Christopher J. Christie
Encyclopedia
Christopher James "Chris" Christie (born September 6, 1962) is the 55th and current Governor of New Jersey
. Upon his election to the governorship in November 2009
, Christie became the first Republican
to win a statewide election in New Jersey in 12 years. In 2011, he considered entering the race for the Republican Presidential nomination
but ultimately decided not to run. Christie, an attorney, previously served as United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey
and as a Morris County, New Jersey
Freeholder
.
, the son of Sondra A. (née Grasso) and Wilbur James "Bill" Christie, a certified public accountant. Christie is of Irish and Sicilian descent. He was raised in Livingston
, graduating from Livingston High School
. Christie graduated from the University of Delaware
with a Bachelor of Arts
in political science
in 1984 and Seton Hall University School of Law
with a Juris Doctor
in 1987. Christie was admitted to the Bar of the State of New Jersey and the Bar of the United States District Court, District of New Jersey, in December 1987.
In 1986, Christie married Mary Pat Foster, a fellow student at the University of Delaware. After marriage they shared a one-room apartment in Summit, New Jersey
. Mary Pat Christie pursued a career in investment banking, eventually working at the Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald. She left the firm in 2001 following the September 11 attacks, only recently returning to work part-time. They have four children, Andrew (born 1993), Sarah (born 1996), Patrick (born 2000), and Bridget (born 2003). Christie and his family reside in Mendham Township
.
. In 1993, he was named a partner in the firm. Christie specialized in securities law, appellate practice, election law, and government affairs. He is a member of the American Bar Association
and the New Jersey State Bar Association and was a member of the Election Law Committee of the New Jersey State Bar Association.
, was in 1994 elected as a Republican
to the Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders, with Christie and a running mate having defeated incumbent freeholders in the party primary. After that election, the defeated incumbents filed defamation lawsuits against Christie based on statements made during the primary campaign. Christie had incorrectly stated that the incumbents were under investigation for violating certain local laws. The lawsuit was settled out of court.
As freeholder, Christie required the county government to obtain three quotes from qualified firms for all contracts. He led a successful effort to bar county officials from accepting gifts from people and firms doing business with the county. He voted to raise the county's open space tax for land preservation; however, county taxes on the whole were decreased by 6.6% during his tenure. He successfully pushed for the dismissal of an architect hired to design a new jail, saying that the architect was costing taxpayers too much money. The architect then sued Christie for defamation over remarks he made about the dismissal.
In 1995, Christie announced a bid for a seat in the New Jersey General Assembly
; he and attorney Rick Merkt ran as a ticket against incumbent Assemblyman Anthony Bucco
and attorney Michael Patrick Carroll
in the Republican primary. Bucco and Carroll, the establishment candidates, defeated the up-and-comers by a wide margin. After this loss, Christie's bid for re-nomination to the freeholder board was unlikely, as unhappy Republicans recruited John J. Murphy
to run against Christie in 1997. Murphy defeated Christie in the primary. Murphy, who had falsely accused Christie of having the county pay his legal bills in the architect's lawsuit, was sued by Christie after the election. They settled out of court; nevertheless, Christie's career in Morris County politics was over by 1998.
to block the inclusion of securities fraud under the state's Consumer Fraud Act; Hackensack University Medical Center
for state grants, and the University of Phoenix
for a New Jersey higher education license.
, Trenton
and Camden
. Christie also served as one of the 17 U.S. Attorneys on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
' advisory committee.
on December 20, 2001, and sworn into office on January 17, 2002.
Controversy surrounded his appointment; some members of the New Jersey Bar professed disappointment at Christie's lack of criminal law experience and his history as a top fundraiser for George W. Bush
's 2000 presidential campaign
. The extent of the role played by Bush's political adviser, Karl Rove
, also became an issue after Christie's law partner, William Palatucci, a Republican political consultant and Bush supporter, boasted that he had selected a United States attorney by forwarding Christie's résumé to Rove.
Christie has stated that his distant familial connection to Genovese crime family
leader Tino Fiumara
never came up during his Federal Bureau of Investigation
background check for his position as a U.S. Attorney; he told The New York Times
in 2009 that he had assumed that investigators were aware of the connection. During his tenure as U.S. Attorney, Christie recused himself from his office's investigation, indictment, and prosecution of Fiumara for aiding the flight of a fugitive. A 2011 commentary on MarketWatch
identified Fiumara as Christie's aunt's husband's late brother and said Christie has dismissed the relationship as a "private matter".
Despite the initial misgivings over his degree of experience, Christie received praise for his history of convictions for public corruption. During his tenure, Christie's office won convictions or guilty pleas from 130 public officials, both Republican and Democratic, on the state, county and local levels without losing a single case. The most notable of these convictions included those of Hudson County
Executive Robert C. Janiszewski
in 2002 on bribery charges, Essex County
Executive James W. Treffinger
in 2003 on corruption charges, former New Jersey Senate
President John A. Lynch, Jr.
in 2006 on charges of mail fraud and tax evasion, State Senator and former Newark mayor Sharpe James
in 2008 on fraud charges, and State Senator Wayne R. Bryant
in 2008 on charges of bribery, mail fraud, and wire fraud.
s to award lucrative federal monitoring positions in no-bid contracts to friends, supporters, and allies. Questions first arose after Christie awarded a multimillion dollar, no-bid contract
to David Kelley, another former U.S. Attorney, who had investigated Christie's brother, Todd Christie, in a 2005 fraud case involving traders at the Wall Street
firm, Spear, Leeds & Kellogg. Kelley had declined to prosecute Todd Christie, who had been ranked fourth in the investigation-initiating U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) complaint among twenty traders who earned the largest profits for their company at the expense of their customers. The top three were indicted, as were eleven other traders.
