The Supreme Court today declined to hear arguments seeking to overturn an appeals court ruling to have Governor Corzine release email communications with Carla Katz. They rejected the Republicans efforts saying the e-mails should not be made public. Governor Corzine had this reaction:
I am glad this is all over. I think we had a political fishing trip by folks that has gone on far too long.
Wilson said that now that the Governor's executive privilege point is made, there's no reason he should not release the emails.
Give it up already. With all the difficulties facing the state now, he's focused on gaining the content of two year old communications. Since it seems he will continue to focus on emails, does this mean he won't be helping Chris Christie develop an actual budget?
Rocco Riccio, a self-described former "street thug," is trying to publish a book about his one-time friendship with Gov. Corzine, promising to expose details of the governor's breakup with former labor leader Carla Katz.
Riccio, who is married to Katz's sister Genise, blames the governor for ending his state career, for trouble in his personal life, and for financial ruin, according to an outline and partial rough draft of the untitled book.
Riccio bitterly describes Corzine's staff members as "harsh," calling them "henchmen" who coldly destroyed him because he was "no longer a valued asset for the governor's political ambitions."
"It is my turn to punch back by telling the truth," he declares in his opening chapter.
If he blames the Governor for ending his career, does he at least give him credit for the money he as made from the association? Somewhere, Tom Wilson is looking for information on how to pre-order, but he may want to check on the accuracy of some of the stories before running with them:
In the book proposal, he recounts a scene in which Katz had Corzine, former U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, and former Gov. Jim McGreevey lift the Torah at her son's bar mitzvah.
However, Booker and Corzine were not at the event, and it was her daughter's bat mitzvah, not her son's bar mitzvah. Neither Riccio nor his wife was at the bat mitzvah.
So will this be in the fiction, or non-fiction section?
Corzine said he knows the public doesn't like some of the things he does. People call. People write.
"They even send me e-mails," he said pausing for a small laugh as the crowd waited for a Carla Katz line. "I'd love to show them to you, but you know what my lawyer said."
Somewhere, Tom Wilson isn't laughing.
Updated by Jason: This was a very close runner up and could have even been the winner:
He said Senate President Dick Codey, who fills in as governor when he's out of state, gave him a suitcase for Christmas. Corzine said he brought it with him to Washington, and would love to fill it with $4 billion in cash from the federal government before he goes home, a reference to the scale of the budget gap he faces.
"I thought at first it was a bad idea to bring a suitcase full of cash back to New Jersey. Then I remembered the lawman who would be most concerned with it decided to skip the train," Corzine said.
"A person I once considered a friend made meritless claims regarding what he believed to be a promise to help him secure private sector employment," Corzine said in response to questions from The Star-Ledger. "He hired a lawyer and threatened to file a lawsuit against me personally to force an accommodation. To avoid a prolonged and costly court battle, and on the advice of my lawyers, a financial settlement of his legal claims was negotiated and agreed to."
If the goal is to avoid prolonging costly battles, then why not release the Carla Katz emails from 2006? It's disappointing because there is no doubt we will hear about these situations in the upcoming re-election campaign from the Governor's opponents.
Today comes yet another story with Carla Katz talking about those emails once again, saying some of them involved union negotiations. Cue Tom Wilson screaming while he neglects to mention his own VP email situation.
If Governor Corzine would have just released the emails originally, I can't imagine it would have been near the issue it is today and that we would even be thinking about it with everything else that has gone on in the state.
We are still talking about a 2006 contract negotiation as we near the end of 2008 and one of the principals involved no longer even holds her position. I'm just saying.
For a few weeks we've been wondering (here and here) when Tom Wilson would criticize Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for refusing to turn over e-mails that were subpoenaed given that he has attacked NJ Governor Jon Corzine for the same actions.
?Ms. Katz, who reportedly received more than $6 million from Jon Corzine, who exchanged backchannel secret emails with Jon Corzine discussing the terms of a state worker contract under negotiation, who was removed by her national union leadership for using union member dues to support her personal agenda, who embodies the very essence of the old boy network, is really in no position to take pot shots at Governor Palin,? he said.
Well, media, Tom Wilson has opened the gate to asking about e-mails here by invoking the Corzine/Katz e-mails in a statement about Sarah Palin. Anyone going to actually ask him about it, or does the GOP chair get a free pass on his hypocrisy?
The NY Times editorial page suggests that Jon Corzine's current claim against revealing his e-mails to and from Carla Katz is executive privilege.
But before he claimed that they were completely personal.
I supported his keeping personal e-mails private, but now that he is claiming executive privilege that goes out the window. You can't claim they are wholly personal but covered by your job's privacy protections.
