NYT: Corzine Gave $470,000 Loan to (girlfriend) Head of New Jersey Union

[DeepModem Mom]

Corzine Gave $470,000 Loan to Head of New Jersey Union
By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI
Published: August 4, 2005


TRENTON, Aug. 3 - Senator Jon S. Corzine provided a $470,000 mortgage to the president of a union that represents thousands of New Jersey state employees in late 2002, then forgave the debt two years later.

The union president, Carla Katz, was Mr. Corzine's girlfriend at the time. The senator said on Wednesday that an investment company he owns gave her the mortgage, then canceled it in December 2004, several months after they had stopped dating.

The loan was not illegal, and Mr. Corzine said he took care of the required gift tax on the money he ended up giving to Ms. Katz.

But if Mr. Corzine succeeds in his race for New Jersey governor this fall against the Republican candidate, Douglas R. Forrester, he could find himself negotiating opposite Ms. Katz, whose union, Local 1034 of the Communications Workers of America, represents 9,000 state workers and is one of a handful of labor groups that will seek billions of dollars from the state for wage increases and a bailout of the state's troubled health care and pension funds....

***

Asked about the mortgage on Wednesday, Mr. Corzine, a millionaire who is financing his own campaign, characterized it as a gift intended to help a friend beset by money problems. The senator said he did not consider the possibility that his financial dealings with Ms. Katz might one day create the appearance of a conflict of interest because, at the time, he viewed their relationship in purely personal terms....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/04/nyregion/04corzine.html

[okieinpain]

1. damn, wish i could give somebody a half million dollars.

[hopein08]

3. me too...plus financing my own campaign for governor

[okieinpain]

6. no sh**

[DeepModem Mom]

4. Corzine is very, very rich, and very smart -- he ran Goldman, Sachs....

I thought he had better sense than this.

[SoCalDem]

9. Does he need a new girlfriend? I could be persuaded

My house is shit.. I need a new one.. My husband probably wouldn't mind that much :)

[DeepModem Mom]

10. LOL!

(And "do you have this in a size 14" is hilarious!)

[6000eliot]

12. I wish someone could give ME half a million dollars!

[still_one]

2. what does this have to do with with his job

was it illegal?

[alcibiades_mystery]

5. Millionaire? That's an understatement

Corzine was the CEO of Goldman Sachs, and had in on plenty of the Goldman IPO shares. A "loan" of $470,000 is roughly equivalent to giving your girlfriend a $2000 present, for most middle class people. Bet the brother didn't even realize it was missing. Is this the NY Times first salvo to take down Jon Corzine? Because it's pretty weak.

[halobeam]

7. Oh yeah it's the first salvo to take him down, IMO.

So scary now, because they mentioned the "billions" that would be taken from state money to pay the unions. What... only if Corzine wins? Right, they aren't going to demand what they want anyway, and please, stop twisting it NYTimes to seem like he'd just hand the states money over anyway. What are they now, fortune tellers? Such bull.

[flyarm]

8. well its pretty obvious..he can't be bought...

by lobbyists!!..he's my man here in N.J.!!

i have a shopping list..dreaming here!!

[1932]

11. I am actually impressed that a millionaire dated a union leader.

I have more esteem for Corzine because of this story.

[Cha]

13. So Corzine's not

married?

If not ..then what's the prob?

[DeepModem Mom]

15. The article, re. Corzine's marriage --

When Mr. Corzine's divorce was finalized in November 2003, both he and his wife, Joanne, released written statements saying that the decision to end the marriage was his. He has declined to say when his relationship with Ms. Katz began.

[Cha]

16. Thanks, I see from the picture

below that she's a livewire!

[DeepModem Mom]

17. Indeed! (On edit: not your typical labor boss!) nt

[DeepModem Mom]

14. Well, here's a pic of the two, with the article now --

Rick Bard
Senator Jon S. Corzine with Carla Katz at a ball in the Pierre Hotel in 2002.

[davidinalameda]

19. interesting

doesn't look like any union leader I've ever seen

good for her!

[OneBlueSky]

18. gotta understand the context here . . . that's pocket change . . .

to Corzine . . . no different than you or me lending a friend ten bucks . . . he probably made it back in interest before the ink dried . . .

