AP: NJ’s Gov Speaks Loudly and Carries a Big Stick
- Posted on February 27, 2011 at 8:02am by
Scott Baker
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TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — It was the kind of dilemma that could make a new governor wring his hands.
The state Senate was considering a bill to restore higher taxes on millionaires. Sign it, and Chris Christie would break his no-new-taxes campaign promise; veto it, and he‘d break another promise to protect tax rebates in the state with the nation’s highest average property tax bill.
Christie knew the bill was on its way, and so he ordered his staff to prepare. They unfolded the white spectator chairs and lined them in rows in his mahogany-lined ceremonial office. A single pen was placed on a long, bare table.
Then, he waited.
Finally, Senate President Stephen Sweeney, a Democrat and hulking ironworker from the Philadelphia suburbs, burst into the office to deliver the bill personally, a swarm of reporters in tow.
Christie may have been cornered, but you wouldn’t know it from what he did next.
He stepped out of his private office, picked up his pen — and gleefully vetoed the bill.
No hemming and hawing, no apologies. It’s the Christie Way, and New Jerseyans have grown accustomed to it.
Happy to wield a veto pen, seemingly eager to lambast anyone and anything that stands in his way and apt to use sarcasm to make his points, Christie is a phenomenon — and not just in New Jersey. He’s become a talk show regular, a star on YouTube and Twitter, a headliner at campaign events for conservative candidates, the favorite of some Republicans looking to the 2012 presidential race.
All on the basis of his first year in office — a year defined by the fights he’d picked.
He’s sparred with the federal government, the Legislature, the public workers’ unions, the state Supreme Court, and the authorities and commissions that oversee components of daily life like sewer fees and bridge tolls.
No one seems off limits, including citizens who dare question him in his series of town hall meetings or those who question his policies on Twitter.
What most call fighting, he calls having a conversation — Jersey style. Which is to say, brash, loud and direct.
“Sometimes you can‘t get to a compromise unless there’s a battle first,” he said.
___
New Jersey is, to put it mildly, a contentious state.
It is the nation’s most densely populated with 8.8 million people crammed together. It’s one of the most expensive places to live — not least because of the nation’s highest average property tax bill of over $7,300 — but also has among the highest average incomes.
The state‘s schools are among the country’s best performing. But its worst schools are among the worst anywhere, and its struggling cities, like Camden and Newark, are among the nation’s poorest.
New Jersey leans to the left, but has elected six Democratic governors and five Republicans since World War II. It’s the bombastic home of “The Sopranos” and “Jersey Shore,” but it‘s also home to Princeton University and the people who make a lot of Wall Street’s money.
Aside from his undergraduate years at University of Delaware, this is where Chris Christie has spent all his life.
He was born in hardscrabble Newark and raised in nearby Livingston, a comfortable suburb. He pledges allegiance to the Mets, the Jets and the Boss (Springsteen, not one of the state’s several political kingmakers known by the same title). He and his wife Mary Pat, an investment banker, are raising their four children in affluent Mendham Township.
After graduating Seton Hall law school in Newark, he worked as a corporate attorney. He entered politics in the mid-1990s, serving one term on the Morris County Board of Freeholders. His brand of fiery reform troubled constituents enough that he never got a second term — he didn’t survive the Republican primary.
Christie resurfaced politically as a key campaigner in New Jersey for George W. Bush‘s first presidential run and emerged from that as Bush’s surprise pick to be U.S. Attorney.
For seven years, he burnished a reputation as a corruption buster, convicting more than 130 public officials. And then he ran for governor, offering lots of criticism but few specifics on how he would do things like balance the budget.
His strength was explaining to a frustrated public just how simple the state’s problems were. That worked well against Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine, a liberal former investment banker whose chief oratorical skill was explaining why everything was so complicated.
___
New Jersey‘s governor may be the nation’s most powerful. He is the only statewide elected official, aside from his lieutenant and the two U.S. senators, and appoints the attorney general, secretary of state and nearly every Cabinet post and all state judges and prosecutors, subject to confirmation.
