Holy Payola - John Corzine edition

Um ... isn't this, I don't know, illegal?

Corzine's Charitable Donations Questioned

New Jersey Sen. Jon Corzine (news, bio, voting record), a former Wall Street executive with a portfolio worth $261 million, has been giving some of his money to black churches, raising questions about whether it's generosity or politics.

The Democrat, who is in a tight race for governor, donated or loaned more than $2.5 million last year to black churches. He has received the endorsement of more than two dozen black ministers.

"Blatant quid pro quo-ism," said Democrat Walter Fields, Jr., former political director of New Jersey's NAACP. "We have always had wealthy candidates running for office. What we have never had is that individual wealth being used in such a direct way, and somehow we're supposed to look the other way."

And get a load of this:

The Rev. Reginald T. Jackson, executive director of the Black Ministers Council and pastor of St. Matthew's AME Church in Orange, N.J., said black ministers have been making personal endorsements of candidates since 1981. The council does not make endorsements.

Jackson's church has received thousands of dollars from Corzine over several years, including a $50,000 loan last year. (emphasis added)

It goes without saying that if Richard Mellon Scaife had given $2.5 million to Saddleback Church or Lakewood Church, the Americans United For Separation of Church and State and the ACLU would be dispensing "justice" faster than the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

But this little episode?  Cue the bullfrogs and crickets. 

Someone ought to put together a satirical contest where they get churches to humorously out-bid each other in desperation for John Corzine's money.  That would be pretty funny.

Another h/t to Michelle Malkin.  Dang, girl, you rule.