Was Christie the Leak?

by: huntsu

Sat Oct 31, 2009 at 01:16:33 PM EDT

There's been a lot of supposition over the years that the US Attorney's office under Chris Christie leaked like a sieve, slipping information damaging to Democrats to the press while holding tight to information that could hurt Republicans.

The evidence was largely circumstantial. How did the press find out about the subpoena to Bob Menendez just weeks before the Senatorial election? Why was Brian Thompson standing around as subpoenas were served on Democrats in the Christmas Tree investigation?

Back on March 1, 2007 we wrote:

There is surely no fire here, and maybe only a scent of smoke from far away. But the actions and subpoenas of the past seven months are exactly what a US Attorney who was told to put pressure on the Democrats would start doing. Every time a Democrat starts gaining points, hit them with a subpoena. Every time a Republican needs to score points, make an announcement.

Well, now there's fire to go with the smoke. The Corzine FOIA requests for Christie's communications have unearthed actual phone slips of calls from the media to Christie late on the afternoon of February 27th, 2007 -- the day before subpoenas were dropped on three Democratic legislators.

Here's Brian Thompson of television's NBC News, talking with Christie the afternoon before the subpoenas dropped: thompson-227afternoon

And here's Michael Gartland of The Record talking the same afternoon: gartland-227afternoon

Both Thompson was hanging out at the statehouse just in time for the subpoenas on February 28th, 2007 ensuring quick coverage on television and the Internet.

It's no stretch to think that Christie was the leak, telling reporters about secret Grand Jury actions -- which is, by the way, a crime. Christie has to answer for this, and either reveal what he talked about with Thompson and Gartland that day or tacitly admit that he personally was the leak.

Before today it was easy to believe Christie used leaks from his office to aid in his political goals. After today it is hard to refute.

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A Child's Stigma

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DeCroce Allegations: Serious and Irresponsibly Late in Coming

by: mikeshapiro

Fri Oct 31, 2008 at 01:04:35 AM EDT

Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (R-Parsippany) recently stated that Senate President and former Acting Governor Richard Codey (D-West Orange) attempted to strong arm him into discontinuing his efforts to investigate a legislative slush fund that was responsible for the now-infamous "Christmas Tree" grants currently under federal investigation. He claimed that Senator Codey offered him state grant money and threatened him so that DeCroce's pursuit of information about the slush fund would be stalled. DeCroce agreed to a lie detector test to 'prove' his assertions; as of this writing, Codey has not. If DeCroce's allegations are true, they are not only damaging to Senator Codey and the Democratic Legislature politically, but they have serious legal implications, as well. DeCroce had a responsibility to alert the proper authorities to these allegations when they occurred, not two years after the fact; the public should have been informed in due time, as well.

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"Christmas Tree" Grants

by: mikeshapiro

Wed Aug 01, 2007 at 11:30:51 PM EDT

Recently, State Senator Joseph Coniglio of Bergen County was informed that he is a target in an investigation by the United States Attorney's Office into the now-infamous "Christmas Tree" grants provided by the New Jersey State Legislature. "Christmas Tree" grants are legislative grants added on to the State budget by legislators during the final days and hours before the budget is adopted, to aid particular constituencies or organizations, often located in their legislative district or employing friends or relatives of the legislators. In Coniglio's case, a "Christmas Tree" grant of at least $1.6 million was allegedly provided to the Hackensack University Medical Center shortly after the Center hired the Senator as a plumbing contractor at a salary of $5,000 per month. There are two important aspects of the "Christmas Tree Scandal" that the mainstream media has been overlooking.

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Surprise! There were ethics questions before 2004.

by: Juan Melli

Thu May 03, 2007 at 02:15:46 PM EDT

The seven legislators named in the ethics complaints today are: Senator Joseph Kyrillos, Senator Peter Inverso, Senator Robert Singer, Assemblyman Chris Connors, Assemblyman David Wolfe, Assemblyman Kevin O'Toole and Assemblyman Richard Merkt.

We have a 15 page pdf including all the complaints (or in text format below the fold). I haven't had time to browse through it carefully yet, but each complaint details specific budget items purported to be conflicts of interest.

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Why Meaningful Reform May Not Arrive Any Time Soon

by: mikeshapiro

Thu Mar 01, 2007 at 07:41:33 AM EST

Cross-Posted from ShapTalk.com:

The Governor works hard to create a fiscally responsible budget. He calls for legislative support for its passage. Many of the legislators whom the Governor needs to vote for the budget make demands that "Christmas tree" items be added to secure their vote. A few hundred are included so that the budget will pass. As a result, it passes but with hundreds of millions of dollars in additional unnecessary spending, upending the Governor's fiscally responsible good work.

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