Christie was similarly criticized for his 2007 recommendation of the appointment of The Ashcroft Group
, a consulting firm owned by Christie's former superior, the former United States Attorney General John Ashcroft
, as a monitor in a court settlement against Zimmer Holdings
, an Indiana medical supplies company. The no-bid contract was worth between $28 million and $52 million. Christie defended the decision, saying that Ashcroft’s prominence and legal acumen made him a natural choice. Christie declined to intercede when Zimmer's company lawyers protested the Group’s plans to charge a rate of $1.5 million to $2.9 million per month for the monitoring. Shortly after the House Judiciary Committee
began holding hearings on the matter, the Justice Department
re-wrote the rules regarding the appointment of court monitors.
Christie also faced criticism over the terms of a $311 million fraud settlement with Bristol-Myers Squibb
. Christie’s office deferred criminal prosecution of the pharmaceutical company in a deal that required it to dedicate $5 million for a business ethics chair at Seton Hall University School of Law
, Christie's alma mater. The U.S. Justice Department subsequently set guidelines forbidding such requirements as components of out-of-court corporate crime settlements.
In June 2009, Christie was called before the House Judiciary Committee
as part of its consideration of new regulations on deferred prosecution agreements. In his testimony, he defended his decisions to award no-bid, high-paying federal monitoring contracts to law firms that his critics say constitute a conflict of interest. Christie left the meeting after two and a half hours of questioning, against the requests of the Committee's chairman, stating that he had to attend to pressing business in New Jersey.
during his contested 2006 campaign, just two months before the election. Christie's aides have insisted that they initiated the action in response to an article that appeared in The Record
, which reported that in 1994, when Menendez was a U.S. Representative, he had leased his former home to a social service agency that he had helped obtain federal financing. The non-profit group paid Menendez more than $300,000 over nine years to rent the building. Menendez claims to have cleared the arrangement with the Congressional ethics office, a step that had also been reported previously by New Jersey newspapers. According to Menendez, just prior to signing the rental lease, he cleared it by phone with a lawyer on the staff of the United States House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct
. Following the subpoena, the lawyer, who no longer works with the Committee, came forward to say that while she doesn’t recall the conversation, it probably happened—and that if she were advising Menendez now she would tell him, as she apparently did then, that there was nothing improper about the arrangement. As of August 2009, nothing has come from the investigation.
terrorism
case, in which the defendant claimed that he had been entrapped
. In that case, Christie's office relied on an informant who had been dismissed by the FBI as unreliable for fabricating claims of terrorist activity. For more than a year, the informant, working with the U.S. attorney's office, solicited Lakhani for access to arms. Lakhani was unable to obtain anything until an undercover agent contacted him and supplied him with a fake missile. In an interview with the public radio program This American Life
, Christie brushed off suggestions that Lakhani was entrapped by law enforcement, defending the Lakhani prosecution.
In April 2009, Christie came under fire from the ACLU for authorizing warrantless cellphone tracking
of people in 79 instances. Christie has stressed that the practice was legal and court approved.
and Rick Merkt. He then chose Kimberly Guadagno
, Monmouth County
sheriff
, to complete his campaign ticket as a candidate for lieutenant governor
. On November 3, Christie defeated Corzine by a margin of 48.5% to 44.9%, with 5.8% of the vote going to independent candidate Chris Daggett.
Christie took office as Governor of New Jersey
on January 19, 2010. He chose not to move his family into Drumthwacket
, the official governor's mansion, and instead resides in Mendham, New Jersey
.
and established the Housing Opportunity Task Force to examine the State's affordable housing laws, constitutional obligations, and the effectiveness of the current framework.
On February 11, 2010, Christie signed Executive Order No. 14, which declared a "state of fiscal emergency exists in the State of New Jersey" due to the projected $2.2 billion budget deficit for the current fiscal year (FY 2010). In a speech before a special joint session of the New Jersey Legislature
on the same day, Christie addressed the budget deficit and revealed a list of fiscal solutions to close the gap. Christie also suspended funding for the Department of the Public Advocate
and called for its elimination. Some Democrats criticized Christie for not first consulting them on his budget cuts and for circumventing the Legislature's role in the budget process. In late June 2011, Christie utilized New Jersey's line item veto to eliminate nearly $1 billion from the proposed budget, signing it into law just hours prior to the July 1, 2011, beginning of the state's fiscal year.
