NJ WATCHDOG: PAC pays for Christie's ticket at NBA Finals

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie continues to live large as a sports junkie with an expensive habit – especially when he can stick taxpayers, political donors, powerful friends or someone else with the bill.

Last week, Christie scored a spot behind the home bench of the Cleveland Cavaliers during Game 3 of the NBA Finals series with the Golden State Warriors. Similar seats were offered for as much as $22,000 each through secondary markets. Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer sat next to the New Jersey governor.

The price of Christie’s ticket was paid by his political action committee, Leadership Matters in America. Spokeswoman Samantha Smith confirmed the PAC paid for the governor’s trip to Ohio, where he attended private and fundraising meetings earlier on June 9.

The costs of the ticket and trip were not disclosed. The PAC, funded through contributions, is not scheduled to file its semi-annual financial report to the Federal Election Commission until July 31.

It was just the latest in the governor’s line-up of sports junkets.

Last month, New Jersey Watchdog revealed Christie spent more than $80,000 from his state expense account on concessions at MetLife Stadium during the 2010 and 2011 NFL seasons.

Christie’s debit card was used 58 times to charge $82,594 to Delaware North Sportservice, the food and beverage vendor at MetLife. The expenses did not include his free use of luxury boxes, traditionally available to governors at the state-owned venue.

The full story is online at http://watchdog.org/224244/christie-political-games/.

This Month Marks the 3rd Anniversary of Citizens United v. FEC

by Linda Baum

Last year, comedian Stephen Colbert’s “super” political action committee (PAC) raised over a million dollars that he said was used “to materially influence the elections – in full accordance with the law.” “It’s the way our founding fathers would have wanted it,” he said, “if they had founded corporations instead of just a country.”

Colbert was poking fun at what many Americans believe to be one of the worst U.S. Supreme Court decisions in our nation’s history.

This month marks the 3rd anniversary of the controversial Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission decision, which narrowly passed by a 5-4 vote on January 21, 2010 and gave corporations the status of individuals for the purpose of election contributions.

Following that decision and others in lower courts, the FEC implemented changes in the election laws that further expanded corporate power. Super-PACs were born to legally channel unlimited amounts of money to campaigns, giving corporate interests enormous influence over government policy.

With public welfare already taking a back seat to corporate profit, the Citizens United decision was utterly misguided. The inevitable effect of the ruling was of such concern that even retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor spoke against it.

In the three years since the decision, a national movement has taken root to overturn Citizens United by amending the U.S. Constitution. There is broad support from businesses, organizations, and individuals across the political spectrum.

In October 2012, New Jersey became then the 9th state in the nation to pass a resolution supporting an amendment-to-overturn.