There's a danger that we both understand
We run like thieves through the temple of sin
Till we fall on our knees...
I'll be your dirty little secret
and you'll be mine...
We made a promise and we keep it
Our dirty little secret
Quote:
Chris Christie Officials Sent Pension Money To Subsidiary of Donor’s Foreign Firm
...(A)s New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie pursued re-election, his administration found itself mulling investment options for the state’s $80 billion pension fund. In... May 2013, officials settled on a subsidiary of U.K.-based foreign financial conglomerate Prudential PLC. With little fanfare, state pension overseers quickly endorsed the deal.
Weeks later, a Hong Kong-based executive director and board member of Prudential PLC delivered a maximum $3,800 contribution to Christie’s gubernatorial campaign, followed by a maximum $32,400 donation to the Republican National Committee, which was about to launch a get-out-the-vote effort for Christie. Two months after that, New Jersey began moving public employees’ retirement savings into two funds managed by the Prudential subsidiary as part of the state’s new $300 million investment commitment to the company.
State and federal rules are designed to prevent firms that manage public pension money from contributing to the campaigns of public officials who have the authority to influence pension investments...Prudential PLC said the donations from Barry Stowe, one of the firm's executive directors, were in no way improper..."(Executive director Barry) Stowe, who is a U.S. citizen, has donated to Chris Christie and several other candidates in a personal capacity...(He) was unaware of the New Jersey pension fund’s investments with (Prudential PLC subsidiary) M&G (Investments)." The company declined to make Stowe available for an interview, and Stowe did not respond to requests for comment...
The British insurer and financial services company (which is not related to Newark’s Prudential Financial) joins an extensive list of companies that received New Jersey pension money around the time firm executives made donations to Christie’s political apparatus and other Republican groups...
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A dirty little secret? Of course not -- you can't expect an executive director of a financial firm to know what his own subsidiaries are doing!
Quote:
Christie Administration Won’t Give Lawmaker Details On Exxon Settlement
...Gov. Chris Christie’s administration blocked a Democratic lawmaker’s effort to learn hidden details of the Republicans' controversial Exxon Mobil settlement. Separately, the administration also withheld other government documents related to a top Christie aide who went to work for Exxon's New Jersey lobbying firm a few months before the settlement was disclosed.
...Christie’s appointed attorney general...said the agreement with Exxon would also cover “relatively minor” natural resource damages at 16 undisclosed “company service stations and other facilities located throughout New Jersey.” According to state Sen. Ray Lesniak, the Democrat who is leading an effort to block the settlement, Christie officials plan to keep those details secret. Lesniak announced Thursday that the state's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) had rejected his open records request...
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A dirty little secret? Of course not -- if the judge who's supposed to make the ruling on the settlement doesn't know about this, why should anyone else?
Quote:
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After news of Christie’s Exxon settlement first leaked, IBTimes reported that Exxon’s New Jersey lobbying firm had hired Christie’s departing deputy chief of staff, Lou Goetting, in October. IBTimes filed an open records request seeking all emails to or from Goetting that mentioned Exxon. On Tuesday, the governor’s office released a letter saying it is withholding an undisclosed number of communications referencing Exxon, citing an exemption for "inter-agency or intra-agency advisory, consultative, or deliberative material."
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A dirty little secret? Of course not -- obviously it was to Crew Christie's advantage to have a spy in the enemy camp during the settlement negotiations!