“This Whole Debacle Does Not Make Sense”

We see not much has changed during our hiatus. Corzine and Katz are still making news. Now with a Rocco Riccio twist:

Gov. Jon Corzine gave $15,000 this year to the brother-in-law of his former girlfriend, Carla Katz, a gift that appears to contradict the governor's claims that he ended all financial entanglements with the union leader and her family before taking office.

At first, the governor denied giving Riccio $15,000."Not from me," Corzine said. Shown copies of the checks and money orders (who uses money orders when they have a checking account?) Corzine suddenly remembered:

Corzine acknowledged it was drawn from his own accounts. "That's mine," he said. He said the money was a gift without strings, that he never promised Riccio anything and expected nothing in return.

Technically speaking silence is nothing - jobs, that's something. Maybe Corzine will remember about the strings after the next Katz saga revelation.

Rocco Riccio, who is married to Katz's sister, received the money after the governor forced him in January to quit a Turnpike Authority job. At the time, reporters had been pressing Corzine's office for answers about Riccio's work record and how he got hired.

Riccio's fortunes suddenly changed last fall. He became the target of rumors that he had been improperly accessing taxpayer records -- to find information about political enemies --while working as an analyst in the Human Services Department.

After Riccio left Treasury, the governor's office recommended him for a $75,000-a-year accounting manager position at the Turnpike Authority.

Two weeks into that job, Riccio said he was summoned back to the Statehouse. This time, he said, two others joined Shea: the governor's chief counsel, Ken Zimmerman, and deputy counsel Matthew Boxer.

The trio told Riccio the media inquires hadn't stopped and that his government career "was over," he recalled. Riccio said he wanted to fight for his reputation, but that Shea talked him out of it. "That's when Tom promised me a job in the private sector and (said) they'll take care of me."

Riccio said that he was promised a job and that when no job materialized they offered him money to "tide me over".

And just when you think some are beginning to see the light about public corruption in New Jersey, it’s back to robo voting. From TrentonRising:

I can not understand why a man as wealthy and powerful as Jon Corzine would need to make regular installments to this woman or members of her family.

And if her brother-in-law lives with Katz's sister and mother, and he is struggling financially, wouldn't that mean that her sister and mother would be hurting. Why would Katz not do what any other sibling or child do when a family member is in need? This whole debacle does not make sense.

I voted for him and will vote for him again. But, he needs to stand up and get this behind him and the state.

Enlightened blogger Dino P Crocetti responds to TrentonRisisng’s first question:

At this point, you can only wonder what he is being blackmailed with. Perhaps it's a video tape of some sort.

The answer to the second question is a matter of public record. Katz is selfish and greedy. She’s big on spending other people’s money, just not her own - even when the “working family” in need is hers.

As for blindly voting for Democrats, nothing has changed on that score either. The Star-ledger reports that the “GOP faces a daunting task in legislative races”.

"There's no big demand for a change. Things may not be great, but they are okay as far as most people are concerned right now."

That’s right, things could always be worse and we suspect they will be right after this fall’s election.