracts to campaign contributors; requiring the attorney general be elected rather than be appointed by the governor; eliminating pensions and health care for part-time government employees, including elected positions; replacing overly generous public pensions with 401(k) plans; and banning carrying over of unused sick leave and vacations.

Again and again, Ingle and McClure say brazenly corrupt New Jersey is the butt of snide quips and is

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