ronpaulhawaii
04-05-2009, 12:03 PM
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1238905046315810.xml&coll=1
Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie isn't known for his budget-cutting skills, or his knack for high finance.
He's known for ethics.
<a href="http://ads.nj.com/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.ads/www.nj.com/xml/story/star_ledger/nn/nnj/@StoryAd?x"><img src="http://ads.nj.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_nx.ads/www.nj.com/xml/story/star_ledger/nn/nnj/@StoryAd?x"></a>
As U.S. Attorney, Christie fashioned a reputation as a corruption-buster on a crusade to clean up government, an image his campaign touts endlessly.
But now he is being attacked on the central theme of his political career after accepting thousands of dollars in campaign contributions connected to a law firm to which he awarded a no-bid contract.
The donations came to light in recent days, as state records filed by the Christie campaign show he accepted $23,800 from principals of Stern & Kilcullen and their spouses. The donations are worth $71,400 because of 2-for-1 public matching funds.
The law firm is headed by Herbert Stern, a former federal judge whom Christie awarded a $3 million no-bid contract to monitor the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
Immediately, Christie's adversaries accused the former federal lawman of engaging in "pay-to-play," the controversial practice of trading political donations for government contracts. Steve Lonegan, Christie's chief opponent for the GOP nomination, said "Mr. Christie has run on this commitment to end pay-to-play and no-bid contracts. ... (It's) kind of ironic."
And Democrats, who have long plotted to attack the Republican front-runner for another multimillion-dollar contract he gave, to former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, now say they have a new opportunity to chip away at Christie's ethics credentials.
"Chris gave Jon Corzine an opening that will undermine his principal strength. It was a mistake," said former U.S. senator Robert Torricelli, a Democrat who knows about damage from campaign-finance questions after being forced to end a re-election bid because of an ethics controversy. "Candidates sooner or later learn the political price of taking inappropriate contributions exceeds the value of the money."
Christie says the criticism is little more than "typical political stuff," and denounced those coming after him for standing on the sidelines while he and Stern cleaned up UMDNJ after years of corruption made it a "cesspool."
CONTINUED 1 | 2 (http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1238905046315810.xml&coll=1&thispage=2) Next (http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1238905046315810.xml&coll=1&thispage=2)
Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie isn't known for his budget-cutting skills, or his knack for high finance.
He's known for ethics.
<a href="http://ads.nj.com/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.ads/www.nj.com/xml/story/star_ledger/nn/nnj/@StoryAd?x"><img src="http://ads.nj.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_nx.ads/www.nj.com/xml/story/star_ledger/nn/nnj/@StoryAd?x"></a>
As U.S. Attorney, Christie fashioned a reputation as a corruption-buster on a crusade to clean up government, an image his campaign touts endlessly.
But now he is being attacked on the central theme of his political career after accepting thousands of dollars in campaign contributions connected to a law firm to which he awarded a no-bid contract.
The donations came to light in recent days, as state records filed by the Christie campaign show he accepted $23,800 from principals of Stern & Kilcullen and their spouses. The donations are worth $71,400 because of 2-for-1 public matching funds.
The law firm is headed by Herbert Stern, a former federal judge whom Christie awarded a $3 million no-bid contract to monitor the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
Immediately, Christie's adversaries accused the former federal lawman of engaging in "pay-to-play," the controversial practice of trading political donations for government contracts. Steve Lonegan, Christie's chief opponent for the GOP nomination, said "Mr. Christie has run on this commitment to end pay-to-play and no-bid contracts. ... (It's) kind of ironic."
And Democrats, who have long plotted to attack the Republican front-runner for another multimillion-dollar contract he gave, to former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, now say they have a new opportunity to chip away at Christie's ethics credentials.
"Chris gave Jon Corzine an opening that will undermine his principal strength. It was a mistake," said former U.S. senator Robert Torricelli, a Democrat who knows about damage from campaign-finance questions after being forced to end a re-election bid because of an ethics controversy. "Candidates sooner or later learn the political price of taking inappropriate contributions exceeds the value of the money."
Christie says the criticism is little more than "typical political stuff," and denounced those coming after him for standing on the sidelines while he and Stern cleaned up UMDNJ after years of corruption made it a "cesspool."
CONTINUED 1 | 2 (http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1238905046315810.xml&coll=1&thispage=2) Next (http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1238905046315810.xml&coll=1&thispage=2)