John Ashcroft

Nicholas Katzenbach, right, at the University of Alabama in 1963, confronting Gov. George Wallace on segregation: Getty Images Photo

Former U.S. Attorney General Nicholas deB. Katzenbach thinks that former Attorney General John Ashcroft is a good man – but not necessarily deserving of a federal monitoring contract worth up to $58 million.

“He’s a pleasant enough man. I doubt that he was an editor of the law review or a Supreme Court clerk or something of that kind -- those are the kinds of standards I have,” said Katzenbach, who lives in Princeton and served as Attorney General under President Lyndon B. Johnson between 1965 and 1966.

The contract in question is a position Christopher J. Christie, New Jersey’s United States Attorney, gave Ashcroft, his former boss, monitoring Zimmer Holdings, a medical implant company that admitted paying kickbacks to doctors to use its products. By agreeing to take on a federal monitor and pay a $311 million settlement, the company avoided prosecution.

Although Katzenbach acknowledged that there could be circumstances to the appointment that he’s unfamiliar with, to him it looks political -- especially considering that the Justice Department should appear the most free of political considerations.

Stuart Essig, a Director of medical device manufacturer Zimmer Holdings, has contributed $11k to Rep. Rob Andrews' campaignsRep. Rob Andrews is defending his acceptance of $11,000 in campaign contributions from a Zimmer Holdings director. Zimmer, an Indiana-based medical device manufacturer, agreed to a $311 million settlement with the Department of Justice -- ending a federal investigation into allegations that they paid off surgeons to use their products.

Plainsboro resident Stuart Essig, a former Goldman Sachs managing director, is one of five members of Zimmer’s Board of Directors. His contributions have come between 2003 and 2007.

Rep. Bill Pascrell says that congressional pressure has caused U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie to admit that the process used to hire federal monitors creates the “perception of coercion,” but said that Christie’s proposal to widen the field of monitor candidates “is no alternative to the congressional oversight and true reform.”

“Deferred prosecution agreements suffer from a litany of deficiencies apart from the flawed process by which federal monitors are appointed.  There is a complete lack of oversight, transparency and impartiality,” said Pascrell, who played a key role in convincing House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers to ask the Justice Department for more information on John Ashcroft’s lucrative monitor project.  “I will continue to work with the Judiciary Committee towards comprehensive legislation that will provide the necessary oversight and continue to impress upon Attorney General Michael Mukasey the need for real reform.” 

The Justice Department has been having ongoing discussions about the selection of federal monitors for several months and was not prompted by reports that New Jersey's federal prosecutor, Christopher J. Christie, had awarded a monitor contract to former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, according to Peter A. Carr, a spokesman for the Department of Justice in Washington.

"There is no inquiry into that selection.  Likewise, the consideration of guidance was not prompted by the actions of any U.S. Attorney," Carr said in a statement released today. 

The New York Times reported today that the Justice Department is conducting an internal inquiry of the Ashcroft deal, and others.

U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie with U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft at a Justice Department news conference in 2003
The Justice Department is conducting an internal inquiry into the process used to award lucrative no-bid federal monitor contracts after U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie gave a deal worth as much as $52 million to former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, according to a New York Times report.

Rep. Frank Pallone wrote to Attorney General Michael Mukasey last November, following published reports that Christie had given contracts to Ashcroft, two other former Bush administration officials, and to former state Attorney General Davis Samson. Rep. Bill Pascrell is pushing for a congressional hearing on the federal monitor issue.

Democrats and Republicans statewide spent nearly $70 million on state legislative races in 2007, combining to oust three State Senators and one Assemblyman. Spending much less money, Christopher J. Christie, the United States Attorney, was responsible for unseating three Senators and two Assemblymen – making him more effective at tossing incumbents from office than any party leader in New Jersey, even our Winner of the Year.

And Christie’s ability to deliver no-bid contracts worth huge amounts of money to his friends and former colleges – like a deal worth up to $50 million for John Aschcroft, and mega million dollar contracts for Herbert Stern and John Inglesino at UMDNJ, GO P ex-N.J. Attorney General David Samson and David Kelley, a former U.S. Attorney in New York – might make party leaders like George Norcross, Glenn Paulsen, Charlotte DeFilippo and Joseph Ferriero envious. It’s possible that Christie gives out more contracts than several of the party bosses.

Like an effective boss, Christie has been able to avert public criticism – maybe because his name doesn’t actually appear on a ballot (although that may change in 2009.) Neither party has been willing to publicly criticize him – perhaps because of Paul Byrne’s old rule about not ticking off the U.S. Attorney – but suddenly Rep. Frank Pallone took the lead just before Thanksgiving, becoming the first Democrat in seven years to take Christie on.

The controversy surrounding U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie's selection of John Ashcroft for a lucrative federal monitor position may have roiled Democrats, but it hasn't changed Republicans' feelings about their would-be gubernatorial nominee.

That's not to say that Christie has come out and announced he's running for governor. In fact, he consistently blows off speculation about a potential run, saying that members of the media obsess about it more than he does.

That may be true. But members of the Republican Party obsess about it too, and the revelation about him giving his former boss a hefty paycheck hasn't dampened the establishment's enthusiasm for Christie as their nominee in 2009 - should he choose to run, of course. The election may be two years away, but all signs point to vast Republican support for a Christie candidacy.

Since U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie hasn't answered to his letter, Rep. Frank Pallone has written the U.S. Attorney General asking that someone else at the Justice Department respond to concerns about a $35 million no-bid monitoring given to ex-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Pallone said it is his "understanding" that Christie believes internal Department of Justice guidelines prohibits his response. Unfortunately, it does not seem that Mr. Christie holds the same trepidation in speaking to the news media regarding the use of deferred prosecution agreements, his appointment of federal monitors, and other matters.

Christie, a likely Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2009, appeared on television over the weekend to discuss the federal monitor criticism with NJN senior political correspondent Michael Aron.

U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie will appear on New Jersey's Network's On the Record this weekend, where Michael Aron will question him on his decision to hire former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft as a federal monitor. The post could pay more than $30 million over the next eighteen months.

U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie with U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft at a Justice Department news conference in 2003: Getty Images Photo
Federal prosecutors should obviate the appearance of conflict by taking politics out of the process that awards lucrative no-bid contracts for federal monitor posts, says Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr., in a clear swipe at New Jersey's United States Attorney, Christopher J. Christie.

"The seemingly unfettered discretion that your office enjoys to frame the agreement and its terms, including choosing a firm or individual to monitor the agreement, invites the very sort of favoritism, political interference, and back room dealing that your office has been so successful in combating throughout New Jersey," Pallone wrote in a letter to Christie.

Pallone, a Monmouth County Democrat, says that he is "troubled" by published reports that Christie gave his former boss, ex-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, a job monitoring Zimmer Holdings, a medical device manufacturer who agreed to a $311 million settlement and hire federal monitors to deal with allegations that the firm paid promote their products.