Double Standards

Unable to make a dent in Chris Christie's poll numbers by hammering him over Deferred Prosecution Agreements, the Corzine campaign now hopes it has a winning issue in exposing that Christie did the same thing that Corzine did on a much larger scale.

Christie and his wife Mary Pat lent Michelle Brown $46,000 and took a second mortgage on her house as collateral. Brown was Christie's employee in the U.S. Attorney's office at the time the loan was made. She lives in the Christies' neighborhood. Christie explained the loan as as helping a friend in need. Brown's husband had lost his job and the couple had racked up credit card debts.

Corzine lent his lover and at the time state employees union leader Carla Katz $470,000. He later forgave that mortgage and gave her another $6,000,000 at the termination of their romantic relationship. Corzine and Katz have refused to explain their entanglement, insisting it was a private matter. A private matter between a governor and the head of the largest state employees union.

Christie's problem is that, like Corzine, he failed to disclose the loan on his federal and state financial disclosure forms.

If the Christies intended to hide their financial relationship with Brown, they would have kept the loan unsecured and not recorded a mortgage. That the loan was not disclosed on Christie's disclosure forms was probably a careless mistake, like the U.S. Treasury Secretary failing to pay taxes he had already been reimbursed for.

Christie should amend his disclosure forms and then stand up at a press conference, like he did when the Deferred Prosecution Agreements story broke, and answer all of the questions honestly.

Republicans will always be subject to these double standards. That is because we are committed to higher standards. We stand for the best in people and are committed to a society that empowers the best in people and rewards individual achievement. Democrats are committed to a government dominated society that views people as mediocre and needy. The ideal Democratic government rewards failure and fosters dependency.

Thus, Democrats and their partners in the media will always make a bigger deal of failures and mistakes on the part of a Republican than they will a Democrat. We've seen it time and time again.

Whining about the double standard is a losing strategy. We should embrace the double standard, because we asked for it. Standing up and being accountable is the only winning strategy.