Chris Christie’s New Jersey administration awarded a $105.6m public subsidy to a property venture involving a close friend and financial backer of the governor, after state law was amended to enable the project to qualify for the money.Many of us regard Christie as the most honest governor since Jon Corzine so it's difficult to think he could even more opprobrium to the Garden State. Let's face it, when one looks sleazy in Jersey the optics are just terrible. It would be so easy just blend in with the crowd of miscreants. The article states that Hanson owned a property that was just outside city zone in which businesses were originally eligible for a state funding program. It did not appear to meet the usual requirements for creating jobs and future tax revenues that were placed on other projects that were seeking the funding. Through a series of quick amendments the property became eligible for public largess to be doled out by Christie’s economic development authority (EDA), which is led by another close friend of the governor.
The venture, in one of the state’s poorest cities, appears potentially lucrative for the friend, Jon Hanson, a wealthy real estate tycoon who headed the fundraising operations for Christie's election campaigns, chairs a policy commission for the governor, and is a longstanding Republican donor.
The former GOP front runner for 2016 is seldom mentioned outside his native states as of late except on MSNBC where he has provided hours of programming fodder. The governor, who parenthetically is facing a $2.7 billion deficit over the next year, will probably be best remembered for his warning of a "strain of libertarianism that’s going through both parties right now and making big headlines" which he regards as very dangerous thought. Good thinking, governor.
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