On August 25, 2010, it was announced that New Jersey had lost out on $400 million in federal Race to the Top
education grants due to a clerical error in the application by an unidentified mid-level state official. In response to the decision, Christie criticized the Obama administration for the decision on the grounds that it was an example of bureaucracy gone wrong and that the administration failed to communicate with the New Jersey government. However, information later came to light that the issue was raised with Christie's Education Commissioner Bret Schundler
, and in response Christie asked for Schundler's resignation. Schundler initially agreed to resign, but the following morning asked to be fired instead, citing his need to claim unemployment benefits. Schundler maintains that he told Christie the truth, and that Christie is misstating what actually occurred. The New Jersey Education Association rebuked Christie by suggesting that his rejection of a compromise worked out by Schundler with the teachers' union on May 27 was to blame.
During his second year in office, Christie signed into law a payroll tax cut that is projected to save workers $190 million in taxes. Effective for calendar year 2012, the tax cut approved by Christie authorizes the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development
to calculate a new payroll deduction rate to finance the Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) fund. As a result, most workers will see their TDI income tax reduced from $148 to $61 per year, for a savings of $87 per worker. The changes take effect on Jan. 1, 2012. The authorizing legislation was sponsored by Senator Shirley Turner of Lawrenceville.
in 2012
by competing in the Republican primaries
. He consistently denied any interest in launching a presidential bid. In September 2011, a number of press stories cited unnamed sources indicating Christie was reconsidering his decision to stay out of the race. An Associated Press story dated September 30 indicated a decision on whether or not he would run for president in 2012 would be made "soon". In a late September speech at the Reagan Library, he had again said he was not a candidate for president but the speech also coincided with his "reconsideration" of the negative decision. One commentator at that time reviewed reported support from David H.
and Charles G. Koch
, Kenneth Langone
, and others for Christie's potential candidacy. Retired GE
CEO Jack Welch
went on Charlie Rose
to articulate his and others' support for a candidacy, and Langone went on the interview show October 4.
On October 4, 2011, Christie acknowledged he had in fact reconsidered his decision but then, again, declined to run. It was "for real this time", as one report put it. "Now is not my time," Christie said. "New Jersey, whether you like it or not, you're stuck with me," Christie added in the one-hour Trenton press conference held to announce the decision.
On October 11, 2011, Christie endorsed Mitt Romney
for President of the United States.
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Governor of New Jersey
The Office of the Governor of New Jersey is the executive branch for the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of Governor is an elected position, for which elected officials serve four year terms. While individual politicians may serve as many terms as they can be elected to, Governors cannot be...
. Upon his election to the governorship in November 2009
New Jersey gubernatorial election, 2009
The New Jersey gubernatorial election of 2009 took place on November 3, 2009. Democratic Governor Jon Corzine was running for a second term and was being challenged by Republican Chris Christie, Independent Christopher Daggett and nine others, in addition to several write-in candidates...
, Christie became the first Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
to win a statewide election in New Jersey in 12 years. In 2011, he considered entering the race for the Republican Presidential nomination
Republican Party (United States) presidential candidates, 2012
This article contains lists of candidates associated with the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries for the 2012 United States presidential election.-Candidates:...
but ultimately decided not to run. Christie, an attorney, previously served as United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey
United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey
The U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey is the chief federal law enforcement officer in New Jersey. Paul J. Fishman was sworn into office as U.S. Attorney on October 14, 2009 after having been nominated by President Barack Obama. He succeeded Ralph J. Marra, who served as Acting U.S....
and as a Morris County, New Jersey
Morris County, New Jersey
Morris County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey, about west of New York City. According to the United States 2010 Census, the population was 492,276. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Morristown....
Freeholder
Board of Chosen Freeholders
In New Jersey, the Boards of Chosen Freeholders are the county legislatures in each of that state's 21 counties.- Origin :New Jersey's system of naming county legislators "freeholders" is unique in the United States...
.
Early life and family
Chris Christie was born in Newark, New JerseyNewark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
, the son of Sondra A. (née Grasso) and Wilbur James "Bill" Christie, a certified public accountant. Christie is of Irish and Sicilian descent. He was raised in Livingston
Livingston, New Jersey
Livingston is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township population was 29,366.Livingston was incorporated as a township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 5, 1813, from portions of Caldwell Township and Springfield...
, graduating from Livingston High School
Livingston High School (New Jersey)
Livingston High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grade from Livingston, in Essex County, New Jersey, operating as part of the Livingston Public Schools. It receives all eighth grade graduates from Heritage Middle School...
. Christie graduated from the University of Delaware
University of Delaware
The university is organized into seven colleges:* College of Agriculture and Natural Resources* College of Arts and Sciences* Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics* College of Earth, Ocean and Environment* College of Education and Human Development...
with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
in 1984 and Seton Hall University School of Law
Seton Hall University School of Law
The Seton Hall University School of Law is part of Seton Hall University, and is located in downtown Newark, New Jersey. Seton Hall Law School is the only private law school in New Jersey, and is the top-ranked of the three law schools in the state...
with a Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
in 1987. Christie was admitted to the Bar of the State of New Jersey and the Bar of the United States District Court, District of New Jersey, in December 1987.
In 1986, Christie married Mary Pat Foster, a fellow student at the University of Delaware. After marriage they shared a one-room apartment in Summit, New Jersey
Summit, New Jersey
Summit is a city in Union County, New Jersey, United States. At the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 21,457. Summit had the 16th-highest per capita income in the state as of the 2000 Census....