Supreme Court justices are nominated for initial seven-year terms; after that, they must be renominated to receive lifetime tenure, and every governor has done so in every instance since the state constitution was enacted in 1947.
But Christie is determined to change an activist court that has forced the state to spend billions on education in poor districts, dictated that towns make room for homes for low-income people and verged on allowing gay couples to marry. When Justice John Wallace, a moderate and the court’s only African-American member, came up for renomination, Christie said no.
The result? For nine months, Sweeney and the state Senate have refused to give his nominee a confirmation hearing.
New Jersey’s governor also has a conditional veto that can force changes in bills, and veto power that can be used to shape the actions of scores of lesser-known but vital public agencies.
Christie has made the most of that power.
“He’s not afraid to use it. He’s swinging for the fences,” said Sweeney.
New Jersey, one of the original colonies, has a government structure that no one today would design. Its 566 towns are mostly small — and can be fiefdoms for their leaders. Beyond that, there are more than 700 appointed water authorities, bridge commissions and other agencies that conduct the public’s business — but without much public oversight.
Some of them are famous for patronage jobs and doling out contracts to politically connected firms as rewards for financing elections.
Christie started taking them on as soon as he arrived in the State House. In his first month in office, he vetoed the minutes of four of them to try to rein in spending, and pressured the head of the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission to resign over his $313,000 annual salary. Since then, 94 people at the commission have been fired or stepped down and three have been arrested.
In July, he seized on a scandal at the Delaware River Port Authority, which operates a commuter train line and four toll bridges in the Philadelphia area. An executive admitted accepting a prepaid E-ZPass transponder for his daughter from another employee. The incident sparked anger: The public hadn’t realized that workers were getting free rides at all.
Christie demanded that the DRPA board eliminate the perk of free tolls for workers.
The board rescinded the perk — a common one for workers at transit and transportation authorities across the country — then returned it amid pressure from employees.
So Christie overruled the board.
In the end, an arbitrator ruled that governor had overreached — the benefit could not be taken away from union-represented workers of the agency because it was part of their collective bargaining agreements.
But Christie had made his point, and a splash. His push to end the benefit was front-page news. The arbitrators’ decision to reinstate it? Not so much.
___
Christie does not only attack low-grade functionaries. Twice, he has taken on the federal government.
The biggest blunder of Christie’s governorship so far came in August, when the state barely lost out on a $400 million federal education grant, apparently because the state‘s application didn’t include some required information.
A “clerical error,” Christie said, on an otherwise strong application.
Instead of apologizing, he blamed President Barack Obama.
“He‘s going to have to explain to the people of the state of New Jersey why he’s depriving them of $400 million,” said Christie. He insisted that the state education commissioner, Bret Schundler, attempted to fix the mistake.
The U.S. Department of Education swung back, releasing a video that showed Schundler never tried to correct the error. Blame, instead, was fixed on the governor’s office, which rewrote the proposal at the last minute after rejecting a compromise Schundler had struck with the state teachers union.
Then, in October, Christie canceled a project to build a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River and double the capacity for commuter trains to get between New Jersey and New York City. The federal government and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey were sharing in the cost, but overruns would be solely New Jersey’s responsibility. And Christie said they could come to more than $5 billion over time.
The U.S. Department of Transportation responded by sending the state a bill for the $271 million it had already spent designing and building the tunnel.
The feds said the state was on the hook for those costs because just six months earlier, Christie had persuaded officials to use a little-used type of fast-track funding that the state would have to repay if it backed out.
The governor has appealed. Washington, he says, is being unfair.
“I’m not going to allow them to say, ‘Hey, New Jersey has a Republican governor, so we’ll get the money back from them, so states where we have Democratic governors, we don’t ask for the money back,’” Christie said.
When Amtrak and New Jersey’s U.S. senators announced a new proposal as an alternative to the one Christie killed, he claimed credit for it. His decision to cancel the first plan, he said, led to a far better one.
___
Four months after taking office, Christie began holding town hall meetings across the state to press his campaign to cap annual property tax increases. These days, the events push his overall agenda — as is made plain by the banner that looms overhead, announcing “The Christie Reform Agenda.”
