JUST ANOTHER NON-POLITICAL INVESTIGATION – AT 8:35 A.M. ET:  The Dems are really piling on, with the help of the press, to destroy Chris Christie as a presidential candidate.  Maybe their efforts are a bit too ham-handed and obvious.  From CNN:

Washington (CNN) -- Just days after dismissing two top advisers for their roles in the George Washington Bridge scandal, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is facing questions over the use of Superstorm Sandy relief funds.

CNN has learned that federal officials are investigating whether Christie improperly used those relief funds to produce tourism ads that starred him and his family.

CNN claims it has this information exclusively.  Not surprising.  CNN is friendly to the Obama administration, which apparently is returning the favor.

The news couldn't come at a worse time for the scandal-plagued Republican, who is facing two probes into whether his staff tied up traffic near the country's busiest bridge to punish a Democratic mayor who refused to endorse his successful re-election bid.

Is this all a coincidence?  Christie is the leading GOP candidate for president in 2016.  Destroying him is a top Dem priority. 

If the Sandy inquiry finds any wrongdoing, it could prove even more damaging to Christie's national ambitions. His performance during and after the superstorm has been widely praised and is a fundamental part of his straight-shooting political brand.

In the new probe, federal auditors will examine New Jersey's use of $25 million in Sandy relief funds for a marketing campaign to promote tourism at the Jersey Shore after Sandy decimated the state's coastline in late 2012, New Jersey Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone told CNN.

In an August letter, Pallone asked the Department of Housing and Urban Development inspector general to look into how Christie chose to spend the marketing money approved by the department.

Pallone is a powerful Dem congressman and Obama ally.  This whole thing smacks of pure politics.  Obviously, we have to wait for the investigation to conclude, but my suspicions run high.  After all, this is an administration that seems in no hurry to investigate the misuse of the IRS to go after conservative groups.  And it has resisted a formal inquiry into Benghazi.  But it has the time and money to probe Chris Christie.  And the press is immediately interested.

January 13,  2014