When contract negotiations between Gov. Jon S. Corzine?s administration and New Jersey?s seven major state employee unions reached a standstill last fall, one union president, Carla Katz, sent a message to the governor?s private e-mail address with a personal appeal to revive the talks. Katz's efforts infuriated labor officials in New Jersey as well as at her union?s national headquarters, and led a mayor in Bergen County to file a formal complaint with the ethics panel. On May 8, the panel concluded that Mr. Corzine was not swayed by her entreaties and did not violate the governor?s code of conduct. Mr. Corzine and Ms. Katz dated for more than two years while he was a United States senator.
See "Romance Over, Union Chief Has Corzine?s Number", David Kocieniewski and Serge F. Kovalevski, The New York Times, May 22, 2007