Step right up! Get your latest Chris Christie scandal fix right here!
A couple of days ago, candidate for the GOP MA Governor nomination Charlie Baker told the Boston Globe that he was “not an employee” of General Catalyst Partners. The Cambridge-based venture capital firm was granted a management contract for $25 million from a Christie-controlled pension fund seven months after Baker donated $10,000 to Governor Christie's state party committee.
The controversy arises over the fact that under NJ's "pay-to-play" regulations, if Baker were an executive of General Catalyst, that donation would make the company ineligible for the contract.
In an interview with the Boston Globe on Friday, Baker said: “I pay for my health care, I don’t get a W-2 tax form” and that it was "an error" that campaign finance documents show that he identified himself as a General Catalyst “partner.”
Now David Sirota at Pando is reporting that Pando has:
"...discovered 33 separate campaign donation records between 2011 and 2013 that appear to show Baker affirming his status as an employee of General Catalyst. Those employer listings, which appear in conjunction with $45,400 worth of campaign donations by Baker, are typically made by the donor themselves."
Sirota also quotes former Federal Election Commission General Counsel Larry Noble as saying:
“Somebody is playing fast and loose with title of employer.”
I urge you to read the whole Pando article.
Make no mistake -- Baker is a serious threat to win the Gubernatorial race in MA, especially if the Dem candidate is Martha Coakley (she who lost to Scott Brown). There are a lot of Dems in MA who just won't support Martha. (I'll support ANY Dem over ANY Republican, but I'd much rather have the Dems nominate Don Berwick than Coakley!) So even if this turns out to be limited as a scandal, anything that ties Baker to the national Republicans in general and Chris Christie in particular is good for Massachusetts.
Chris Christie -- the gift that keeps on giving!