Did Middletown Committeeman Violate State Campaign Pay to Play Laws By Contributing To Christie Campaign?

That's a question which should be answered by Tony Fiore, the Middletown Committeeman in question.

An article published online last week over at the International Business Times, "Chris Christie Maintained State Pension Investments In Prudential After Top Official Gave Contributions", is an eye opening examples of one reason as to why NJ's state pension system is in such disarray and financial trouble.  It seems that Governor Christie likes to reward those that lavish him with cash in the form of campaign contributions.

Over the past 5 years NJ has paid Prudential Financial to manage New Jersey pension funds, even after company officials made substantial contributions to Christie's 2009 gubernatorial campaign, according to International Business Times.

The IBTimes article names 2 senior Prudential officials, Jon Hanson and John Strangfeld who donated to Gov. Christie's campaign and/or nonprofits favored by Christie and who each served on various Christie transition teams and have been personal advisers to the governor.

The article also mentions one other senior Prudential executive that donated to Chris Christie's campaign for governor in 2009, Middletown's very own township committeeman, Tony Fiore:

"Campaign finance records show that at least one other Prudential executive donated to Christie’s 2009 campaign. Anthony Fiore, then a vice president with Prudential Investments, gave $2,000 to the governor’s campaign. Currently a Republican committeeman in Middletown and a senior vice president at Prudential, Fiore’s bio describes him as “a certified retirement and pension specialist.” Still, Prudential's spokesperson asserted that "Fiore did not meet the definition of an investment management professional" under New Jersey rules, though he provided no further explanation. Fiore did not respond to a request for comment about his contributions to Christie."

The article states that, New Jersey’s pay-to-play rules very are clear and restricts contributions from firms managing state pension money. The rules "explicitly define a covered “investment management professional” as “any person associated with an investment management firm, its parent company, or any other entity that controls the investment management firm, who is a member of the executive or management committee of such firm or controlling entity, or similarly situated officials.”, IBTimes stated.

You can read the full article ... Here 

Christie vetoes pending bills

From PolitickerNJ:


TRENTON – Gov. Chris Christie announced vetoing eight pieces of pending legislation Friday afertnoon.

The following bills were written off by the governor:

SCS for S-968, 1494/A998 (Weinberg, Turner/Vainieri Huttle, Watson Coleman) – ABSOLUTE - Establishes procedures and standards regarding public service privatization contracts

S2188/A3775 (Gordon,Weinberg/Wagner,Eustace,DeAngelo,Benson) – ABSOLUTE – Requires employer notification when relocating call center services outside the United States

S2644/A4233 (Vitale, Gill, Weinberg/Oliver, Prieto, Quijano) – ABSOLUTE - Expands Medicaid eligibility pursuant to federal “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act”

S2825/A4172 (Weinberg, Greenstein, Sarlo/Mosquera, Lampitt, Stender, Jasey, Watson Colman, Wisniewski, Caride) - ABSOLUTE – Makes FY 2013 supplemental appropriation to DOH for $7,453,000 for family planning services

A3668/SCS for S2467, 2471 (Jasey, McKeon, Cryan, Johnson, Quijano/Gill, Weinberg, Codey) -ABSOLUTE – Prohibits investment by State of pension and annuity funds in companies manufacturing, importing, and selling assault firearms for civilians use

A3807/S2595 (Caputo, Tucker, Wagner, Eustace/Rice, Gill) – ABSOLUTE – ‟Corporate Disinvestment Property Tax Relief Act”; appropriates $13.5 million

A3878/S2673 (Conaway, Riley, Lampitt, Eustace/Gill) – ABSOLUTE- Requires Commissioner of Banking and Insurance to establish public awareness campaign about new federally required health insurance exchange

A4171/S2824 (Wagner, Vainieri Huttle, Stender, Quijano, Eustace/Weinberg, Gill) – ABSOLUTE - Provides Medicaid coverage for family planning services to individuals with incomes up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level

Christie said regarding all of the bills vetoed that they “would deplete the state’s fiscal resources, restructure government in a significant manner, and significantly alter the policy and spending priorities set forth in the Appropriations Act.’’

He said they would have added hundreds of millions of dollars to state and local budgets. He said that although individual bills may have had merits they should have been negotiated as part of the overall budget negotiation process.

Christie takes action on gun bill, vetoes proposed ban on certain pension investments

From PolitickerNJ:


TRENTON – Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a piece of the Legislature’s gun violence package Friday that would bar the state from investing in certain companies that manufacture and sell assault weapons.

The governor announced he vetoed A3668, which would prohibit state pension and annuity funds from being invested in companies that manufacture or sell assault firearms for civilian use. The veto was one of eight proposals Christie scrapped following the signing of the Fiscal Year 2014 budget earlier today.

Christie said in his veto message for all of the eight bills that they “were proposals that would deplete the state’s fiscal resources, restructure government in a significant manner and significantly alter the policy and spending priorities set forth in the” negotiated budget.