NJ Today

Candidate Christie Cooks the Books

The prospective gubernatorial nominee who has been universally embraced by GOP organization leaders is using a falsehood to define his record as a Bush-administration political appointee and distorting math to manipulate voter opinion.

His record of sending 130 corrupt politicians to justice as U.S. Attorney is the lynchpin of Christopher Christie's gubernatorial campaign, but the figmentary number has been unquestioned by the main stream media and the Republican's campaign could not supply proof to support its accuracy.

An independent review of Christie's record found one instance where the former federal prosecutor claimed to have nabbed 150 crooked politicians, but most accounts assert that his victims number 130.

Our extensive review could identify only 89 elected or politically appointed defendants who were brought to justice during Christie's tenure. To be sure, that's not an insignificant number but instead of standing on the truth, Christie's campaign fudged the numbers.

Christie's campaign manager and a top strategist refused to respond to requests for verification, but said they stand by the assertion.

In an attempt to denounce Lonegan’s flat tax plan, Christie's campaign fudged the numbers the same way.

Instead of telling the truth, which is that without exemptions or deduction the Lonegan plan could result in a tax hike for some low income wage earners; Christie's campaign fudged the numbers again.

Peter Lawrence, a former state treasurer, was cited as the source of a claim that Lonegan’s flat tax plan would produce a tax hike for 70 percent of New Jersey residents.

Lawrence also mistakenly predicted that stock market increases would fund public employee pensions without state contributions. Those accounts are now in the red by about $75 billion.

The Lonegan plan would increase taxes only for individuals who earn less than $30,000 and economists say that it could stimulate higher income for those low wage earners.

"Steve Lonegan's economic plan is the best medicine for New Jersey's ailing state economy," said Dr. Arthur Laffer, the advisor to President Ronald Reagan who defined supply-side economics.

During the last debate between arch-conservative Lonegan and his more liberal opponent, Christie said he became a lawyer because he is "not good at math and science." Lonegan seized on the comment to rip into Christie's failure to articulate a tax plan.