Gov. Chris Christie (R) could have made 24 New Jersey school teachers millionaires today. But, instead, he decided to spend the taxpayers money on a Special Election to fill the seat of the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D) this October, just three weeks before his own previously scheduled election in November.
“Party leaders sent around a list of the kind of budget cuts that Mr. Christie could restore with the money to be spent on the special election,” the New York Times noted. “$10 million he cut from after-school programs for children in the state’s most troubled cities; $8.6 million in tuition subsidies for college students; and $12 million in charity care at hospitals. Just weeks ago, they noted, Mr. Christie vetoed a proposal to establish early voting, saying the price tag — $25 million — was too high.”
“I don’t know what the cost is and I quite frankly don’t care,” said the Governor who has pretended, since coming to office in 2009, to be a fiscal conservative. “We’re not going to be penny-wise and pound-foolish around here,” he said cryptically.
“Despite the governor’s public denials, Christie allies were concerned that if a special election coincided with the gubernatorial election, Democratic candidate Barbara Buono could benefit,” reports National Journal. “With [Newark Mayor Cory] Booker as the favored Democratic Senate nominee, less-reliable Democratic voters, particularly African-Americans, would be more likely to show up at the polls. Even with a comfortable lead in the race, that’s not a risk Christie welcomed.”
Republicans, already incensed that Christie had the temerity to meet President Obama during a horrific natural disaster and not punch him in the face, are furious about it all.
While quietly working for a number of weeks prior to breaking the story of the Secret Koch Brothers Tapes and Christie’s secret keynote stem-winder at their 2011 Summer Seminar, I recall, as I researched through hours of his speeches and various appearances, that this guy would have been the Democrats’ worse nightmare had he decided to run for President in 2012. He was incredibly under-rated by Democrats who saw him only as a former Bush-appointed U.S. Attorney hack. He may have been a bald-faced liar, but he was really good at it, and really charming to boot, when he wanted (or needed) to be.
That, of course, was back when he was seen as a hard rightwinger (which he is, even today, as many have forgotten). Back when David Koch described him as “my kind of guy” after secretly meeting with him in New York City. Back prior to Christie’s re-invention as a “reasonable bi-partisan Republican” — a stroke of “luck” blown onshore by Superstorm Sandy and a common-sense willingness to not be a complete asshole while tens of thousands of his own constituents were literally drowning and/or fighting for their lives in the freezing cold, even if it was just days before a Presidential election.
That, in turn, earned him the eternal loathing of many of the base Primary voters in a party that hasn’t a clue what’s good for them, and stunningly high approval ratings from Democrats who may have forgotten who Christie really is, and just how opportunistically disingenuous he is willing to be.
His transparent edict today, declaring an extraordinarily wasteful Special Election only weeks before his own was already scheduled in the state, may remind Democrats about some of that, even as it further pisses of Republicans at the same time. But, at least just about everyone seemed happy to ignore his absurd protests that “There’s no political purpose” to his purposely political move today. “The political purpose,” he claimed with a straight face, “is to give the people a voice [because] the issues facing the United States Senate are too important not to have an elected representative making those decisions.”
Yes, after waiting four months for that elected representative, the people of New Jersey simply couldn’t have waited four months and three weeks. That would be a bridge too far. A bridge he’d be willing to sell you for about $24 million.
I don’t have a whole lot to add right now to all of this, but it’s a helluva fun story, so I figured I’d open it up to readers of The BRAD BLOG who may have some thoughts of their own to share on all of this. Will all be forgiven by the time the 2016 Primaries roll around? Will Christie be able to thread the impossible needle his party has created for him? Or will his rising star fall as quickly as it rose?
UPDATE 6/6/13: Jon Stewart now takes his own whack at Christie right here…
Methinks CC is perfectly willing and capable of saying anything that might get him where he wants to be. I think he is a 2016 threat and should be taken seriously — i.e. by deconstructing his B.S. as soon as possible, as Brad has done here.
Of all the choices he had, and none of them were very good for someone with national political ambitions, he chose the least palatable and most self serving of them all.
btw, spammers suck
I had forgotten he was a Koch puppet…that could be a problem, given the lengths the Kochs have gone to to purchase as many Governors as they could…they may have been thinking the corporate Presidential pool are republican Governors…Given enough dark money, purchase a large and influential media conglomerate, and can choose from a number of wicked Governors…hmmmm…I so want to wake up from this nightmare of winger ambitions…
What a horribly slippery slope we get on when we begin to complain that money spent on elections could have / should have / would have been better spent making people elsewhere. Using that logic, Stalin was an world class saint, since he never wasted a stinking ruble of Soviet-sourced taxes on a single democratic election.
You raise a valid point, Mike. Failure to spend money on democracy, when its needed, is something we’ve pointed out here many times.
That said, hopefully you know that my complaint here is not that he’s spending money on an election, but that he’s hypocritically spending money on a completely unnecessary election (when he could have simply held the Special Senate Election 20 days later on the day an election is already scheduled) even while making drastic cuts across the state — to teachers, school children and such — in the name of “fiscal conservatism”.
I suspect you appreciate that point, but wanted to drop yours in as well…which is, of course, well taken.
please, we are not complaining about the cost of an election IF NECESSARY, but the cost of election just 3 weeks before another one, that could have been added to the one 3 weeks later at almost NO cost is just a plain waste.
Proper elections are golden to democracy, but Mike can you give me one legit reason why the democracy of NJ and the integrity of their elections would suffer by putting off this elections 3 weeks??? 25 million for three weeks? When another interim Senator will be on the job? come on..
This was amazingly flat-footed political move by Christie…ticks off everyone, please no one….stupid, stupid
Jon Stewart did a piece on this tonight with a clip of Christie in 2009 saying it would be irresponsible to spend $10 million on a special election should Lautenberg die while still in office.
Perfect for a billboard ad, “I don’t know what the cost is and I quite frankly don’t care,” said the Fat Bastard”
Below that a big fat hand drawing a line through $millions to help Camden keep its former police dept, 100% laidoff (now non-union County cops)or a fat hand drawing a line through 75% of the funding for a school for ABUSED CHILDREN 2 years ago.
100 examples I’m sure of Christie gleefully using
Line Item Veto to rewrite every state budget as he pleases: adding tax cuts for the wealthy and sticking it to everyone else.
http://www.nj.com/camden/index.ssf/2013/04/county_police_officially_take.html
Not right a all to cut out $10million on after school program, Just a dam shame. Fat bastard deserves to rout in federal prison!!
FEED RICH OR NEEDY
House Ag Committee passed $940B five year Ag bill.
It cut $20B from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Those cuts would take away Food Stamps for nearly 2 million and hundreds of thousands of free school lunches for low income kids.
“Categorical eligibility†was cut. If it stays scrapped 1.8 million low income families will get no Food Stamps and 210,000 needy kids stop getting free school lunches.
To heck with it just be certain the needy rich keep Bush Tax Cuts.
Viva La Christian Democracy.
Let’s not forget that since Democrats tend to turn out in greater numbers in general elections, calling a special election increases the likelihood of a Republican prevailing.
So, if you can’t succeed in reducing turnout by bogus polling place Photo ID restrictions, well…
Wednesday October 16 is the special election for Lautenberg’s seat, with an August primary.
Wednesday? How many will disbelieve that as the old trick of calling voters with ‘their day to vote’ is Wednesday?
Columbus Day is a holiday on Monday, so what.