Chris Christie is likely leaving New Jersey in a matter of weeks (or days) to join the Trump Administration.
His top in-state antagonist wants to make sure he doesn’t stay around any longer than necessary (and has trouble landing another job).
State Senator Loretta Weinberg (R-Bergen) issued a statement on Thursday asking the Democrat Assembly leader, Vincent Prieto, to commence impeachment proceedings against the Republican Governor.
Because Bridgegate. What else?
“In light of testimony from the trial and the governor’s public statements, I am requesting the Assembly speaker consider impeachment, the outcome of which could deny Chris Christie the benefit of office and correct the public record to reflect the evidence provided in this federal court trial,” Weinberg said. “The allegations of federal prosecutors and statements of witnesses who testified under oath cannot go unanswered and impeaching Chris Christie would bar him from further public service in this State.”
Article VII, Section 3 of the New Jersey State Constitution provides, in part, that “[t]he General Assembly shall have the sole power of impeachment by vote of a majority of all the members. All impeachments shall be tried by the Senate, and members, when sitting for that purpose, shall be on oath or affirmation ‘truly and impartially to try and determine the charge in question according to the evidence’. No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members of the Senate. When the Governor is tried, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall preside and the President of the Senate shall not participate in the trial.”
Speaker Prieto hasn’t ruled out initiating the impeachment process.
Senator Weinberg’s colleague Tom Kean, Jr., the GOP Senate Leader, wasn’t amused.
“New Jersey residents are tired of seeing Senate Majority Leader Weinberg play political games,”Kean fired back. “We owe it to our constituents to get back to work and do the job we were elected to do.”
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