Joining private life hasn’t saved former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft from public scrutiny. He’s back in the spotlight after New Jersey top prosecutor Christopher Christie recently gave Mr. Ashcroft’s consulting firm, the Ashcroft Group, the contract to monitor a settlement between Zimmer Holdings, a medical supply company, and the Department of Justice. What raised eyebrows about the deal was that it was approved without any public consent or notice. Rather, it was given to Mr. Ashcroft (the former boss of Mr. Christie) in a very large, no-bid deal. What was Mr. Christie’s explanation? According to the New York Times:

“It’s really important that the working relationship between this office and the monitors is very, very close,” he said. “I can’t tell you how much work we do with these monitors.” He said he had selected Mr. Ashcroft to work with Zimmer, the largest of five companies in the criminal investigation, because “I knew he was somebody who understands these issues and would be taken seriously by the company as an authority figure.”

This isn’t the first time that the New Jersey prosecutor assigned no-bid contracts to friends of his.

Mr. Christie directed similar contracts in settlements with other medical-supply companies to two other former Justice Department colleagues – David N. Kelley, the former United States attorney in Manhattan, and Debra Wong Yang, his counterpart in Los Angeles – and to David Samson, the former Republican attorney general in New Jersey.

The contract is an 18 month job, worth somewhere in the range of $28 million to $52 million. Needless to say, dozens of firms would have chomped at the bit if this contract was made public and put up for bid. And, naturally, with the increased competition the cost of the deal would have been reduced.

Some Democratic lawmakers have cried out on the overwhelming conflict of interest, but none have officially accused Mr. Christie of breaking the law (he himself disputes any allegations of conflict of interest and instead “referred those questions to the Justice Department in Washington”).

Although the DOJ admits the guidelines for hiring monitors for situations like this are few and far between, that might soon change. Thanks to the public exposure of this situation an internal investigation has been raised within the Justice Department, looking into their procedures for hiring outside monitors of large settlements.

The Ashcroft Group says they didn’t lobby for the multi-million dollar contract and, of course, they’re that much more thrilled about earning it. As Mark Corallo, a spokesman for the firm says:

“I know John Ashcroft, I know his capabilities. No matter what people think of his politics, he ran an unbelievably efficient operation at Justice as a manager. He understands the law. He understands how to manage an enormous organization.”