October 16, 2009 - 7:18am
Inside Edge

Dumb press release

The dumbest press release of the week - so far - goes to the New Jersey Democratic State Committee.  They put out a release from Burlington County Freeholder Christopher Brown suggesting that GOP gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie is now "in the middle" of a "scandal" in Medford, because he is running on the same Republican ticket as a Medford Councilman the Democrats are attacking on ethics issues. Christie got in the middle, Democrats allege, because he visited Burlington County yesterday and was just miles away from the scandal. 

The issue at hand is the allegation that the Medford Township Council awarded a $700,000 contract to a politically active construction firm.  Councilman Joseph Lynn is under fire after a financial firm he worked for loaned money to the construction firm, Mount Construction.

The issue - should an elected official be doing any personal business with a vendor - is clearly fair as Lynn seeks re-election to his council seat.  But tying Christie to Lynn just because they are both candidates on the same line would be as dumb as, say, Republicans beating up Jon Corzine because his running mate in part of Hudson County is indicted Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone (D-Bayonne).

Wally Edge can be reached via email at politicsnj@aol.com.

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