fbpx

Is Christie setting Guadagno up for failure?

If Governor Chris Christie was still popular in New Jersey, or Washington, the New Jersey press corps would be pushing a narrative that Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno “is no Chris Christie.”

But Christie is less popular in New Jersey than Anthony Weiner is with Hillary Clinton supporters. Thus the narrative is that Guadagno has been Christie’s second in command and has stood behind him (literally and figuratively) for seven years while New Jersey’s economy has remained stagnant, our credit rating downgraded continuously, and traffic was a mess in Fort Lee for a few days in 2013.

Thus, as Guadagno is running to replace Christie next January, she has to show New Jersey voters that she is no Chris Christie while threading a needle to avoid Christie’s famously vindictive wrath. That’s a difficult endeavor.

Christie has announced that he will have the executive wing of the State House renovated, at a cost of $300 million in debt that has not been approved by New Jersey’s voters.  Guadagno has characterized the project as “the Palace of Versailles” that we don’t need, especially when we’re in a fiscal crisis with so many other priorities to fund.

Politico-New Jersey reports that Christie has responded to the criticism by kicking Guadagno and her staff in the Secretary of State’s Office (she doubles as the Secretary of State) four days before nominating petitions for candidates for each seat in the legislature, as well as gubernatorial candidates, are due to be filed, processed and certified by the office.  Christie and his staff will take over Guadagno’s offices; to accommodate the renovation is his offices, while she and her staff will move to vacant state offices a few blocks away in Trenton.  The move is to be complete by March 31, per Christie’s order.  The petitions, over 245 of them with tens of thousands of signatures are due in the new offices of the Secretary of State on April 4.

Guadagno’s new digs has only one men’s room and one women’s room to accommodate a staff of more than 130 employees, plus hundreds of people who think they are really important who will show up to file their papers on April 4.

Guadagno has to manage a move and make sure her new offices are set up and her staff prepared to execute one of their most important duties, flawlessly, immediately after the move.  There will be no time for a “soft opening” to work the bugs out. She has to do this during the month before her own nominating petition is due for Governor while competing for “the Party line” on the primary ballot in 21 counties.

To make matters worse, Christie and Guadagno are now apparently communicating through the press. Guadagno expressed a concern to Politico about the moving the historic archives that are preserved in her office.  Christie’s spokesman responded to Politico that the archives are not being moved.

Christie should do the right thing and delay the move until the end of July, when nothing is happening in Trenton and after the primaries have been completed and certified.

 

More from my site

Posted: February 27th, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: 2017 Elections, 2017 NJ Gubernatorial Politics, Chris Christie, Kim Guadagno, New Jersey, Opinion | Tags: , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

3 Comments on “Is Christie setting Guadagno up for failure?”

  1. At this point, said at 12:58 pm on February 27th, 2017:

    the more selfish, petty, boorish, and small- minded the “big guy” acts, the more empathy and sympathy Kim will be the beneficiary of.. in fact, let him non- endorse Kim, better yet, endorse say, Murphy, and she moves up, in any polls.. sincerely hope there is anything left of the State party to give her a hand, but, with zero info about our new President or the Inauguration on their website, and very little coordination with the counties and communications with party members/ the voting public, Kim will need to rely on her base, home Shore counties, and real voters, who are fed up with that ego, and lack of good progress in this state!!

  2. Joe Sinagra said at 2:31 pm on February 27th, 2017:

    “State Plan States are not required to issue their own interpretation in response to this policy, however they must ensure that State standards and their interpretations remain “at least as effective” as the Federal standard.”

    c) Toilet facilities–(1) General. (i) Except as otherwise indicated in this paragraph (c)(1)(i), toilet facilities, in toilet rooms separate for each sex, shall be provided in all places of employment in accordance with table J-1 of this section. The number of facilities to be provided for each sex shall be based on the number of employees of that sex for whom the facilities are furnished. Where toilet rooms will be occupied by no more than one person at a time, can be locked from the inside, and contain at least one water closet, separate toilet rooms for each sex need not be provided. Where such single-occupancy rooms have more than one toilet facility, only one such facility in each toilet room shall be counted for the purpose of table
    J-1.

    Table J-1
    ————————————————————————
    Minimum number of Number of employees water closets \1\
    ————————————————————————
    1 to 15……………………………………………. 1
    16 to 35…………………………………………… 2
    36 to 55…………………………………………… 3
    56 to 80…………………………………………… 4
    81 to 110………………………………………….. 5.
    111 to 150…………………………………………. 6
    Over 150…………………………………………… (\2\)

    http://americanrestroom.org/gov/ohsa/

  3. Again, said at 7:22 pm on February 27th, 2017:

    here we are in a state that has the highest property taxes, at least 9 bond downgrades ( I have lost count,) a deficit that was propped up with more Medicaid money, aging and failing infrastructure( in this, the most populous state, per mile,) more on subsidies and social programs , less employed, pension obligations not met, it goes on and on, and we are worrying about the damn bathrooms.. unless and until some of these elected clowns get real, and start addressing some of these disasters, NJ is doomed!- the exodus of the smart ones, continues!!