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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPension Money And Political Contributions....
go together like milk and cookies, peanut butter and jelly, Christie and corruption
Chris Christie Maintained State Pension Investments In Prudential After Top Official Gave Contributions
Republican Gov. Chris Christie's administration has over the past five years paid at least $6.5 million in taxpayer fees to Prudential Financial to manage New Jersey pension funds, even after company officials made substantial contributions to Christie's 2009 gubernatorial campaign, International Business Times has learned. One of the Prudential officials was Christie's top fundraiser, adviser and donor. Christie appointees nonetheless maintained investment contracts with Prudential despite state rules that require such contracts to be canceled when executives at firms managing pension money donate to or raise money for state lawmakers.
It sounds like its a clear conflict with the rules, said Melanie Sloan, a former U.S. Department of Justice official who served as executive director of the watchdog group CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington), after IBTimes described its findings. It seems like this thing is a clear violation of the rules. The rules just havent been enforced and now everyone is scrambling for cover.
State documents show that Jon Hanson, who served on Prudential Financials board of directors until 2011, and his wife each donated $6,800 to Christies campaign in 2009. While leading Prudential, Hanson also served as finance chairman of Christies gubernatorial campaign, spearheading Christies fundraising operation. In 2009, when Hanson donated and raised the campaign money, New Jersey was investing hundreds of millions of dollars of state pension money in the companys subsidiaries.
Rules from the New Jersey State Investment Council, which oversees the states pension fund, mandate that the state terminate the contract of any firm managing state pension money if that firms senior officials donate more than $250 to the governor, or solicit money for the governors campaign. Yet, even after Hanson made donations and raised money for Christies election, the Christie administrations investment council continued to invest roughly $366 million of state pension money in Prudential funds, according to New Jersey documents. In 2011, Christie appointed Hansons son, James, to the council, where he currently leads the audit committee.
A spokesman for Hansons real estate firm, the Hampshire Companies, did not respond to questions from IBTimes, saying they had been forwarded to Christies office and to Prudential. The Christie administration declined to comment, referring questions to the Treasury Department. Attempts to contact the Treasury were unsuccessful.
Republican Gov. Chris Christie's administration has over the past five years paid at least $6.5 million in taxpayer fees to Prudential Financial to manage New Jersey pension funds, even after company officials made substantial contributions to Christie's 2009 gubernatorial campaign, International Business Times has learned. One of the Prudential officials was Christie's top fundraiser, adviser and donor. Christie appointees nonetheless maintained investment contracts with Prudential despite state rules that require such contracts to be canceled when executives at firms managing pension money donate to or raise money for state lawmakers.
It sounds like its a clear conflict with the rules, said Melanie Sloan, a former U.S. Department of Justice official who served as executive director of the watchdog group CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington), after IBTimes described its findings. It seems like this thing is a clear violation of the rules. The rules just havent been enforced and now everyone is scrambling for cover.
State documents show that Jon Hanson, who served on Prudential Financials board of directors until 2011, and his wife each donated $6,800 to Christies campaign in 2009. While leading Prudential, Hanson also served as finance chairman of Christies gubernatorial campaign, spearheading Christies fundraising operation. In 2009, when Hanson donated and raised the campaign money, New Jersey was investing hundreds of millions of dollars of state pension money in the companys subsidiaries.
Rules from the New Jersey State Investment Council, which oversees the states pension fund, mandate that the state terminate the contract of any firm managing state pension money if that firms senior officials donate more than $250 to the governor, or solicit money for the governors campaign. Yet, even after Hanson made donations and raised money for Christies election, the Christie administrations investment council continued to invest roughly $366 million of state pension money in Prudential funds, according to New Jersey documents. In 2011, Christie appointed Hansons son, James, to the council, where he currently leads the audit committee.
A spokesman for Hansons real estate firm, the Hampshire Companies, did not respond to questions from IBTimes, saying they had been forwarded to Christies office and to Prudential. The Christie administration declined to comment, referring questions to the Treasury Department. Attempts to contact the Treasury were unsuccessful.
http://www.ibtimes.com/chris-christie-maintained-state-pension-investments-prudential-after-top-official-1843736
And it's another big day at the Christie Crime Digest Volume II-we are hurtling towards Volume III.
187. Christie came under the spell of the Koch Brothers and let the environment be damned. Oil Baron of the Pine Barrens: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/03/12/oil-baron-of-the-pine-barrens-chris-christie-embraces-big-oil We're all screwed.
188. Wildstein's personal calendar turns out to be a treasure trove of information-Bridgegate Fall Guy Was Inside Man:http://bit.ly/1L0vosj Christie is caught lying again-what a shocker. This one's going to be a bit tough to explain Mr. Class President and Athlete.
189. Taking the state police helicopter to your kid's baseball games wasn't bad enough-Christie rarely pays full cost of state helicopter air time during personal, political travel : http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/03/christie_helicopter_travel.html Hey, when you're entitled you're entitled, know what I mean?
190. This whole you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours thing Christie has going is quite a racket! Chris Christie Maintained State Pension Investments In Prudential After Top Official Gave Contributions: http://www.ibtimes.com/chris-christie-maintained-state-pension-investments-prudential-after-top-official-1843736 There's nothing to see here folks, just move along.
