Bergen Record: Christie Not As Bad As Felons

Corrupt or unethical? (0.00 / 0)

 

Maybe someday you can confidently excuse this as an ethical lapse, but until there is actually a review there's no way we can definitively state whether Christie is corrupt or just unethical.

I suppose if one defines "corrupt" as an action that gets you convicted of a crime, and "unethical" as an action that's just sleazy, but legal; then that the dichotomy "works".

From my perspective it's the same "shit" on different quantitative scales.  

The mindset of the sleaze is the same as the criminal but the sleaze is slick enough to more carefully cover his tracks, or just stop short of a convictable offense.  

The many millions of dollars Ashcroft's firm will have received from Christie's decision amounts to a political payoff.  A legal bribe, at best.

The fact that that practice may turn out to be nothing more than "business as usual" makes it all the more de facto, corrupt, if not de jure corrupt.   That's what the editorial should have been about.

The Republicans (and the Bergen Record) can rationalize it until the Sun burns out; but the cold hard fact remains that Chris Christie is an unethical hypocrite who is  not really all that different from the people he puts in jail.

If this was somehow all reversed and it was a Democratic former AG and US Attorney  that had acted in this manner; it would be a national story and every right wing radio/cable channel would be harping on it without end.  

They would then use it as a national political issue and club every Democrat over the head with it by forcing them to "condemn" (or maybe even "reject ;-) the sleazy actions and individuals involved.

Given the investigative pieces in the New York Times (why couldn't the Bergen Record have done that work???) and all the blogging that folks like Huntsu have done on Christie; this is the weakest, most charitable editorial position that the Record could have taken without appearing to be compromised itself.  

This "editorial" amounts to praising with faint damnation.

Shame on the Bergen Record for being so soft on this bum.  

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by: Nick Lento @ Fri Feb 29, 2008 at 19:56:25 PM UTC

Why not? (4.00 / 1)

Sharpe James used his position to sell land to his girlfriend who then turned around and sold it for an incredible profit.  Chris Christie gave his former boss a no-bid multi-million dollar contract.

Difference - Christie was not having sex with Ashcroft (that we know of)

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by: Thurman Hart @ Fri Feb 29, 2008 at 23:36:12 PM UTC

CC and DPAs (4.00 / 1)

no question that the CC deals only with "friendly reporters".  During the UMDNJ deferred prosecution agreement, the Ledger had articles describing the Monitor's periodic reports PUBLISHED before anyone in the University community saw copies.  Direct line from the AG's office to the Ledger and the Sherman/Margolin team.  

Meanwhile, for all of you obsessed with Deferred Prosecution Agreements and our illustrious AG's eventual subpoena by Congress, here is a recent article from Houston about some local lawyers who are studying the issue.  What I find interesting is Pascrell's erroneous statement that "no one goes to jail". Of course we all appreciate the excellent job that Pascrell and Pallone have done in bringing CC's transgressions to the fore (long after Blue Jersey, of course) but I would argue that DPAs frequently lead to indictments and/or prosecutions of INDIVIDUALS.  What this means is that corporations are off the hook to pay for the huge legal fees involved. So corporate policy is forced upon and followed by these hapless individuals, whose lives are subsequently ruined by the AG's reaching down into the organization and tapping individuals for prosecution, perhaps directed by the corporate leaders themselves.  The CEOs often remain standing, unscathed. Obviously the no-show UMDNJ jobs are an exception here, but you get the idea: the whole process is designed to protect upper management.

bravo to huntsu and other brave individuals at Blue Jersey for staying on top of this story and the AG's role.  I've delighted in following the developments.

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by: rustycat @ Sat Mar 01, 2008 at 15:25:23 PM UTC

Yes!!! You've Touched on a Critical Aspect... (0.00 / 0)

....of all these kinds of political/white collar crimes.

The real culprits; the men (almost always men) at the top are rarely held accountable for policies/actions that the implicitly or wxplicitly ordered.

The laws need to be changed so that it's much easier to convict the bosses and so that they do SERIOUS time in real prisons.

These are smart selfish people who may not be so likely to act in corrupt ways if they thought they might actually spend 25 years in a real jail with no parole if they got busted.   Deterrence would work with this crew.  

As it stands now upper management types can break the law with virtual impunity since the only punishment is that other people's money is paid out in fines or compensation.

It all gets factored into the "cost of doing business" and the corruption marches on.

None of this is likely to change much until many millions of new people become politically active and force the change.

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by: Nick Lento @ Mon Mar 03, 2008 at 01:06:16 AM UTC

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