He lays out what he’s done and what he hopes to do. His riffs range from standup comedy to tender tales of what his mother told him before she died. A big man, he strides the stage in shirt sleeves for question-and-answer sessions, microphone in hand.
Almost invariably, someone stands up to defend teachers.
When he cut the budget in his first year in office, he actually added more state aid to schools. But because about $1 billion in one-time federal aid had gone away, it meant that every district got a smaller check from Trenton.
Christie said that if teachers unions agreed to one-year pay freezes and to pay at least 1.5 percent of their salaries toward health insurance costs, layoffs could be avoided. But few local unions agreed to any concessions and there were layoffs. Christie, who blames many of the state’s financial problems on the deals struck by unions for public workers, has not been sympathetic.
At a September appearance in Flemington, teacher Marie Corfield complained that Christie has dumped on public schools.
Christie denied it, but Corfield rolled her eyes and swung her head to the side.
The governor was offended. “I stood here and very respectfully listened to you,” he said. “If you want to put on a show and giggle every time I talk, I have no interest in answering your question.”
The crowd — mostly Christie-friendly — cheered.
When he rails against salaries for school superintendents — his Education Department has a new rule that most will not be allowed to make more than the $175,000 a year Christie gets as governor — he gets personal. He called out one superintendent by name, describing him as “the new poster boy for all that is wrong with the public school system that’s being dictated by greed.”
His town hall meetings are like small rock concerts, usually witnessed by no more than several hundred citizens in person. But they’re made-for-YouTube moments — and they‘re posted there by fans wielding iPhones and by the governor’s staff. The most popular one, of his encounter with Corfield, has been viewed more than 900,000 times.
Christie is more than open to modern online conversations, often taking to Twitter — and not just with the vanilla tweets about his next event that many politicians make.
Charles Kwiatkowski, a multiple sclerosis patient and one of the state’s most prominent advocates for medical marijuana, says he has e-mailed the governor several times complaining that Christie’s proposed regulations of medical pot are too restrictive. He says he would get form letters back several weeks later.
But in November, he sent the governor a message on Twitter making the same complaint. Kwiatkowski said he was shocked to hear back the same day from the governor, though Christie‘s Tweet wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
Christie’s response: “NJ will not be allowed to become California or Colorado on my watch. Our regs will permit the truly sick to obtain pain relief.”
___
Christie said on the campaign trail that he didn’t care if he was re-elected, and his governing style reflects that — to a point. He‘s made so many enemies that sometimes it’s hard to remember the folks he hasn’t upset.
Polls show about half the state‘s voters approve of what he’s done so far. But many do not — vehemently. And he’s facing another budget season full of tough decisions; last year, he didn‘t fund the state’s $3.1 billion pension obligation.
This year, he called for making only a minimum pension payment, which he offered to do early — but only if the Democratic Legislature agrees to reforms requiring government workers to delay retirement and pay more. He also tied an increase in property tax refunds to a proposal that would force public workers to pay more for their health benefits.
His state aid cuts are blamed, largely, for layoffs in local governments. The police force in Camden — one of the nation’s most dangerous places — has been cut nearly in half. Camden and other struggling cities could lose more state money this year.
Still, his town hall tour and must-see YouTube moments make it seem he never left campaign mode. And he clearly has more than just New Jersey on his mind. During his campaign, Christie predicted that New Jersey would get a year’s jump on many states when it came to coping with huge budget crises that came about as tax revenue fell amid a long recession.
And indeed, several governors who took office this year have said that they want to do the same kind of budget slashing that Christie has already done — something Christie bragged about Tuesday, as he unveiled his budget.
“Democratic governors and Republican governors now look to New Jersey as a beacon of hope for what can happen when leaders lead and a people sacrifice as one for the future of our children,” he said.
One, decidedly, hasn’t. Facing a huge budget hole, Illinois’ Pat Quinn raised income and corporate taxes by two-thirds. Christie’s responded by taking out ads to recruit Illinois businesses to move to New Jersey.