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Pension Money And Political Contributions.... (Original Post)
Laxman
Mar 2015
OP
Faux pas
(14,700 posts)1. Kickin'
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)2. Jersey is with out a doubt ranked as the most
corrupt state.
WillyT
(72,631 posts)3. K & R !!!
Laxman
(2,419 posts)4. This Was Apparently Much Worse.....
than it first appeared! (if you can believe that)
Chris Christie Officials Sent Pension Money To Subsidiary of Donors Foreign Firm
Two years ago, as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie pursued re-election, his administration found itself mulling investment options for the states $80 billion pension fund. In one deal in May 2013, officials settled on a subsidiary of U.K.-based foreign financial conglomerate Prudential plc. With little fanfare, state pension overseers quickly endorsed the deal.
Weeks later, a Hong Kong-based executive director and board member of Prudential plc delivered a maximum $3,800 contribution to Christies gubernatorial campaign, followed by a maximum $32,400 donation to the Republican National Committee, which was about to launch a get-out-the-vote effort for Christie. Two months after that, New Jersey began moving public employees retirement savings into two funds managed by the Prudential subsidiary as part of the states new $300 million investment commitment to the company.
State and federal rules are designed to prevent firms that manage public pension money from contributing to the campaigns of public officials who have the authority to influence pension investments. The sequence of transactions in New Jersey, campaign finance experts say, is troubling.
"Pay-to-play laws are intended to stop the potential conflicts of interest and appearance of corruption that arises whenever executives at a financial firm make large political contributions to a governor and his political party around the time the state is picking the firm to handle pension system investments," said Larry Noble, a former general counsel of the Federal Election Commission who now works for the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, a research group in Washington, D.C. "These situations undermine the publics confidence in the integrity of government contracting."
Prudential plc said the donations from Barry Stowe, one of the firm's executive directors, were in no way improper.
"Prudential plc is one of the world's leading financial services groups, which employs 23,000 people across four continents and has more than $700 billion in assets under management," Prudential plc spokesperson Jonathan Oliver said in an emailed statement. "Mr. Stowe, who is a U.S. citizen, has donated to Chris Christie and several other candidates in a personal capacity. Until the approach by the International Business Times this week, he was unaware of the New Jersey pension funds investments with M&G." The company declined to make Stowe available for an interview, and Stowe did not respond to requests for comment.
The British insurer and financial services company (which is not related to Newarks Prudential Financial) joins an extensive list of companies that received New Jersey pension money around the time firm executives made donations to Christies political apparatus and other Republican groups. Last year, IBTimes reported that the Christie-appointed head of New Jerseys State Investment Council had been on regular conference calls with Christie campaign officials during the 2013 election, including those who oversaw the campaigns fundraising.
Two years ago, as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie pursued re-election, his administration found itself mulling investment options for the states $80 billion pension fund. In one deal in May 2013, officials settled on a subsidiary of U.K.-based foreign financial conglomerate Prudential plc. With little fanfare, state pension overseers quickly endorsed the deal.
Weeks later, a Hong Kong-based executive director and board member of Prudential plc delivered a maximum $3,800 contribution to Christies gubernatorial campaign, followed by a maximum $32,400 donation to the Republican National Committee, which was about to launch a get-out-the-vote effort for Christie. Two months after that, New Jersey began moving public employees retirement savings into two funds managed by the Prudential subsidiary as part of the states new $300 million investment commitment to the company.
State and federal rules are designed to prevent firms that manage public pension money from contributing to the campaigns of public officials who have the authority to influence pension investments. The sequence of transactions in New Jersey, campaign finance experts say, is troubling.
"Pay-to-play laws are intended to stop the potential conflicts of interest and appearance of corruption that arises whenever executives at a financial firm make large political contributions to a governor and his political party around the time the state is picking the firm to handle pension system investments," said Larry Noble, a former general counsel of the Federal Election Commission who now works for the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, a research group in Washington, D.C. "These situations undermine the publics confidence in the integrity of government contracting."
Prudential plc said the donations from Barry Stowe, one of the firm's executive directors, were in no way improper.
"Prudential plc is one of the world's leading financial services groups, which employs 23,000 people across four continents and has more than $700 billion in assets under management," Prudential plc spokesperson Jonathan Oliver said in an emailed statement. "Mr. Stowe, who is a U.S. citizen, has donated to Chris Christie and several other candidates in a personal capacity. Until the approach by the International Business Times this week, he was unaware of the New Jersey pension funds investments with M&G." The company declined to make Stowe available for an interview, and Stowe did not respond to requests for comment.
The British insurer and financial services company (which is not related to Newarks Prudential Financial) joins an extensive list of companies that received New Jersey pension money around the time firm executives made donations to Christies political apparatus and other Republican groups. Last year, IBTimes reported that the Christie-appointed head of New Jerseys State Investment Council had been on regular conference calls with Christie campaign officials during the 2013 election, including those who oversaw the campaigns fundraising.
read the rest here: http://www.ibtimes.com/chris-christie-officials-sent-pension-money-subsidiary-donors-foreign-firm-1847744
It's all just a coincidence, right?