Steve Cohen

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) once again stepped into the New Jersey gubernatorial race today, saying that Republican gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie still would not answer his questions on deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs).

Cohen chairs the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, which in June grilled Christie over his use of DPAs in awarding firms of friends and political allies – including former Attorney General John Ashcroft -- lucrative federal monitoring contracts.

Christie left the hearing before Democratic members were done questioning him, although he informed Cohen of the exact time he needed to leave well ahead of the meeting.  Democrats then cut the footage of Christie leaving into a campaign commercial, and later requested that Christie answer further questions in writing.  

Outside of the committee room, Christie called the meeting a “political circus.”  

“While I am pleased that Mr. Christie has replied in writing to questions posed by Judiciary Committee Members after his testimony, his responses were regrettably incomplete,” said Cohen.  “This is unfortunate given the circumstances of his abrupt departure from the hearing to conduct a press conference outside the hearing room.”

A copy of Christie's responses was not immediately available.  

One of Gov. Jon Corzine's biggest allies in Washington is U.S. Rep. Steven Cohen (D-Tenn.), who as chairman of a House Judiciary subcommittee probing federal monitor contracts has become a thorn in the side of the Republican candidate for governor, former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie.  New Jersey Democrats may be asked to return the favor sooner rather than later as Cohen finds himself in a genuinely tough re-election bid: a white Jew in a heavily Christian African-American majority district, he faces former five-term Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton in an August 2010 Democratic primary.

"This seat was set aside for people who look like me," Sidney Chism, a black County Commissioner who is managing the Herenton campaign told the New York Times. "It wasn't set aside for a Jew or a Christian. It was set aside so that blacks could have representation."

The chairman of a congressional subcommittee reviewing deferred prosecution agreements has given former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, above, until September 4 to answer additional questions regarding a settlement with Zimmer Holdings

The chairman of a House Judiciary Subcommittee that questioned former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie last June on his use of deferred prosecution agreements has given the Republican gubernatorial candidate until September 4 to fully respond to questions asked by several members of the panel.

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), the chairman of the Commercial and Administrative Law subcommittee, called Christie's responses to additional questions "particularly unsatisfactory." 

After the hearing, Cohen sent Christie a series of questions related to a settlement with Zimmer Holdings.  Christie's decision to appoint former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft as a federal monitor to oversee the deferred prosecution agreement has become an issue in the gubernatorial campaign.

"For all but two of the questions, you responded with a general assertion that the questions were answered in your oral and written testimony," Cohen wrote to Christie.  "At times you cited page numbers in the unofficial hearing transcript, which on further inspection appear not to contain anythig responsive, and which in any event will be confusing to those who will have only the officially published hearing record." 

Cohen said that the answers to those two questions are incomplete.

Correspondence between Christie and Cohen was released today by two Democratic congressmen from New Jersey, Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) and Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson).

Two Democratic Congressmen who were on the House Judiciary subcommittee that questioned Christopher Christie  on Thursday found themselves with unrelated political problems of their own soon after the GOP candidate for Governor left Washington.  House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers' wife, Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers, pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges -- she took envelopes stuffed with cash.  And Steve Cohen, the subcommittee chairman and the Democrat who most aggressively challenged Christie on deferred prosecution agreements, will face a tough primary in a district where African American voters are the majority.  Popular five-term Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton, an African American, said Thursday that he will challenge Cohen in the 2010 Democratic primary.

Former U.S. Attorney and current Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie is considering an invitation to testify before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law on June 25.  

The committee originally scheduled the hearing and invited Christie for May 19, but put it off at the urging of Republican members, who argued that its timing could impact the GOP gubernatorial primary.  

The hearing’s focus will be on legislation co-authored by U.S. Reps. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) and Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson) that creates guidelines for how deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) are awarded.  The political ramifications are obvious, however, as the legislation was inspired by Christie’s awarding of a lucrative federal monitoring contract to his former boss, ex-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft. 

Former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie

You won’t see GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie testifying in front of a Democratic Party-dominant House Subcommitee in Washington, D.C. – at least not during the Republican Primary.

The subcommittee has rescheduled a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) hearing for June 25th at the request of Republicans on the panel, according to Chairman U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tennessee), co-sponsor of a bill to reform DPAs.

Originally scheduled for May 19, the House Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law hearing will focus on legislation to reform deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) and the selection of federal monitors, an issue with a concussive effect on New Jersey politics.

Cohen said Democrats rescheduled the hearing date to comply with the entreaties of Republicans on the panel who worried about the distraction factor with a hearing initially schooled at the tail end of a GOP primary campaign – June 2nd - and specifically the impact on GOP gubernatorial candidate Christie, who Cohen asked to testify at the hearing. 

Getty Images Photo

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft at a Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law hearing last March.

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, which subpoenaed former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to testify on deferred prosecution agreements and a multi-million dollar federal monitoring contract he received after leaving the Bush administration, has a new chairman.  U.S. Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) has left the Judiciary Committee for a seat on Ways and Means, and has been replaced by U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), a Memphis lawyer who spent 24 years in the State Senate before winning a congressional seat in 2006.  Cohen, whose rise in the House has been extraordinarily fast, is a member of the Democratic leadership; he serves as a Regional Whip.

The subcommittee is expected to resume their review of federal monitors this year, according to congressional sources.  In March 2008, the panel decided against issuing a subpoena to then-U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, who resigned last month and is now a candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor. Democrats expect Christie's decision to give a no-bid contract to Ashcroft - estimated to be worth as much as $30 million in fees - to be a campaign issue.