After announcing the positions in his administration for Paula Dow and Kim Guadagno, many of Chris Christie's nominations that followed had been white men. He was asked about that fact at a press conference the other day and here was his response:
I'm not going to take a Noah's ark approach to filling my cabinet. I'm going to look for the best possible people I can find. Diversity are (sic) one of the factors that you consider in doing that but I'm not going to just look at the class picture and decide what's missing.
Christie says he's going to pick the best people he can find. He says the choices will include gender, ethnic, and racial diversity.
To be fair, we should probably wait and see who the rest of his selections are before we pass judgement on the whole lot. He has added additional women to the team since that statement including Michele Brown last night.
New Jersey Gov.-elect Chris Christie on Friday said he will name former Assistant U.S. Attorney Michele Brown to be appointments counsel in his administration, The Associated Press reported. Brown, who was one of Christie's assistants when he ran the New Jersey U.S. Attorney's office, resigned from her job as acting First Assistant U.S. Attorney in August amid several campaign-related controversies.
Before resigning, there were numerous situations where Brown found herself at the center of those campaign controversies:
When he was U.S. Attorney, Christie took out a second mortgage on his home to loan Brown $46,000, but failed the report the information on his financial disclosures and tax returns. Brown also came under fire by the campaign of Christie's opponent, Gov. Jon Corzine (D), for working to fulfill a Freedom of Information Act request that concerned her and Christie's travel records.
The FOIA records revealed that Christie exceeded his government lodging allowance when traveling as U.S. Attorney, often staying in luxury hotels, and that he approved Brown's requests to stay in some of the same five-star hotels as he.
In addition, the New York Times reported that Brown assisted the Christie campaign by delaying the U.S. Attorney office's response to the Corzine campaign's FOIA requests. As a result, then-interim U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra came under pressure from unnamed Justice Department officials to remove Brown from collecting records for the campaign's request, the Times reported.
There's a nice late Friday news dump for you in hopes fewer people notice. If you're surprised by this hiring, Sarah Palin has a bridge to nowhere she hopes you are interested in.
One of Governor-elect Chris Christie's first decisions as Governor will be to decide who will join him in his administration and he's not ruling out some names that garnered attention during the election:
Gov.-elect Christopher Christie told the Star-Ledger that he would not rule out appointments for Ralph Marra and Michele Brown, two of his top colleagues at the U.S. Attorney's office.
"People who have real problems won't be in the administration. People who have problems that are contrived for attempted political advantage won't be hurt by that. That doesn't necessary mean they're going to be in, but if they're not in, that won't be the reason why they're not," Christie told the Star-Ledger's Claire Heininger.
Christie could also be talking about former Morris County Freeholder John Inglesino, who stepped out of the spotlight after he became a campaign issue during the primary election.
You know, we're going to ferret out waste and fraud and abuse in the government. I think you know I'll do that better than anybody. I've got a group of assistant U.S. attorneys sitting down in Newark still doing their job. But let me tell you, they are watching the newspapers. And after we win this election, I'm going to take a whole group of them to Trenton with me and put them in every one of the departments because they saw a lot of waste and abuse being investigated while we were in the U.S. Attorney's office that didn't rise to the level of a crime. So I told them, the good news is, when we get to Trenton we don't have to worry about beyond a reasonable doubt anymore.
We'll have to see how the Governor-elect defines people with real problems and which people have been watching the newspapers.
This is not what Chris Christie wants to be talking about coming down the home stretch of the campaign. He went on CNN yesterday and during the segment, was asked about his ties to Michele Brown and the use of the US Attorney's office for political gain:When asked about Lautenberg callng for an investigation into the ethical concerns about using his office for political gain, Christie responded that he should focus on getting federal dollars back to NJ. Maybe Christie is referring to those federal stimulus funds the Senator helped NJ get, you know the ones Christie has said he would turn down?
When asked if he set up a firewall between people in the US Attorneys office and his campaign, he said he wasn't campaiging while in office, which many here would disagree. He said he never asked Michele Brown to help him, but really didn't seem to appreciate he was being asked the question in the first place.
The NY Times is out with a story tonight called, Christie May Have Gotten Improper Aid and it has some serious accusations regarding Chris Christie, Michele Brown and politicization at the US Attorney's office:
When news broke in August that the former United States attorney, Christopher J. Christie, had lent $46,000 to a top aide in the federal prosecutor's office, he said he was merely helping a friend in need. He also said the aide, Michele Brown, had done nothing to help his gubernatorial campaign.