The conventional wisdom is that the recently announced federal probe into the dealings of former Corzine friend, Carla Katz, with the local CWA which she had led, will score United States Attorney Chris Christie political points with Republicans, Independents, and some anti-Corzine Democrats. Governor Corzine has been battling to keep emails between Katz and himself from becoming public and Katz is already under investigation by the national CWA for alleged improper conduct. Christie's federal investigation promises more negative Katz headlines, more unfavorable publicity for the Governor, and positive publicity for Mr. Christie. However, Mr. Christie's possible gubernatorial ambitions may actually be undermined by this probe.
Here is the response from CWA District 1 Vice President Chris Shelton in response to allegations from a staffer earlier today that he had been unfairly retaliated against by the District for complaining about union actions and supporting Carla Katz. The staffer requested anonymity, but this statement makes a guess as to his identity.
Statement of Chris Shelton, Vice President, CWA District One
We've learned all too well in 2008 that desperate rumors and shadowy political smears are the bile that courses through the internet's bowels. It's a shame to see them rise up on Blue Jersey, the Garden State?s progressive online hub, and a shame to see a degrading of reporting standards and a reliance on anonymous sources.
But the best way to respond to this detritus is with specific facts that comprise the truth:
- Local 1034 staffer Gerald T. Reiner was placed on paid leave from his staff duties because an internal CWA investigation found evidence that when he was hired three months ago, his primary responsibilities were to work on the election campaign of the Local?s president. That is not an appropriate staff function. Furthermore, he has no previous experience in the labor movement.
- The fundraising raffle was reviewed and determined to be lawful by the Nevada Gaming Commission (the union?s annual convention was held this year in Las Vegas). Unfortunately, a brief review by the Commission did temporarily shut down a raffle to support the family of a CWA Executive Board member who is battling Lou Gehrig?s Disease.)
- CWA staff did not instruct anyone as to how many raffle tickets to buy, nor did anyone keep track of who bought tickets or not, or how many.
- The leaflet distributed by CWA District One staff to Local 1034 members was prepared by the national union and distributed at its direction. The flyer explained to members the reason for the trusteeship. This is a normal and appropriate union staff function.
A couple points about this.
The first is that from the beginning we offered Shelton and Bob Masters a chance to comment and they chose not to for the entire work day.
We contacted Masters and Shelton via e-mail at just after 8 a.m. this morning and told them of the allegations that were being made. We asked for their comment.
We sent them another request for comment at 9:35 noting that we planned to go with the story but wanted their comment.
The story ran at 9:45 am, and Bob Masters finally wrote back at 10:45 that he would respond "in an hour or two."
At 4:30 we had still heard nothing from CWA, and sent another message requesting their comment on the story. Their answer finally came in at 5:15 p.m., more than nine hours after it was requested.
The second point is that this was not a story from an "anonymous source." There is a huge difference between a source that requests anonymity but allows the writer to know who they are and a source that hides its identity even from the reporter.
The fact is, this is a story. The national CWA fired both the local president and the board this week, and placed a staffer on paid suspension. The staffer then accused the District leadership of engaging in retaliatory actions similar to those in a pending lawsuit.
We gave the District leaders close to two hours to respond, and they chose not to. We did not have to offer that window for them to respond, but we did and they decided not to respond in detail for nine hours.
The idea that our reporting was irresponsible or degraded, or that this story is Internet "bile" is ridiculous.
Carla was smooth as silk, even under the enormous stress of the week. A real class act. Listen for yourself - JG
Each week, Blue Jersey Radio streams LIVE with New Jersey's latest political buzz, interviews with newsmakers, and your stimulating calls.
This week: We'll see if we can't get to the bottom of Carla-gate, with our guest - who else? - the inimitable Carla Katz herself!
We'll also take the financial temperature of New Jersey's House races. We'll check out what's doing with the O.J.(oops) Obama campaign here. And, best of all (since I'm back in New Jersey) we'll do it all without any of that caca-Maine-y phone and internet service trouble - Yey!
Blue Jersey received an e-mail today from a CWA 1034 staffer, an ardent supporter of ousted local president Carla Katz. In the e-mail, the staffer -- who requested anonymity -- accuses the national CWA of intentionally banning him from a meeting because of his support of Katz and of using their power to force local staffers to hand out propaganda slanted to the national union's position.
A word of caution: though this seems easily within the realm of possibility none of this is verified by Blue Jersey. We have e-mailed the two District CWA leaders mentioned by the staffer in his e-mail earlier this morning but have not heard back. Once we hear their side, assuming we do, we'll post an updated story.
The e-mail states that he was the sole staffer banned from a meeting the CWA had with local 1034 staff to explain their firing of Katz and the local board. The union has claimed that all staffers were briefed.
