GOP continues call for Corzine disclosure of casino investment ties; Darcy says, again, that Corzine owns no casino stock

Two Republican legislators continued the call for Gov. Jon Corzine to answer questions regarding his investments in a hedge fund with some connection to Texas Pacific Group (TPG).

"As Governor Corzine likes to say, facts are a stubborn thing. In this case, they point to conflict of interest in the governor's investments and a disregard for propriety in his financial dealings," said Assemblyman Gary Chiusano (R-Frankford).  "There are serious issues being raised that deserve more than the governor's flippant answers and dismissal of scrutiny.

Chiusano says that Corzine should divest himself of his TPG holdings.  Corzine maintains that is investment is with TPG-Axon, a hedge fund that is separate from TPG.  TPG says they have an internal fire wall to obviate a conflict between the two firms.

Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande (R-Colts Neck) says that Corzine's Atlantic City casino investments show a "clear conflict of interest and may be illegal."

"By refusing to disclose the details of his investments, Governor Corzine has shown he believes that the rules do not apply to him," Casagrande said. "He must tell the voters the truth to remove any appearance of an abuse of power or influence in our state's gaming industry."

Former Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks, a Republican State Assembly candidate in District 22, says that it is "absurd" to think that Corzine, who ran one of Wall Street's largest investment banks before running for office, was unaware of TPG's involvement in Atlantic City casinos.

"Changing the names on a press release and re-sending it over and over again does not change the fact that Governor Corzine does not own casino stock," said Sean Darcy, a spokesman for the Corzine campaign, who noted a similarity between statements issued by GOP legislators over the last few days.  "None of his investments are managed by anyone who has a casino license. He can’t profit one penny from the casino business because his investments are not connected to it in any way. Not a single one of the 22 jurisdictions that regulate Harrah’s casinos lists a financial connection between TPG and TPG-Axon"

Darcy says that casino regulators in New Jersey conducted a forensic audit of TPG and nowhere in its filings was there a single reference to TPG-Axon.

"Unlike Chris Christie, who repeatedly failed to disclose his financial interests and failed to pay his taxes, Governor Corzine has disclosed his investments in a fully transparent way.  It is clear that Christie and his fellow Bush Republicans still don’t want to answer to the fact that Mr. Christie didn’t pay his taxes and ignored ethics laws by failing to disclose details about a real – not imagined – conflict of interest," said Darcy.  "Chris Christie has a well-established pattern of having one set of rules for himself and another for everyone else, and now his campaign is desperate to do everything they can to distract away from it."