Democrat senator was begging for Corzine cash

by David Freddoso Online Opinion Editor

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., chaired the first Senate panel before which former MF Global CEO Jon Corzine testified this week. She had reasons to scold him -- he had just lost $1.2 billion in client funds. But he also hadn't paid the piper.

The New York Post reports that despite her "recent" and very persistent efforts to shake him down for contributions, Stabenow couldn't get Corzine to donate:

“She would literally call once every two or three weeks,” one Corzine intimate said of Sen. Debbie Stabenow (DMich.).

“She called all the time.”

Stabenow, chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, had blasted the former senator and New Jersey governor Tuesday for his failure to explain what happened to $1.2 billion in missing customer money from his bankrupt firm, MF Global.

“This isn’t the Dark Ages,” she lectured. “MF Global didn’t keep their books with feather quills and dusty ledgers.”

No word on how "recent" it was, although one must imagine it was before this current mess. Corzine, who has contributed a modest sum to Stabenow (and a large sum to Democrats) over the years, is a former Democratic New Jersey Senator and governor. He once served as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

I expected Stabenow to be hard on Corzine, but his failure to pony up kind of adds some perspective to the exchange.