. Mary Pat Christie pursued a career in investment banking, eventually working at the Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald. She left the firm in 2001 following the September 11 attacks, only recently returning to work part-time. They have four children, Andrew (born 1993), Sarah (born 1996), Patrick (born 2000), and Bridget (born 2003). Christie and his family reside in Mendham Township
Mendham Township, New Jersey
Mendham Township is an affluent township in Morris County, in the central portion of northern New Jersey, United States, located more than due west of New York City. As of the 2000 United States Census, the township population was 5,400...
.
Lawyer
In 1987, Christie joined the law firm of Dughi, Hewit & Palatucci of Cranford, New JerseyCranford, New Jersey
Cranford is a township in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the township population was 22,625.Cranford was incorporated as a township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 14, 1871, from portions of the Townships of Clark, Linden,...
. In 1993, he was named a partner in the firm. Christie specialized in securities law, appellate practice, election law, and government affairs. He is a member of the American Bar Association
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...
and the New Jersey State Bar Association and was a member of the Election Law Committee of the New Jersey State Bar Association.
Morris County Freeholder
Christie, at the time a resident of MendhamMendham, New Jersey
Mendham is a borough in Morris County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of the 2000 Census, the borough population was 5,097.While New Jersey was an English colony, Mendham Township was formed on March 29, 1749 as a new governmental entity, from portions of Hanover Township, Morris Township,...
, was in 1994 elected as a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
to the Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders, with Christie and a running mate having defeated incumbent freeholders in the party primary. After that election, the defeated incumbents filed defamation lawsuits against Christie based on statements made during the primary campaign. Christie had incorrectly stated that the incumbents were under investigation for violating certain local laws. The lawsuit was settled out of court.
As freeholder, Christie required the county government to obtain three quotes from qualified firms for all contracts. He led a successful effort to bar county officials from accepting gifts from people and firms doing business with the county. He voted to raise the county's open space tax for land preservation; however, county taxes on the whole were decreased by 6.6% during his tenure. He successfully pushed for the dismissal of an architect hired to design a new jail, saying that the architect was costing taxpayers too much money. The architect then sued Christie for defamation over remarks he made about the dismissal.
In 1995, Christie announced a bid for a seat in the New Jersey General Assembly
New Jersey General Assembly
The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature.Since the election of 1967 , the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts for a term of two years, each representing districts with average...
; he and attorney Rick Merkt ran as a ticket against incumbent Assemblyman Anthony Bucco
Anthony Bucco
Anthony R. Bucco is an American Republican Party politician who has served in the New Jersey State Senate since 1998, where he represents the 25th Legislative District.-Biography:...
and attorney Michael Patrick Carroll
Michael Patrick Carroll
Michael Patrick Carroll is an American Republican Party politician from New Jersey. He represents the 25th legislative district, first taking office in 1996....
in the Republican primary. Bucco and Carroll, the establishment candidates, defeated the up-and-comers by a wide margin. After this loss, Christie's bid for re-nomination to the freeholder board was unlikely, as unhappy Republicans recruited John J. Murphy
John J. Murphy
John J. Murphy is an American Republican Party politician from New Jersey., he is currently in his third term on the Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders. He served two terms as Freeholder Director and is currently liaison to the Department of Administration and Finance and the Department of...
to run against Christie in 1997. Murphy defeated Christie in the primary. Murphy, who had falsely accused Christie of having the county pay his legal bills in the architect's lawsuit, was sued by Christie after the election. They settled out of court; nevertheless, Christie's career in Morris County politics was over by 1998.
Lobbyist
In 1998 Christie registered as a lobbyist for the firm of Dughi, Hewit & Palatucci, alongside fellow partner and later, gubernatorial campaign fundraiser Bill Palatucci. Between 1999 and 2001, Christie and Palatucci lobbied on behalf of, among others, GPU Energy for deregulation of New Jersey's electric and gas industry; the Securities Industry AssociationSecurities Industry Association
The Securities Industry Association was an association of firms and people who handle securities . In 2006 it merged with the Bond Market Association to form the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association....
to block the inclusion of securities fraud under the state's Consumer Fraud Act; Hackensack University Medical Center
Hackensack University Medical Center
Hackensack University Medical Center is a 775-bed non-profit, research and teaching hospital located seven miles west of New York City, in Hackensack, New Jersey, providing tertiary and healthcare needs for northern New Jersey and the New York metropolitan area...
for state grants, and the University of Phoenix
University of Phoenix
The University of Phoenix is a for-profit institution of higher learning. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Apollo Group Inc. which is publicly traded , an S&P 500 corporation based in Phoenix, Arizona...
for a New Jersey higher education license.
United States Attorney
Christie served as the chief federal law enforcement officer in New Jersey from January 17, 2002 to December 1, 2008. His office included 137 attorneys, with offices in NewarkNewark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
, Trenton
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
and Camden
Camden, New Jersey
The city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...
