The One O’Clock Review Of The News
Key news articles, opinion pieces, and reports to improve our understanding of the political landscape:
TOO HOT TO HANDLE? NJ RECORDS COUNCIL QUITS GUADAGNO CASE
TRENTON — In a sudden reversal, the New Jersey Government Records Council has decided the documents detailing Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno’s role in a $245,000 pension scandal are too hot for the agency to handle.
The GRC voted unanimously Tuesday to quit the case and not review the records it twice ordered the State Treasury to submit for inspection. Instead, the matter will be sent to an administrative law unit in Gov. Chris Christie’s executive branch for a decision, a process likely to take months.
Despite a victory in Appellate Court last month, the Council lost its will to pursue a complaint likely to embarrass or implicate Guadagno, who will remain as Christie’s running mate for the 2013 gubernatorial election.
“Because of the nature of the subject of this complaint, this complaint should be referred to the Office of Administrative Law…” according to a draft of the GRC staff recommendation released just before the meeting. Click here to continue to reading this story.
Panel Assails Role of State Department in Benghazi Attack
WASHINGTON — An independent inquiry into the attack on the United States diplomatic mission in Libya that killed four Americans on Sept. 11 sharply criticized the State Department for a lack of seasoned security personnel and for relying on untested local militias to safeguard the compound, according to a report by the panel made public on Tuesday night.
The investigation into the attack on the diplomatic mission and the C.I.A. annex in Benghazi that resulted in the deaths of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans also faulted State Department officials in Washington for ignoring requests from the American Embassy in Tripoli for more guards for the mission and for failing to make sufficient safety upgrades. Click here to continue reading this story.