[Dogmudgeon]

20. Why? you ask? Forrester is in serious trouble.

Forrester is facing some serious charges of his own, involving drug-company conflict of interest and fund-raising questions. And, yes, Karl Rove is involved. Here's last week's report on the drug-company chicanery from the Times:

Corzine Camp Seeks Details of Deals Tied to Forrester

By DAVID W. CHEN

Published: July 30, 2005

TRENTON, July 29 - The Democratic gubernatorial campaign of Jon S. Corzine demanded on Friday that Mr. Corzine's Republican challenger, Douglas R. Forrester, release the full details of contracts that his prescription drug insurance company has with municipalities, school districts and other public entities in New Jersey.

read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/30/nyregion/metrocampaigns/30forrester.html

THIS why Corzine has had a so-called "bimbo eruption" this week.

And, no, I don't consider the bimbo in question to be Carla Katz.

--p!

edited for typos

[DeepModem Mom]

29. Thanks for this info, Pigwidgeon. nt

[Alexander]

21. Take away a 58-year old man's money...

And you're left with a 58-year old man.

Jack Welch, Hugh Hefner, Rupert Murdoch, and others (Anna Nicole Smith, anyone?) have found sex appeal through wealth and power.

Yes, Corzine bats for our team, and I agree with him on lots of issues, but does anyone else find it nauseating to find that he spent $62 million of his own money on his narrowly-won Senate campaign? And how much for the gubernatorial race, I wonder? This is what I would call "buying" elections - a behavior I usually associate with the Republicans.

I find the New Jersey lot to be a bit disconcerting. Not only this (and the conflict-of-interest that he wasn't aware of - what were you thinking, Jon?), but also Lautenberg's seat. It was won in one of the few cases where we actually weren't on the right side of the law, yet we still won, and it has set a horrible precedent of "replacing" candidates mid-election, like Alan Keyes, for example.

Before anyone goes freeperizing me, note that I think the 5-4 Bush v. Gore decision by the Court was partisan hackery (and a coup d'etat by an illegitimate government, now on its fifth year), and I have great respect for a lot of our lawmakers; I just wish our New Jersey group could get their act together. Between Corzine, Toricelli and McGreevey, it's no wonder some polls showed the 2004 race close in New Jersey.

Flame away. But note that I'm a liberal with principles. If the gang of jokers in Jersey had (R)s in front of their names we'd be screaming bloody murder and corruption, and rightfully so.

[ngGale]

22. Boy, this is the right bunch to say 'conflict of interest' ...

when the whole Bush administration is nothing but, one big conflict of interest.

[truthisfreedom]

23. "Mr. Corzine said he took care of the required gift tax" OKAY, think

about this.

how does the giver take care of the gift tax? he pays the IRS? but that's another gift to the original recipient, because the recipient owes the tax, not the giver.

so did he pay the required gift tax on the gift tax he payed for her?

8^) think about it.

[Sgent]

24. Gift tax is assessed

on the Giver, not on the recipient. If you recieve a 1 million dollar gift, there are no taxes. If you give 1 million dollars, there are taxes (up to 55% of the amount given).

[ZR2]

25. Please don't inject facts into a good conspiracy thread

They are not welcome :D :D :D :D

[maxrandb]

26. Damn! Now Republicans Are Going After Millionaires!!!

and these people are their base!!!

- If your in the military and a repuke, you're a "true-life American hero", and are treated like a God by Repukes.

- If your in the military and a Dem, you're a "communist, terrorist sympathizing, 'office puke'", who joined, NOT to serve your country, but to eventually use your service, at some point down the road, to 'fool Americans into thinking you really care about your country'".

- If you're a millionaire and you support Repukes, you need to be coddled and given every possible tax break and "leg-up" they can hand out. That way a few crumbs will fall off your table to the rest of us. No one should question what you do with your money. After all; "it is your money

- If you're a millionaire and you support Democrats, you obviously are a "sleazy, money-grubbing, piece of shit", who "cheats on your wife", "cheats on your taxes", "finances big labor bosses", "supports terrorist", didn't "earn a penny of your wealth", and want to "take money from us middle class Americans and give it to 'welfare cheats'"

I think Repukes should be careful. Don't want to piss off your base.

[DoYouEverWonder]

27. So he canceled the debt after they stopped dating

why did I never find guys like this?

Most of the ones that I knew would leave you with the bill when they split, not cancel it.

[bleedingheart]

28. These types of "loans" are very common "perk" packs for execs

so it doesn't suprise me that others use the same thing...

My husband was offered a very large loan from a former company when we were asked to relocate to a terribly expensive area. We couldn't afford the housing in the area with the good schools so the president of the company tried to sweeten the deal with this very large "loan" amount...that would be forgiven in a few years...(once hubby was there and settled in)...I found the whole thing very risky..and we walked away from it...(later the company was sold and if we had this loan on the books the company that bought them could have asked us for the money and we would have been SOL)