. Christie also served as one of the 17 U.S. Attorneys on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Alberto Gonzales
Alberto R. Gonzales was the 80th Attorney General of the United States. Gonzales was appointed to the post in February 2005 by President George W. Bush. Gonzales was the first Hispanic Attorney General in U.S. history and the highest-ranking Hispanic government official ever...
' advisory committee.
Appointment
On December 7, 2001, Christie was nominated to be the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. He was unanimously confirmed by the United States SenateUnited States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
on December 20, 2001, and sworn into office on January 17, 2002.
Controversy surrounded his appointment; some members of the New Jersey Bar professed disappointment at Christie's lack of criminal law experience and his history as a top fundraiser for George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
's 2000 presidential campaign
George W. Bush presidential campaign, 2000
This article is about the 2000 presidential campaign of George W. Bush, winner of the 2000 presidential election and re-elected in the 2004 election.See George W. Bush for a detailed biography and information about his presidency, and George W...
. The extent of the role played by Bush's political adviser, Karl Rove
Karl Rove
Karl Christian Rove was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff to former President George W. Bush until Rove's resignation on August 31, 2007. He has headed the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison, and the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives...
, also became an issue after Christie's law partner, William Palatucci, a Republican political consultant and Bush supporter, boasted that he had selected a United States attorney by forwarding Christie's résumé to Rove.
Christie has stated that his distant familial connection to Genovese crime family
Genovese crime family
The Genovese crime family , is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The Genovese crime family has been nicknamed the "Ivy League" and "Rolls Royce" of organized crime...
leader Tino Fiumara
Tino Fiumara
Tino "T" Fiumara , also known as "The Greek", was a major figure in the Genovese crime family. Since the 1980s, he had been the leader of the Genovese New Jersey faction in northern New Jersey...
never came up during his Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
background check for his position as a U.S. Attorney; he told The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
in 2009 that he had assumed that investigators were aware of the connection. During his tenure as U.S. Attorney, Christie recused himself from his office's investigation, indictment, and prosecution of Fiumara for aiding the flight of a fugitive. A 2011 commentary on MarketWatch
MarketWatch
MarketWatch operates a financial information website that provides business news, analysis and stock market data to some 6 million people. MarketWatch offers personal finance news and advice, tools for investors and access to industry research. Along with its flagship website, the company operates...
identified Fiumara as Christie's aunt's husband's late brother and said Christie has dismissed the relationship as a "private matter".
Achievements
Hudson County, New Jersey
Hudson County is the smallest county in New Jersey and one of the most densely populated in United States. It takes its name from the Hudson River, which creates part of its eastern border. Part of the New York metropolitan area, its county seat and largest city is Jersey City.- Municipalities...
Executive Robert C. Janiszewski
Robert C. Janiszewski
Robert Charles Janiszewski is a former American Democratic Party politician who served as County Executive of Hudson County, New Jersey from 1988 to 2001. In 2002 he pleaded guilty to taking more than $100,000 in bribes, and in 2005 was sentenced to 41 months in prison, despite cooperating with...
in 2002 on bribery charges, Essex County
Essex County, New Jersey
Essex County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the United States 2010 Census, the population was 783,969, ranking it third in the state after Bergen County and Middlesex County; Essex County's population has declined from 786,147 as of the bureau's...
Executive James W. Treffinger
James W. Treffinger
James William Treffinger is an American lawyer and Republican Party politician who served as County Executive of Essex County, New Jersey from 1995 to 2003. He pleaded guilty to federal charges of obstruction of justice and mail fraud in 2003.-Early life and legal career:Treffinger was born James...
in 2003 on corruption charges, former New Jersey Senate
New Jersey Senate
The New Jersey Senate was established as the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. From 1844 until 1965 New Jersey's counties elected one Senator, each. Under the 1844 Constitution the term of office was three years. The 1947...
President John A. Lynch, Jr.
John A. Lynch, Jr.
John A. Lynch, Jr. is a former American Democratic Party politician from New Jersey, who served in the New Jersey Senate representing the 19th District from 1981 to 2001, where he represented the 17th Legislative District, and was Senate President from 1990 to 1992...
in 2006 on charges of mail fraud and tax evasion, State Senator and former Newark mayor Sharpe James
Sharpe James
Sharpe James is a Democratic politician and convicted felon from New Jersey, who served as State Senator for the 29th Legislative District and was 35th Mayor of Newark, New Jersey. James was the second African American Mayor of Newark and served five four-year terms before declining to run for...
in 2008 on fraud charges, and State Senator Wayne R. Bryant
Wayne R. Bryant
Wayne R. Bryant is a convicted felon, an American Democratic Party politician, who served in the New Jersey State Senate from 1995 to 2008, where he represented the 5th Legislative District...
in 2008 on charges of bribery, mail fraud, and wire fraud.
