Corzine Backs Hillary

New JerseyGovernor Jon Corzine will formally endorse Senator Clinton's presidential campaign Monday.

That may not be a surprise. The question is how valuable is Corzine's endorsement? Peter Woolley, a Fairleigh Dickinson University political science professor and pollster, told the Associated Press that the endorsement will reinforce Clinton's front-runner status.

Woolley may be right, but Corzine carries his share negative baggage. An ethics charge has been refiled against Corzine over gifts he gave a former girlfriend Carla Katz, president of Communications Workers of America Local 1034, the largest state worker union chapter. After Corzine broke up with Katz, he forgave a half-million-dollar mortgage loan he had given her. Corzine also may have paid her kids' tuition and helped Katz with other expenses.

This is more than a story about two lovers breaking up. As the governor and the president of New Jersey's biggest state employee union, the former lovers have been on opposite sides during contract talks covering 40,000 state workers. Their romantic and financial ties raise conflict-of-interest questions. According to the Associated Press the question is:

Are Corzine and Katz faithfully serving the people they represent? Or are they hopelessly compromised?

That's a "culture of corruption" question that needs to be answered.

Are all of Hillary's endorsements tainted?