TIMING OF CORZINE'S GIFT STRAINS HIS CREDIBITY
GOP Calls On Corzine To Pay Taxes On $50,000 Campaign Contribution
Trenton,NJ - New Jersey Republican State Chairman Tom Wilson issued the following statement

"The timing of the conversion of this loan to a gift was clearly designed to evade disclosure during the campaign year. Moreover, the fact that the Governor made the contribution to Reverend Jackson's church as opposed to Reverend Jackson directly was obviously done to allow Corzine to evade paying taxes on this campaign contribution.

Candidate Corzine was asked very directly by NJN reporter Jim Hooker '[Are there] any other people that have been forgiven loans that the public might care about?' [1] Candidate Corzine curtly responded 'no' knowing full well that just 8 months earlier he made a politically calculated decision to forgive a $50,000 loan to the head of one of the most influential African American organizations in the state. Did the Governor really believe that this wasn't something the public would care about? The fact is, he deliberately lied to voters because he knew that disclosure of another gift to an influential leader would further prove that his 'charity' was politically motivated and do great damage to a campaign that was, at the time, mired in scandal and foundering.

The Governor needs to deliver the kind of honesty now that he owed us then. He can start by sending a check to the state and federal treasuries to cover the taxes he avoided by making this contribution to Reverend Jackson's church instead of Reverend Jackson directly.

He also needs to come clean on this and all the other gifts he's given and detail the policies that will govern his so called charitable giving while in office. Has, for example, the $5,000 loan he gave to lobbyist Karen Golding been repaid or was that forgiven too? Yesterday, we learned that while this lobbyist was being accused by Corzine's pick for State Democratic Chairman of stalking him, he was having dinners with her and accepting gifts that exceeded the legal limit. The Governor's loan to her certainly looks more and more politically motivated every day.

This newest revelation seriously undermines Governor Corzine's credibility and gives us further reason to question his judgement. Loans to lobbyists. Appointing an Attorney General whose record of thumbing her nose at the law continued once in office. Appointing a US Senator whose lorded over the most corrupt political operation in the state and his subsequent silence when his pick was found to be stuffing taxpayer money into his own pockets like he's a contestant on Let's Make A Deal. Shutting down state government so he can force a massive tax hike on the people just to pay for a truckload of pork for his politically connected friends. And now, the revelation that he deliberately concealed a $50,000 gift to an influential leader. The Governor's words about restoring trust are those of a reformer. His actions, sadly, are those of a typical politician who says one thing and does another."

[1] Corzine Press Conference on Homeland Security, NJGOP Tracker Tape, Recorded in Hoboken, August 5, 2006