Christie has said repeatedly that he’s not running for president in 2012, sometimes joking that the only way he could get people to stop asking him about it would be suicide. But he’s just 48 years old, and he has plenty of time to run — assuming, of course, that he is successful in the Garden State.
“I’m very flattered by the question. What that tells me is that I had a good year,” Christie said. “If people didn’t think you were doing a good job, they wouldn’t be asking you about a promotion.”
“Once they stop asking, then that’s a bit of a problem,” he added, with a laugh.
Bill Palatucci, one of his closest friends and political advisers, said Christie is not making any moves to launch a campaign.
“He’s made it very clear to all of us in his inner-circle that that ain’t happening now,” Palatucci said. “But if he wanted to somewhere down the road, he’s already shown that he has the basic foundation to be a great leader.”
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Comments (107)
KL
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 12:22pmStop calling Republicans that you don’t 100% agree with, rinos. Seriously..with that attitude NO ONE will make you happy. What would you rather see, another 4 more years of Obama?? Didn’t think so!. (and Palin is NOT the answer, we need to WIN in 2012, remember?) LOVE Christie!
Report Post »dirtypolitics
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 6:47pmI agree, let us remove the word Rinos from our vocabulary until we stop Obama and his minions from extending tenure so as to stop their agenda.
We need to try and convince as many people as possible(esp the younger generation) about how things went worse during Obama’s term. There are still millions of people out there who are unaware of the facts because the Lame Stream Media has successfully kept them from the truth.
Report Post »freedomisasfreedomdoes
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 12:05pmDoes Christie wear a cape? B/c he is my hero:)!
Report Post »eddie333
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 11:22amGood stuff about Christie…
BUT
I have concerns about his nominating a Shariah law-friendly Muslim to NJ Superior Court
Report Post »and
Christie’s support of immigration reform, which shows way to much favoritism to the illegals.
OhSuzieQ
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 11:49amomg!
Report Post »OhSuzieQ
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 11:54amI don’t think so!
Report Post »omni
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 10:57amGovernor Christie is the most exciting Conservative voice I’ve heard since Sara Palin started telling it like it is. Like many others, I tend to respond positively to people I percieve as sharing values similar to my own. This is often based solely on face value judjment of the latest sound bites. After a little research, it is obvious that Governor Christie is a consumate politician and a rival to the best among today’s motivational speakers. Be careful to take an in depth look at the total package and be slow to shout down those who pose legitimate questions. We need a bullet proof candidate for 2012, one with solid Conservative credentials..
Report Post »WeveAlreadyWon
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 10:37amChris Christie and Rand Paul 2012!
Report Post »OhSuzieQ
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 11:48amHas a ring to it
Report Post »sleazyhippo
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 5:12pmIt might be hard since neither one has much history in office. Maybe 2020?
Report Post »Buck_Ofama
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 10:34amRINO? Anne Coulter likes him and wants him to the GOP Prez candidate. Either Anne has been replaced by an alien “body snatcher” or Christie is the real deal (if not just a little double dealing).
He IS a Jets, Mets fan. Hmmmm….what’s not to like. I hope to god he is not a RINO.
Report Post »DRINDY
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 10:06amIt’s time for a Right to Work law for everybody. I heard Rush talking on the radio the other day saying unions are money laundering for the Democratic Party, I believe it’s true. The unions remind me of the mafia with their tactics and agenda. Their agenda seems more like communism then a Pro-American agenda. What if a union leader came to your door at your home and told you that you had to use union workers for all services done at your home, and that they were there to negotiate (collective bargaining) a deal for those workers, you would be telling them “hell no!”. So why would anyone think that any American business or State should have to allow unions to dictate to them., I believe that the only way we are going to save America and the American Economy, is to stop the unions.
Report Post »AZfreeman
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 12:25pm“It’s time for a Right to Work law for everybody…”
You got that right!!! Stand back and look at the big picture folks. It’s FREEDOM vs. OPPRESSION.
Unions are power hungry bosses (backed up by greedy union workers) vs. generally uneducated, complacent, and apathetic masses. The good news is… the more these issues hit the media, the more there will be a great awakening.