But interviews with federal law enforcement officials suggest that Ms. Brown used her position in two significant and possibly improper ways to try to aid Mr. Christie in his run for governor.
Here's the situation:
In March, when Gov. Jon S. Corzine's campaign requested public records about Mr. Christie's tenure as prosecutor, Ms. Brown interceded to oversee the responses to the inquiries, taking over for the staff member who normally oversaw Freedom of Information Act requests, according to federal law enforcement officials in Newark and Washington. The requested information included records about Mr. Christie's travel and expenses, along with Ms. Brown's travel records.
In mid-June, when F.B.I. agents and prosecutors gathered to set a date for the arrests of more than 40 targets of a corruption and money-laundering probe, Ms. Brown alone argued for the arrests to be made before July 1. She later told colleagues that she wanted to ensure that the arrests occurred before Mr. Christie's permanent successor took office, according to three federal law enforcement officials briefed on the conversation, presumably so that Mr. Christie would be given credit for the roundup.
But wait, there's more:
News of Mr. Christie's loan to Ms. Brown broke in August, dealing a blow to his candidacy, and he apologized for failing to report it on his tax returns and ethics filings.
Less than two weeks later, Justice Department officials told Mr. Christie's interim replacement, Ralph Marra, to remove Ms. Brown from acting as coordinator of the Freedom of Information Act requests about Mr. Christie's tenure because of the obvious conflict of interest, according to a federal law enforcement official briefed on the communications. Ms. Brown resigned from the prosecutor's office the same day, the official said.
These are the same FOIA requests that have produced headlines of $700 limo rides and 5 star hotel stays putting Christie in the position to defend and justify since they've surfaced. We wondered why Brown resigned so fast and now we know. We've long suspected many of the things that are coming to light now and it's good to see them getting some of the scrutiny they deserve. The story seems like it has the potential to be big and certainly will have people talking tomorrow.
I'm baffled by something Christie said yesterday, that if he's elected, it would be okay if his top people didn't always adhere to the austerity required by Corzine, restricting state workers to government rates on travel.
Christie's own expenditures as US Attorney regularly exceeded - often by a heap - rates allowed almost anybody else who works for state or federal government. That's how he'd play it as Governor? I mean, I can believe he'd spend like that if history's any indication. I just can't believe he'd say it out loud. Is he tired?
You'd think he'd avoid drawing attention to his unusual relationship with Michele Brown, put in charge (before she resigned) of FOIA requests to uncover Christie's travel documents, who turns out to be Christie's frequent travel companion in some very swanky hotels. We now know he & Brown spent your money on:
a 3-night 2007 trip to Chicago, Indianapolis & Boston at $4,500 for hotel rooms?
a 2-night 2008 Vegas trip costing you $2,600?
a 4-night 2008 London trip costing you $8,800?
Imagine the example he could set if he traveled Newark to AC on public transportation. NJTransit's website is frozen right now but they're listed: 973-275-5555. Round-trip Newark to AC: $31 bucks. You could do that 22.65 times for what Christie billed taxpayers to limo in style. Maybe one of those bus trips where they fork over free casino chips and a steak dinner? And his Orlando trip? AP points out there are 450 hotels in Orlando. He chose Ritz-Carlton, a luxury hotel.. Maybe a helpful state worker could point outhotels.com, where I clocked out after 12 pages of accommodations in-budget (300 hotels, plenty of pages left). Pool & breakfast, too.
Why is this guy - who campaigned on cutting government waste, touting integrity - embracing his profligate spending of public dollars for his own convenience and comfort? Is he just winding down? Getting demoralized as the sun shines for Corzine and Daggett, at his expense? Or did somebody slip him some truth serum? Because if it's that, we've got some more questions.
Starting today, the Corzine campaign has a new 30-second ad going up on broadcast tv. Called If, the ad spotlights the questionable ethical behavior which has contributed to Chris Christie's rising unfavorables, as more information about him reaches more voters. The ad focuses on his eyebrow-raising history of committing serious driving offenses and getting off without a ticket or penalty, failing to disclose a sizeable loan or even pay taxes on the interest. The kind of thing you or I would get nailed on in a New Jersey minute.
There's been some grumbling that attention to Christie's driving record is a distraction. But I think it's key. I lived through Richard Nixon. I'm not down for politicians in an executive capacity deciding they're above the law. So on substance, I like this ad. I also appreciate that it's sourced and referenced - which I hope you'll take a look at - it's all after the jump.
