When it Comes to Corruption, Christie Says One Thing, Does Another
By now we've all heard the narrative Chris Christie wants us to believe: He's a tough-minded reformer who wants to crack down on corruption and stop abuses of public money. Christie made a living on the campaign trail talking about getting tough on corrupt public officials and kicking them off government payrolls. And on that account, I fully agree. Corrupt officials make things incredibly difficult for the vast majority of public workers who play by the rules.
But the problem is that Christie is now hiring corrupt public officials.
Christie has hired Stephen Edelstein, who the Star-Ledger reports was "an 'unindicted co-conspirator' in the money-laundering and extortion case that sent Essex County Executive Thomas D’Alessio to the slammer."
To top it off, that case was prosecuted by Kim Guadagno--now Christie's Lieutenant Governor.
Edelstein is now making a couple hundred bucks an hour on the taxpayers' dime. And he's become Christie's top attack dog on public employees--Edelstein wrote Christie's executive order banning political involvement by public workers.
On the campaign trail, Christie railed against corruption. Now Christie is hiring people that were directly involved in scandals his own Lt. Governor prosecuted. And he is paying that person public dollars to attack public workers who play by the rules.
One set of rules for himself, and one set of rules for everyone else. This isn't the first time we've seen this from Chris Christie.
Governor Christie has his own interests in mind. In a high bracket income, he and his friends will benefit from his legislation to decrease taxes at lis level. He is sinking those in lower and middle income families to going to lead to forcloser on their homes. He will increase unemployment rates in spite of his promise to increase emloyment. His plan to reduce services to shcools and libraries are unconsionable. What more do we lose? What benefits are we go gain from your plans?