Fox News contributor and Republican strategist Karl Rove attempted to deflect attention from the latest ethical controversy facing New Jersey Governor Chris Christie by reviving a false smear of Hillary Clinton that was debunked years ago.
Christie's appearance at a Dallas Cowboys game as a guest of owner Jerry Jones in his personal suite is “proving to be controversial.” As reported by The Washington Post Christie flew to Dallas and accepted the ticket to the game at the expense of the Cowboys' owner, who just so happens to have a business relationship with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey." Christie's NFL experience may have been worth more than $100,000, and “his acceptance of a gift from a business owner with ties to the Port Authority” raises concerns about possible conflicts of interest in the governor's private and political life.
As The Wall Street Journal reported, Jones is a direct investor in a deal with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey worth $875 million. Jones is a partial owner of Legends Hospitality, the company recently selected to operate the observation deck of the One World Trade Center, operated by the Port Authority which is jointly controlled by Christie. As David Sirota of the International Business Times, points out, the deal is linked to support from Governor Christie:
Less than two years before Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones paid for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's tickets and travel to NFL games, government documents show Christie personally pushed the Port Authority to approve a lucrative contract for a firm part-owned by Jones. Christie nonetheless accepted the gifts from Jones, despite New Jersey ethics rules barring gifts to public officials from persons or entities that those officials “deal with, contact, or regulate in the course of official business.”
On March 19, 2013, Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a press release announcing their selection of Legends Hospitality LLC to operate the observation deck on the top floor of One World Trade Center. The next day, the Port Authority board - which is appointed by Christie and Cuomo -- specifically cited the governors' announcement in voting to approve the contract for the company, which is jointly owned by the Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees and Checketts Partners Investment Fund.
On the January 6 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom, host Martha MacCallum asked Rove whether he believed the incident to be a “problem” for the governor. Dismissing the incident as “a minor thing,” Rove downgraded the scandal to a simple issue of what team Christie was rooting for, which he then contrasted with Hillary Clinton, whom Rove falsely claimed “became a New York Yankees fan when she was running for the Senate in New York.” Christie, Rove claimed, “has been a lifelong fan of the Cowboys.”
The claim that Clinton was not a Yankees fan until her campaign for the United States Senate is not supported by the evidence. In fact, Clinton's 2003 autobiography, “Living History,” contains a photograph of her wearing a Yankees cap in 1992 -- eight years before she ran for the Senate. And a September 12, 1994 Washington Post article outlined Clinton's lifelong affinity for the New York baseball team.