Transparent. Just like a stone wall.

by: Adam L

Tue Nov 30, 2010 at 01:56:55 PM EST

"Folks in this state have a right to know what we're doing in their name every day. And any kind of thought that you have about playing hide-the-ball on the public or on any part of the administration should be left by the sidelines,"

And because Christie doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt, let's take a look at what Governor Christie does:

• On August 26 Senator Buono filed a request for all documents related to New Jersey's 2010 application to the Race to the Top funding. She granted one request for an extension and denied a second request made just two days after granting the first one.
• The Asbury Park Press on Aug. 27 filed a request under OPRA to both the governor's office and the state Department of Education for copies of all correspondence regarding the firing of former Education Commissioner Bret Schundler. In a response, they were told summer vacation made them unable to produce the records and no date was given for completion of that review.
• After a two week extension from the standard OPRA waiting period, Senator Loretta Weinberg was given a Xerox of a newspaper article in response to her request regarding funding for women's health.
• Christie has said his Hanson Gaming Commission is not subject to the scope and scrutiny of the Public Record (OPRA) and they have no records of what went on, though published reports show people were contacting the Governor's office to arrange communications and meetings.  
• Even after he just took office, Christie's transition team issued a report questioning the extent to which the Open Public Records Act applies to the Governor's Office in light of the exceptions found in the statute as well as judicially-recognized privileges, including executive privilege, the deliberative-process privilege and the attorney-client privilege.
• The Governor's secret slush fund Reform Jersey Now, has helped Christie's close friends get around campaign finance laws and raise unlimited sums of money from the same people that are protected by the Governor's changes to disclosure laws in order to push the Christie agenda.
• In May, Christie quietly issued an executive order not forcing N.J. officials to disclose more info on assets, and then delayed disclosing his own tax return information for months.
• And just this week, we hear that Christie's administration knew about $14 million in charter school aid it lost since August but hid this from the public until it was uncovered by a news report.

Maybe Christie honestly doesn't know the meaning of the word "transparency".  But more likely, this is yet another one of Christie's rules that apply to others but not himself.  And once again, what Christie is saying is in direct contrast to what he does.

Lather, rinse, repeat.