Christie to face ‘grilling’ over Ashcroft cronyism.
By on Feb 18th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Christie to face ‘grilling’ over Ashcroft cronyism.
The House Judiciary Committee has “called for New Jersey’s U.S. attorney, Christopher Christie, to testify at a hearing next week about his appointment of former Attorney General John Ashcroft to a lucrative assignment as a corporate monitor.” The committee made the request by “e-mail and phone to the Justice Department’s Office of Legislative Affairs about two weeks ago but has not received a response.” It has also not received a response from Ashcroft to testify.
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No response?
Well, Duh!!!
Did someone forget who we’re dealing w/ here?
February 18th, 2008 at 4:03 pmCronyism?? I’m shocked. I’m just shocked I tell you!!!
/scarcasm off
February 18th, 2008 at 4:05 pm“Grilling”? Puh-leeeze, grilling like you get at the local sushi bar.
February 18th, 2008 at 4:11 pmSend them some paper-cuts, that’ll teach ‘em
February 18th, 2008 at 4:22 pm“New Jersey GOP Chairman Tom Wilson and other critics have blamed the dust-up on partisan politics. They note that Ashcroft, a conservative stalwart, has long been a lightning rod for Democrats looking to criticize the Bush administration. And that Christie, a former Bush campaign fundraiser, would be the state party’s front-runner if he decides to run for governor next year.”
I help you, you help me.
February 18th, 2008 at 4:22 pmAshcroft a conservative stalwart? He cant even win an election over a dead guy.
February 18th, 2008 at 4:27 pmIsn’t this what they do? Congress has done the email and letter thing now send this guy a subpoena and follow up on it.
February 18th, 2008 at 4:30 pmmary, that’s a good pull-quote you posted in #5.
It almost sounds as if the NJ GOP thinks that, because Ashcroft has come under criticism before, and Christie might run for governor later, there is no possibility that they could have acted improperly in this (or any other) case.
Weird attempt at inoculating the parties from charges of corruption, don’t you think?
February 18th, 2008 at 4:44 pmWhy in gods green earth would gumless Conyers send an email? Would not a RSVP be more in accordance with Emily Post etiquette for an invitation to a cluster f***?
The institutional stupidity of Congress never ceases to amaze.
February 18th, 2008 at 5:02 pm“Under the settlements with the Justice Department, the companies negotiate the fees with the monitors themselves, a situation legal scholars say has the potential for abuse because companies might be overly generous to encourage leniency.”
link
February 18th, 2008 at 5:05 pmhere’s the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/washington/10justice.html
Thanks ralph the wonder llama but I’m not sure what these people are up to here. Chances are, though, that they’re up to no good. The whole thing stinks to high heaven.
February 18th, 2008 at 5:08 pmAG Mike Mukasey was headed for a similar appointment. A few weeks ago, the Washington Post reported that Mukasey was a finalist for one of these overseer jobs…. then he got tapped to be AG.
February 18th, 2008 at 5:09 pmAG Mike Mukasey is another Ghoul-Aid guzzlin’ RePugniScum, Facist brought to us by Sen. Charles Schumer (J-Israel) or better known as Chuck the Schmuck!
Toss in William “The Bloody” Kristol and the entire AIPAC foreign influence crap and I wonder….
Wow, will American interest every trump Israeli interest in our country again? How soon? Where? Not the MSM that’s for sure!
February 18th, 2008 at 5:24 pmCorporate Monitor Lizard? Ashcroft would be eminently qualified.
February 18th, 2008 at 5:28 pmCitiDC – well then it appears that Mukasey has this pot of gold to look forward to when he’s done being AG?
“Officials said that while there had been no accusations of wrongdoing on the part of Mr. Christie or Mr. Ashcroft, aides to Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey were concerned about the appearance of favoritism.”
Hopefully, Mukasey is not just concerned about the APPEARANCE of favoritism.
February 18th, 2008 at 5:51 pmThis is all part of Bush’s corruption of the US Justice Department.
These are the guys that Bush “kept”.
I recall another job Christie did against NJ Senator Menendez.
http://www.cnsnews.com/Nation/Archive/200609/NAT20060911a.html
February 18th, 2008 at 6:09 pm“It has also not received a response from Ashcroft to testify.”
Nothing new here.
February 18th, 2008 at 6:25 pmHere’s the Post story about Mike Mukasey ALMOST becoming a court-sanctioned monitor.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/29/AR2008012903203.html?hpid=topnews.
This story was oddly buried in the Business section when it ran.
February 19th, 2008 at 9:10 amFor those of you not local to New Jersey politics, there is something to be said on Christie’s behalf:
While everything said here about him may ring true, he HAS done something rarely seen in the history of New Jersey – he has entered into the inner workings of some of the most notorious and long-standing political machines in American history, and come out with convictions.
He has garnered dozens and dozens of perp walks of both Democrat and Republican scoundrels alike. He uncovered palm-greasing and back-scratching, the details of which would leave your head spinning. He found linkups to real-life wiseguy connections whose tentacles reached into city halls and town councils all over the state.
His investigations produced results:
He arrested twelve mayors and councilmen on one day down in Republican Monmouth County, which is the northern-most part of the Jersey Shore. He went into Hudson County, home to some of the most nefarious elected thieves and head-cracking police ever seen. He went into the rat’s nest that was Sharpe James’s City Hall in Newark for twenty years. And every time, Christie came out with convictions.
Kind of surprising to see him engaging in this sort of stuff himself with the likes of Ashcroft.
Cheers.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:06 pm