| At his latest Republican-hosted "town meeting," US Attorney Chris Christie was asked a question we've asked ourselves, and ducked it with admirable skill.
We've noted twice -- here and here -- that Christie has been attending quite a few induction ceremonies for and town meetings sponsored by Republican elected officials and called for New Jersey to vote out elected officials who are corrupt or don't keep their campaign promises.
The implication being that the Republican elected officials whose invitation he accepted, who introduced him glowingly, and who he thanked heartily are not the corrupt pols Christie is talking about.
Apparently we are not the only ones who think this, as the following from PoliticsNJ.com indicates:
Asked if his appearance with the three GOP legislators up for election this year could be construed as a signal that Kyrillos, Handlin and Thompson are uninvolved in the current probe of state legislators receiving personal financial gain through state budget items, Christie said he would not comment on any investigations, as a matter of policy.
How forthright! How upstanding! How honorable!
How silly, considering he does comment on investigations when he feels like it. As in this instance from 2002:
The two Democrats seeking their party's nomination for Essex County Executive in next week's primary continue to trade barbs over a letter by the United States Attorney saying that Freeholder President Joseph DiVincenzo was not a target of the federal grand jury investigation into corruption in the Essex County government. ...
On Friday, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie sent a two-sentence letter to DiVincenzo's personal attorney, Nicholas Grieco, saying that the Freeholder "is not a subject or target of the grand jury investigation."
But, huntsu, you say, that's from 2002! That's pretty weak. Can't you find anything from a more recent time?
Well, we love to deliver, so here is another comment from ... this week!
Federal prosecutors served subpoenas on three more state legislators today as part of their expanding criminal investigation of the secret grant-making process in Trenton.
On the receiving end of the subpoenas this time were Sen. Paul Sarlo and Assembly members Robert Gordon and Joan Voss, all Bergen County Democrats. ...
Sarlo's chief of staff, Christopher Eilert, said his office is "fully cooperating...I called the U.S. Attorney's Office and they specifically told me Sen. Sarlo is not a target of any investigation."
So what we can gather from Christie's comment that he won't comment is either that one of the three Republicans who sponsored his talk -- Senator Kyrillos and Assembly members Handlin and Thompson -- is under investigation for corruption, or that Christie wanted to duck the question because there was just a little bit of truth in it. |
