Rocco Riccio

A great line from one of our readers, the kind of guy Nick Acocella would affectionately describe as an "anonymous wag": "Well, at least Rocco Riccio is gonna be off the front pages for a bit."

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After facing criticism for not being aggressive enough against Democrats, Republicans have coalesced around a new cause.

Although Republicans offered no comment on Sunday or Monday after The Star Ledger broke the story about Gov. Corzine’s $15,000 gift to ex-girlfriend Carla Katz’s brother-in-law Rocco Riccio, the GOP has now seized on this latest scandal to erupt over Gov. Corzine’s relationship with Katz in what appears to be a coordinated effort to turn it into a campaign issue.

In the latest twist involving Corzine’s monetary relationship with Katz, the governor gave Riccio $15,000 after he was forced to resign from a job at the Turnpike Authority, following rumors that he had looked into the tax record of Corzine’s political enemies. Corzine also promised to help find Riccio work in the private sector.

 

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 O’SCANLON & CASAGRANDE SUPPORT CALL FOR APPOINTMENT OF SPECIAL PROSECUTOR IN RICCIO MATTER<

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Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance
Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance today called on Attorney General Anne Milgram to investigate the role Rocco Riccio was playing as an analyst in the state’s Human Services Department.

"Tax records are sacrosanct," said Lance. "Any information that someone on the public payroll might be pouring through them for political reasons is disturbing, and the attorney general should flesh out the facts of this case as quickly as possible."

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CWA President Carla Katz is Gov. Jon Corzine's former girlfriendIn response to the Star-Ledger story this weekend that Gov. Jon Corzine gave $15,000 to the brother-in-law of his ex-girlfriend after he said he’d severed financial ties with her, Republican State Chairman Tom Wilson says Corzine is involved in a cover-up of "Watergate" proportions.

"At virtually every turn, Jon Corzine has been dishonest about his ties to Carla Katz," said the state Republican chairman.

In March, Corzine had told the newspaper that he didn’t have any financial ties with Carla Katz, head of the state Communications Workers of America (CWA), or her family.

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If you were away for Labor Day weekend, you missed the Star-Ledger's story on Jon Corzine's latest problem: a $15,000 cash gift to Rocco Riccio, the brother-in-law of CWA President Carla Katz.  The gifts, $10,000 last spring and $5,000 last summer, came despite Corzine's claim that he no longer had financial dealings with his former girlfriend.  The story is bad for Corzine, who seems to have done a poor job convincing people that he's been forthcoming with information relating to his personal finances and how they potentially conflict with his job as Governor.  "The disclosure is likely to stir a new round of questions about how the Democratic governor's love life and fortune have influenced his actions, and about the romantic relationship with Katz that has haunted him as much as any legislative issue or political stance dur ing his short tenure," wrote reporters Josh Margolin and John Martin. 

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