Christopher Christie

Gov. Jon Corzine, former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, and former state Environmental Protection Commissioner Christopher Daggett will meet for what is expected to be the final debate of the 2009 gubernatorial election at 8PM.  The debate will air on WBGO-FM Jazz 88 (Newark Public Radio) and will be broadcast this weekend on News 12 New Jersey.  WBGO Evening News Anchor Andrew Meyer and WBGO/WHYY State House Reporter Phil Gregory are the panelists.

Gov. Jon Corzine today released a full list of contributions made by his charitable foundation this year -- $191,770 through October 8.  Included were gifts to the Harlem Day School ($50,000), Rockefeller University ($25,000), and the Folksbeine Yiddish Theater ($20,000).

Jon Corzine's campaign manager is asking GOP rival Christopher Christie to join in their request for the immediate release of documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act.

"In light of the recent New York Times report that First Assistant United States Attorney Michele Brown may have been assisting the Christie campaign while working in the non-partisan US Attorney's Office ... we are calling on Chris Christie to join with us to demand the Office completely release and comply with our Freedom of Information Act requests," said Maggie Moran, Corzine's campaign manager.

Moran accused Christie of abusing taxpayer funds on "trips around the world and limousine rentals for drives to Atlantic City" and said that those expenses lead to questions of abuse that require the completion of the FOIA requests.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie today released a full list of all contributions made by the Christie Family Foundation through last month and has called on Gov. Jon Corzine to do the same.

"Yesterday, Jon Corzine released just a part of his foundation's financial contributions, omitting the last 10 months," said Christie campaign manager Bill Stepien.  "Does the Governor think we wouldn't notice that he failed to disclose his election year contributions?

Stepien and Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-Morris Plains), the Republican State Chairman, says that Corzine didn't go far enough when he released contributions made by his charitable foundation through the end of 2008, and wants to know who got contributions this year.

A poll of five South Jersey legislative districts shows Republican Christopher Christie leading Gov. Jon Corzine 34%-31%, numbers that are within the margin of error, and independent Christopher Daggett is at 18%.  The poll, conducted by Zogby International for Richard Stockton College’s William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy, surveyed 801 likely voters in district 1, 2, 3, 4 and 9.  That region includes all of Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Salem counties, part of Gloucester and southern Ocean counties, and Bass River in Burlington County. 

In 2005, Corzine carried this region by a 52%-48% margin over Republican Douglas Forrester.

“The question statewide is from whom Daggett is pulling votes?” said Sharon Schulman, the Executive Director of the Hughes Center.  “Most of the shift came over from the undecided voters, which dropped from 22% last month to 13% this month.”

The survey gives Christie 73% of the Republicans and Corzine gets 59% of Democrats.  Among independents, Daggett goes from 7% to 13%.

The poll also shows a close race for State Assembly in District 1, where Republican John McCann (49%) leads.  For the second seat, Democratic incumbent Nelson Albano (44.1%) and Republican Michael Donohue (43.5%) are tied.  Democratic incumbent Matthew Milam is running fourth with 30%.

Public affairs TV host Stephen Adubato, Jr. says that a contribution from Gov. Jon Corzine's foundation to the Caucus Educational Corporation (CEC), went to a leadership development program for inner city kids and not for policy-oriented TV programming.

The Corzine foundation gave CEC $1,000 last year, and contributed about $3.2 million to charities overall.

Adubato has hosted numerous public television shows on the 2009 gubernatorial election, including a call-in show for the candidates that was aired on New Jersey Network.

According to their website, CEC "is the non-profit organization that produces both Caucus: New Jersey with Steve Adubato, the Emmy Award-winning public television series, and One-on-One, a series of in-depth interviews featuring some of the nation's most interesting and compelling personalities. The CEC also produces Democracy Works, a special series offering comprehensive coverage of the many challenges facing New Jersey and national leaders.  This series also includes a LIVE interactive, one-hour call in program with New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine.  Caucus: New Jersey, One-on-One and Democracy Works are anchored by four-time Emmy Award winning anchor Steve Adubato, Ph.D."

CEC also runs Stand & Deliver: Communication Tools for Tomorrow's Leaders, which helps improve "the basic communication and leadership skills of young adults in New Jersey's Greater Newark Area."  

Adubato said Corzine's money "went to support mentors and teachers in the program and to support scholarships for the most accomplished students in the program.

"None of it went to me or to support our public affairs and policy-oriented TV programming.

The race for Governor is a statistical tie, according to a Rutgers-Eagleton poll released this morning showing Gov. Jon Corzine leading Republican Christopher Christie 39%-36% among likely voters, with 20% for independent Christopher Daggett.  The margin of error is +/- 4%.

