Thu Jun 24, 2010 at 12:00:00 PM EDT
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Governor Christie started his morning yesterday at a special breakfast:Gov. Chris Christie was the featured speaker Tuesday at a New York City breakfast event sponsored by Reform Jersey Now, a non-profit advocacy group that features two former Republican governors on its board.
The event was held at the New York Health and Racquet Club and was organized by billionaire Ken Langone, the founder of Home Depot. Assemblyman Wisniewski slammed the Governor for his attendance contrasting it with his veto which gave many in the audience a tax cut:"No wonder Governor Christie vetoed the millionaires' tax and his Republican colleagues refused to override it. He was planning a breakfast with his millionaire friends and couldn't look them in the face. He needs their millions of dollars of unregulated and unreported campaign contributions " I don't think that's exactly why he vetoed it, but I'm sure it made for a more friendly atmosphere in the room. The problem with this group isn't the tax cut, it's that it's a "Friends of Christie" front group formed in a way to shield accountability:Reform Jersey Now is a 501 (c)(4) non-profit that has so far run two radio ads in favor of Christie's cap plan. The group counts among its board members former Republican Governors Christie Whitman and Donald DiFrancesco. Long-time Christie friend and advisor Bill Palatucci is also a member of the advisory board as is former U.S. Rep. Mike Ferguson. They set it up as a non-profit intentionally because while goals of affecting policy may be the same as other political PAC's, they're not bound by any financial disclosure rules, making their list of donors virtually inaccessible. They've promised to provide full transparency.... eventually, which isn't good enough for Wisniewski:Governor Christie's ability to ignore campaign promises and side step regulations is neither surprising nor new for him. We must 'reform' Reform Jersey Now and ensure that in the future, politically motivated ultra right wing organizations are not involved in making our state's policies.
I call on Reform Jersey Now to release all of its donors now, not eventually. Here we are, once again, with Christie doing secret deals. Now those rich friends of his who get contracts through "advisory" boards not subject to public information requests can pay Christie with a kickback to his slush fund that guess what, doesn't disclose donors. It takes a former US Attorney to come up with such a devious scheme. |
| Jason Springer :: Wisniewski demands donor list from Christie Slush Fund |
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