Make that two federal probes for Chris Christie.
The New Jersey governor, already under fire for the George Washington Bridge lane-closure fiasco, is now being investigated for allegedly using Hurricane Sandy funds to boost his re-election bid through last year’s “Stronger than the Storm” TV commercial.
The 30-second spot featuring the Christie family was produced by a firm that charged $2.2 million more than a competitor that didn’t plan to use the governor in its ad, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) said.
The money came from $25 million in federal aid meant to boost New Jersey tourism.
“Every nickel in my opinion matters. Frankly, we still haven’t received a lot of the money from Sandy [aid] in terms of individual homeowners and businesses who are trying to rebuild and restore the shore,” Pallone said.
Christie’s office called Pallone’s announcement “conveniently timed” to the questions about Christie’s role in the crippling closure of Fort Lee access lanes to the George Washington Bridge.
Christie spokesman Colin Reed insisted the Department of Housing and Urban Development probe was “routine and standard operating procedure.”
“We’re confident that any review will show that the ads were a key part in helping New Jersey get back on its feet after being struck by the worst storm in state history,” Reed said.
The agency that produced the ad, MWW, welcomed an audit from the HUD Inspector General’s Office, saying: “It will show that MWW’s proposal included no mention or suggestion of using the governor in the paid advertising campaign.”
A source close to the company said Christie wasn’t part of its proposal, but that he was chosen because Bruce Springsteen was on tour in Australia and Jon Bon Jovi couldn’t work for free due to his membership in the Screen Actors Guild union.
MWW also said that although it bid $4.7 million to make the commercial and a competitor’s bid was only $2.5 million, an audit would show that its “final proposal [including ad buys] came in at $22.255 million, while the runner-up’s proposal was $23.725 million. That means MWW came in at the lower overall bid by $1.47 million and offered the lowest hourly rates of all bidders.”
President Obama’s spokesman ducked questions about the HUD investigation.
On Monday, Democratic lawmakers in New Jersey said two special legislative committees with subpoena power would investigate the role of politics in the lane closures, and investigate who in the Christie administration knew of the plan.
“It is clearly an abuse of power,” said Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald. “The question is, who abused their power and how high did it go?”
The latest Monmouth University-Asbury Park Press Poll shows that 51 percent of New Jerseyans don’t believe that Christie has been “completely honest” about his knowledge of the incident.
Additional reporting by Geoff Earle and Beth DeFalco