Gov. Jon Corzine (D-NJ) is continuing to pounce on his Republican opponent, former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, in the wake of the two key ethics stories that have dogged Christie over the last two weeks.
After it was revealed that Christie had conversations with Karl Rove during his time as U.S. Attorney, and also that he had made an undisclosed personal loan to a subordinate, Michele Brown, who still works in the U.S. Attorney’s office, the Corzine campaign has worked overtime to wreck Christie’s previous image as a no-nonsense prosecutor.
Yesterday, the Corzine camp filed administrative challenges with the Justice Department, saying that their Freedom Of Information Act requests about Christie’s time in the U.S. Attorney’s office have not been processed quickly. And now Corzine’s running mate, state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, released a statement attacking Christie and Brown, and calling on Brown to not be involved in handling the FOIA requests.
“The United States Attorney’s office is filled with qualified professionals,” Weinberg said in her statement. “Based on what we already know and on today’s report by the Associated Press that Christie is refusing to answer who he’s still in contact with at the U.S. attorney’s office and how informed he is about day-to-day activities there, we are simply saying we need someone not caught up in this controversy to work on the FOIA requests.”
The U.S. Attorney’s office responded that Brown is involved in processing the requests because some of the requested files are her own, but that she is not in charge of the process. The office’s spokesman also hit back at the Corzine campaign: “The suggestion that someone from outside our office or our law enforcement partners has any input into or knowledge of ongoing cases or investigations demonstrates a complete lack of understanding about how this office operates and how seriously everyone in this office strives to make certain that justice is served.”