“You can’t make a weak man strong by making a strong man weaker” Abraham Lincoln
Report Post »heavyduty
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 9:57amWhat I like about Christie so much is that he drives the Demos. NUTS. They think they have him cornered then he throws them a curveball. The Demos. just can’t get ahead of the man.
Report Post »Ronko
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 9:29amOzz must be a plant funded by the soros groups because only somebody who has that mindset would call Christie a RINO. Christie is one of the few Real Republicans out there and I wish we had more people like him.
Report Post »OhSuzieQ
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 11:42amMe too! (wink wink)
Report Post »sleazyhippo
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 5:07pmWe also have Governor Huckabee and Governor Palin to fight in 2012 if Governor Christie chooses to serve his full term without campaigning.
Report Post »dawg of gawd
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 9:27amHe said “battle”! He said “battle”! So much for civility! I’m gonna tell Glenn! He said “battle.”
Report Post »beverlee
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 9:21amCould this article slobber over Christie any more? If a lib website slobbered over Obama like this there would be heck to pay. What he is doing in NJ is the right thing, but he needs to have a tad bit more tact in doing it. I voted for the man, I am a state worker, and while I know things need to change I don’t need to be abused while he is doing it. Abuse I can get from Obama, thank you very much.
Report Post »teammommy
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 10:41amevery lib site slobbers over Obama like this!! Go check out HuffPo, MSNBC, etc… its just status quo over there to dish out daily praose of BO.
Report Post »badswing
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 9:14amthe thing I fear most about Christie is the chance that his ‘rock star’ status makes him become ungrounded. Demint’s book (saving freedom – highly recommended btw) describes this phenomenom. He seems to enjoy the spotlight a bit too much. I love what he is doing with my state but always have pause when the talk of a run for prez comes out. we (nj) are part of that bs cap and trade with other states (reggi?) in the northeast and he doesnt say much about it and his gun control thoughts seem to be to anti gun ownership but in NJ the majority seem to revere corzine types so his balancing act must be pretty tough. watchful eye for sure. pres? maybe in 6.
Report Post »OhSuzieQ
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 11:46amRasberry, Badswing…Joking with a smile
Report Post »psst
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 12:45pmDeMint IS the man for the presidency.(I don’t think he would run)
Report Post »Or I”d settle for Herman.Cain.
sleazyhippo
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 5:05pmHe is at least as Republican as Governor Whitman.
Report Post »uncleherbert
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 9:09amI have not heard cap & trade or amnesty, being part of his agenda? I hope not! I like his smaller government and less taxes stance!
Report Post »mcpbob
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 9:01amyou will never find someone who is 100 percent for everything you think is or is not a republican cause… the fact of the matter is that Christie is by far someone who can move our country in the right direction
Report Post »poverty.sucks
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 9:01amNJ unions would enjoy running Christie out of town for the presidency. However Christie will not give them that pleasure. NJ is his battle and that’s where his focus shall remain.
Report Post »tifosa
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 9:00amChristie appears a viable candidate, except that he doesn’t WANT to, feels unqualified?
Report Post »OhSuzieQ
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 11:35amYea, and Obama is qualified? Give me a break…omg
Report Post »sleazyhippo
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 5:10pmWe have lots of other candidates should Chris decide to serve his full term without campaigning. Running for president will probably cost a Billion and will probably take 7 days a week. Plus it’s tricky to beat an incumbent.
Report Post »glennisright.com
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 8:55amDoug Christie is the MAN! And his influence is catching on to other governors.
http://www.glennisright.com
Report Post »tifosa
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 9:01amDoug? hehehe
Report Post »suecreekqueen
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 8:52amChristie has a backbone and moral clarity. He can’t be intimidated or bought which drives the left crazy.
Report Post »OhSuzieQ
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 11:29amI would have Gov.Christie over Obama a hundres times over!
You Go Gov. Christie!!
Report Post »OhSuzieQ
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 11:31amThat’s forsure!!
