The thing that gets missed about the deferred prosecution arrangements that Chris Christie used to shovel tens of millions to his friends, former bosses, future campaign contributors and cronies is the most basic thing that punctures Christie's self portrait of what makes him a supposed viable candidate for Governor as opposed to just another Bush crony.
That thing is a term called "justice".
Christie likes to talk about "putting away the bad guys", and how those who "break the law must pay". And his defenders say that the deferred prosecution agreements "saved taxpayer money" because it was the companies themselves who had to pay millions (to Christie's friends, former bosses, future campaign contributors and cronies) and not the NJ taxpayers.
Pardon me, but what a hunk of shit that is.
Justice and the law shouldn't be up for sale or to be "deferred" because of a deal - at Christie's sole discretion (even thought other US Attorney's actually exercised discretion) - that "coincidentally" funneled tens of millions of dollars to Christie's friends, former bosses, future campaign contributors and cronies.
And spare me the argument about "jobs lost" - I worked at Arthur Andersen and nobody was running to save my (and 75,000 other of my colleagues') job with a slap on the wrist, a fine and the ability to not have our entire jobs and careers upended. Besides, the people responsible should have been charged, and a hefty fine to the Firm payable to the Federal government would have been appropriate - or, companies like Merrill Lynch, KPMG and whoever else should have also been charged for their roles in various scandals. Either everyone gets a deferred prosecution agreement that has controls which Christie did not abide by, or nobody gets them.
Fact is, crimes were committed and people who committed these crimes were not held accountable. Their companies were made to pay hefty ransoms to Christie's friends, former bosses, future campaign contributors and cronies - all in the name of "justice".
What's worse is that Christie and his supporters defend a separate class of justice to those who can and will make a deal to line the pockets of Christie's friends, former bosses, future campaign contributors and cronies.
That is the type of person who is seeking the Governorship. How many more of his friends, former bosses, future campaign contributors and cronies will benefit from taxpayer funds if he were to win? We certainly can't trust him to use discretion since he has already proven incapable of that.
Following the sentencing of Bernie Madoff Monday, Senator Menendez has called for reforms at the Securities and Exchange Commission and other financial institutions. Here's what the Senator wants:
An increased enforcement budget at the SEC, which was inadequately funded during the Bush Administration
Senate Finance Committee hearings on ways the federal government can help innocent victims of Ponzi schemes to recoup their losses through the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) or other means
Enactment of the Improved Financial and Commodity Markets Oversight and Accountability Act, legislation Senator Menendez introduced on June 25th, 2009 to strengthen the Inspectors General at five key financial regulatory agencies: the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Reserve, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation. The legislation would require Presidential appointments and Senate confirmation of the Inspectors General, who are currently appointed by the heads of the agencies they are supposed to investigate. The legislation also clarifies the subpoena powers of the Inspectors General so they can properly oversee the financial regulators and requires regulators to respond to deficiencies identified by the Inspectors General by either taking corrective action or explaining to Congress why they are not taking corrective action.
There will be an amazing amount of money and pressure brought to bear on any reforms of the financial industry. There are so many layers of problems to deal with, but having an effective regulatory commission to oversee the system might be a good start.
Last night, Chris Christie was on the original agenda to attend the swearing in of the newly elected council candidates in Evesham. Up until around 2pm yesterday, he was even listed on the public agenda on the township website:
But magically between 2pm and 3pm yesterday, the agenda was was taken down from the website. The page was no more. And Chris Christie did not attend the swearing in of the new Evesham council candidates. He decided not to swear in the GOP candidates as they took control of council in the largest municipality in Burlington County. So what changed? Why did Christie not go?
The only difference between last week when his appearance was confirmed and the swearing in yesterday were the campaign finance allegations that became public earlier this week. I wrote about it on Monday and an article appeared in the Courier Post on Tuesday.
It still amazes me that we need a bill to tell us we shouldn't have school districts without actual schools, but the Governor made things official yesterday:
Gov. Jon Corzine Tuesday signed into law a bill that will clear the way to merge with larger districts 26 small school districts that do not operate schools.
The districts include tiny towns like Teterboro, Tavistock, Hi-Nella and Rocky Hill. Their school boards usually meet just once a year to approve sending a tuition check to a neighboring district.
