Utterly not shocked?
So I saw this tweet pop up last night on my way to bed...
Which made me kind of curious, so I stayed up and waited and waited, then came this one...
Then I waited some more, and then I fell asleep.
Jump over the thing in the middle to find out what I woke up to...
I love toast with my morning cuppa...
Which took me here
First off they detail the strict rules about Pay to Play in New Jersey. Then we get to the meat...
Yet, despite all of these laws and rules, Pando has discovered evidence that Gov. Chris Christie’s administration awarded a public pension contract to a technology venture capital firm shortly after a partner at that same firm made a $10,000 contribution to the New Jersey Republican State Committee.
The person who made the contribution is named as Charles Baker, listed as an executive and partner in the firm General Catalyst Partners. Now here's where it seems we may get what's known as a twofer...
If all that wasn’t enough, there’s one more twist. If Baker’s name sounds familiar, it could be because he is not merely a financial executive: He is also the current GOP nominee in Massachusetts’ hotly contested 2014 gubernatorial election. According to the state’s Republican Party, he is running on a promise “to change the culture of corruption.”
Um, okay, now I'm smiling.
One more paragraph to whet your appetite, I recommend going to the original article because proper investigative journalism should be rewarded...
On December 8th of 2011, the Christie administration’s Division of Investment issued a letter outlining its proposal to commit up to $25 million of state pension money to General Catalyst Partners. According to the latest available Division of Investment financial statements, the New Jersey pension fund began its investment in General Catalyst in January of 2012, has committed $15 million to the firm and currently has $8.3 million of pension money in the firm. Assuming the 2.5 percent management fee outlined in the original proposal is the going rate, that $8.3 million would generate General Catalyst more than $200,000 a year in compensation.
Edited to add this, in case any of you want to catch it...
Updated per Sirota's new tweet...
11:51 AM PT: Thanks for the tips and recs, and for making it an interesting diary in the comments.