(UPDATE: REVISED TO CORRECT BENENSON
STATEMENT)
(UPDATE II: LETTER FROM JOEL BENENSON
INCLUDED BELOW*)
Republican New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Chris
Christie was issued a House Judiciary Committee
invitation to appear before one of its subcommitees next week,
with the knowledge and encouragement of the White House and
Democrat leaders in the House of Representatives, according to
House Judiciary sources.
According to House as well as state Democrat operatives, Christie
received the invitation earlier this week to appear before the
House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law
to testify about a bill sponsored by two New Jersey Democrats,
Rep. Bill Pascrell and Rep. Frank
Pallone, both
of whom have ties to various political operatives working on
the re-election campaign of New Jersey Gov. Jon
Corzine. Corzine has been trailing Christie by double
digits in the polls and is considered vulnerable for defeat next
November.
“They want to smear Christie and try to damage him as much as
possible,” says one House Judiciary staffer. “We’ve been told
that the Democrats have even given a photographer hired by the
Democratic National Committee a press credential so that he can
take a picture of Christie taking the oath before testifying.
This is a show trial.”
In fact, the White House was notified by aides to House Judiciary
Chairman John Conyers, who sits on the
subcommittee chaired by Tennessee Rep. Steve
Cohen, that Christie was going to be called to testify.
“The White House didn’t have a problem with it,” says a
Democratic House leadership aide. “Of course this is political,
there’s no point in denying it. Everyone understands that if
Christie and [Virginia gubernatorial candidate
Bob] McDonnell win in the fall,
the tide we’ve been riding shifts a bit, and folks will be
smelling blood in the water. Our leaders here have made it clear
the White House is watching and wants us to help wherever we
can.”
Christie has been invited to appear before the subcommittee
before, and was aware prior to his primary victory that he might
be invited again. But Corzine is a target of Republicans
nationally, and Christie, a former U.S. Attorney in the Bush
Administration, is considered a strong candidate to knock off the
one-term governor, former U.S. Senator and senior executive at
Goldman Sachs. Corzine’s situation, according to White House
sources, has been monitored by presidential chief of staff
Rahm Emanuel and senior adviser David
Axelrod, both of whom of are indirectly overseeing the
political operation in the White House.
According to White House sources, both Emanuel and Axelrod have
grown increasingly uncomfortable with Corzine’s situation, and
had noted that well-known New Jeresey pollster Joel
Benenson was providing polling services to Corzine.
Benenson and his firm have long been viewed as one of the more
influential figures in New Jersey politics, and his firm has in
the past done polling work used by Democratic caucuses on Capitol
Hill, as well as just about every major Democrat politico in New
Jersey, including former Sen. Bob Torricelli,
former Gov. Jim McGreevey, and Sen. Bob
Menendez. Benenson was the Obama campaign’s lead
pollster in 2008 and Amy Levin, a principal in
Benenson’s firm, served as Axelrod’s chief of staff up until
Axelrod left his firm in December 2008. However, Benenson tells
The American Spectator that he is not
polling for Corzine.
*UPDATE II: At 11:33 p.m. Friday
night, we received this letter in our Reader Mail:
It is essential to set the record straight. Not only is the
Benenson Strategy Group not polling for Governor Corzine now,
the firm, which was founded nine years ago, has never polled
for Jon Corzine in either his Senate or Gubernatorial
campaigns. Any White House source that provided you with this
information is entirely uninformed and is trying to create
false impressions about who is or is not involved with Gov.
Corzine’s relection efforts.
Sincerely,
Joel Benenson
Founding Partner
The Benenson Strategy Group
