Chris Christie Maintained State Pension Investments In Prudential After Top Official Gave Contributions By

Republican Gov. Chris Christie's administration has over the past five years paid at least $6.5 million in taxpayer fees to Prudential Financial to manage New Jersey pension funds, even after company officials made substantial contributions to Christie's 2009 gubernatorial campaign, International Business Times has learned. One of the Prudential officials was Christie's top fundraiser, adviser and donor. Christie appointees nonetheless maintained investment contracts with Prudential despite state rules that require such contracts to be canceled when executives at firms managing pension money donate to or raise money for state lawmakers.

“It sounds like it’s a clear conflict with the rules,” said Melanie Sloan, a former U.S. Department of Justice official who served as executive director of the watchdog group CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington), after IBTimes described its findings. “It seems like this thing is a clear violation of the rules. The rules just haven’t been enforced and now everyone is scrambling for cover.”

State documents show that Jon Hanson, who served on Prudential Financial’s board of directors until 2011, and his wife each donated $6,800 to Christie’s campaign in 2009. While leading Prudential, Hanson also served as finance chairman of Christie’s gubernatorial campaign, spearheading Christie’s fundraising operation. In 2009, when Hanson donated and raised the campaign money, New Jersey was investing hundreds of millions of dollars of state pension money in the company’s subsidiaries.

Rules from the New Jersey State Investment Council, which oversees the state’s pension fund, mandate that the state “terminate the contract” of any firm managing state pension money if that firm’s senior officials donate more than $250 to the governor, or solicit money for the governor’s campaign. Yet, even after Hanson made donations and raised money for Christie’s election, the Christie administration’s investment council continued to invest roughly $366 million of state pension money in Prudential funds, according to New Jersey documents. In 2011, Christie appointed Hanson’s son, James, to the council, where he currently leads the audit committee.

A spokesman for Hanson’s real estate firm, the Hampshire Companies, did not respond to questions from IBTimes, saying they had been forwarded to Christie’s office and to Prudential. The Christie administration declined to comment, referring questions to the Treasury Department. Attempts to contact the Treasury were unsuccessful.

Original Article
Source: ibtimes.com/
Author:  Andrew Perez , David Sirota