Real Clear Politics picked up on the only quibble I have with the ad: playing the weight card on Christie. I think the coy reference in the script - "throwing his weight around" - cheapens the impact and brings it down to a more schoolyard, too-personal, ridicule of the style Ann Coulter made famous and I can do without. We get it. He's a fat, fat man. Move on to why the fat man would make a lousy governor. There's plenty to work with.
Documentation and sourcing for this ad - well worth reading - is after the jump.
Attorney Dennis Oury says his failure to tell his accountant about $25,000 he received from a grant consulting business is like the "innocent oversight" cited by former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie in neglecting to report interest income from a loan to a colleague.
Without mentioning the Republican gubernatorial candidate by name, Oury's defense lawyer, Gerald Krovatin, alluded to him in court papers seeking to strike certain language from a revised indictment as irrelevant to the crimes charged, and prejudicial to Oury.
Here's what they want changed and their justification for the motion:
Oury is seeking to strike language from four new counts, added in July, alleging willful failure to file tax returns for the years 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.
The passages in question allege that from 2004 through 2007, Oury "concealed" from his personal accountant $25,000 he received from GGC in 2004 and only after he became aware of the grand jury probe in 2008 did he instruct his accountant to include that income.
Krovatin said Oury's memory was jogged by the investigation and, in an apparent reference to Christie, described the lapse as an oversight, "similar to an innocent 'oversight' of interest income from a personal loan to a colleague or friend."
Prosecutors opposed the motion made by Oury's team. I didn't think it was an oversight for Christie and I don't think it's one for Oury either. But it's certainly an interesting legal argument that keeps the Christie loan story in the news.
Q: Will the resignation of first assistant U.S. Attorney Michele Brown put to rest the unreported loan Chris Christie made to her, or does her resignation raise more questions?
BYRNE: I think it raises more questions. The Brown situation has been trivialized by Christie. Now this lady resigns you can't trivialize it anymore.
KEAN: It's sad. This is a public servant whose work has been praised by everybody from people serving now in the Corzine administration to people outside government. The fact that she felt she had to resign is sad. I think the governor - or maybe his campaign people - should be ashamed. The only people who are happy today are the crooks she helped put in jail. This was a case of taking politics one step too far.
BYRNE: Tom, you're good at this. You take an issue that Christie created and make it the Democrats' fault. That's a successful formula, and you're good at it.
KEAN: This is not a successful formula for anything. We need a good governor and good people in the prosecutor's office. That Michele Brown was hounded out of office by unscrupulous campaign operatives because she sought a loan to save her home when her husband was out of a job is outrageous. Nobody has criticized her or her work except those convicted of major crimes.
BYRNE: There you go again, Tom, taking something Christie did and blaming the Democrats.
KEAN: Having compassion for a friend and co-worker and helping them save their home is something he should have done - and we would have done it also.
BYRNE: Yes, and reported it.
KEAN: I don't think everyone knows you're supposed to report interest on a loan to a friend. When he found that out he corrected it.
BYRNE: Are you just the honorary chairman of his campaign? You're doing a good job.
Byrne is exactly right. Christie created this issue by not reporting the loan and filing it in the first place. The issue wasn't uncovered by the Democrats, it was first reported by NJN. Then the NY Times followed up with news that it wasn't filed on ethics reports and the Star Ledger reported the lack of filing for tax purposes. And for those who want to say the media is biased, the facts laid out in these stories haven't been disputed. Instead, Christie and his supporters are trying to deflect attention from this latest self inflicted wound. For Christie, the buck always stops with someone else because it's one set of rules for him, another set for the rest of us.
Some people, including the Christie campaign, are saying Chris Christie got a speeding ticket, and so what? Ok, even if you take that tack, what's the explanation for the shifting stories?
His campaign acknowledged Aug. 26 that Christie's job as U.S. Attorney came up at the stop as Christie handed over his license and identification to the police officer.
Lambertville Police Director Bruce Cocuzza: "He identified himself as a U.S. Attorney but I don't think the officer on duty knew what that was," he said.
So the Chief says Christie identified himself and the campaign says it was at the time of showing identification. But now, Christie says it wasn't him, it was the one armed man... err tow truck driver:
Christie said that he had not identified himself as the U.S. attorney, but that a tow truck driver had recognized him.