Report Post »trolltrainer
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 8:50amOzz, I have a feeling that anyone who does not think exactly like you is a “rino.” That term gets thrown around a lot in here, but it is essentially meaningless. Christie is right for NJ. Much of his ideology comes from having a NJ perspective. Would I want him for President? No. But I am not going to criticize everyone that does not see things identically to me either.
Report Post »chazman
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 9:11am@TROLL
So true. What’s good for NJ, that being Christie, is not necessarily good for all of America.
Report Post »I still like the guy, though. He’s a big lugg!
Insipid
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 9:49amVery well put Troll. He is great for his state but that does not mean he is a shoe in for running the country. I would say that he has some potential but I want to see more.
Report Post »sleazyhippo
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 5:02pmDon’t know much about Christie, but did see him verbally take down a questioner at a Meg Whitman rally that looked like DiNiro playing Capone! It was entertaining but then it turned out that the gentleman was a retired Orange County millionaire with standing in the Republican party there. Later on TV, that man claimed he was actively against Whitman (because of the way Christie treated people) and then she lost.
Report Post »ozz
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 9:50pm@trolltrainer
It is not about agreeing with me or not it is about not agreeing with the Republican platform, and he does not on many HUGE issues. That is what makes him a screaming RINO.
Look it up the info is out there his record/stances are a liberal train wreck.
But too many idiots just see him acting tough on one freaking issue and start to gush.
This whole I am not going to run crap is exactly that…crap.
Report Post »It is an act to build support.
If there is no strong front runner other than Ron Paul, the dough boy will run.
Grasshopper42
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 8:48amGotta love Chris Christie . . .
Report Post »Marylou7
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 8:47amToo bad he’s not willing to make a run for the Presidency at this time, WE TRUELY NEED HIM!!
Report Post »joy2002cjm
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 9:50pmWe DO need him, we need him in NJ and as President. As a NJ resident it is hard to share, except that we are in such desperate need for the strong honest president that Christie would be
Report Post »teahugger
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 8:43amIt’s refreshing to hear a politician say what he means and mean what he says…without the crutch of a telepromptr! Governors like Chrisie and Walker give me hope. I think it is being left to the states to show the way in digging ourselves out of our financial mess.
Report Post »Dale
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 10:46amAre you suggesting that obomba needs a teleprompter to lie?
Report Post »psst
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 12:40pmPosted on February 27, 2011 at 10:46am
@Dale who wrote
Are you suggesting that obomba needs a teleprompter to lie?
Umm. Soetoro the Poseur lies w/ or w/o a teleprompter. In fact, he even lies to his teleprompter most of the time.
Report Post »sleazyhippo
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 4:55pmHe is as good a speaker as Sarah or Mike (maybe better) – they are making big dollars as “News contributors who could run for president” who “used to be Governors.” so it would be refreshing if Chris stays in office and does not start writing books every year.
Report Post »ozz
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 8:36amHe is pro gun control, amnesty for illegals, and cap and trade. He campaigned for rinos like Meg Whitman and is a rino himself. NO MORE RINOS!!!
Report Post »Lesterp
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 9:11amHeard ya the first time!
Report Post »uncleherbert
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 9:12amYou lie! Rino… Not!
Report Post »GeorgieJo
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 9:19amOZZ?
Report Post »I don‘t care if he claims his relatives are UFO’s
CHRISTIE (with his veto pen) in 2012!!!!!!!!!
DVPFLA
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 9:30amAll things considered, this conservative (from the south) feels Governor Christie has more positives than negatives. He is is worth watching for the future. I do like that at this time he feels he is not ready to be President.
Report Post »Robert-CA
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 12:44pmLESTERP
Report Post »Posted on February 27, 2011 at 9:11am
Heard ya the first time!
___________________
Good one LESTERP lol :)
ozz
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 8:33amHe is pro cap and trade, pro gun control, Pro amnesty for illegals. He campaigned for rinos and is a rino.
Report Post »NO MORE RINOS!!!!
tower7femacamp
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 8:50amoff topic, Obama signed the Michele Bachmann supported
Patriot Act extension, funny how they all agree on the sheep pens being built.
