When Chris Christie was appointed by Bush II, the legal community was disgusted that someone with this utter lack of law enforcement experience would be appointed. It was an insult to the requirements of the job.
Christie's main claim to fame was that he had pulled together $100 thousand dollars to donate to the Prez - he was a Bush "pioneer" and it was payback time. Everyone in the legal community on both sides of the aisle knew he had simply purchased his position. But this was an administration that took a revered agency such as FEMA [I'm from Florida - we loved FEMA] and appointed as its head someone whose resume was presiding over an Arabian Horse Association.
Democrats were powerless, and Republicans didn't seem to care that our President was abusing his office with pay-to-play - even in jobs that affected the rights and safety of our people.
That was then, this is now. And pay to play has a stench about it that NJ simply will no longer tolerate.
Today's Star Ledger reveals that Christie was blatantly willing to do the same kind of b**sh*t pay to play as his Boss
He's gonna go down.
Joe Ryan at the Star Ledger reportstoday of a move by Christie that stunk so badly of partisanship, even other federal attorneys colleagues inside the Newark US attorney's office were "concerned" at the blatant cronyism.
What did he do?
He
(1) hired the son of a "mentor" - or to be more precise, the son of
one of the few prominent lawyers who initially supported Christie as he came under widespread fire for his lack of law-enforcement experience when he became U.S. attorney in 2002
as one of his last actions, just days before Christie resigned as Us Attorney to run for governor
[so what, you say?]
Well, but
(2) this law school grad had a total of one job under his belt, he was 1 1/2 years out of law school.
Perhaps a tiny tiny teensy bit early to get into the interview process for such a job?
Oh yeah, did I mention that
(3) the "montor's" son got all negatives in the interview process? Oh I forgot to mention that?
Well it gets better: The interviews where this candidate got all negatives was in [wait for it]
(4) the first round. There wasn't supposed to even BE a second round - let alone a hire]
No problem! Our Bush appointee intervened and arranged for his candidate to get a second chance - another round of interviews.
Bad news - the kid got more bad reviews.
(5) No problem, says Christie. No need for even the next level of interviews with any supervisors that every other candidate - who gets good reviews - must undergo, Nope.
No supervisor needs to even talk to this kid. The kids is simply so well qualified that it would be an insult to have any supervisors even speak to him. Christie - - - simply hired the kid.
["heckofa job, Chris!!]
I simply canot do this story justice, so here are some of the more . . . "interesting" paragraphs from this tale of cheesy cronyism by a Bush appointee in OUR United Stated Department of Justice, Newark Office:
Days before announcing his resignation as a federal prosecutor, Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie agreed to hire the son of his friend and mentor, Herbert J. Stern, as an assistant U.S. attorney.
Democrats ... accused Christie of using his post as New Jersey’s top federal law enforcement official for patronage. But interviews last week showed it also drew private concern from prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark.
According to law enforcement officials ...
Christie hired Samuel Stern over objections from nearly every assistant U.S. attorney who interviewed him
The Star Ledger reports on not only concerns over the appointee's obvious lack of experience but especially that Christie
took the unusual step of changing the interview process after receiving negative reviews,
Again, it's not simply that NJ does't "like" this person. Or that our governor is running dirt.
The man is simply a blatant example of everything that was wrong with the Bush Presidency.
Arrogance. Hypocrisy. Pay to Play Corruption. HUBRIS.
And people are just tired of it.
More information at the Star Ledger - and worth a read.is worth a read.