Chris Christie
It was “well known” that Chris Christie met with state party leaders while he was U.S. Attorney, and if he discussed a run for governor with Karl Rove “he certainly discussed it with local leaders,” according to state Sen. Ray Lesniak (D). This morning, the state senator posted on NJ.com that “[f]or over a year while he was still U.S. Attorney, Christie met on dozens of occasions with Republican Party leaders to plan his campaign.”
State Sen. Ray Lesniak
But what leaders was he referring to? When Main Justice spoke with Lesniak, he said he was referring to state party leaders, not federal party leaders (with the exception of Rove).
He added he believes Christie’s behavior will ultimately be his downfall. “One thing the public will not stand for is hypocrisy,” Lesniak said, referring to Christie’s ethics platform. While the revelation of Christie’s conversations have had an impact on the campaign, Lesniak believes there is more to come.
Once the U.S. Attorney’s offices releases call logs between Christie and state party leaders, which Lesniak believes will include conversations about a run for office, it will be a “fatal blow” to his campaign, the state senator told us. The logs and other information have been requested by Gov. Jon Corzine’s (D) campaign via the Freedom of Information Act. The U.S. Attorney’s office has yet to release the documents, which Lesniak attributes to the “the politicalization of the office.”
According to Lesniak, the “U.S. Attorney’s office tried to stonewall” the process by delaying the release of the documents.
Lesniak is the latest in a chorus of Democratic party surrogates, led by Corzine’s running mate, state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, to criticize Christie for his ethics.