The Homeland Security Department this summer plans to begin testing a DNA analyzer that’s small enough to be easily portable and fast enough to return results in less than an hour.
The analyzer, about the size of a laser printer, initially will be used to determine kinship among refugees and asylum seekers. It also could help establish whether foreigners giving children up for adoption are their parents or other relatives, and help combat child smuggling and human trafficking, said Christopher Miles, biometrics program manager in the DHS Office of Science and Technology.
Only DNA can positively determine family relationships, Miles said Wednesday during a conference on biometrics and national security.
Eventually, the analyzer also could be used to positively identify criminals, illegal immigrants, missing persons and mass casualty victims, he said.
I say let’s test every politician past and present then post the results on line.
Report Post »Smitty1969
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 10:20am@ozz
I believe in gun control, HARD time for offenders, death to those who commit 1st deg murder with a firearm. As in Illegals we will have to give amnesty (20,000,000 on buses, I don’t think so) but not until we build something equivalent to the Great Wall and shut down 99% of narco traffic.
PS What makes one a Illegal? Ill tell you, it is the Social Security Number “not paying income taxes”. If you are the libertarian you think you are then you know “labor shall not be taxed” was in our founding document’s. This is one of the unsaid reasons that the Fair Tax will fix more than just our tax code.
exdem
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 1:03pmI really like what I have seen for myself of him. But what gives me great pause is Joe Scarborough loves him which makes me think RINO
Report Post »I do love how he is not afraid to speak his mind but if he is for cap and trade or gun control and kissin illegals or muslim patooties- I would never vote for him.
ozz
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 8:30amNo more RINOS please!!
Report Post »Ironmaan
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 8:44amIf he is a RINO, i’ve never seen a RINO so hated by the Dems and the left.
Report Post »http://guerillatics.com
what4
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 8:46amTake the Drug from the Dem’s….Just say NO, Governor Christy!
Report Post »tifosa
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 8:55amActually Cristie is not “hated by the left.” Some good stuff about his take on the unions, on the immigration issue, etc…But will he run if he’s called to duty by the right? If not voluntarily, should he be drafted like so many of our soldiers who didn’t WANT to serve? Inquiring minds want to know… ;)
Report Post »Fletch
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 9:16amChristie is a RINO and a former prosecutor – neither is a good sign
Contract snafu Bumps Teacher Salaries Unexpectedly High, some by almost $30K (Florida Keys).
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 9:50amI wish Christie the best for himself and the state of NJ.
Report Post »Smitty1969
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 10:00amOk, he is a NJ Gov, but he speaks to the point and want’s the State to operate in the black (that is don’t spend more $ than you make. Encase you have never had books to keep) This one step will guarantee tho keep the hard line socialists out.
Report Post »SlimnRanger
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 10:12amAs we say here in Oklahoma,”Yeeeeeeee Hawwww Chris Christie,git-er-done, dang it all wouldn’t he make a great president? I admire this man for his actions and not allowing the liberals to poision him
Report Post »avenger
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 11:28amChristie…you the man…..
Report Post »weeblewacker1
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 11:55amwell,to tell the truth,he was on Meet The Press this a.m. i think it was that show, and i heard him say a couple of things that actually made sense!! go figure!
Report Post »Sinista Mace
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 12:54pmRon Paul.
No compromise.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 1:19pmThey will attack anyone who threatens Obama’s agenda …
Report Post »portague
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 4:24pmtifosa
Report Post »vietnam is long sense over there has not been a draft in years everyone has been deployed sense then was a volunter soldier.
sleazyhippo
Posted on February 27, 2011 at 4:51pmPlease be respectful of Governor Christie – he is doing the best he possibly can.
Report Post »ConsiderThis
Posted on February 28, 2011 at 12:22amIsn’t the problem in NJ the same as everywhere else?
Report Post »The liberals/progressives are running out of other people’s money.
Once all the borrowing potential has been tapped out the public service folks are going to be getting paid in IOU‘s and there’s not a darn thing anyone is going to be able to do to change that.
If they don’t stop taking more than a fair share now, down the road there’s only going to be pain, pain and more pain.