Corzine, Dems voice concerns on Christie loan

Thursday, August 20, 2009 Josh Margolin STATEHOUSE

Gov. Jon Corzine and his top aides turned up the heat yesterday on Republican gubernatorial challenger Chris Christie over a controversial loan Christie gave to one of the state's top federal prosecutors. Speaking to reporters in New Brunswick, Corzine said the $46,000 mortgage from Christie to Michele Brown, the first assistant U.S. attorney, presents "an appearance of a conflict" of interest.

Later in the day, Corzine's top adviser, Tom Shea, issued a statement saying "This whole episode raises grave questions "¦ and the public deserves answers." And a short time after that, Democratic state Chairman Joe Cryan said he filed a complaint with the state Election Law Enforcement Commission because Christie omitted the Brown mortgage from mandated financial-disclosure reports.

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At issue is a 10-year note that requires Brown to repay Christie $499.22 a month. Christie loaned Brown the money in October 2007 when he was U.S. attorney and Brown's husband was out of work. Brown and Christie are close friends, and Christie promoted Brown to two top spots in the prosecutor's office -- once before the loan and once afterward.

A day after the loan came to light, Christie confirmed that he made a "mistake" by leaving the mortgage off his tax returns, his federal disclosure reports and the ELEC forms Cryan cited. Christie said he was amending all of the forms to reflect the mortgage.
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