The Corzine campaign launched Christiefacts.com yesterday, a site dedicated to tracking Chris Christie's changing positions on the issues for the voters. Here was the subheading of their release:
"New Jersey residents need a resource guide to keep track of where he actually stands"
Maggie Moran said this about the site:
"After Christie's latest about-face on President Obama's nomination of Justice Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, it is clear New Jersey residents need a resource guide to keep track of where he actually stands," said Moran. "Christie said he was against no-bid contracts, and then awarded multi-million dollar no-bid contracts to his friends; and Christie engaged in pay to play after saying he was against it. He did the same thing with his supportive comments about Justice Sotomayor, which directly contradicted what he said before. This website will be a valuable tool for New Jerseyans to see where Christie really stands on issues, as opposed to what he says to whichever group he is pandering for on any given day."
The site has video's, news stories, an about Chris page, a did you know section and issue breakdowns. If they wanted a repository for documentation on Chris Christie, they could have just gone with huntsu's work here at Blue Jersey, but we understand. I'm sure the Christie campaign will say it's a smear by the Corzine campaign as usual and not answer any of the charges made on the site. The Corzine campaign also launched a new ad directing people to the Christiefacts website and highlighting Christie's testimony before Congress on the Deferred Prosecution Agreements recently:We'll see what the voters think in a few months.
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 ...