Claims of misuse of deferred prosecution agreements
Christie has been accused of using his office's role in crafting deferred prosecution agreementDeferred prosecution agreement
A deferred prosecution agreement is a voluntary alternative to adjudication in which a prosecutor agrees to grant amnesty in exchange for the defendant agreeing to fulfill certain requirements...
s to award lucrative federal monitoring positions in no-bid contracts to friends, supporters, and allies. Questions first arose after Christie awarded a multimillion dollar, no-bid contract
No-bid contract
The term "no-bid contract" is a popular phrase for what is officially known as a "sole source contract". A sole source contract implies that there is only one person or company that can provide the contractual services needed, and any attempt to obtain bids would only result in one person or...
to David Kelley, another former U.S. Attorney, who had investigated Christie's brother, Todd Christie, in a 2005 fraud case involving traders at the Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
firm, Spear, Leeds & Kellogg. Kelley had declined to prosecute Todd Christie, who had been ranked fourth in the investigation-initiating U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) complaint among twenty traders who earned the largest profits for their company at the expense of their customers. The top three were indicted, as were eleven other traders.
Christie was similarly criticized for his 2007 recommendation of the appointment of The Ashcroft Group
The Ashcroft Group, LLC
The Ashcroft Group, LLC is a strategic consulting firm started by former United States Attorney General John Ashcroft in 2005. Members of the group include former Dick Cheney Press Secretary Juleanna Glover Weiss, former Chief of Staff at the Department of Justice David Ayres, and former Chief of...
, a consulting firm owned by Christie's former superior, the former United States Attorney General John Ashcroft
John Ashcroft
John David Ashcroft is a United States politician who served as the 79th United States Attorney General, from 2001 until 2005, appointed by President George W. Bush. Ashcroft previously served as the 50th Governor of Missouri and a U.S...
, as a monitor in a court settlement against Zimmer Holdings
Zimmer Holdings
-History:Zimmer was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Warsaw, Indiana, where it is part of the medical devices business cluster there.-Products:...
, an Indiana medical supplies company. The no-bid contract was worth between $28 million and $52 million. Christie defended the decision, saying that Ashcroft’s prominence and legal acumen made him a natural choice. Christie declined to intercede when Zimmer's company lawyers protested the Group’s plans to charge a rate of $1.5 million to $2.9 million per month for the monitoring. Shortly after the House Judiciary Committee
United States House Committee on the Judiciary
The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, administrative agencies and Federal law enforcement...
began holding hearings on the matter, the Justice Department
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
re-wrote the rules regarding the appointment of court monitors.
Christie also faced criticism over the terms of a $311 million fraud settlement with Bristol-Myers Squibb
Bristol-Myers Squibb
Bristol-Myers Squibb , often referred to as BMS, is a pharmaceutical company, headquartered in New York City. The company was formed in 1989, following the merger of its predecessors Bristol-Myers and the Squibb Corporation...
. Christie’s office deferred criminal prosecution of the pharmaceutical company in a deal that required it to dedicate $5 million for a business ethics chair at Seton Hall University School of Law
Seton Hall University School of Law
The Seton Hall University School of Law is part of Seton Hall University, and is located in downtown Newark, New Jersey. Seton Hall Law School is the only private law school in New Jersey, and is the top-ranked of the three law schools in the state...
, Christie's alma mater. The U.S. Justice Department subsequently set guidelines forbidding such requirements as components of out-of-court corporate crime settlements.
In June 2009, Christie was called before the House Judiciary Committee
United States House Committee on the Judiciary
The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, administrative agencies and Federal law enforcement...
as part of its consideration of new regulations on deferred prosecution agreements. In his testimony, he defended his decisions to award no-bid, high-paying federal monitoring contracts to law firms that his critics say constitute a conflict of interest. Christie left the meeting after two and a half hours of questioning, against the requests of the Committee's chairman, stating that he had to attend to pressing business in New Jersey.
Claims of partisan attacks
Christie has been criticized for subpoenaing Senator Robert MenendezRobert Menendez
Robert "Bob" Menendez is the junior United States Senator from New Jersey and a member of the Democratic Party. In January 2006, he was appointed to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Jon Corzine, who resigned upon being elected Governor of New Jersey. Menendez was elected to his own full...
during his contested 2006 campaign, just two months before the election. Christie's aides have insisted that they initiated the action in response to an article that appeared in The Record
The Record (Bergen County)
The Record is a newspaper in northern New Jersey. It has the second largest circulation of New Jersey's daily newspapers, behind The Star-Ledger. Owned by the Borg family since 1930, it is the flagship publication of the North Jersey Media Group. Stephen Borg is the publisher of The Record...
, which reported that in 1994, when Menendez was a U.S. Representative, he had leased his former home to a social service agency that he had helped obtain federal financing. The non-profit group paid Menendez more than $300,000 over nine years to rent the building. Menendez claims to have cleared the arrangement with the Congressional ethics office, a step that had also been reported previously by New Jersey newspapers. According to Menendez, just prior to signing the rental lease, he cleared it by phone with a lawyer on the staff of the United States House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct
United States House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct
The Committee on Ethics, often known simply as the Ethics Committee, is one of the committees of the United States House of Representatives. Prior to the 112th Congress it was known as the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct....
. Following the subpoena, the lawyer, who no longer works with the Committee, came forward to say that while she doesn’t recall the conversation, it probably happened—and that if she were advising Menendez now she would tell him, as she apparently did then, that there was nothing improper about the arrangement. As of August 2009, nothing has come from the investigation.
