By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
$230,000, Save Jerseyans.
On Friday, we learned that that’s how much Governor Chris Christie spent on private jets thus far in 2015 out of the NJGOP kitty, more than the state committee has taken in since January 1st.
Is there anything illegal or unethical about it? No.
Would the NJGOP have the money without him? No.
Is it a bit of trivia that helps his legacy here in New Jersey as he enters presidential politics? When his records as an economic steward AND a party leader are coming under intense scrutiny from all quarters? Again, the answer is no.
But in the end, none of it will matter worth a hill of beans if he can find 9 Assembly pick ups this fall, the number of seat flips required to make his loyal ally Jon Bramnick the presumptive Speaker of the New Jersey State Assembly.
And it’s not impossible, folks.
Seriously. We saw him overcome a difficult map as RGA chairman in 2014, investing in Republican “reach” states like Maryland, Massachusetts, and Illinois that political “experts” were telling him to avoid like the plague. He gambled, worked hard, raised the cash and turned blue territory red. It was awesome, and in all candor, I don’t think he got enough credit for it.
Yet he adopted the complete opposite approach one year earlier here at home, allying with bad people and betting that winning reelection with an improvised landslide boded better for his presidential prospects than working overtime to win legislative gains. He spent more time with Brian Stack and Steve Sweeney than candidates in LD1 and LD3 down the home stretch. And the results bore that out. Overall, the NJ GOP has netted +0 seats in the state senate and -1 in the general assembly since Gov. Christie’s first legislative cycle as a sitting governor in 2011.
And it got worse from there. Like Nixon experienced after his own coattail-less 1972 landslide, an emboldened Democrat majority proceeded to endlessly investigate the Republican chief executive and knock him on his butt in the court of public opinion. You don’t have Bridgegate 2014 without the Christie 2013 campaign strategy. Period, end of sentence.
A 52% win with some pick ups would’ve put him in a better position today than a 60% blow-out engendered by folks who have since stabbed him in the back on everything from Bridgegate to pension reform.
But all of that is in the past. This year? I say screw the map.
He wasn’t a slave to the national map in 2014; 2015 should be no different.
Tired of hearing me say it? Too bad! Chris Christie’s best hope for 2016, besides continuing to excel at retail politics on the ground in early battleground states, is to reengage New Jersey politics and live on the legislative trail this summer and fall, helping Republican candidates overcome Democrat super PAC expenditures in LD1, 2, 7, 14, 27, 38, etc.
If he’s successful, those 9 seats will be worth more to him (and us) than $230,000 times 230,000.
If he phones it in? Once again, I don’t think he’s going to like the results any more than the rest of us.
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Good luck with that. There was never a better opportunity than 2013 to make such inroads. I hope I am wrong but I would be shocked if any seats north of the Atlantic City Expressway change hands.
He’s a fake, phony, and fraud. Can’t wait for his tyrannical tenure to be over. That’s when he can’t defend himself on our money.
http://m.watchdog.org/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwatchdog.org%2F213020%2Fchristie-travel-cops%2F#2849
Not going to happen.