Incorporating what was posted yesterday.
There has been one ruling on Christie's settlement with Exxon -- the settlement he reduced by some ninety-seven percent. The judge has rejected the inclusion of New Jersey State Senator Ray Lesniak and environmental groups as parties to the settlement:
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NJ101.5.com: Superior Court Judge Michael Hogan’s 32-page ruling said the groups did not show that the state Department of Environmental Protection failed to represent their interests...
The groups and Lesniak sought to become a party to the suit because they wanted an opportunity to appeal if the court approves the settlement over polluted land, including industrial sites in Bayonne and Linden...
Hogan also wrote that allowing the intervention could show he was prejudiced against the deal because the groups made it clear they opposed the agreement...
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And here are some things to chew on while awaiting the actual settlement ruling:
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IBT.com: Public Strategies Impact, the firm that represents Exxon’s interests in New Jersey, has donated $50,000 to America Leads, a super PAC supporting Christie’s presidential campaign, according to federal campaign finance filings...
The donation to the super PAC from Exxon’s lobbying firm is “not surprising,” said Democratic State Sen. Raymond Lesniak, who has led the charge to block the settlement. “If the judge approves Christie's settlement, Exxon will walk out with a check," he said.
PSI has also given $80,000 to the Republican Governors Association since Christie became New Jersey’s chief executive, according to Political Money Line data. State documents list PSI as Exxon’s longtime lobbyist, and the firm includes a laudatory quote from an Exxon executive on its website...
New Jersey has a strict “pay-to-play” law designed to bar state contractors from donating to state officials. That statute includes so-called anti-circumvention provisions that aim to keep firms from doing indirectly what they are prohibited from doing directly. However, the law does not explicitly apply to super PACs, which are technically supposed to be independent of public officials.
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Quote:
DemocraticUndeground:1. Christie's former Attorney General Paula Dow (the one who dismissed the Hunterdon County indictments) used to be an attorney for Exxon.
2. Former Christie DCA Commissioner and former Wolff & Sampson partner Lori Grifa is now a partner and lobbyist for Archer & Greiner, the law firm representing Exxon in this litigation.
3. Archer & Greiner donated $30,000 to the RGA.
4. Former Christie Deputy Chief of Staff Lou Goettner now works for Public Impact Strategies, the lobbying firm representing Exxon's interests in NJ.
5. Exxon donated $751,000 to the RGA in 2014 while Christie was in charge and nearly $1.8 million during the period of time Christie has been governor.
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You can't tell the corruption without a scorecard!