Thu Mar 26, 2009 at 10:30:00 AM EDT
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We've all heard the stories about Chris Christie the corruption buster. If you take the names out of this story, would US Attorney Christie look into this candidate?State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D)-says that __________________ should return $23,800 in campaign contributions from a law firm that received a lucrative federal monitor contract while _____________ was the state's U.S. Attorney.
___________ entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the university in 2006 after it admitted to committing Medicare fraud. He named Herbert Stern, a former federal judge and prosecutor, to the $500-per-hour post as monitor. His law firm, Stern and Killcullen, received a reported $8 million in legal fees from the contract.
Citing reports filed with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, Weinberg says that Stern and his partners, former Morris County Freeholder John Inglesino and Kevin Killcullen, and their wives each gave the maximum contribution of $3,400 to the _____________ campaign. Inglesino also gave $3,400 from his old campaign account. As I'm sure you could guess, the __________ is for Chris Christie. If those contributions weren't enough, just wait because there's more:Through public financing, Christie received an additional $47,600 in matching funds through the seven contributions. Senator Weinberg provided a blast from US Attorney Christie's past:In a Bergen Record story on February 2, 2002 when he was U.S. Attorney, Mr. Christie said, "There's no question the system in New Jersey is broken and is not operating in the best interests of the people in the state. The people who have a responsibility to do so should put a stop to it." The paper went on to say that "Christie said laws banning 'pay to play' are needed because the practice falls into a 'murky' area where prosecutors are powerless without evidence of an explicit promise of a contract in exchange for a contribution, or vice versa.'"
"I couldn't agree more", said Weinberg. "I believe Mr. Christie should heed this advice and take these campaign contributions out of that "murky area". So Chris Christie got public money and political contributions from a firm he gave an $8 million deferred compensation contract. If that's the going rate, he should do well from former boss John Ashcroft, because his deferred prosecution agreement was much larger at over $50 million. Here's what the NY Times wrote in Feb of 2008:In this particular case, Mr. Christie arranged for a medical supply company accused of fraud to hire his former boss to monitor its activities for a payment between $28 million and $52 million. There was no competitive bidding. If Mr. Christie runs for elected office in the future, Mr. Ashcroft could be an important supporter and fund-raiser. This isn't the only time Mr. Christie's appointment of a monitor has raised questions. Maybe they can start a group of supporters, "Monitors for Christie."I guess we'll see whether candidate for Governor Christie holds himself to the same standard he talked about in his prior career. |
| Jason Springer :: Candidate X takes money after giving firm Y a contract |
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