Justice Department Extortion Racket?-3

"In the six yars that he has been the [US] attorney for New Jersey, Christopher J. Christie, Jr has investigated freeholders and governors, party hacks and [US] senators, winning indictments against Republicans and Democrats alike and obtaining convictions or guilty pleas against more than 125 public officials without losing a case. But today Mr. Christie finds himself challenged over the way he has conducted business. He recently drew the attention of the Justice Department's inspector general and Congress after awarding tens of millions of dollars in no-bid contracts to his friends and political allies. ... But there is a growing chorus of critics who say [Christie] has resorted to the same kind of cronyism and bullying tactics for which he has excoriated others. ... Democrats complain that his office tried to tarnish candidates facing election and intimidate state lawmakers before they cast crucial votes. Mr. Christie declined several requests to be interviewed for this article, but he has insisted that Mr. Ashcroft's contract was based on merit rather than political loyalty or the hope that Mr. Ashcroft might one day repay the favor as a political fund-raiser. ... In 2002, ... James Treffinger, a popular Republican, ... was not permitted to surrender like most elected officials who find themselves in similar circumstances. Instead Mr. Treffinger, who was about to begin a campaign for the [US] Senate, was arrested at gunpoint and spent more than six hours in handcuffs and leg shackles. Mr. Christie's aides said that the decisions on how to arrest and detain Mr. Treffinger were made by the [US] Marshall's Service out of concern that Mr. Treffinger might have access to a gun. ... 'He's done a great job as U.S. attorney and certainly has every right to use that record to run for higher officed if he chooses,' said Edward H. Stier, a former federal prosecutor. 'But the danger with these things is if people think you are using the power of your law enforcement position for personal reasons, you lose credibility.' ... 'There was never even the slightest suggestion that partisan politics plays any role whatsoever in who we investigated or how we made cases,' said Scott Resnick, who worked in the public corruption unit under Mr. Christie. 'If there had been, the career prosecutors in that office whould have been resigning every day." ... For all the laurels that Mr. Christie has earned for vigorously prosecuting corruption, the area that has brought him a spate of negative publicity involves his role in deferred-prosecution agreements, which are legal settlement that allow corporations and public entities to avoid criminal charges by agreeing to pay damages and be overseen by an appointed monitor", my emphasis, http://www.nytimes.com/, 13 February 2008.

I am impressed. The NYT interviews former federal prosecutors who support Christie. Big deal. I believe in Mafia parlance they are: "stand-up guys". I suspect they just want a piece of the pelf. Why care what feds who may very well have participated in criminal acts themselves say? How can anyone take the DOJ seriously? Career prosecutors "would have been resigning every day", said Resnick. Puhleeze, spare me this nonsense. I don't believe it. Who are our career prosecutors? My guess: bully boys. Did any go public on the floor of Congress screaming about corruption within the DOJ? Christie let Herbert Stern, "a former [US] attorney, whom he described as a mentor" have a $10 million contract. How do I get in on this? Let's "investigate" this, we'll have our "friend" Mary Jo White appointed a "special prosecutor" to investigate Christie's office. Steir got it almost right. He should have written, "if people think, you lose credibility".