GOP candidate Chris Christie agrees to testify before Congress on federal monitoring contracts

[ccharles000]

TRENTON -- Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie will testify before Congress next week about controversial federal monitoring contracts he awarded while U.S. attorney - an issue Democrats view as one of his biggest liabilities as he tries to unseat Gov. Jon Corzine.

In a letter today to Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Christie said he will appear for 2 1/2 hours Thursday before the House Judiciary subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law. The panel is looking into reforming corporate fraud settlements like the one in which Christie awarded a lucrative monitoring contract to his ex-boss, former U.S. attorney general John Ashcroft.

The hearing sets up a politically charged clash on Capitol Hill between Christie, the aggressive former prosecutor, and Congressional Democrats who since 2007 have pressed him to divulge more details on the deals, known as deferred prosecution agreements.

The out-of-court settlements between prosecutors and corporations under investigation spare the company and its executives from charges as long as they meet certain requirements, such as entering into a private contract with an independent monitor.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/gop_candidate_chris_christie_a_2.html

[lisa58]

1. Corzine is already running some great ads - haven't seen anything from Christie...

...I don't really think Christie has a chance once the electorate get to know him - hopefully these hearings help the Corzine campaign

[karynnj]

2. Christie was forced in the primary to brag of his conservative credentials

I doubt he can walk back from those endless ads. In addition to this problem - there was the problem where his brother was not indited for things he did on Wall Street when his peers were.

[ShadowLiberal]

3. I'm just the opposite, I've seen lots of Christie ads and no Corzine ones

I don't actually live in NJ, I live in south eastern PA, which shares a media market with NJ & DE. I've seen lots of Christie ads hitting Corzine on stuff like 'he says one thing and does another, he raised taxes his first year after promising not to'.

Personally I really don't see how Corzine can win this one, NJ already wasn't in the best shape in a lot of people's eyes, and this bad economy is just going to make things even worse for Corzine, it already has. The last GOP governor of NJ was elected under similar conditions to now.