Sketchy Fundraising

Gov. Jon Corzine, whose fiscal prowess includes claiming that the state's spending has decreased while it has actually increased over last year (depends on how you count the federal funds thrown into the budget), now looks at his faltering position in a reelection bid and needs to raise serious amounts of money. Where is he turning?

How about to a fund that was seen as a possible pay-to-play scheme:

Gov. Jon Corzine's re-election campaign is asking contributors to donate to a Democratic Party account he previously said should not be used for gubernatorial elections because the practice was considered a way to skirt New Jersey's pay-to-play law.

A notice sent by the Corzine campaign's finance director to potential donors in California invites them to give up to $10,000 to the federal campaign fund of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee. The notice was sent with an invitation to a fundraiser with Corzine in San Francisco this Saturday to benefit the Democrat's re-election campaign.

The DSC's federal account is designed to help candidates running for Congress or the U.S. Senate but can be used to cover the gamut of party expenses. It is also exempt from New Jersey campaign finance law, including the state's contribution limits and restrictions that bar those who get state contracts from funding the campaigns of officials who dole them out.

Following criticism in 2005, Corzine -- who has made campaign finance reform a hallmark of his agenda -- said money contributed to that account "should not be used for gubernatorial or any other state election."

There are no federal elections in New Jersey this fall, but the governor's office and all 80 Assembly seats are up for grabs.

In an interview yesterday, Corzine said the campaign's suggestion of donating to the federal account does not contradict his earlier statements.

"We're not being particularly aggressive in steering people," he said of soliciting funds for the federal account. "We're making the centerpiece of our efforts raising funds for the Corzine campaign and the state party."

Corzine has to go out of the state to raise funds for his New Jersey campaign? Are there not enough millionaires who can fund him in New Jersey, or are they all tapped out after losing their shirts in the Wall Street bloodbath and Corzine's tax hikes on millionaires (anyone making over $250,000, that is).

This is an issue that bears serious scrutiny. Corzine is a billionaire, and yet he is not only going to California for fundraising, but he's doing so in a manner that he previously said skirted the pay to play rules. Funny ethics Corzine has (which is to say he has none).