Monday, September 18, 2006
The NJ Democrat corruption mill keeps churning
Of course, Corzine's "call for" Bryant to to step aside wasn't exactly a "call." More like a vague reference to what he should maybe do if he sorta thought it was a good enough idea:Gov. Jon Corzine today called for Sen. Wayne Bryant to step down as head of the powerful Budget and Appropriations Committee, amid charges the South Jersey legislator steered millions in funding to the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey after he was given a no-show job.
Come on, Governor, this is an easy one. Its okay, you can come right out and say that you think the guy should step down from his committee post or, for that matter, from the state senate altogether. But alas, Mr. Corzine wants to make sure he doesn't tread on the Constitution:“Sometimes in other legislative situations, people step aside until due process follows its course. There are many precedents where people step aside while an investigation goes on,” Corzine said during a news conference in Newark. “I think I’m making a clear enough suggestion.”
That's an interesting statement, given that back in his U.S. Senate days Corzine had no problem suggesting to the executive branch how they should be running their operations: "Sen. John Corzine D-N.J., actually has called on Rumsfeld to resign."“As you well know, there is a legal principle of separation of powers between the executive and the legislative branch, so I think whatever actions should be taken, if they’re appropriate, I think they need to be done on that basis,” he remarked. “It shouldn’t be the executive branch indicating to legislators how they should be running their operations.”
