NEW YORK, NY March 04, 2008 —The longtime secretary to former Newark mayor Sharpe James told a jury in his corruption trial that James' affair with a city businesswoman was obvious to her and other City Hall staffers.

Rosemarie Posella says James' relationship with Tamika Riley started in 1999, hit a rough patch in 2003, and continued until the mayor left office in 2006. James' attorneys have said the extramarital affair only lasted a few months, in 2002.

Prosecutors claim the affair spanned from 2000 to 2006, and that James helped steer low-cost, city-owned properties to Riley during that time, properties Riley later sold for a considerable profit.