Most of this is just a summing up of details we have already been following, as we help New Jersey voters vet Republican gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie, whose claims as a corruption-buster fade as more attention is paid what he actually did as US Attorney for NJ. His highly-questionable decisions on deferred prosecution agreements that feathered the nests of his friends, cronies and contributors. His lack of transparency and other abuses. But it's important to note how closely the national Democrats are watching. Which is closely.
Statement from the Democratic National Committee:
Chris Christie's testimony to Congress leaves too many unanswered questions about tens of millions of dollars in no-bid contracts that appear to have gone to friends and political cronies like John Ashcroft.
It's clear that as US Attorney Christie used his position to help his friends, and now those very friends are helping him fill his campaign coffers. Chris Christie's repeated ethical lapses demonstrate that he's just not up to the task of serving as governor of New Jersey," said DNC spokesman Michael Czin.
On the Ashcroft Contract
Christie awarded a no-bid contract worth upwards of $52 million to his former boss, former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft. "Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft was one of five private attorneys whom Christie hand-picked to monitor the implant makers. Now Ashcroft's D.C.-based firm is poised to collect more than $52 million in 18 months, among the biggest payouts reported for a federal monitor." Ashcroft was appointed to monitor Zimmer Holdings, of Indiana, in the investigation into hip and knee implant makers. [Star-Ledger, 11/20/2007]
ยท The contract contained lucrative provisions for Ashcroft, such as payments for private aircraft. It called for Ashcroft Group Consulting Services to earn an average monthly fee of between $1.5 million and $2.9 million, including individual legal and consulting fees billed at up to $895 per hour and as much as $250,000 a month for expenses including private airfare, lodging and meals.[Star-Ledger 11/20/2007]
UMDNJ, Inglesino, Stern, pay-to-play, and more - after the jump ...
On the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
Christie was supposed to end no-bid contracts and instead used his authority to give a $10 million no-bid contract to his mentor and a close friend. The New York Times reported that Christie appointed a monitor to oversee the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and among other things end the school's "practice of awarding no-bid contracts. "Yet one of the biggest no-bid contracts to come out of the investigation was the monitor itself." Christie appointed the law firm of Stern & Kilcullen, headed by Herbert Stern, "a former United States attorney, whom he has described as a mentor...the firm ultimately billed the state for more than $10 million." [New York Times, 2/13/2008]
Inglesino and Stern
John Inglesino, Christie's "good friend," personally benefited from a no-bid contract Christie awarded to his firm. John Inglesino, who is "good friends" with Christie and a partner in Stern's law firm, was assigned to work on the monitorship. Inglesino was paid $325 per-hour for the work. [Fred Snowflack column in the Daily Record, 1/26/2006 and AP 4/15/09]
Christie on Inglesino: "He's a guy who I've known and been friends with for many years." During an interview on the Jersey Guys on NJ 101.5, Christie said, "John Inglesino is not on my campaign staff. He's not on my payroll. He's a guy who I've known and been friends with for many years." Christie also said Inglesino helped with "phone banks" on Christie's campaign. [Jersey Guys NJ 101.5, 5/29/09]
THE PAYBACK: Stern and the lawyers in his firm are now bankrolling Christie's campaign.
Christie accepted pay-to-play campaign contributions worth more than $70,000 from Stern and his associates after he gave them a lucrative, multi-million dollar no-bid contract. A former federal prosecutor running for New Jersey governor accepted campaign contributions from a lawyer he awarded a no-bid, multimillion-dollar contract to while serving as U.S. attorney, according to state election records. Former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie took $23,800 in donations this year from principals of Stern & Kilcullen of Roseland and their spouses, according to Election Law Enforcement Commission records. The contributions were matched 2-to-1 through public financing, bringing the total donation to $71,400. As U.S. attorney, Christie named Herbert Stern to oversee operations of the University of Medicine and Dentistry (UMDNJ) in 2005 rather than prosecute the school on Medicare fraud charges....Stern, a former federal judge, was paid about $3 million for two years' work as a federal monitor. [AP 3/26/2009]
Pay-to-Play
Christie pledged to stop taking pay-to-play cash from lawyers he gave no-bid contracts, but broke that promise within a week when one of those lawyers hosted a $100,000 fundraiser for Christie's campaign. "A week after the Republican front-runner in the New Jersey governor's race said he'd reject all future campaign donations from lawyers to whom he gave no-bid contracts as U.S. attorney, he was scheduled to attend a $500-a-plate fundraiser hosted by a lawyer involved in one of the oversight deals. Christopher Christie's campaign hoped to raise $100,000 during the Tuesday night fundraiser co-hosted by John P. Inglesino, a lawyer with Stern & Kilcullen. The Roseland law firm's principal, Herb Stern, was picked by Christie to settle Medicare fraud claims at the state's medical and dental school, and Inglesino was Stern's chief counsel for the monitoring work in a contract that earned the firm $3 million." Associates like Inglesino were paid $325 an hour, according to published reports. [AP 4/15/2009]
Philadelphia Inquirer: "Surely Christie could have found some with whom he had a more arm's-length relationship than his former boss, his brother's investigator, and a man now connected to more than $70,000 in support for his campaign." The newspaper opined : "Christie's weak responses to critics of these arrangements show he either doesn't understand or doesn't care how they violate the principles he championed as U.S. attorney. Clearly, the campaign donations tied to Stern's firm raise questions about inappropriate synergy between Christie the prosecutor and Christie the politician. These questions are unlikely ever to be answered with certainty, which is precisely why Christie shouldn't have caused them to be raised in the first place. [Philadelphia Inquirer 4/16/2009]
