Corzine-Katz ethics panel a whitewash
The state Ethics Advisory Board released its report today on a possible conflict of interest on the part of Gov. Corzine stemming from his relationship with Carla Katz, president of the state's largest state employees' union, and contract negotiations with her union.
The finding: Corzine violated no ethics laws. But the two-person panel mildly chastized him for not cutting off direct communications with Katz while contract negotiations with the state's unions were ongoing. Corzine stopped talking to Katz only in the final two to three weeks leading up to a tentative agreement, on the advice of his staff. Prior to then, Katz and Corzine both conceded they had communicated on a regular basis by phone and by e-mail, and that the discussions sometimes touched on the negotiations.
Corzine had never flatly denied having any discussions with Katz about contract matters. But in his denial of an Open Public Records Act request from Gannett New Jersey newspapers seeking access to his e-mail correspondence, Corzine said he did not discuss contract talks from his state e-mail account and that personal e-mail correspondence was not subject to the Open Public Records Act "consistent with the long-recognized judicial protection afforded non-public communications between senior public officials and those with whom they communicate."
In another story on the OPRA request, Corzine acknowledged "incidental contact" with Katz and several other union presidents during contract talks, but said no negotiations occurred away from the bargaining table. "Bargaining was done at the bargaining table. Pure and simple. End of conversation," Corzine said. Hardly.
Katz, who was interviewed by the panel, acknowledged that she had contact with the governor by e-mail and by telephone through the early stages of negotiations. "Although she could not identify how frequently they had contact, she stated that it was not daily, but more than once per month," the report said. How's that for being specific.
Whether it was every other day or twice a month, it was too much contact. As the report said, in far-too-mild terms, "Mrs. Katz's and the Governor's personal conversations and contacts concerning the negotiations were inadvisable."
It was more than inadvisable. It was totally unethical. And it demonstrated, once again, poor judgment on Corzine's part.
The finding: Corzine violated no ethics laws. But the two-person panel mildly chastized him for not cutting off direct communications with Katz while contract negotiations with the state's unions were ongoing. Corzine stopped talking to Katz only in the final two to three weeks leading up to a tentative agreement, on the advice of his staff. Prior to then, Katz and Corzine both conceded they had communicated on a regular basis by phone and by e-mail, and that the discussions sometimes touched on the negotiations.
Corzine had never flatly denied having any discussions with Katz about contract matters. But in his denial of an Open Public Records Act request from Gannett New Jersey newspapers seeking access to his e-mail correspondence, Corzine said he did not discuss contract talks from his state e-mail account and that personal e-mail correspondence was not subject to the Open Public Records Act "consistent with the long-recognized judicial protection afforded non-public communications between senior public officials and those with whom they communicate."
In another story on the OPRA request, Corzine acknowledged "incidental contact" with Katz and several other union presidents during contract talks, but said no negotiations occurred away from the bargaining table. "Bargaining was done at the bargaining table. Pure and simple. End of conversation," Corzine said. Hardly.
Katz, who was interviewed by the panel, acknowledged that she had contact with the governor by e-mail and by telephone through the early stages of negotiations. "Although she could not identify how frequently they had contact, she stated that it was not daily, but more than once per month," the report said. How's that for being specific.
Whether it was every other day or twice a month, it was too much contact. As the report said, in far-too-mild terms, "Mrs. Katz's and the Governor's personal conversations and contacts concerning the negotiations were inadvisable."
It was more than inadvisable. It was totally unethical. And it demonstrated, once again, poor judgment on Corzine's part.
posted by Randy Bergmann at 3:39 PM
2 Comments:
Let's Bergmanize them...fire them both!
sorry Randy, your just going to have to live with the fact...dare i say, you may be wrong.
now move on please.
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