| Senator Loretta Weinberg is urging a full-scale investigation of Gov. Chris Christie's privately-funded slush fund operated by top Christie operatives whose donors were unknown till a Christie front-office news dump of the names in the blizzard aftermath during the Christmas/New Year's week when most people aren't following the news. Reform Jersey Now raised $624,000 to push the Christie agenda, and now that we know the donors (though we still don't have the expenditures) some serious questions have been raised about the legality of the group's activities. The group's secret dealings have caused massive accountability and transparency issues in its much-maligned 6-month life. (Though Charlie Stile's right: what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander).
Senator Weinberg today called on US Attorney Paul Fishman and Attorney General Paula Dow for a full investigation of Reform Jersey Now, citing concerns the group was organized with the specific goal of subverting federal and NJ campaign finance laws; also NJ pay-to-play laws. In letters to Fishman & Dow, Weinberg says an investigation is warranted because Reform Jersey Now appears to have been "a Republican-controlled entity (designed) to circumvent campaign finance and pay to play laws." Weinberg also said there are concerns that the group "could have facilitated quid pro quo arrangements" between the administration and would-be state contractors.
Letter to AG Paula Dow. Letter to US Atty Paul Fishman.
Among contributors causing concern, Weinberg cites 2 highest-level donors, Ferreira Construction & George Harms Construction. Both gave $25K and received state transportation contracts in excess of $300 million. Another contribution of $1K from comes from Earle Asphalt Company, which has run afoul of NJ pay-to-play rules. Weinberg:
From its inception, Reform Jersey Now has sought to take advantage of every loophole under state and federal law and has blurred the line between lawful and unlawful conduct. Its contempt for our pay to play and other anti-corruption laws has opened the door to abuse and quid pro quo transactions. There is little doubt that by coordinating its efforts with prominent Republicans and openly soliciting contributions from contractors, Reform Jersey Now has violated the spirit of the law. The question remains, however, whether it violated the letter of the law.
Weinberg also challenges Gov. Christie's claims that the group organized to privately propel his own agenda ever actually had a real "reform" agenda, given its refusal to disclose where its money was going, and given the fact its board included Christie Todd Whitman, whose pension bond scheme exploded NJ debt, and Donald DiFrancesco whose 9% pension increase was pushed through without providing a way to pay for it. |
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