Weinberg demands transparency from Christie

They say they've been stymied in their repeated attempts to obtain public information about Chris Christie from the U.S. Attorney's Office, and now the Corzine campaign wants Christie himself to intervene and help deliver need-to-know info, a move the Democrats argue would square the former U.S. Attorney with the GOP candidate advertised.

“Mr. Christie’s campaign website says he will demand greater transparency and accountability in government,” said state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck), the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor. “So why doesn’t he start with himself? What’s he hiding?”

Corzine's people say they requested basic government information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) from Christie's former place of employ, "but more than 20 requests dating back to March remain unfulfilled. As a result, records of Christie’s budgets, travel at taxpayer expense and no-bid contracts he awarded remain secret."

Careful to invoke President Barack Obama - whose administration revamped federal guidelines governing FOIA to create more openness - Weinberg also went after a Christie pressure point: President George W. Bush.

“Hopefully Mr. Christie can use his ongoing relationship with the Bush administration holdovers in his old office to break this logjam,” said the LG candidate, referring specifically to First Assistant U.S. Attorney Michele Brown, formerly Christie's counsel, who attended a political strategy session for the fledgling gubernatorial candidate at his home in January.