Christie’s role as RGA chairman bestows power over GOP’s fate, and his own

Christie’s role as RGA chairman bestows power over GOP’s fate, and his own (via NJ.com)

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Gov. Chris Christie arrived on the impeccably manicured grounds of the Phoenician Resort Tuesday with one stated goal for his term as chairman of the Republican Governors Association: To elect governors from his party. But along…

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Republican Legislators Unlikely To Override Christie

The eyes of New Jersey’s political junkies on are Trenton this afternoon to see if the public rift between Governor Chris Christie and the Kean family will lead to the first override of a Christie veto.

The Pig Gestation Bill is on the Senate calendar for an override vote this afternoon.   The bill, which would prohibited NJ pig farmers from caging gestating pigs in a manner such that they can not move or lay down for most of their lives passed both houses of the legislature overwhelmingly last spring.  Christie vetoed the bill, noting that the State Supreme Court upheld the Humane Standards that the State Board of Agriculture and  Department of Agriculture have set and enforced in accordance with the 1995 Administrative Procedures Act. In his veto message, Christie said he was confident the Board and Department would continue to monitor the humane treatment of gestating pigs, and that bill would inappropriately criminalize a practice that is not opposed by the American Veterinary Medical Association nor the American Association of Swine Veterinarians.

Christie critics and skeptics have said that the governor vetoed the bill with an eye toward the 2016 Iowa Republican Presidential Caucuses.   Iowa is the largest producer of pork in the United States.

Don’t bet on an override, warn legislators who spoke to MMM on background.

As a matter of policy, since they voted for the bill last spring, the Republicans we talked to have learned that it is the Democrats supporting the bill, not Christie, who are playing presidential politics. The bill would not impact the quality of life for New Jersey pigs. No one knows of at New Jersey pig farmer that uses the gestation crates that the bill would prohibited.

As a matter of politics, New Jersey Legislative Republicans are united with the governor, the rift over this move to oust Tom Kean, JR as Senate Minority Leader notwithstanding.  They are not going to weaken Christie’s negotiating position with the Trenton Democrats over a bill that has no impact on what is happening in New Jersey.

“Things are back to normal,” one legislator said, “The governor underestimated the trust, respect and affection the Senate Caucus has for Tom (Kean, Jr), and mishandled that situation. But when your friend makes a mistake, you don’t trash the friendship.”

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Kean-Christie Wounds Are Festering

While Trenton Democrats are planning their aggressive “lame -duck” agenda with an eye on making Governor Chris Christie’s 2016 prospects more difficult, New Jersey’s two most popular Republicans, Christie and former Governor Tom Kean, are letting hurt feelings over the attempted ouster of Tom Kean, JR as Senate Minority Leader dominate the news on the Republican side of the aisle.

In case you missed it or didn’t care, on the heels of his landslide reelection with no coattails, Christie made it known that he wanted Senator Kevin O’Toole to replace Kean, JR as the Republican leader in the upper house of the legislature.  Junior got wind of the coup attempt and rallied the majority of the caucus to stick with him.  The day after the election, Christie publicly expressed his commitment to continue working with Democratic Senate President Steve Sweeney and declined to comment on who the leader of the Republican minority in the Senate should be.  Junior released a letter signed by 11 of the 16 Republican Senators that expressed their support of him.  The following morning, prior to the Republican caucus meeting to elect their leader, Christie summoned Junior and Republican Senators to his Statehouse office, in view of the press corps, to lobby for O’Toole taking over the minority leadership.

Junior fought back and 9 other Republican Senators stuck with him, giving him a 10-6 victory over O’Toole and giving Christie the first act of defiance from Republicans in four years.

Why did Christie want to oust Junior?  He’s not saying.  Speculation centers on two reasons; 1) Christie was doing Sweeney’s bidding in the Senate President’s ongoing feud with Junior for having the gall to try and win his seat in the Senate and 2) Christie wanted Junior to take the fall for Republicans not picking up any seats in the legislature.

After Junior retained his leadership post, he and O’Toole emerged together from the caucus meeting and put on happy faces to the press, pledging unity and to get to work on the people’s business.  That should have been the end of it.

But then Kean, SR started talking to reporters, expressing his frustration and disappointment with his mentee, Christie.  Kean SR’s comments were “tinged with bitterness” toward Christie, The Record’s Charles Stile wrote on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Kean, SR kept his disappointment with Christie in the news by granting an interview to The Star Ledger’s Matt Friedman wherein he placed the blame for the Democrats retaining the legislature squarely with the Governor.

“You assume that if the governor wins by 20 points or more you’d have coattails,” Kean said. “No governor I know in any state has won by 20 points and not had coattails.”

By Friday, the Kean-Christie story had seemed to blow over. But it had not.

