Firm That Cleared Christie Gave Money to Group He Leads
Earlier this month, a report into the Bridgegate scandal cleared Chris Christie of all wrongdoing.
The Star-Ledger reports that, just two weeks before it released the report, the firm of Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher — which Christie hired for the review — donated $10,000 to the Republican Governors Association. Christie chairs the RGA.
“If it looks, walks and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck — and these donations to the RGA fall right in line with Christie’s history of blurring the lines between political alliances and government work,” said Ian Sams, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee. “It’s a troubling pattern and speaks to the culture of questionable ethics that Chris Christie has established in his office and across state government.”
This being a walking, quacking duck is kind of silly, of course. The firm has donated to the RGA for several years now. A spokeswoman says the contributions “long predate our retention by the Office of the Governor and even predate when the current Governor was first elected to office.”
One doesn’t even need to positively identify this whole scenario as a duck at all. What type of politician would hire a firm for a review like this that wouldn’t exonerate him? A bad politician, that’s who. Bridgegate aside, Christie tends to avoid doing things quite that stupid.