Cell phone monitoring and alleged entrapment
In 2005, Christie prosecuted the Hemant LakhaniHemant Lakhani
Hemant Lakhani is a British rice trader and sari salesman of Indian origin. He was convicted in 2005 of illegal arms dealing after purchasing a fake surface-to-air missile from a Russian intelligence agent posing as a disgruntled military officer then attempting to sell that missle to a FBI agent...
terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
case, in which the defendant claimed that he had been entrapped
Entrapment
In criminal law, entrapment is conduct by a law enforcement agent inducing a person to commit an offense that the person would otherwise have been unlikely to commit. In many jurisdictions, entrapment is a possible defense against criminal liability...
. In that case, Christie's office relied on an informant who had been dismissed by the FBI as unreliable for fabricating claims of terrorist activity. For more than a year, the informant, working with the U.S. attorney's office, solicited Lakhani for access to arms. Lakhani was unable to obtain anything until an undercover agent contacted him and supplied him with a fake missile. In an interview with the public radio program This American Life
This American Life
This American Life is a weekly hour-long radio program produced by WBEZ and hosted by Ira Glass. It is distributed by Public Radio International on PRI affiliate stations and is also available as a free weekly podcast. Primarily a journalistic non-fiction program, it has also featured essays,...
, Christie brushed off suggestions that Lakhani was entrapped by law enforcement, defending the Lakhani prosecution.
In April 2009, Christie came under fire from the ACLU for authorizing warrantless cellphone tracking
Mobile phone tracking
Mobile phone tracking refers to the attaining of the current position of a mobile phone, stationary or moving. Localization may occur either via multilateration of radio signals between radio towers of the network and the phone, or simply via GPS...
of people in 79 instances. Christie has stressed that the practice was legal and court approved.
Governor of New Jersey
Christie filed as a candidate for the office of Governor on January 8, 2009. In the primary on June 2, Christie won the Republican nomination with 55% of the vote, defeating conservative opponents Steve LoneganSteve Lonegan
Steven M. Lonegan was mayor of Bogota, New Jersey from 1995–2007 and a candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor of New Jersey in 2005 and 2009. He is the Director of the New Jersey chapter of Americans for Prosperity....
and Rick Merkt. He then chose Kimberly Guadagno
Kim Guadagno
Kim Guadagno is the first Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey, having won the 2009 election as the running mate of Governor Chris Christie. She is also concurrently the Secretary of State of New Jersey.-Early life:...
, Monmouth County
Monmouth County, New Jersey
Monmouth County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey, within the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 630,380, up from 615,301 at the 2000 census. Its county seat is Freehold Borough. The most populous municipality is Middletown Township with...
sheriff
Sheriffs in the United States
In the United States, a sheriff is a county official and is typically the top law enforcement officer of a county. Historically, the sheriff was also commander of the militia in that county. Distinctive to law enforcement in the United States, sheriffs are usually elected. The political election of...
, to complete his campaign ticket as a candidate for lieutenant governor
Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey
The Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey is a position that has existed since January 2010, following conjoint election with the Governor of New Jersey. The position was created as the result of a Constitutional amendment to the New Jersey State Constitution passed by the voters on November 8, 2005...
. On November 3, Christie defeated Corzine by a margin of 48.5% to 44.9%, with 5.8% of the vote going to independent candidate Chris Daggett.
Christie took office as Governor of New Jersey
Governor of New Jersey
The Office of the Governor of New Jersey is the executive branch for the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of Governor is an elected position, for which elected officials serve four year terms. While individual politicians may serve as many terms as they can be elected to, Governors cannot be...
on January 19, 2010. He chose not to move his family into Drumthwacket
Drumthwacket
Drumthwacket is the official residence of the governor of New Jersey. The mansion is located at 354 Stockton Street in Princeton, New Jersey, close to the state capital of Trenton...
, the official governor's mansion, and instead resides in Mendham, New Jersey
Mendham, New Jersey
Mendham is a borough in Morris County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of the 2000 Census, the borough population was 5,097.While New Jersey was an English colony, Mendham Township was formed on March 29, 1749 as a new governmental entity, from portions of Hanover Township, Morris Township,...
.
Accomplishments
On February 9, 2010, he signed Executive Order No. 12, which placed a 90-day freeze on the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH)Council on Affordable Housing
The Council on Affordable Housing is an agency of the Government of New Jersey within the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs that is responsible for ensuring that all 566 New Jersey municipalities provide their fair share of low and moderate income housing...
and established the Housing Opportunity Task Force to examine the State's affordable housing laws, constitutional obligations, and the effectiveness of the current framework.
On February 11, 2010, Christie signed Executive Order No. 14, which declared a "state of fiscal emergency exists in the State of New Jersey" due to the projected $2.2 billion budget deficit for the current fiscal year (FY 2010). In a speech before a special joint session of the New Jersey Legislature
New Jersey Legislature
The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the Senate...
on the same day, Christie addressed the budget deficit and revealed a list of fiscal solutions to close the gap. Christie also suspended funding for the Department of the Public Advocate
New Jersey Department of the Public Advocate
The New Jersey Department of the Public Advocate was a department within the Executive branch of the government of New Jersey that acted as a voice on behalf of the people of the state...
and called for its elimination. Some Democrats criticized Christie for not first consulting them on his budget cuts and for circumventing the Legislature's role in the budget process. In late June 2011, Christie utilized New Jersey's line item veto to eliminate nearly $1 billion from the proposed budget, signing it into law just hours prior to the July 1, 2011, beginning of the state's fiscal year.