Tuesday, my usual 1 hour commute only to arive to the [Trenton] marriott to be told I am "in paid status but I am removed from my duties as of now" I wondered why I was being singled out as the only staff member expelled from the meeting, after all I would like the same information my co-workers had been given about my job.
He maintains that he was excluded because he was an ardent supporter of Katz both in the office and in his own time during the recent elections, which Katz won.
But more disturbing is his accusation of illegal and strong-armed fundraising by Katz's opponents, especially by CWA District 1 VP Chris Shelton. Shelton and Katz have been at odds for a long time.
According to the staffer, Shelton conducted a 50/50 raffle in Las Vegas at the national CWA convention earlier this year without a license to raise money against Katz's candidacy. Complaints from the staffer were dismissed. Further, CWA members were being instructed as to how many tickets they had to purchase based on the size of their local union, and from whom.
The tickets required name, phone and local number -- information that would allow the raffle managers to identify how much staffers spent and whether they followed directions. However, in a 50/50 it is common to collect such information so the winner may be notified.
In particular, the staffer singled out District 1 Legislative and Political Director Bob Master as one of the raffle salespeople who was strong-arming CWA members at the national convention.
Carla Katz currently has a lawsuit against the national CWA alleging retaliatory harassment against her during a time when Communications Workers of America President Larry Cohen was threatening to oust her for political contributions to Newark Mayor Cory Booker. Newark is not in CWA 1034's territory, and the contribution may have been against union rules.
This action by the National union is appalling and the charges against our Local's leadership are completely false. It is a travesty that the retaliation against me, and my fellow union leaders, for our opposition to the bad state worker deal, continues in full force. The National's baseless and extreme action, done without any notice, tramples the democratic rights of the members of our union under the deceptive guise of protecting democracy.
"An extensive internal review revealed probable cause to believe that the local is engaged in ongoing financial malpractice, the misappropriation of union funds, a failure to comply with state and federal law, as well as the CWA constitution, and the suppression of dissent," CWA's national board said in a news release. "The CWA national executive board has determined that it has no choice but to take this action to protect the rights and resources of the members of Local 1034."
A temporary administrator will oversee the local board pending the outcome of a July 22 hearing. The full list of accusations from the news release is below the fold, but it looks like there is alot more to this story. It should probably be noted that Katz has already sued the CWA claiming she was targeted for opposing last year's state worker contract.
Governor Corzine's refusal to release e-mails exchanged with Carla Katz, head of the CWA, despite a Court Order to do so, is troubling. The Governor is claiming executive privilege and, although he continues to fight the Court Order, he recently acknowledged that because of his upcoming battle for re-election, he may accede to the Court's wishes and release the e-mails. State Republican Chairman Tom Wilson had requested the communications soon after the CWA and the Governor's Office came to agreement regarding a new contract last year. In May, Superior Court Judge Paul Innes decided that the e-mails constituted public information and ordered them released. While the Governor is concerned that his refusal to turn over the e-mails will be an issue when he runs for re-election, he is missing the bigger picture: his lack of judgment regarding the exchange of the e-mails in the first place.
The once powerful and united CWA State Worker Organization is now on the verge of having serious leadership challenges to its top two local Presidents. The well documented problems of Carla Katz and her large CWA 1034 Union has now been joined by an open challenge to the Presidency of Carolyn Wade in CWA 1040 by a former employee Tom Bruno , who recently was elected to be the employee representative for the whole State on the Public Employee Retirement System Board.
Katz has to defend some political contributions that might be questionable . Bruno has created a web site , www.TomBruno.org , to outline the many issues that Wade has ignored during her tenure, including the Ancora problem.
At a time when the Budget cuts are going to be debated and issues like early retirement and layoffs will effect each state worker, the CWA is on the verge of the same change that is sweeping the Democratic Party.
State Worker Union members might be showing the same tendency to get rid of complacent leaders as the nation is apparently showing.
Even though Katz and Wade stood on opposite sides during last years state worker contract ratification they now both must answer to their members.
Unions are no different then political parties, both must continue to evolve and grow or they will collapse.
Katz has withstood challenges before , Wade has never had to answer the questions posed by a challenger. The outcome of these leaderships battles will effect New Jersey taxpayers since so many questions about layoffs, retirements, and pensions must be discussed .
CWA Local 1034 says the administration should cut politically appointed positions rather than union jobs:
A state workers union is calling on the governor to cut the nearly 300 politically appointed state jobs before the state closes parks and lays off unionized workers to help balance the budget.
According to public records, those politically connected jobs -- with an average salary of $75,000 -- cost taxpayers more than $22 million annually.
The 298 nonunion jobs are spread across 22 departments and commissions and include 46 people earning more than $100,000, according to figures obtained by Communications Workers of America Local 1034 through an open public records request.
