| Why does Moran think it is all hogwash? Because he has bought the myth that Christie enjoys "busting corrupt Republicans as much as corrupt Democrats." His evidence?
His first big kill was former Essex County Executive James Treffinger, a Republican who was leading the field to be the party's candidate for U.S. Senate.
Christie later set up camp in Monmouth County, dragging in enough corrupt Republicans to field a football team.
These "kills" do go on Christie's belt, but are they really his? Take the Treffinger example. Chris Christie was sworn in to his office in January, 2002. The Treffinger case was begun in 2000, two years before Christie took office.
By March 2000, investigators identified Treffinger as a possible subject. Over the next two years, prosecutors compiled what became the heart of the case: 46 secretly recorded conversations in which the onetime Fulbright scholar incriminated himself.
Christie came into the office and was handed audio of Treffinger admitting his guilt 46 times. Regardless of his possible hackdom, he had no choice but to take the damn thing to trial. The office that had been in on the investigation was run by a Democratically appointed US Attorney who would know something was up if it hadn't been followed through on.
This is not to say that Christie didn't do his job, or do it well. It's just to say that the Treffinger convictions - which included no jail time for his associates, including his barber who was nailed for having a no-show job -- are no measure of whether Christie is partisan or not. He had no choice but to follow through with them.
"Operation Bid Rig," the FBI name for the Monmouth County investigation Moran references, also began well before Christie came on the scene. In February 2005, Christie announced the arrests of 11 public officials (8 Republicans and three Democrats, actually not enough Republicans to field a football team) had for public corruption. It was a huge sting, and is the one that cemented his reputation as going after any corrupt official without regard to party.
But did he "set up camp" as Moran said, or arrive to find a well-stocked campsite? It turns out that the investigation predated Christie by at least a year, and was well underway by the time he found a cot to sleep on.
The arrests, which included three mayors, came after an undercover F.B.I. investigation that stretched back for more than four years.
More than four years would put it at least in January 2001, still under the Clinton-appointed US Attorney, and probably earlier. Again, The Democratically appointed personnel knew about the investigation so putting it in his pocket would have been pretty tough.
Making it even tougher is that a Democratic State Senator, Ellen Karcher, was a cooperating witness in the case and would have known if it was dropped.
State Senator Ellen Karcher, a Democrat and former Marlboro councilwoman, recently revealed that she wore a wire for the FBI in late 2002 to aid in their investigation in the township.
Again, this is not to say that Christie didn't do his job or do it well. He got all 11, which is pretty good work. But he had no choice in pursuing the case because it was well underway before he even took office and too many high-ranking Democrats knew about it. Since he had no choice, it's not reasonable to use the case as an example of zeal.
At best, these two examples Moran used are neutral. Yes, Christie nailed Republicans but No, he had no choice.
When you take away the 13 convictions from these two investigations, suddenly the whole bipartisan crusader image slips away. Christie needs these for his armor against criticism of being partisan with his non-partisan office, but no reporter or columnist should use them for him.
Moran also pooh-poohs the most likely incident of clear partisanship from Christie's office, the issuance and public discussion of a subpoena issued to one of Bob Menendez's tenants who had received federal funding secured by the Senator. This was done in seeming concert with the Kean Jr. camaign's efforts to push the story and corruption line, but Moran says Menendez "asked for it."
Democrats began their beefing last year when Christie dropped a subpoena on a nonprofit group that rented a home from Sen. Robert Menendez.
Sorry, but Menendez asked for that one. He chose to rent his home to a group that received his help in Washington. Should a federal prosecutor look the other way when faced with such a clear conflict?
Actually, Menendez didn't handle the rental or choose the tenant. That was handled by a real estate agent without Menendez's influence or direction, and occurred years before he assisted them in getting recognition as a Federally Qualified Health Center and increased funding. Getting an FQHC in the community (and not in his building) is a boon to the poor and uninsured, and was a responsible thing for a Congressman to do. Should he have kicked them out of his property because he was doing his job? Moran seems to think so, or at least doesn't know the full story of the rental or that there is a newspaper article from 1996 that demonstrates Menendez went to the House Ethics Committee to get clearance on the deal.
Frankly, there is no fire there. Moran is right that there is smoke and that a US Attorney might want to investigate it. However, issuing the subpoena 45 days before an election and discussing it publicly as your party's candidate is starting to fade is a little much.
And while there is no fire around Christie regarding the election-time subpoena, there is at least as much smoke as there was around Menendez's rental deal. Christie was Bush's NJ campaign attorney, raised over $100,000 for him, is a former Republican Freeholder, and is named as a prime candidate to run for Governor in three years. Other US Attorneys were fired for not inserting their offices in the 2006 elections, but Christie did and still has his job.
If Menendez "asked for it" then surely Christie is doing the same. Unless, of course, there is a double standard here.
Finally, Moran ends the piece with this admonition:
Let's keep this scandal where it belongs -- in Washington.
What this shows is that Moran has not been paying attention to the scandal, or how it broke. He knows some of the facts of the matter, but misses the most important part: while this is a Washington scandal, it is only so because it was the Washington Republicans firing US Attorneys to help out local Republicans.
- Carol Lam of California was fired after the White House got pressure from Congressman Darryl Issa (R-Calif) who complained of her perceived focus on corruption to the exclusion of immigration control.
- John McCay of Washington was fired after state Republican Chair Chris Vance complained to Karl Rove on two occasions that Vance was not prosecuting allegations of Democratic voter fraud.
- David Iglesias of New Mexico was fired after Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) both called him to pressure his office to indict a Democrat prior to the election, then complained to the White House about his performance. (As a side note, before this incident came to light Domenici had been above suspicion of ever doing something like this. If Domenici went against his image, it makes no sense to give Christie the benefit of the doubt as Moran does.)
The scandal did not start in Washington. It started in the states with Republican party officials and politicians putting pressure on US Attorneys to use their offices for partisan gain. It moved to Washington only after the locals complained, and the White House responded by making the situation worse.
Moran would do well to remember that a month ago when Talking Points Memo broke this story it was laughed off as a conspiracy theory. Then when the facts came out it was worse than anyone had initially suspected.
It's entirely possible that Moran is right and Christie hasn't politicized his office to help the Republican party and never received pressure to do so. But unless he actually investigates it and asks questions he shouldn't categorically rule it out. |
