More Mud-Slinging In New Jersey

Gov. Jon Corzine (D-NJ) and Former US Attorney Chris Christie (R)
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The mud-slinging continues between the two gubernatorial campaigns in New Jersey.

The campaigns of Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine and Republican former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie had an amusing back and forth over the newly-revealed 2005 traffic incident by Christie, in which he was pulled over for speeding and driving an unregistered, uninsured car. The Christie campaign confirmed to the local press that his then-job as a U.S. attorney was discussed during the traffic stop, though Christie does not recall how it was brought up.

Christie spokesperson Maria Comella gave this statement to the Star-Ledger: “Before the Corzine campaign wastes any more of the governor’s Wall Street millions on opposition research, we’re going to let them know Kim [Christie’s running mate, Kim Guadagno] received a ticket in 2007 for driving while on a cell phone and Chris got detention in the 9th grade for too much talking in class.”

In response, Corzine spokesperson Lis Smith gave this to TPM — an open accusation that Christie abused his office during the traffic stop: “They may think it’s funny, but a federal prosecutor using their power to pressure local law enforcement into giving them preferential treatment is no laughing matter. In fact, several public officials in New Jersey have been forced to resign over the very same thing. At the end of the day, it is more and more evident that Christie has always had one set of rules for himself and another for everyone else.”

Corzine also responded to yesterday evening’s volley of press releases from the Christie camp, which came in the wake of the resignation of Assistant U.S. Attorney Michele Brown. Christie had given a $46,000 loan to Brown in 2007, which had not been reported on Christie’s financial disclosure forms nor on his taxes. The Christie camp’s press releases featured numerous female Republican politicians attacking Corzine for having gone after a woman in public service.

“Good grief, we didn’t raise the issue,” Corzine told reporters. “It’s not opposition research that brought up the issue of the loan. The former U.S. attorney admitted to the fact that he hadn’t reported it, nor paid taxes on it.”

Corzine also reiterated his claim the U.S. Attorney’s office, headed up by Christie’s successor Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra, with Brown as first assistant until this week, has been failing to fulfill his Freedom of Information Act requests on Christie’s time there. Corzine said, “and I presume we’ll probably get a response shortly after November 3” — that is, after Election Day.

The U.S. Attorney’s office has countered that processing the request entails extensive work to sort between information that must stay private versus what shall be made public. Marra also sent an e-mail to his employees complaining that the office has been “unfairly drawn into a political campaign through the barrage of FOIA requests,” and calling an internal investigation against him for potentially aiding Christie through his public comments about the recent statewide corruption raid “wholly trumped up.”

Welcome to New Jersey politics, folks!

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