Yesterday, The Associated Press’s Angela Delli Santi posted a story quoting Kean SR as being “as surprised as I’ve ever been in my life in politics,” and how disappointed he is that Christie has yet to call him or Junior, to mend fences.

None of this reflects well on Christie, the Keans or the NJ GOP.

And none of it will help Republicans, Christie and members of the legislature, continue to “turn Trenton upside down.”

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O’Scanlon Slams Rand Paul For Baseless Attack On Christie

By Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon

Yesterday Senator Rand Paul attacked NJ Governor Christie suggesting that the Governor’s landslide victory last week was the result of the federal aid package sent to NJ following superstorm Sandy.  

I occupy the unique combination of positions of Republican Assembly Budget Officer, long term fiscal conservative who has warned of New Jersey’s irresponsible spending polices for years, long-term advocate for reforms like pension benefit and collective bargaining reforms – and my District (13) covers the area of the bayshore hardest hit by the storm.

Unlike Senator Paul, I can state unequivocally – and based on first hand experience – that Governor Christie’s popularity wasn’t purchased with federal aid.  It was earned by tireless, extraordinary leadership on multiple crisis fronts from the moment Christie won election in 2009.  He inherited a state on the verge of insolvency, requiring reform solutions – pension and benefit, arbitration, property tax, budgetary – that no governor in the history of the state ever dreamed of tackling.  

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Christie Has A Cold

Really.  And it is news!  The Star Ledger, Huffington Post and The Philly Inky are reporting it.

The Governor cancelled a breakfast appearance before the Committee of Seventy, a Philadelphia good government group.  He was to speak to about 600 people and take questions, but cancelled last night, because he’s “just not feeling well at all,” according Seventy’s press release.

The Ledger and Inky quoted Christie’s spokesperson, Colin Reed as stating, “fighting off a cold and has had to cut back his morning schedule tomorrow.”

So far, Christie is still scheduled to appear at Newark Liberty Airport at 11:30 this morning for an airline service announcement.

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Jeb Bush could enter presidential contest if Christie falters, report says

Jeb Bush could enter presidential contest if Christie falters, report says (via NJ.com)

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, brother and son of the former presidents Bush, is considering a run for president, but only if Gov. Chris Christie fails to gain nationwide traction, Politico reports this morning. According to the report, Bush has edged…

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Schmidt: Chris Christie landslide a template for GOP success

Schmidt: Chris Christie landslide a template for GOP success (via NJ.com)

LAWRENCEVILLE — Steve Schmidt, a senior advisor to U.S. Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential bid and New Jersey native, tonight called Gov. Chris Christie’s re-election campaign a model for the national GOP. “There is a template there for success…

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Has Christie hitched his wagon to Democrats? Will the bi-partisanship continue?

Governor Chris Christie and HUD Sec Shaun Donovan in Highlands, April 29, 2013

Now that Governor Chris Christie has completed his victory lap with appearances on all four network Sunday morning talk shows, the whole world thinks he’s running for president.

His presidential message of getting things done in a bi-partisan manner is compelling given the current national political environment.  If the presidential election was next November, I think he would beat Hillary Clinton or any Democrat.

But the presidential election is in 2016. Before running for president Christie has a year or two governing New Jersey and a year, 2014, as Chairman of the Republican Governors Association.

2014 will be a busy year for Christie.  In addition to the undefined “big things” he said he will accomplish in his second term, there are 36 gubernatorial seats (38 if you consider the U.S. territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands) up in ’14. 19 (20 if you count Guam) of those seats are currently held by Republicans.

In New Jersey, much of Christie’s first term agenda remains undone.  Tax cuts, “the property tax toll kit,” civil service reform, education reform, reshaping the State Supreme Court, and gutting COAH are all incomplete.  Rebuilding from Superstorm Sandy is his mission. Much of New Jersey is still hurting one year out from the storm.

If Christie can cross off most of his New Jersey agenda from his to do list, get the remaining Sandy survivors back into their homes, and pick up some gubernatorial seats next year, the 2016 Republican presidential primaries will not be much of a challenge. No other GOP contender would be able to match Christie’s “I can get the job done and I know how to win” message.

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Not business as usual in Trenton: How Republican senators bucked Christie

Not business as usual in Trenton: How Republican senators bucked Christie (via NJ.com)

TRENTON — The word from Gov. Chris Christie’s office on the first floor of the Statehouse was heard loud and clear Thursday on the third floor, where Senate Republicans met in their caucus room overlooking the Delaware River. Time was up for Senate…

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The story behind Chris Christie’s first viral video

The story behind Chris Christie’s first viral video (via NJ.com)

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s ascent to the status of would-be savior of the national Republican Party started with one viral video – a clip of him telling my colleague, Star-Ledger Editorial Page Editor and columnist Tom Moran, “you must be the…

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