Former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie was called of the campaign trail today, where he is the Republican nominee for Governor of New Jersey and is running ahead of the Democratic incumbent in the polls, for a special engagement in Washington — to be grilled by House Democrats in a committee hearing over his having awarded a contract to former Attorney General John Ashcroft.
At issue here is Christie’s negotiation of what are called “deferred prosecution agreements” (DPAs), under which corporations who got in trouble could avoid prosecution by agreeing to hire special monitors to force corrective actions and provide oversight. For example, a medical device company would make restitution to consumers for liability cases, without going through the sort of more grueling legal processes that would potentially hurt business and cost jobs.
At a hearing today of the House Judiciary Committee’s Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee, Democrats aired e-mails from one company, Zimmer Holdings, complaining that John Ashcroft’s firm was demanding an exorbitant amount of money. Christie and the GOP, meanwhile, charged that the whole thing was a political stunt.
“At bottom, what we have here is a demand that the Monitor and (sic) Zimmer automatically transfer to it $13.5 million dollars just for having General Ashcroft and his top two aides available to work on this matter, no matter how much or how little work they actually do,” said a 2007 e-mail from a Zimmer attorney.
Christie wrote back another e-mail, telling the two sides to work out their differences. He defended the arrangements with the committee, saying that companies had the opportunity to object to conditions from monitors.
And Christie had this testy exchange with Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN):
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) told Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie that no companies that entered into DPAs turned down monitors because, as U.S. Attorney, he “made them an offer they couldn’t refuse.”
Christie, who has said that all the companies were given options and approved of the selection, took offense at the comment.
“First of all, it’s an ethnically sensitive comment to an Italian-American,” said Christie. “I don’t appreciate the implications you’re making.”
Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) complained that this matter had already been settled when Ashcroft himself testified before the committee last year, but that “the press and New Jersey Democrats recently attempted to stir it up again.”
After he left the hearing, Christie spoke with reporters. “All the professionals on that panel all agreed with what we did,” Christie said. “The only people who believe that this is a problem are the people who want to make political hay out of it.”
“It’s a political circus,” he added, “and it’s unfortunate that they’re using the money of the taxpayers of the United States to perform this kind of political circus, but out of respect for the Congress, I came down here and I testified, and I testified forthrightly.”
The Democratic National Committee released a statement on Christie’s testimony:
“Chris Christie’s testimony to Congress leaves too many unanswered questions about tens of millions of dollars in no-bid contracts that appear to have gone to friends and political cronies like John Ashcroft.
“It’s clear that as US Attorney Christie used his position to help his friends, and now those very friends are helping him fill his campaign coffers. Chris Christie’s repeated ethical lapses demonstrate that he’s just not up to the task of serving as governor of New Jersey,” said DNC spokesman Michael Czin.
