Paul Mulshine

JOE ALBRIGHT: Pendulum of public votes is swinging in favor of Corzine
JAMES AHEARN: A ‘regular guy' as odd man out
ALFRED DOBLIN: Obama is coming to New Jersey for Obama
JAMES FLACHSENHAAR:Our crusade for access to public records
BOB INGLE: How will history judge Corzine?
JIMMY MARGULIES: Ferriero Trial
PETE MCCARTHY: No election in Washington Township doesn't keep Republicans from being active
TOM MORAN: N.J. labor unions' support helps Gov. Corzine on Election Day
TOM MORAN: Chris Christie revamps his pitch to become N.J. governor
PAUL MULSHINE: It's official: Christie lied about Lonegan and rebates
PAUL MULSHINE: Two-party system is a waste, a fraud and an abuse
ALAN SEPINWALL: Cory Booker rewarded by trip to face Conan O'Brien - Sepinwall on TV
FRED SNOWFLACK: The empty chair was in the middle
CHARLES STILE: Trial lays bare the underbelly of N.J. politics
CHARLES STILE: Corzine confident in staying the course
JOAN WHITLOW: New Jersey governor candidates lack facts as they debate mammogram coverage

Former Glen Ridge Mayor Carl Bergmanson, left, and Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham)

EAST BRUNSWICK - Abbott, COAH, global warming response, stem cell research, the Transportation Trust Fund, it doesn't matter. If it comes from Trenton, drive a stake through it. That was the message coming out of a gubernatorial forum here sponsored by Americans for Prosperity.

A few weeks back a letter from a Cranford resident appeared in the Sunday Star Ledger critical of the Union County Freeholders and what was than still a proposal to close the county owned Oak Ridge Golf Course in Clark.  Since than the course has been "officially" closed, "officially" renamed and is now being "officially" torn up to render it impossible to ever "officially" reclaim for golf.  It appears that it is being readied to meet my prediction from a couple of months ago that George Devanney's Music Fest will find a new home at what is now called Oak Ridge Park, situated smack in the middle of an otherwise quiet neighborhood. Columnist Paul Mulshine has chimed in questioning the speed and the wisdom of the course's closing or was that the wisdom of the freeholders in general?

Saying that his gubernatorial campaign was committed to transparency, former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie held a press conference today to invite reporters’ questions about a spate of recent reports and critical columns detailing concerns over his past awarding of federal monitoring contracts.

“I’m not going to stand around and be a political punching bag of caddies for candidates who don’t have a record to sell, a story to tell, and actually attack the candidates who do have something to sell,” said Christie.  

The press conference was meant to squelch an increasing number of attacks by political opponents and news columnists charging Christie -- who is running largely on his record as a corruption-busting U.S. Attorney -- with hypocrisy and cronyism over his awarding of federal monitoring contracts during his tenure as U.S. Attorney.  Christie, however, said that he decided to broach the topic after conservative columnist Paul Mulshine's latest column "ruined my ability to enjoy my son's baseball game with a smile on my face." 

"‘I was tired of reading it. So if that means putting out a fire, you can call it that"," he said."  

Christie accused his opponents of “dragging my brother through the mud” over questions about his appointment of David Kelley, the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, to a multi-million dollar federal monitoring contract for a medical implant company.  

As U.S. Attorney, Kelley indicted 15 investment firm co-workers of Christie’s brother, Todd, who was not indicted but later faced a civil complaint from the SEC (The case against the co-workers ultimately failed, with 10 charges dropped, three found not guilty and two guilty pleas revered).    

Todd Christie has since settled the complaint with the SEC, admitting that improper trading took place in his company but not acknowledging any wrongdoing.  

“The fact of the matter is none of my brother’s trades could even meet a civil standard of fraud, let alone a criminal case,” said Chris Christie.  

When questioned as to why he would appoint Kelley to monitor a company despite the botched case against the traders, Christie said he was sure it was “not [Kelley’s] proudest day,” but that he judged him on the entirety of his work as U.S. Attorney.  

Chris Christie lashed out against former state Sen. Richard LaRossa (R-Ewing), who in his unpaid column for PolitickerNJ.com wrote about Todd Christie and David Kelley.  Christie said that this Web site in particular has had a bone to pick with him since he indicted Charles Kushner on charges of tax fraud, campaign finance fraud and witness tampering.  Kushner’s son Jared bought PolitickerNJ.com – then-known as PoliticsNJ.com -- in 2007.    

“Those people… who are on the Kushner-owned web site, I've never been on their holiday card list,” said Christie.  “Ever since I sent Kushner to jail, my coverage on Politics – or PolitickerNJ.com -- has not been sterling. While I'm sure there are lots of good, well-intentioned people, the editorial policy there has not been favorable since I sent Charles Kushner to jail.”

UPDATED

Linda Stender’s campaign chastised a Star-Ledger columnist for writing that a piece of campaign literature from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee came from her own campaign.

At issue is conservative columnist Paul Mulshine’s most recent piece, which was circulated by Stender rival Leonard Lance’s campaign via press release this morning. The campaign literature Mulshine referred to claimed that Lance was in cahoots with former Gov. Christie Whitman on pension bonding in 1997.

Lance was actually one of the most vocal critics of pension bonding, and has made that a centerpiece of his current congressional run.

Mulshine called the mailer “the single sleaziest campaign ad I have ever seen.”

With dismal revenue predictions for the state now capturing the headlines, the focus appears to be shifting to the unpopular subject of budget cuts.

The Inside Edge is always happy to help our good friend Paul Mulshine, which is why there were no complaints when his February 5 column on the idea that Mitt Romney’s campaign can run their own delegate slate in June and effectively bypass the winner-take-all system appeared to mirror a similar column on this site six days earlier.  After all, Mulshine is a better writer, and he did use the s-word. 

But one word of caution to the man who sits on the right side of the Star-Ledger:  be careful when you let C. Richard “Dick” Kamin, a man of limited intellectual capacity and even less influence, spin you on a story – especially one the ex-Motor Vehicles Director read on PolitickerNJ.com.

Three newspaper columnists will join Michael Aron on Reporters Roundtable this weekend to talk about Gov. Jon Corzine’s monetization plan and the retirement of Rep. Mike Ferguson: Paul Mulshine of the Star-Ledger, Bob Ingle of Gannett New Jersey, and Charles Stile of The Record.

And if you don’t eat turkey and still want a dose of tryptophan, this week’s On the Record features Rutgers Prof. Alan Rosenthal, Jon Shure of New Jersey Policy Perspective, and Gregg Edwards of the Center for Policy Research of New Jersey. 

A group called South Mountain Peace Council has put together an interesting forum: "Can Liberals and Conservatives Find Common Ground on Iraq?" featuring conservative Star-Ledger columnist Paul Mulshine and Maplewood, NJ, Mayor Fred Profeta. The forum will be held on Wednesday, December 5, 2007 at the McNulty Hall Amphitheater on the Seton Hall University campus.