The Governor called it a positive first step toward school district consolidation. The new law is meant to clarify a 2007 law that got tangled up in taxes. Small districts say they're not the problem and while there may be larger issues, that doesn't mean they should continue to exist. Jay put up a diary with some video on the press conference:No schools will be closed as they merge the districts. I'll put the video the campaign put out below the fold.
Newspaper publisher Gannett Co. plans to cut 1,400 jobs in the next few weeks, about 3 percent of the work force, as it faces a prolonged slump in advertising revenue.
Bob Dickey, head of the company's U.S. community publishing division, informed staff of the layoffs in a letter Wednesday. He told employees that "there have been some promising signs of a recovery, but the reality is the improvements are not broad-based and the economy continues to be fragile."
The majority of layoffs will come by July 9, he said.
The move follows a 10 percent cut at Gannett in 2008, which left the company with about 41,500 employees.
Talk about putting a damper on the holiday weekend for your employees. I'll put the full memo they sent to employees below the fold. In New Jersey, Gannett papers include the Asbury Park Press, Courier News, Courier-Post, Home News Tribune, the Daily Record and the Vineland Daily Journal. It remains to be seen how many of those cuts will hit these NJ outlets.
The Democratic Committee has been all over Christie, sending out a press release each day reminding people of the missing values. The AP reported on June 18 that the Christie for Governor website took down the "Shared Values" section "technical reasons" and the clock has reminded people of how long it has taken for them to fix the problem.
In an attempt to make the issue go away, Christie pointed out that he has a frequently asked questions page. The problem is, the FAQ page doesn't include the same content as the shared values page.
First, let's look at the endorsements:
I am honored to have been endorsed by many key prolife leaders from around New Jersey including Congressman Chris Smith, former Mayor Bret Schundler, State Senator Gerald Cardinale and State Assemblyman Jay Webber. I am devoted to giving a voice to and taking action for those that are unable to protect themselves.
He's either lost the endorsements of those pro-life conservative leaders or he's hiding them like his shared values. Here's what Christie said about being Pro-life on the now missing shared values page:
I am prolife. Hearing the strong heartbeat of my unborn daughter 14 years ago at 13 weeks gestation had a profound effect on me and my beliefs. The life of every human being is precious. We must work to reduce abortions in New Jersey through laws such as parental notification, a 24hour waiting period and a ban on partialbirth abortion.
And here's what it says on the FAQ page:
I believe in the sanctity, dignity and inherent value of all human life. Hearing the heartbeat of my unborn daughter 14 years ago had a profound effect on me. I am pro-life because I believe her life and the life of every child is precious. I strongly support protecting children and their mothers from abortion with three exceptions: rape, incest and to protect the life of the mother. And to immediately reduce abortions in NJ, as Governor, I will push to enact a parental notification law and a 24 hour waiting period.
Gone is the mention of partial birth abortion and added are some exceptions that Christie has found to his abortion stand since the primary. Moving onto gay marriage, the FAQ page says this:
I believe that marriage should be exclusively between one man and one woman. I have no issue with same sex couples sharing contractual rights, but I believe that marriage should remain the exclusive domain of one man and one woman.
But he had a little more to say about the issue when he was sharing values:
I also believe marriage should be exclusively between one man and one woman. While, I have no issue with same sex couples sharing contractual rights, I believe that marriage should remain the exclusive domain of one man and one woman. If a bill legalizing same sex marriage came to my desk as Governor, I would veto it. If the law were changed by judicial fiat, I would be in favor of a constitutional amendment on the ballot so that voters, not judges, would decide this important social question.
Gone is the rhetoric about judicial fiat, vetoing a bill and pushing a constitutional amendment. Christie also appears to have lost his faith, because this paragraph isn't on the FAQ page either:
Our children attend parochial school where we hope their studies will help guide them in their faith and reinforce the values we teach them at home. Experiences in my life, along with my faith, have led me to believe in the sanctity, dignity and inherent value of all human life.
These "shared values" all went from being front and center with the economy to buried with his stance on the bear hunt. So you see the content is really the same, expect for the fact that it isn't.
Christie has drawn more attention to the issue of his values and positions by taking the page down than if he would have left it up. He's given the Democrats an opening to continue hammering him on the fact that he can't stand by the values he ran on in the primary. Maybe he's getting so many questions about his values because people don't believe him and don't share them.
