With all the recent examples of Republican governors acting like incompetent, corrupt tyrants, this one really takes the cake, IMO.
The dishonesty and treachery of Chris Christie and his Lt. Governor, Kim Guadagno, are on full display here. They are complaining about the New Jersey Council on the Arts giving $300,000 in no-bid contracts. This from an administration whose leader, Chris Christie, gave away well over $100 MILLION IN NO-BID CONTRACTS while Christie was U.S. Attorney for New Jersey to his former boss, John Ashcroft, and former U.S. Attorney David Kelley (the same David Kelley who let Christie's brother Todd off with a slap on the wrist in a stock fraud case while CEO of Wall St. firm Spears, Leeds, and Kellogg).
And get this. As if Christie's own hypocrisy isn't enough, to top it off, it turns out Kim Guadagno's office SIGNED OFF ON THE VERY ARTS COUNCIL CONTRACTS THEY'RE NOW COMPLAINING ABOUT!
http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2011/05/guadagnos_amateur_hour_at_budg.htmlGuadagno's amateur hour at budget hearingPublished: Thursday, May 12, 2011, 6:00 AM
By Star-Ledger Editorial Board The Star-Ledger
Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno is starring in a new show: Amateur Hour in Trenton. There’s no other way to describe her performance before the Senate budget committee on Monday, which left committee members baffled.
“It was a very, very bizarre hearing,” said committee chairman Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen). Very.
For months, Guadagno has lambasted the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, citing an incomplete state audit that allegedly found three contracts — totaling $300,000 for public art projects — went to one organization without proper authorization. Guadagno said a state attorney or the arts council board of trustees should have signed off on them. She called for Steve Runk, the executive director, to resign; he’ll leave this summer.
“The council enters into its own contracts and keeps its own paperwork,” she told the Senate committee.
But as The Star-Ledger’s Peggy McGlone reported, Guadagno’s chief financial officer signed off on the controversial contracts with Co-Works, Inc., a Hamilton nonprofit. And as recently as February, the financial officer reminded the arts council in a memo that purchasing requests must be submitted to him for “review and processing.”
How much more will the people of New Jersey put up with from this fraud before holding him and his minions accountable? I can only hope not much longer but only time will tell.