Mark Perkiss, a state personnel spokesman, said the posts have no job descriptions and cover various purposes.
Carla Kats:
"It is outrageous to propose closing state parks and cutting the jobs of workers, such as parks customer service reps earning $35,000, while hundreds of political appointees who are getting fat salaries and have no job descriptions stay untouched."
Update 5pm. Ten weeks is off the table. A five or six week compromise is still possible.
Since Lameduck started, big business has been lying through their caps teeth to try to kill Sen. Sweeney's family medical leave bill. It's been quite a lobby salvo on their part and frankly it kinda caught me off guard.
Yesterday supporters of the bill --led by New Jersey Citizen Action -- struck back and boy was the statehouse teeming.
There's still time to save this bill but liberals need to get pissed and make this a priority.
So what's your take on the topic? Ever take time off to care for a sick parent? To have a baby? Is ten weeks enough? This is an open thread, so fire away.
Carla Katz, who is allegedly in Corzine's pocket, just took a swipe at her ex over his slow movement on the issue of marriage equality.
Today's New York Times lauds Governor Corzine for his support of same-sex marriage even though he has said that he wants to wait until 2009 to avoid muddying the political waters of next year's Presidential race. Dr. Martin Luther King said it best when he said, "justice delayed is justice denied." While I, too, praise the Governor for his support on this issue, I think he is dead wrong to postpone equal protections for all in deference to politics.
I'm also a little perplexed over this. If marriage equality would muddy up the Presidential election, what does Corzine think it's going to do to his and the entire Assembly's reelection campaign in 2009? Marriage for same-sex couples is already legal in Massachusetts and illegal in other states. It's an issue already, and NJ dealing with it isn't going to make the national debate any more contentious.
Since Katz appears to be a better writer than I am, I'll let her close:
The truth is, same-sex marriage is not a 'gay' issue. It is a civil rights issue, pure and simple. It is, and should be, as important to those of us in the 'straight' community as any other civil rights issue.
The papers filed in Superior Court in Mercer County by the Attorney General's Office say "The contents of the requested e-mail exchanges are either entirely private, or contain exchanges of information ... that are protected from disclosure by the long-standing executive privilege."
So this is the if my 1st argument doesn't work, then my 2nd reason is sure to fly rationale. Sorta like the President is doing when all his other excuses don't work, he claims executive privilege.
To me, this story would have gone away after the union negotiation if he didn't keep the issue alive by refusing to disclose the emails. Now it looks like he's hiding something even if he is just defending the power of his office. If you voluntarily give up privileged information, I don't see how you give up the privilege altogether in the future. It's like declassifying information that is classified. It doesn't mean that all other classified information has to be made public.
So what are your thoughts? Should the emails be made public? Should he invoke privilege? And how is this different than what the President is doing, because I think we're gonna see a reversal of roles where D's defend Corzine while R's attack, instead of R's defending Bush while D's attack. I want to defend Corzine, I'm just having a hard time and maybe you can help.
It's one thing for Carla Katz to intervene as a private citizen. I heard she convinced the Executive Board of Local 1034 to finance this court action. If that is the case the members should all call Local 1034, at 609-530-0060, and express their outrage. If that is the case they should also contact each Executive Board member that agreed to fund intervention in the Tom Wilson lawsuit and share their feelings about their union dues being used in this manner.
The next election for officers and the Executive Board of Local 1034 is in the fall of 2008. Lucky for Carla, her fellow officers and Board members it isn't in the fall of 2007. Plenty of time for damage control for a politico like Carla.
The last time 1034 had an election, she and her slate were unopposed. I doubt that will happen in 2008. That might explain her stated intention to run for re-election when she was interviewed by gossip columnist Cindy Adams of the NY Post. She must be getting nervous about her re-election chances.
This started out as a comment, but veers from the original topic so much, I diaried it.
He was running for the governorship. She was the head of a state employees' union. They had a personal relationship. There was no guarantee they would be working together, but there was a strong likelihood.
He gave that money to her a week after he announced his candidacy. If he didn't give some serious thought to disclosing the gift in his reports then, it shows a lack of acumen. It even implies he's way out of touch with normal people (the majority of Americans work years to make that kind of money).
If he did think about it and didn't file, it shows a lack of integrity, given their occupations. Being as it happened during the campaign, I find it incredibly hard to believe he didn't give it some thought.
It becomes more understandable if he didn't disclose because he thought it would hurt his ex-wife or family. But it was his choice to run for the office that employs those she represents. And it was also his choice to make the gift.
Either way, he doesn't come out of it looking good. No one would be talking about this if he had just disclosed it from the start.
