JERSEY CITY - Republican gubernatorial nominee Christopher Christie was asked a familiar question after speaking to the Jersey City Rotary Club this afternoon: if he is elected in November, how will he deal with a Democratic Legislature?

In answering previous versions of the question - usually dealing with how he would pass comprehensive ethics reform measures through a Legislature already reluctant to pass them under a Democratic governor -- Christie said he would shame them and that they would fail to act on the reforms "at their political peril."  Today - after prefacing his response by noting that "we may have a Democratic Assembly; we'll have to see what happen in November" -- Christie took an altogether different tone.

Christie said his model for how to approach members of the Legislature would be former Governor Thomas Kean, the honorary chairman of his campaign.  In 1981, Kean - a former Assembly Speaker -- won the governorship by less than 2,000 votes - the smallest margin for a gubernatorial race in state history.  Both houses of the Legislature remained Democratic, and the nation was mired in a recession.

"What he did was stand for the principles he believed in, worked with them, compromised in the areas where compromise was both appropriate and necessary, and built personal relationships with each and every one of them because the peoples' business was more important than their own egos," said Christie, who noted that four years later, Kean won reelection by the largest margin ever.

But Christie said that today's remarks were consistent with his earlier ones about dealing with the Legislature.

"There's not a one size fits all to getting legislation passed or to getting people to cooperate with you.  In some instances you have to stand up and be tough, in some instances you have to shame them, and in some instances you have to be cooperative and compromise," he said.

Gov. Jon Corzine's first term was marked by tension with the Legislature, most notably in the 2006 state government shut down.  Christie pointed to that as part of the reason for what he called Corzine's "abysmal failures." 

"It really is very issue dependent, and what you need to do is establish enough of a relationship with these folks to be able to know when to use which method which time.  Jon Corzine has shown no interest in that during the time he's been governor."

Before taking questions, Christie gave a variation of his usual stump speech attuned to urban concerns and the economy.  Although he was in the state's second most populous city, he focused most of his talk on Camden - 90 miles south - blaming Corzine for failing to lift Camden it out of economic desperation. 

Despite his corruption busting record as U.S. Attorney - and Jersey City's role at the center of July's massive sting that took down its council president, a deputy mayor and several municipal employees - Christie did not once broach the issue of ethics or mention the often touted figure of 130 public officials convicted of corruption under his watch. 

Christie instead emphasized that New Jersey was set to close the decade with fewer private sector jobs than it started with - the first time that's happened since the 1930s.  Corzine, he said, was basically handing the voters a resume.   

If that resume was presented to you by an employee of yours, and that employee was asking for a new four year contract to run your company, I've got to wonder what your response would be."

"There are many businessmen and women sitting in this room today. If that resume was presented to you by an employee of yours, and that employee was asking for a new four year contract to run your company, I've got to wonder what your response would be," he said.