On August 25, 2010, it was announced that New Jersey had lost out on $400 million in federal Race to the Top
Race to the Top
Race to the Top, abbreviated R2T, RTTT or RTT, is a $4.35 billion United States Department of Education competition designed to spur innovation and reforms in state and local district K-12 education...
education grants due to a clerical error in the application by an unidentified mid-level state official. In response to the decision, Christie criticized the Obama administration for the decision on the grounds that it was an example of bureaucracy gone wrong and that the administration failed to communicate with the New Jersey government. However, information later came to light that the issue was raised with Christie's Education Commissioner Bret Schundler
Bret Schundler
Bret D. Schundler is an American politician from New Jersey. He served in the Cabinet of Governor Chris Christie as New Jersey Commissioner of Education until he was dismissed on August 27, 2010....
, and in response Christie asked for Schundler's resignation. Schundler initially agreed to resign, but the following morning asked to be fired instead, citing his need to claim unemployment benefits. Schundler maintains that he told Christie the truth, and that Christie is misstating what actually occurred. The New Jersey Education Association rebuked Christie by suggesting that his rejection of a compromise worked out by Schundler with the teachers' union on May 27 was to blame.
During his second year in office, Christie signed into law a payroll tax cut that is projected to save workers $190 million in taxes. Effective for calendar year 2012, the tax cut approved by Christie authorizes the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development
New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development
The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of New Jersey.Intially constituted in the late-1940s as the Department of Labor and Industry, pursuant to P.L. 1948, c.446, the department is one of 16 executive branch departments in New Jersey...
to calculate a new payroll deduction rate to finance the Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) fund. As a result, most workers will see their TDI income tax reduced from $148 to $61 per year, for a savings of $87 per worker. The changes take effect on Jan. 1, 2012. The authorizing legislation was sponsored by Senator Shirley Turner of Lawrenceville.
Consideration of presidential run in 2012 election
Christie was the subject of ongoing speculation that he would attempt a run for President of the United StatesPresident of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
in 2012
United States presidential election, 2012
The United States presidential election of 2012 is the next United States presidential election, to be held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. It will be the 57th quadrennial presidential election in which presidential electors, who will actually elect the President and the Vice President of the United...
by competing in the Republican primaries
Republican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2012
The 2012 Republican presidential primaries are the selection processes in which voters of the Republican Party will choose their nominee for President of the United States in the 2012 presidential election. The primary contest began with a fairly wide field, and is the first presidential primary...
. He consistently denied any interest in launching a presidential bid. In September 2011, a number of press stories cited unnamed sources indicating Christie was reconsidering his decision to stay out of the race. An Associated Press story dated September 30 indicated a decision on whether or not he would run for president in 2012 would be made "soon". In a late September speech at the Reagan Library, he had again said he was not a candidate for president but the speech also coincided with his "reconsideration" of the negative decision. One commentator at that time reviewed reported support from David H.
David H. Koch
David Hamilton Koch is an American businessman, philanthropist, political activist, and chemical engineer. He is a co-owner and an executive vice president of Koch Industries, a conglomerate that is the second-largest privately held company in the U.S...
and Charles G. Koch
Charles G. Koch
Charles de Ganahl Koch is co-owner, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries Inc., the second-largest privately held company by revenue in the United States according to a 2010 Forbes survey...
, Kenneth Langone
Kenneth Langone
Kenneth Langone, is a venture capitalist, investment banker and financial backer of The Home Depot, and a former director of the New York Stock Exchange. He was elected as director of Yum! Brands effective October 7, 1997, and is a member of the Audit Committee. Langone is also a trustee of New...
, and others for Christie's potential candidacy. Retired GE
Gê
Gê are the people who spoke Ge languages of the northern South American Caribbean coast and Brazil. In Brazil the Gê were found in Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Piaui, Mato Grosso, Goias, Tocantins, Maranhão, and as far south as Paraguay....
CEO Jack Welch
Jack Welch
John Francis "Jack" Welch, Jr. is an American chemical engineer, business executive, and author. He was Chairman and CEO of General Electric between 1981 and 2001...
went on Charlie Rose
Charlie Rose
Charles Peete "Charlie" Rose, Jr. is an American television talk show host and journalist. Since 1991 he has hosted Charlie Rose, an interview show distributed nationally by PBS since 1993...
to articulate his and others' support for a candidacy, and Langone went on the interview show October 4.
On October 4, 2011, Christie acknowledged he had in fact reconsidered his decision but then, again, declined to run. It was "for real this time", as one report put it. "Now is not my time," Christie said. "New Jersey, whether you like it or not, you're stuck with me," Christie added in the one-hour Trenton press conference held to announce the decision.
On October 11, 2011, Christie endorsed Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...
for President of the United States.
External links
- Office of the Governor official state site
- Chris Christie Speech at the Reagan Library: Full Text, National ReviewNational ReviewNational Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
, September 27, 2011
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