No offense, but Christie's name ID in 2005 probably registered just above mine. That's like me saying that I got a flat on the highway and the tow truck driver fixed it all for free because he recognized me as a writer for Blue Jersey. This latest iteration of the story came four days after the initial campaign response. If it's such a simple situation, what's with the delay in between this latest update? That wasn't the only change in the story made.
"He was agitated at the prospect of his vehicle being towed away," said Cocuzza, a Democrat who ran for Hunterdon County Sheriff in 2007, told PolitickerNJ.com's Max Pizarro in a phone interview. "He was worried about his family being left on the side of the road with no vehicle."
[snip]
Cocuzza said that Christie did tell the officer about his law enforcement position.
"He was a little loud at the prospect of being towed and then calmed down."
Lambertville Police Director Bruce Cocuzza reported that Christie got loud during the stop, but Christie described his demeanor only as "affirmative." "I don't think I got loud or abusive, but I certainly was saying 'let me drive my car home and I will take care of the oversight on the registration on my wife's car when the DMV opens up on Monday,' which we did," Christie said.
What a perfectly scripted talking point in response to this situation, well done by whoever wrote it for him. And Christie wasn't done correcting the record.
Contradiction # 3:
On who got out of the car, when and why:
Christie also denied a report that Brown got out of the car during the stop and flashed her badge. She resigned as first assistant U.S. attorney on Tuesday after it was revealed that Christie had loaned her $46,000. Christie said only he got out of the vehicle, at the officer's request.
I always thought you were supposed to stay in the car. And we weren't done yet.
New Jersey 101.5 FM reported this afternoon that Christie, now the Republican gubernatorial nominee, was stopped for speeding in what turned out to be an unregistered, uninsured vehicle, but was allowed to drive the car away.
He was also ticketed for not having insurance or registration. He said the car, which belonged to his wife, was insured, but she had allowed the registration to lapse.
Way to throw your wife under the bus on that one. There's also conflicting reports about whether he paid a $250 fine or $700 in fines. There may be reasonable explanations to some of these questions, but why the delay in correcting the record if it's such a simple case of someone getting a speeding ticket? It's not like people weren't giving the campaign an opportunity to tell their side of the story. If Christie's trying to make this story go away, or sell the idea that there isno story here, all the holes and differing accounts of what actually happened are in fact keeping the story alive.
On a Saturday night in 2005 Chris Christie was issued tickets for speeding and driving an unregistered and uninsured vehicle. A tow truck showed up at the scene but Christie was allowed to drive the vehicle with his wife, kids and Michelle Brown back home according to his spokesperson.
All three tickets had the words "no deal" written on them. The spokesperson says Christie talked with the prosecutor, signed an affdavit pleading guilty and paid a substantial fine. The speeding ticket was reduced and the unregistered dimissed. The spokesperson says Christie does not recall who brought it up but acknowledges the fact that Christie was U.S. Attorney did come up. Christie has refused to return multiple calls asking for comment.
Lots of strange details here. Michele Brown and the wife? Unregistered and Uninsured? Trying to get out of a ticket by your job?
Eight days after news broke that the first Assistant US Attorney Michele Brown had a $46,000 loan from Chris Christie, she has resigned from the position:
In her resignation letter dated today, Michele Brown, the acting first assistant U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, said it has been an "honor and privilege" to serve, but she does not want to be "a distraction" for the office.
"I am extraordinarily proud of all the work we have done and all the good we have accomplished on behalf of the people of this state," Brown wrote. "I also know how important it is that we continue to pursue our mission, and I do not want to become a distraction from the critically important work we do."
New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie said he won't ask a federal prosecutor to sever the mortgage loan he made to her if he is elected governor.
Christie said it would be up to Michele Brown whether to repay the $46,000 loan early.
"Michele Brown's resignation today does nothing to put to rest questions about Christie's conduct both in and outside of the U.S. Attorney's office. Whether it was illegally laying the groundwork for his gubernatorial campaign from the U.S. Attorney's office with the help of Karl Rove, maintaining a secret financial relationship with the number two at the U.S. Attorney's office during his campaign, or rewarding political cronies with millions of dollars in no-bid contracts, Christie still must answer to serious legal and ethical questions. He can start by demanding the immediate release of public documents from his tenure as U.S. Attorney as requested by the Corzine campaign."
The Corzine campaign just released a new video, produced in-house, which underscores the point that Chris Christie's had some trouble with the cascading evidence of questionable conduct he engaged in as United States Attorney for the District of NJ, and questionable ties he still maintains to that office. And would rather avoid chatting about it just now.
