Stuck On Stupid

More scandals in New Jersey. It appears that Governor Jon Corzine (D-NJ) has some explaining to do.

Not to worry, though, the more corrupt the Democrat government officials are in New Jersey it increases their electability. Nothing new here just move on…

This from the NY Post :

The man at the center of an alleged hush-money scandal that has ensnared New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine has been quietly working as a mortgage broker - despite his repeated claims of being unemployed since being asked to step down from a state job earlier this year, The Post has learned.

Rocco Riccio - whose sister-in-law is Corzine’s one-time girlfriend Carla Katz - has been working part time as a mortgage loan officer for Unity Mortgage in Old Bridge, N.J., for at least six months, sources said.

Corzine has admitted giving Riccio $15,000 since he left his job at the New Jersey Turnpike Authority in January, but insists it was because Riccio told him he was unemployed and on the verge of losing his home to bankruptcy.

But a company executive said Riccio could easily be making at least $60,000 a year if he was willing to work full time.

“With his background and the area that he is in, he is a really good candidate that could do well. There is no way you can’t make a good living in this industry. Unfortunately, he hasn’t put in the time,” the executive said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Corzine’s payment has brought howls from the state Republican Party and demands of a probe into Riccio’s alleged improprieties and whether the cash was really hush money.

Riccio, 44, has said he was forced by Corzine’s staff to step down from the job as an accounting manager at the authority because of media scrutiny stemming from the governor’s relationship with Katz, who is a major union boss in New Jersey.

…

Republican Chairman Tom Wilson is on the offensive.

From Politics NJ.com :

In response to the Star-Ledger story this weekend that Gov. Jon Corzine gave $15,000 to the brother-in-law of his ex-girlfriend after he said he’d severed financial ties with her, Republican State Chairman Tom Wilson says Corzine is involved in a cover-up of “Watergate” proportions.”At virtually every turn, Jon Corzine has been dishonest about his ties to Carla Katz,” said the state Republican chairman.

In March, Corzine had told the newspaper that he didn’t have any financial ties with Carla Katz, head of the state Communications Workers of America (CWA), or her family.

But after Katz brother-in-law Rocco Riccio resigned from the state Turnpike Authority at the bequest of Corzine’s then-chief of staff, according to the Ledger, Corzine in the spring gave Riccio $10,000, in addition to $5,000 his business manager gave Riccio on Corzine’s behalf, according to the article. Katz, whom Corzine has paid thousands of dollars’ worth in gifts, controls the largest government union in the state, which negotiated a contract during Corzine’s first year as governor. Corzine has said he ended his relationship with Katz prior to taking office. Last week he told the Ledger that his gifts to Riccio don’t constitute a Katz-connection.

But Wilson’s not buying it.

“He lied to his own ethics advisors, he lied to the people and he even tried to lie to the Star-Ledger until he was confronted with evidence of payments to her family this year,” Wilson said. “Governor Corzine has been caught in the web of lies that he and his handlers created to try to conceal the extent of his entanglement with Carla Katz.”
Wilson also questioned the brother-in-law’s work at the state, as described by the Ledger.

“Mr. Riccio, acting at who knows whose direction, was caught routing through people’s tax records,” said Wilson. “At whose tax records was he looking and for what? Was he looking at those perceived to be enemies of the administration? Was this an effort to collect information on people critical of the administration or people who were advocating for significant pension and benefit reforms opposed by Ms. Katz’s union? Whatever the case, this is a massive violation of the rights of those who expect their tax records to remain confidential.”

State Democratic Chair Joseph Cryan took a ho-hum approach to the news about Corzine’s $15,000 gift.

“It’s going to have zero impact on the legislative races,” said Cryan. “This whole story is not an issue. We’ve been there and we’ve done that. I read it over the weekend and my impression is that it’s just going to fall on deaf ears.”

Wilson was adamant in his view that this is definitely an issue concerning the voters, invoking Watergate in his release: “The Governor and his handlers know they did something wrong and are now engaging in a cover-up of Watergate proportions. Stories don’t square up and people have a right to know whether the governor is abusing the power of his office, offering hush-money, and whether any laws have been broken.”

…

t/b: Michelle Malkin