CRYAN: CHRISTIE SHOULD DENOUNCE SANFORD’S RGA

CRYAN: CHRISTIE SHOULD DENOUNCE SANFORD’S RGA

TRENTON – Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan today called on Republican gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie to publicly denounce the Mark Sanford led Republican Governor’s Association (RGA) and refuse to accept their advertising support.

“Christie should publicly repudiate an RGA that would have Mark Sanford as its Chairman,” said Cryan.  “Christie has leaned on Sanford’s support since the primary to curry favor with the RGA so they would run ads distorting Jon Corzine’s record.  Christie gladly accepted the support of the Mark Sanford led RGA and now he should call for the negative advertising created by Sanford to be pulled.  The hypocrisy of Christie’s candidacy is exposed with every advertising dollar he continues to accept in Mark Sanford’s name.”

As Chairman of the RGA, Governor Sanford proudly introduced Christie at the organization’s annual gala in February.  Sanford later pledged that the RGA is “very much committed” to being involved in the New Jersey governor’s race.

Following President Obama’s election, Governor Sanford emerged on the national stage as one of the most vocal proponents of Republicans’ embrace of a far-right conservative agenda. In Politico last November, he called for the Republican Party to clamp down on moderates and exert greater control over who deserves to be called a Republican. “The tent cannot be so big as to include political franchisees who don’t act on the core tenets of conservatism,” he wrote.

“Since first announcing he was a candidate for governor, Christie has embraced the conservative right wing of the party,” said Cryan.  “He has pronounced far right positions on women’s rights, gun safety laws and President Obama’s economic recovery package.  Christie also embraced Steve Lonegan and his Right Wing Conservative principles and appointed one of the most conservative members of the Legislature to be chairman of the state Republican Party.  Clearly, the Sanford-led, Conservative RGA tent was a perfect fit for Christie and his far right dogma.  Christie’s removal of his values from his campaign website doesn’t change that.”

Like Governor Sanford, Christie is an unabashed opponent of a woman’s right to choose and has made his staunch anti-choice agenda a centerpiece of his campaign. He has vowed to push for restrictions on a woman’s right to choose if elected governor, something he has done in the past, and has even declared his support for a constitutional amendment to ban abortion.

Christie has become a darling of the radical right for his conservative views on many other issues. Christie has refused to support gun legislation, including the one gun a month bill, which would help keep our streets safe and our children protected.  Christie even ridiculed children’s education by calling pre-k programs designed to get kids on the right path “babysitting”.  Christie has also joined right wing conservatives like Rush Limbaugh in rejecting the consideration of President Obama’s nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, to the Supreme Court, dismissing her as “not my kind of judge.”