Gov. Corzine admits he’s spent a lot money on his former squeeze, Carla Katz. But he won’t say how much and what for, insisting it’s private.
During his 2005 run for governor of New Jersey, it came out that Corzine had given Katz a $470,000 interest-free loan. He later forgave the loan – and paid $160,000 in gift taxes Katz then owed.
Now comes word that Katz recently paid $1.1 million for a luxury apartment, just two floors below one the governor owns. She also recently began extensive renovations on a country house estimated to cost at least $500,000. And she’s spending $44,000 a year to send her two kids to out-of-state private school.
All this on yearly pay of $102,000.
Then there’s her law-school tuition. The Newark Archdiocese has launched a probe into whether there’s any link between the generous scholarship awarded Katz by Seton Hall Law School and the nearly $1 million Corzine gave to the university. (Seton Hall denies any link.)
Corzine won’t discuss the gifts, except hypothetically – sounding just like O.J. Simpson in that “If I Did It” book. What’s clear, though, is that he wasn’t telling the whole truth when he supposedly told “all” about his ex-girlfriend in ’05.
Ordinarily none of this would matter. Corzine is entitled to a private life. But Katz isn’t just any ex-girlfriend. She’s president of Local 1034 of the Communications Workers of America – which represents fully half of the state government’s unionized workers. And she just got finished negotiating a landmark labor agreement with the state.
Here’s where things really get interesting: The agreement provides for hefty wage hikes, in return for the union’s first-ever givebacks. That suggests the union got no favoritism from the gov. But Katz is calling on her members to reject the deal.
It gets even better. The deal was negotiated by Corzine aide David Beckett, who worked for the firm of lawyer Barry Szaferman – who, in turn, is listed as the agent for the company that bought . . . Katz’s apartment.
That Jon Corzine and Carla Katz won’t talk isn’t surprising. But that they fail to grasp the blatant conflict of interest inherent in this situation is astounding.