Corzine is running third among independents, with 27%; Christie leads Daggett 35%-31%.

"While Jon Corzine has made up a lot of ground in all the polls since last summer, he has not done it by increasing his support. Instead, Chris Christie has lost support as some voters who are opposed to Corzine have become attracted to Chris Daggett," said David Redlawsk, director of the Rutgers-Eagleton Poll. "Even so, it is important to note that Corzine's lead in this poll is within the margin of error and if the election were today, the winner would be the candidate who can best rally his troops. We don't know now who that will be."

Corzine has upside-down favorables of 40%-52% and Christie is upside down, 39%-42%.  Dagget is at 31%-15%.  But more than half of the likely voters polled are unfamiliar with Daggett.

The poll shows Corzine benefits by increased support for Daggett, who appears to be taking votes from Christie.  When asked how they would vote in a two-way race, 37% of Daggett supporters say they did not know or might not vote; 34% went for Christie and 28% for Corzine.

The Christie Family Foundation contributed nearly $1.75 million to charitable organizations between 2004 and 2007, according to four years of tax returns released by Christopher Christie's campaign.  The foundation donated $292,000 in 2004, $589,421 in 2005, $386,940 in 2006, and $479,050 in 2007.

Contributions have included $200,000 to St. Barnabas Medical Center, $75,000 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation, $100,000 to Morristown Memorial Hospital and the Goryeb Children's Hospital, $50,000 to Tomorrow' Children, and $95,000 to the Child Abuse Prevention Program.  They also gave large contributions to DePaul Catholic High School and the Mendham PBA.

The foundation is largely funded through donations from the candidate's brother, Todd Christie, and the candidate's wife and father serve as officers.  The foundation runs on an October-September fiscal year.

Gov. Jon Corzine's foundation gave $3,188,083 to charities in 2008

Gov. Jon Corzine today released a list of nearly $3.2 million in charitable contributions made by his foundation in 2008, including $250,000 to the Rutgers University Foundation, $250,000 to the Cooper Foundation in Camden, $400,000 to the New York University Child Study Center, and $500,000 to a private school in Connecticut that his son once attended.  The list of donations was provided at the request of PolitickerNJ.com.

"We scrambled to compile the list of contributions made by the Jon S. Corzine Foundation and put it out in advance of the filing extension requested to put to rest any further attempts by the Christie campaign to use these contributions as a diversion from answering questions about limo rides and five star hotels on taxpayer dime and the apparent use of the United States Attorney's office as a campaign headquarters for Christie.  These are all very serious transgressions and will hopefully now be looked at in their proper context," said Sean Darcy, a spokesman for the Corzine campaign. 

Darcy is also asking that GOP gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie release a detailed list of contributions made by a charitable group run by his own family.
 
"In the name of the same transparency the Christie campaign claims to value, they should now release the contributions from the Christie Family Foundation.  While it would make sense that the Corzine campaign's ongoing transparency would compel the Christie campaign to do the same with the contributions for the Christie Family Foundation, nothing we have seen from Christie to this point will make us hold our breath," Darcy said.

Click here to view the list.

Miles Winder, right, is working for independent gubernatorial candidate Christopher Daggett. Some observers say Daggett will play a key role in the outcome of the race for governor between Jon Corzine and Chris Christie

Some political insiders view independent Christopher Daggett as a potential spoiler in the race for Governor.

"I think the race has come down to Daggett," said Newark South Ward leader Carl Sharif, a Democrat and a Corzine supporter. "With Chris Christie and Jon Corzine even (most recent polls register the candidate in the 40% range), the question becomes whether Daggett's 12 to 14 percent is solid support. If it's hard support, Corzine wins. If its soft support, and those voters peel off Daggett in the voting booth, most polls show they're going to vote for anybody but Corzine, and that's where Corzine could have problems. That's where Christie wins."

Democrats like Sharif figure that as long as Daggett's support holds and he drains Christie's independent voter support in southern Morris, Somerset and Hunterdon counties, Democrats can win a GOTV dogfight with their superior party machinery and squeak Corzine back into power.

"Barack Obama is here today as part of a mechanical calculation," said Bill Schluter, a former Republican senator and independent candidate for governor in 2001 who supports Christie for governor. "His presence here is designed solely to motivate a listless Democratic Party base, and it remains to be seen whether that actually works."

Sharif agrees.

"The Democrats have brought in two party sweethearts in as many days - Obama and former President Bill Clinton - and whether that translates is a big question," he said.

Biden, Clinton, Obama - all the big names this week here stumping for Corzine still lead people back to Daggett.