High school students will have to take a financial education course in order to graduate, thanks to a new rule established by the state Board of Edcuation.
A Superior Court judge denied Loch Arbour's request to suspend implementation of the new school funding formula.
I think Governor Corzine must be feeling sick after reading the latest FDU PublicMind poll of New Jersey. Not because he's trailing Christie 39-45 in poll -- He's used to that by now, and it's better than the other four June polls, though I'd chalk that up to chance. No, it's because FDU looking into how New Jersey voters would handle the budget:
Most voters accept the tax increases contained in the new budget. A majority (55%) say it's a good idea to eliminate the property-tax deduction on state income tax for those earning more than $250,000, while 37% say it's a bad idea. These numbers have turned around sharply since April when voters were asked about making the cut-off $150,000. In that case, two-thirds (66%) were opposed. In addition, 64% say increasing taxes on wine and liquor is a good idea to raise money for the state; 31% say it's a bad idea. A majority (56%) say that it's a good idea to limit property tax rebates to senior citizens and others making less than $75,000. A majority (52%) say it's a good idea to force state workers to take nine unpaid days off, while 40% say it's a bad idea. And 50% say eliminating 7,000 state jobs is a bad idea; an idea that was dropped from the budget considerations.
Yes, after telling the pollster that New Jersey's on the wrong track, that they disapprove of Corzine's performance, that they're not going to vote for him, and even that he is not honest, a significant number of people turn around and support his policies. The cross-tabs reveal that independents, who have 21% support for Corzine and 45% support for Christie in this poll, are more likely than not to support Corzine's policies.
I'd think this contradiction would make Corzine feel sick: rejected by independents for making the very cuts they support. Then again, maybe the ex-Marine who rose to the top of the cut-throat worlds of Finance and Politics is made of tougher stuff than me. Maybe he sees that a replay of 1977 is possible since the public supports Corzine's imperfect solutions, just as voters went for Brendan Byrne's solutions over Raymond Batemen's once they thought it all through. I hope so.
Update by Jason: From the Governor's email announcing the event:
President Obama isn't just a close friend of mine; he's a great friend to our state. After eight long years, we finally have a partner in Washington who shares our values and vision for a more progressive New Jersey.
Together, we are creating green jobs, providing universal access to healthcare for kids, protecting the most vulnerable among us, and ensuring all our children have access to a quality education -- regardless of where they live.
We are doing all of this despite a challenging worldwide economic crisis, and I'm proud of the great progress that Barack Obama and I have already have made.
But we still have more to do, and with a partner in Washington who shares our values and priorities, I'm confident in what we can accomplish in the next four years.
I'm honored that President Obama will be on hand in New Jersey to recognize the important work we're doing, and I hope you will join us.
Reps Rodney P. Frelinghuysen and Scott Garrett were the only two members of Congress from New Jersey to oppose Friday's bill to put caps on emissions from a variety of industrial plants. This became known as Cap and Trade, because harmful emissions would be capped, but those involved could buy, in effect, a permit to pollute.
Garrett's opposition is understandable and consistent wth his view that government should do little. But Frelinghuysen has had a pro-environmental record in the past. His opposition, which is out of step with the majority of House Republicans in his own party, is strange.
Anywho, the congessman will help us - and you - understand his views in a column he's writing. It should run in the Daily Record next week.
While Snowflack was trying to figure out the reasoning, Americans United for Change sent out a release with their explanation for Frelinghuysen's opposition:
Tom McMahon, Acting Executive Director, Americans United for Change: "Why would Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen just say "NO" to creating tens of thousands of new clean energy jobs in New Jersey? Why would he just say "NO" to boosting our national security by reducing our dependence on foreign oil? Why would he just say "NO" to protecting our environment by curbing pollution that causes global warming? The $38,000 Rep. Frelinghuysen has taken from the big oil companies opposed to these initiatives seems like such a small price to ignore the global warming crisis and turn his back on New Jersey families that are every day losing their jobs and feeling the pain at the pump during the worst economic recession in generations."
It'll be interesting to hear what he has to say next week as to why he voted NO. The Republicans that did support the measure have taken a great deal of heat for that vote.
