But Christie has some 'splaining to do, in the immortal words of Ricky Ricardo. The point of ethics laws, as with his suggested ban on public jobs for politicians, is not merely to avoid impropriety, but to avoid the mere appearance of impropriety. And in this case, Christie created the appearance of impropriety every bit as much as Paris Hilton creates the appearance of a celebrity airhead.
Oh, he certainly did some splainin. Christie could have let the situation play out in the media and moved on to the next issue turning the debate back to the Governor. Instead, today he engaged and attacked, ensuring the story will continue:
"I'm not going to stand around and be a political punching bag of caddies for candidates who don't have a record to sell, a story to tell, and actually attack the candidates who do have something to sell," said Christie.
It gets so much better below the fold, so you will want to join me there.
"Those people" who are on the Kushner-owned web site, I've never been on their holiday card list," said Christie. "Ever since I sent Kushner to jail, my coverage on Politics - or PolitickerNJ.com--has not been sterling. While I'm sure there are lots of good, well-intentioned people, the editorial policy there has not been favorable since I sent Charles Kushner to jail."
That's right, according to Chris Christie he did that all by himself. He then went after Senator Weinberg's criticisms:
"The woman who sat by while UMDNJ was burning to the ground from her senior position on the health committee and did nothing," said Christie. "Maybe if she paid some attention to her oversight responsibilities, perhaps there wouldn't be such a mess to clean up... Do your job. Stop trying to caddy for the Governor."
As you can imagine, Senator Weinberg and the Democrats didn't take that lying down:
"First of all, I don't play golf. Second of all, I wouldn't be caddying for the Governor or any other man I know. And third of all Mr. Christie would have to admit that I've been involved in anti-pay-to-play legislation not in anybody's surrogate but as my own person," said Weinberg. "I know he's running against the Governor, but if he wants to debate me I'd be happy to do it."
Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan, who has played the role of Corzine's chief defender so far in the race, doubted Christie's stated motive for picking Kelley for a contract.
"Christie wants us to believe that in a country with more than one million lawyers the one most qualified to receive this no-bid contract is the one that let his brother off for stock fraud. I think the people of New Jersey are smarter than that," he said.
Christie said he decided to talk about the issue after his weekend was apparently ruined and he wasn't about to enjoy his sons baseball game. The American Spectator had a little fun at Christie's sensitivity to the issue:
Other things Christie wasn't able to enjoy because of Mulshine's column:
* The sound of children laughing
* Butterflies
* The sound of an ice cream truck
* Puppies
* His favorite Tom Clancy novel
* Cookies
* The newest installment of the film The Fast and the Furious
I don't understand the logic behind Christie's statement. Does he mean that Mulshine should not have written his column on the basis that it affected him emotionally? Or should Christie have possibly said that this was a fair point to make and he'll do Everything In His Power to make sure that ethics is Number 1?
I think it's the latter. But Christie thinks that his kid's baseball game and his own smiles make a better soundbyte. Next up: Christie Announces Bad Case Of Indigestion Over New Unemployment Figures.
During his seven years as U.S. Attorney, Christie had the benefit of being able to answer only those questions he felt comfortable with, secure that when it came to the media, he was holding nearly all of the cards. Recent news stories about his campaign contributions from Herbert Stern, the recipient of a $3 million no-bid federal monitor contract, seems to have upset the would-be Governor. The stories have appeared in most of the state's daily newspapers, although this website was the first to report it.
Christie's reaction today did nothing but focus more attention to the issue and reinforce the notion that he needs to be put under scrutiny because he will lose control. His words and actions today prolonged the story and gave it so many more layers. Meanwhile, every day he spends defending himself on this issue, he's not attacking and defining Corzine. Remember, that's what he thinks his job is to do.
