The GOP was excited. The big push was on. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was wined and dined. Republicans thought they had their “conservative porn star” as Glenn Beckenstein once called the NJ Governor.

Christie says it is “not his time.” He will not run.  Could it be that his back story had a lot to do with it? Those skeletons in his closet? 

In 2010, the NYT reported Todd Christie, brother of Chris, made $60 million when Goldman 

Sachs bought Todd’s stock company. Later, Todd was implicated in a federal fraud investigation. Twenty traders duped their own customers. Todd  got off scot-free.  

Todd Christie allegedly  gave NJ Repubs bunches of money to elevate "baby brother" to the position of federal prosecutor of New Jersey. Chris got the job. Big brother then repaid the favor. He gave the Bush RNC--$225,000. You see it's all about connections. 

In 2008, NJ political pundits and citizen journalists reported what certainly appears to be misconduct by Christie as then US Attorney. 

• Hired old boss, former US AG John Ashcroft, giving him a lucrative, no-bid contract worth between $29 million-$52 million. Ashcroft acted as a federal monitor in a case, involving a medical device firm that paid kickbacks to surgeons to use its products.
• Zimmer Holdngs paid $311 million to avoid criminal charges. Did state residents benefit? Guess!
• Zimmer Holdings of Indiana--director and chair is John McGoldrick of Princeton, NJ. 
• McGoldrick is connected to big Pharma (Zimmer is a spin-off of Bristol-Myers Squibb). McGoldrick has a Newark, NJ law firm and is a biggie in the NJ Republican party. 

In 1993, McGoldrick represented Governor-elect Christine Todd Whitman’s campaign in federal court about allegations that Whitman’s campaign -- under the direction of strategist Edward Rollins -- paid ministers and Democratic campaign workers to suppress African-American voters.(from Politicker NJ, 2008)

• In 2000, when McGoldrick was EVP at Bristol-Myers Squibb-- Spears, Leeds & Kellogg had a business relationship with SL&K's CEO, Todd Christie. SL&K joined with Goldman-Sachs then Todd wiggled out from under fraud charges. Huh?
• Bristol-Myers Squibb's PAC donated money to John Ashcroft's senate campaign
• April, 2011--Chris Christie name McGoldrick to his Higher Education Committee. McGoldrick is the chair.

Maybe the real skeleton was Christie’s ties to the late Genovese capo, Tino Fiumara.  Fiumara was related to the governor through an aunt and uncle. In 2009, the NYTs  article slug read: For Christie, Family Tie No Candidate Can Relish. 

He once acknowledged bumping into his uncle’s brother at a restaurant in the mid-1990s. And there was a 1991 visit Mr. Christie made to a Texas prison to see Mr. Fiumara — at the request, Mr. Christie said, of a relative.(NYT, September 2009)

Everyone in the Garden State familiar with the mafia knew about  Fiumara. He was a scary guy, linked to several gruesome murders.  Tino was a felon convicted on numerous charges, including extortion of union leaders, shipping companies. When Christie was the federal prosecutor nine years ago, he recused himself from a case involving Fiumara but never disclosed the “family” connection.  

My view at the time was, I had had nothing to do with the case, I’d had no involvement with it, and I didn’t think it was of any import to anyone why I’d recused,” he said in an interview. “It was a personal matter; it was not a professional matter. (NYT, 2009)

Yet, a plea deal was worked out and Fiumara got an eight month prison sentence. 

Charles and David Koch were gleefully salivating. They thought they knew how to teach the Jersey guy about the quid pro quo of corporate life.  Maybe the Christie brothers, Chris and Todd, already knew the offer would open closets, shining the light on the family.