In Union County, Christie makes first public appearance as candidate for governor

SUMMIT –To the oft-muttered intra-party charge that Republicans plan to coronate former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie as their candidate for governor, Union County Republican Chairman Phil Morin said his organization stands on its record. 

Last year, millionaire businesswoman Anne Evans Estabrook was supposedly the money candidate for U.S. Senate. Then the county committee here awarded the line to erstwhile underdog state Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Morris), dropping the jaws of not only Estabrook’s campaign infrastructure but the party establishment in all 21 counties. 

After Estabrook pulled the plug on her candidacy owing to health problems, Morin resisted pressure to hold another convention to dump Pennacchio and swap in the state GOP’s latest frontrunner, former U.S. Rep. Dick Zimmer, who would ultimately go on to secure the statewide nomination. 

Morin’s view was Jersey Joe earned it the hard way, he should have it.  

Period. 

The chairman’s proud of that, which is why he felt it appropriate that the Union County GOP host the Republican candidates for governor tonight, significantly marking the first such reception for the four Republicans running for governor in ‘09: Former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham), Franklin Township Mayor Brian D. Levine, and Christie. 

No one gets coronated in Union County, says Morin. 

And yet in GOP power player Bill Palatucci’s home county, it’s still hard not to acknowledge his ally Christie’s ability to connect with the party faithful, including state Sen. Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr., (R-Union), Assemblyman Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield) Assemblyman Eric Munoz (R-Summit), and faces recognizable from last year’s 7th District Congressional Primary, including County Finance Chair Kelly Hatfield and former Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks. 

Of course, the excitement for Christie was only amplified by the fact that he actually filed earlier today to run for governor. 

About 150 people packed an upstairs room at the Marco Polo as the candidates mingled, Merkt and Levine and Lonegan surrogate Hank Butehorn getting lost in the crowd a little when Christie entered and people closed ranks around him. 

“Can you get my picture with Chris Christie?” Scotch Plains Mayor Nancy Malool asked a bystander, a common refrain even when old running mates turned rivals Merkt and Christie found each other through the sea of smiling faces, elbows, flashbulbs and wine glasses. 

Merkt asked the former U.S. Attorney if they could have their picture taken together and moments afterwards recalled Christie’s terse response. “I’m here to talk to people not pose for pictures with you,” which Merkt explained as bitterness he believes his fellow Mendham resident harbors over the fact that Merkt entered the race for governor. 

“It stems from this idea that he doesn’t like to be challenged,” said a miffed Merkt. “He thought he was going to be ordained.”

Up close, most of the people in the room affirmed their support for Christie, starting with Kean. 

“I’m with Chris,” he said.  

Merkt and Lonegan today both chafed at the idea that a man who for seven years specialized in throwing bad guys behind bars could know anything complicated or useful about the economy. Their idea is, okay, he’s a hero cop; and other hard-boiled conservatives say so is John McCain, look what happened to him.

Anyone in the room tonight who was asked about the unfolding gubernatorial drama in the party said there’s only one issue that matters this year. 

“It’s about the economy,” said Garwood Councilman Anthony Sytko, a candidate this year for Union County freeholder. “That’s what the race is about, and everyone knows it. We need a candidate who has a plan to solve the state’s fiscal crisis.” 

“He’s got to be able to talk about it,” agreed John DeSimone, commissioner of the Union County Board of Elections. “It’s a tough year for Republicans. Very tough. Corzine’s going to run on Obama. Obama’s going to come in with a lot of money to create public jobs and Corzine’s going to try to be the hero by putting all those people on the public payroll. Chris has got to talk about it.” 

“The trouble is he can’t, he doesn’t have the expertise, and Lonegan meanwhile is going to try to take the discussion in another direction, toward social issues and things that are not the economy, which is what we have to be talking about,” reiterated Merkt. 

But Kean said Christie will have no trouble articulating the issue on the campaign trail. For the senator, fiscal management of the state of New Jersey comes down to understanding  how to dam a system of waste created by patronage, lack of transparency, and in no small part, public corruption, in point of cold fact. 

Christie gets that better than anyone, said Kean.  

Moreover, he said, the supposed Wall Street magician, Jon Corzine, has little to show for his three plus years in office save – in Kean’s words - an undecipherable toll roads plan, an on-again, off-again Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) stratagem that mayors statewide mostly find onerous and meddlesome and a nagging budget deficit. 

If Christie gets through a primary, “Corzine is so bad on the economic argument that the issue is clearly going to be on the side of the Republicans.” 

The party lasted two hours. There were no speeches, save a brief one by Morin, who introduced the candidates by name and paid special tribute to the evening’s hostess, Hatfield, felled in the 7th district primary last year, who said it’s nice not to be a candidate this year. 

And when it came to this year’s candidates, each round of applause was politely about the same for everyone, including - if not the coronated, at least the fan favorite - Christie.