New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine’s purported $6 million payout to his powerful former paramour was a bid to keep her quiet, a chief political rival claims.
Garden State GOP chairman Tom Wilson yesterday questioned Corzine’s benevolence – and also said he will sue to make the governor disclose e-mails in which he discussed public business with former union-boss gal pal Carla Katz.
Katz’s megabucks payout – more than $8,000 a day for the course of the two-year romance – was reported by The New York Times. The revelation comes on the heels of a state ethics panel report that determined that then-U.S. Sen. Corzine gave Katz a “substantial sum” when their relationship ended in 2004.
According to the panel, the deal was inked in November 2004 and was slated to be paid over several years, but was “accelerated” and paid in full in August 2005.
The unusual $6 million parting gift was brokered after Corzine emerged as the front-runner to replace Jim McGreevey.