"Christmas Tree" Grants

by: mikeshapiro

Wed Aug 01, 2007 at 11:30:51 PM EDT

Recently, State Senator Joseph Coniglio of Bergen County was informed that he is a target in an investigation by the United States Attorney's Office into the now-infamous "Christmas Tree" grants provided by the New Jersey State Legislature. "Christmas Tree" grants are legislative grants added on to the State budget by legislators during the final days and hours before the budget is adopted, to aid particular constituencies or organizations, often located in their legislative district or employing friends or relatives of the legislators. In Coniglio's case, a "Christmas Tree" grant of at least $1.6 million was allegedly provided to the Hackensack University Medical Center shortly after the Center hired the Senator as a plumbing contractor at a salary of $5,000 per month. There are two important aspects of the "Christmas Tree Scandal" that the mainstream media has been overlooking.

mikeshapiro :: "Christmas Tree" Grants

First, the concept of tacking items on to the budget right before passage has been around for many, many years and is something that occurs at all levels of government: local, state and federal, throughout the country. It is not the addition of these items that is the thrust of the problem; it is that some of these items have been added for groups or organizations that have more than a constituent relationship with the legislators in power. Some of these groups or organizations have provided jobs or contracts to the legislators themselves or to the relatives or close friends of the legislators, and have done so in close proximity to the awarding of these "Christmas Tree" grants. At the very least, this is an appearance of impropriety; more likely, it is corruption.

Second, the awarding of "Christmas Tree" grants has been trumped up by the mainstream media as a problem of the New Jersey Democratic Party. There are two reasons that the Democratic Party is bearing the brunt of these attacks. First, they hold a slim majority in the State Legislature and therefore have the ability to award such grants since without their votes, the budget probably would not pass. Second, it was only until recently and only when the Democrats controlled Trenton that these "Christmas Tree" grants to organizations and constituencies that have more than a constituency relationship to legislators are being investigated. If the U.S. Attorney's Office had launched similar investigations while Republicans controlled the New Jersey State Legislature, it would likely have turned up similar instances of these grants being awarded to those providing contracts and jobs to legislators and their relatives. Furthermore, if the Republican Party controlled the New Jersey State Legislature and thus controlled the budgeting process, it would be the Republican Party in the mainstream media's cross-hairs because they would behave no differently.

The truth is that the "Christmas Tree" grants provided to organizations with a "special relationship" to a legislator are nothing new. This practice has been going on for decades, under both Republican and Democratic majorities. It is only now that it is being investigated that New Jersey residents have learned of this shady practice. Corruption in New Jersey, or elsewhere, is not a Democratic Party issue. It is an issue deeply rooted in the conduct of both political parties. Only when the citizens and the media comprehend this will any kind of true and meaningful reform take place.

Tags: christmas tree, grants, Coniglio, Democratic Party, Republican Party, hackensack, Chris Christie, corruption, (All Tags)

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"Christmas Tree" Grants | 4 comments

You realize (0.00 / 0)

that Chris Christie is only investigating Christmas Trees back to the point where McGreevey took office, right?

Oh, that's bipartisan - about like I have anorexia (I am fat).

by: Hudson Observer @ Thu Aug 02, 2007 at 19:01:55 PM UTC

Re: Your Comment (0.00 / 0)

Thanks for your comment. As far as I can tell you are correct that Chris Christie's investigation does not currently entail investigating the Legislature when it was under Republican control. However, two points bear mention:

1) It is a positive step towards a more transparent, ethical and fiscally responsible government in New Jersey for these "Christmas Tree" grants to be investigated.

2) It is possible that the reason Chris Christie's investigation does not span a longer period of time is because of statute of limitations issues.

Michael M. Shapiro
www.TheAlternativePress.com

by: mikeshapiro @ Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 03:39:44 AM UTC

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by: you @ soon

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I had thought about this as well (0.00 / 0)

I support any movement that gets rid of crooks. But getting rid of one side of a gang in Newark doesn't really clean up the town. The same is true for the State House in Trenton.

I did a quick search and saw that the statute of limitations for public corruption in NJ has recently been extended from five to seven years. Of course, Christie doesn't labor under NJ laws.

by: Hudson Observer @ Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 16:51:58 PM UTC

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Federal (0.00 / 0)

I found a similar measure has been introduced at the federal level, but I don't know if it is actually law yet or not.

First, the bill extends the statute of limitations for the most serious public corruption offenses. Specifically, it extends the statute of limitations from five years to eight years for bribery, deprivation of honest services, and extortion by a public official. This is an important step because public corruption cases are among the most difficult and time-consuming cases to investigate and prosecute. They often require use of informants and electronic monitoring, as well as review of extensive financial and electronic records, techniques which take time to develop and implement.

IF the statute of limitations has expired on the last Republican-led legislature, that only calls into question Christie's decision to wait so long to go after it. For someone so hot about supposedly going after both sides, that's a pretty fortuitous mistake.

by: Hudson Observer @ Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 16:52:28 PM UTC

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