Words just don't seem to matter to the new Governor. During the campaign, he got himself in some political hot water for taking contributions from John Inglesino and Herb Stern's law firm, who he had given huge no bid monitoring contracts to while US Attorney, all while denying he had taken money. Adam did this video about the connections at the time. Then, when stopped getting off the campaign bus, a woman asked him if he had taken any money, to which he said:
"No. No. He didn't. He did not. He never raised any money." (Video to the right)
But that wasn't really true. Michael Aron asked him after a Press Conference on ethics Christie held, where he said he wouldn't take any more money from people who he gave monitorships to about Inglesino hosting a fundraiser that raised more than $100,000 for his campaign at the same time. Aron asked if that isn't just one step removed from taking contributions from people he gave contracts to, to which Christie responded:
No, because John had already made his contributions to my campaign. The invitation for that fundraiser went out two months before I made the statements at that press conference. Um, and John did not participate um in the fundraiser that evening. Uh, we had I think 20 or so hosts of that event .
Lets count the excuses. 1) he already had made his contributions 2) The invitation already went out 3) John didn't attend, even though he later admitted to Aron that Inglesino attended at the end. 4) There were lots of other people who helped host. But Christie still said he wasn't going to take any more money, which leads us to add a 5th excuse/justification/broken promise for why it's ok to take money from people who you gave contracts to, since Herbert Stern, John Inglesino and Kevin Kilcullen all gave money to Christie's inaugural committee:
Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said the donations from Stern and his colleagues were different than giving for campaign purposes. "Everyone's money went to the cost of the inaugural, with the balance going to charities," he said.
Huh? It's ok for them to give to fund because you gave some at the end to charity? It seems more like they're only banned from donating when they're not making contributions is really the policy.
.gif)