My own opinion: red meat for the cognoscenti, but might scare off undecideds. I think people need to hear - every way possible and from all angles - what he did. That's the meat, the substance, the muck of the muckraking.
Harsh, unflattering video that underscores that he's avoiding talking about it - which has some truth - may turn a lot of people off, and reinforce perception that the campaigns can't tell the difference between muck and mud.
What I find most puzzling is that Christie's "oversight" is at odds with his experience as a corruption fighter. He should have known better.
Perhaps more than any other federal prosecutor who preceded him, Christie demonstrated how New Jersey's toothless disclosure laws foster corruption. It was a common theme in his indictments and convictions.
Follow me below the fold as Stile gives a sampling of the indictments that dealt with the failure to disclose and what this issue may mean in the larger context of the campaign going forward.
On NJN news last night, host Jim Hooker had a discussion with GOP state Chairman Jay Webber and Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes.
Webber said the latest revelations do no damage to Christie and that they're a side show cooked up by the Corzine campaign (although NJN discovered the story which Hooker challenged Webber on). Webber continued to do his best spin job deflecting things back to Corzine and said that "an ethics champion like Chris Christie does the right thing when he makes a mistake."
Then Hooker turned to Hughes, who said this raises questions about his claim that he pays attention to detail if he can't even fill out these forms correctly, as they're not difficult things to do. Webber again tried to turn it around on Corzine when asked about the connections between Brown and Christie and whether he had a pipeline to the office. He said that the Democrats have no facts to back up their allegations, to which Hughes said it was connecting the dots and he laid out the dots. Webber said the issue is a minor bump in the road and that there is no chance he won't be on the ballot.
A contrite Christopher J. Christie, the Republican former prosecutor running for governor on a platform of corruption busting and ethical reform, apologized Tuesday for failing to report a $46,000 loan to a top aide on his tax returns and financial-disclosure forms.
Here's the NJN news story on the latest developments:The NJN story looks at language Christie used as US Attorney to prosecute people with tax issues, but Christie said his actions weren't willful. Christie says it's just an honest mistake that things weren't reported and disclosed:
"To you and to the people of the state, I'm going to tell you, I'm not perfect and I'm not going to be," he said. "I'm going to make mistakes, and when I make mistakes, I'm going to own up to them, and this was a mistake and an oversight on my part."
And then there's this "I'm the decider" quote from Christie:
Mr. Christie said he could see a potential problem if an underling had lent him money, but he added, "the fact of the matter is, I was the boss, so I had authority anyway."
Follow me below the fold because Zack Fink, who broke the story has many more questions that he's raising on his blog about just what the boss did.
In 2007, while he was New Jersey's ranking federal prosecutor, Christopher J. Christie - now the Republican candidate for governor - lent one of his top aides $46,000. But he failed to report the loan as required under federal and state ethics rules.
Looking further at the filings:
Mr. Christie did not list the loan on his June 21, 2008, personal financial disclosure form as a member of the federal executive branch, which requires the detailing of any assets (like loans or receivables) worth more than $1,000, and any sources of income of more than $100 a year. Ms. Comella confirmed that Mr. Christie?s final disclosure as a prosecutor also omitted the loan.
Nor did he include the loan on his candidate's disclosure with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission in April 2009. One of its catchall categories of unearned income requires the detailing of "other income (including interest)" of more than $100 when the total in that category exceeds $1,000. Mr. Christie listed Pfizer and three government bonds as the sources of such income, but made no mention of the loan to Ms. Brown.
And the Democrats pounced on the latest news, with a list of questions that they probably shouldn't hold their breath waiting for answers from Christie:
Moreover, some Democrats have privately speculated that Ms. Brown has been a conduit for information between the federal prosecutor's office and Mr. Christie's campaign, particularly in the wake of the arrests of dozens of mostly Democratic political operatives in a bribery sting last month. Mr. Christie and prosecutors have angrily denied it.
Sean Darcy, a Corzine campaign spokesman, demanded that Mr. Christie explain the loan. "Now we know that Chris Christie has an ongoing financial relationship with Brown," he said. "Are they still in contact? Have they been discussing this campaign? What impact has their ongoing financial relationship had on the gubernatorial campaign?"
If last week was a bad one for Christie, this one isn't starting much better.
John Inglesino became a campaign issue 
