Revealed: Gov. Christie pleads pension poverty while handing huge subsidies to his major political donors
By DAVID SIROTA at Pando Daily
Yesterday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) made headlines by slamming his state’s legislators for supposedly paying police and firefighters too much.
“They want to give away more of your money,” thundered Christie.
The irony of the complaint coming from Christie is strong. The Christie administration has been spending record amounts of taxpayer money on corporate subsidies at the exact same time as he claims New Jersey doesn’t have enough money to make required public pension payments.
In short, Christie is using money that should be going to fulfill pension promises to instead pay for large corporate gifts – and not just random gifts, either. A Pando analysis of campaign finance data has found that Christie is giving those huge taxpayer-financed corporate subsidies to some of his major political benefactors.
Looting pensions to pay for gifts to campaign donors
In 2012, a year after Christie pled poverty to justify skipping a pension payment, his New Jersey Economic Development Authority passed a $210 million tax subsidy for insurance firm Prudential. The Authority is chaired by Christie appointee and former utility executive, Al Koeppe, and, as of 2012, its chief of staff is Christie’s top aide, Michele Brown.
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