08-18-2016, 11:45 PM
Dennis S wrote:
I think we have enough information to make a decision on this:
http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital...settlement
The 2011 settlement followed Trump pumping $170,000 into the Republican Governors Association — which backed Christie's election campaign — in 2009 and 2010, according to data compiled by PoliticalMoneyLine.com. That was part of the total $620,000 he would end up giving to the group, which was ultimately chaired by Christie in 2014.
The disclosure that Christie's administration settled a lawsuit against a major RGA donor come a little more than a year after the Christie administration similarly settled a landmark state lawsuit against ExxonMobil for pennies on the dollar. That case, which was initiated in 2004 by Democrat and then-Gov. James McGreevey, initially sought $8.9 billion for environmental damage to 1,500 acres of waterfront acres and meadows. Christie’s administration settled the suit for just $250 million — a sum that International Business Times calculated could be raised by the company in about five hours, based on the company’s 2014 revenues.
The settlement followed a wave of ExxonMobil campaign donations to the RGA. In total, ExxonMobil gave $1.9 million to that group since Christie first ran for governor in 2009 and early last year. That includes $79,000 during his initial campaign, $200,000 during his reelection campaign in 2013 and $500,000 when he was chairman of the RGA in 2014.
Lawsuit settlements are only one public policy area where donors to Christie-linked political groups have benefited from Christie administration decisions. Other examples include:
- In 2015, the Christie administration's pension overseers approved a $100 million state investment in private equity firm KSL Capital. The firm's founder and chairman is Mike Shannon, who along with his wife donated $2.5 million to the RGA in the two years prior to the investment. About one-fifth of that, $500,000, came in 2013 when the RGA was backing Christie’s reelection bid. The rest was donated in 2014 when Christie chaired the group.
- Christie's pension officials approved multimillion-dollar state investments in Third Point LLC, Elliott Associates and Lazard Rathmore — each of whose executives have made large contributions to the RGA. Those officials also approved a state investment in General Catalyst just after Charlie Baker — a businessman associated with the firm who is now governor of Massachusetts — gave Christie's state party $10,000.
- A 2014 IBT investigation showed that various companies had made major contributions to the RGA while receiving state contracts from Christie's administration. Because they were made to the RGA — and not directly to Christie's own campaign — the donations skirted New Jersey laws restricting contributions from state contractors.
- Among the record $6 billion in corporate subsidies doled out by Christie's administration are some which flowed to big Republican donors.