Quote:
Originally Posted by Skinzman
Does the State of New Jersey or Christie himself have some sort of business relationship with Jerry Jones? Bob McDonnell was accused of taking "gifts" from people that were looking to do business with the state of Va. At that point, it goes from being a gift to being a bribe.
Its not a conflict of interest if no business dealings are present or none appear in the future while he is still in office.
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To quote the article that Matty posted: "The problem for Christie comes from Jones’ business relationship with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is controlled by Christie and New York governor Andrew Cuomo. Jones partially owns Legends Hospitality, which will operate the soon-to-be-opened observatory at the new One World Trade Center. It’s a deal that is expected to generate $875 million in revenue over 15 years.
Obviously, the appropriate people are denying that Christie had any influence over the situation. Regardless of any actual impropriety, there’s a clear appearance of potential impropriety."
So, yes, I think there is the potential that this crossed the line. And separately of whether there was an ethical violation or an actual crime, politicians accepting lavish gifts (and so publicly flaunting them no less) is just bad -- it undermines whatever confidence peopkle have in their public servants. Anyone with integrity -- much less someone hoping to be President someday -- ought to know better and err on the side of caution. I like that Christie is so plain spoken -- more politicians ought to be. But he's also an arrogant jerk, and his Cowboy fandom.
Separately, I just got an ESPN notifier that Scott M. is oiur new GM!!