Chris Christie

STATEMENT FROM SENATE PRESIDENT CODEY
ON CHRISTIE’S CONTRADICTIONS

 
(TRENTON) - Senate President Richard J. Codey (D- Essex) released the following statement today:

“Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie finally admitted yesterday in the New York Times what we have already known, his entire campaign has been based on empty promises and failed economic policies.  Christie now says he will not restore property tax rebates, will not roll back the sales tax, will use "one-shot" revenues to close the budget deficit, and will not reduce income taxes.  Christie is learning quickly that it's one thing to make promises as the candidate for governor and another thing to have to explain how you would implement these promises once you are in charge.

“The truth is the only economic policies that Chris Christie is staying true to are the same failed economic policies that George Bush employed that got the country into this mess, and now Christie wants to bring them to New Jersey.”

 #    #    #

STATEMENT FROM SPEAKER ROBERTS
ON CHRISTIE’S CONTRADICTIONS

(TRENTON) - Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. (D-Camden) issued the following statement today:

"We at least finally know this much about Chris Christie - even his vague promises of treats have been nothing more than tricks, unless you're fortunate enough to be among the super wealthy.
"Christie's mishmashed campaign has shown its true self. This George W. Bush-disciple is in this to give tax breaks to the rich and massive corporations while stripping away benefits and protections for New Jersey's middle class.

Movement conservatives have been upset with the campaign strategy of Chris Christie, his positions on energy issues, and his self-association with Barack Obama.  I also have written columns on this website critical of both the Republican candidate and his campaign.  In many ways, I have been more disappointed by Christie than any other Republican statewide candidate over the past two decades.

Aside from party loyalty, however, there is one issue that motivates me to continue to strongly support Chris Christie for Governor:  the appointment of justices to the New Jersey Supreme Court.  During the next four years, two New Jersey Supreme Court justices will reach the mandatory retirement age, and two others will be up for reappointment.  

Gov. Jon Corzine arrives Thursday night in Harrison.

HARRISON - Shoved into the swamps of Hudson and for years all but forgotten except to post-industrial artifact watchers on passing trains, disgruntled people whose cars got towed from Newark to the impound lots, and the clutch of blue collar workers who live between bridges, Harrison welcomed Gov. Jon Corzine tonight to the Polish National Hall.

"What's he doing here?" wondered a hard-nosed party insider observing the governor as Corzine pressed into the packed crowd with Mayor Ray J. .McDonough and a band of Hudson diehards, including Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, County Executive Tom DeGise, Assemblyman Vincent Prieto (D-Secaucus), and Assemblywoman Joan Quigley (D-Jersey City).

After distributing 1,000 pumpkins to North Bergenites, state Sen. Nick Sacco (D-North Bergen) arrived at the event when Corzine, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine, McDonough and attendant dignitaries were already onstage.

He offered an explanation.

Referring to the disparity between Democrats and Republicans in the town (2,835 to 276), Sacco told the cheering crowd, "You know, I've always said the best organization is in Harrison, which continually turns out the largest plurality of Democrats in the state."

DNC Chairman Tim Kaine, left, enters the Polish National Hall on Thursday night and is greeted by Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy

HARRISON - In New Jersey this evening to stump for Gov. Jon Corzine, Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tim Kaine said his organization has committed another layer to the final week street-level campaign operations of Gov. Jon Corzine.

"We're putting in a chunk of dough from contributions we have received over the last couple of months and ours and Obama's best people are helping out," said the governor of Virginia (term-limited out of office at the end of this year) and 2008 short-list candidate for vice president. 

Just days before President Barack Obama's final campaign rally across the river for Corzine in Newark on Sunday, Kaine made three campaign stops here in New Jersey for the governor today, finishing at the Polish National Hall at a bi-annual party fundraising event hosted by Harrison Mayor Ray J. McDonough.

"The issue is there are good partners and there are bad partners, and President Obama recognizes the fact that Gov. Corzine is a good partner for the White House," Kaine told PolitickerNJ.com. "I think the governor's opponent is a guy who talks a good game but who's pretty empty ultimately with no economic experience."

A Fairleigh Dickinson University poll released today shows Republican Christopher Christie leading Gov. Jon Corzine 41%-39% -- a statistical dead heat - with independent Christopher Daggett at 14%.

"At this point, anyone who says their vote doesn't count is mistaken," said FDU political scientist and poll director Peter Woolley.  . "And no one knows that better than the campaigns."

The horse race numbers for Corzine and Christie are exactly the same as in an FDU poll released on October 6. 

When Daggett's name is read to the respondents, he gets14% support and actually draws more from Corzine than Christie, giving Christie a two point lead over Corzine, 41% to 39%.  When an obscure independent candidate's name is read - in this case Gary Steele - he gets 3% of the vote and Corzine leads Christie by a more significant 46% to 41%. 

In a two way race, Corzine leads 44%-43%, with 6% volunteering Daggett's name.

Corzine's approval rating remains upside down, at 37% approve to 52% disapprove - virtually unchanged since the summer (his favorables are 37% favorable to 54% unfavorable).  But Christie's favorables are also upside down, with 41% of respondents viewing him favorably and 44% viewing him unfavorably. 

Daggett is the only major candidate whose favorables are right side up, and only 18% of voters have not heard of him - down from 50% earlier this month and 67% in September.  He is seen favorably by 28% of voters and unfavorably by 23%. 

About 175,000 people have applied to vote through the state’s well publicized new vote-by-mail program.

Somerset County Clerk Bret Radi, who as county clerk section chief is responsible for coordinating the statewide information on the program, called it a success.

“Our collective efforts have made this transition smooth and successful for voters," he said.  

Of the 175,000, just over 100,000 have cast their ballots  About 5,200 applications have been rejected for various reaons, including lack of signatures, signatures that do not match those on file and even in some cases bein sent by a person who is not registered to vote.

The totals are well below the number of absentee ballots submitted in 2008, when 245,909 New Jersey residents voted by mail.  But that was a presidential year, where many more residents typically vote than in gubernatorial elections.

“I honestly don’t know the expectations that the parties set for themselves.  As far as my expectations for my particular county, I personally didn’t expect to do as many as we did in last year’s presidential election,” said Radi.

Paterson Council President Jeff Jones (over Gov. Jon Corzine's left shoulder), formally endorsed the governor Friday with Councilman Ken Morris, Jr., (far left), Councilwoman Vera Ames (next to Morris), at a Black Leadership event that included Passaic Democratic Chairman John Currie (second from right).

Paterson Council President Jeff Jones didn't like the idea of being buffaloed into an endorsement of incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine, particularly since he was no great fan of the governor's, and since the man prodding him to sign on the dotted line was longtime nemesis Mayor Jose "Joey" Torres.

Jones wants Torres' job, and their 2010 mayoral contest will no doubt intensify on the other side of Nov. 3rd, once the gubernatorial race is decided between Corzine and GOP challenger Chris Christie.

Jones knows he wants Torres gone.

But after mulling over the possibility of signaling that he wants Corzine to receive the ejector button by backing Christie, in part as a juxtaposition to Torres, who nurses a close relationship with the governor, the council president of New Jersey's third biggest city last Friday finally decided to back Corzine's reelection.

"I had to do an assessment," he told PolitickerNJ.com, "and I believe Torres was trying to take from me my Constitutional right to choose by forcing me to declare on his timetable, instead of mine. Well, now I've talked to Christie and some of his people, and I've talked to Gov. Corzine, man to man, Marine to Marine."

In an email to supporters, Chris Christie Campaign Manager Bill Stepien struck an optimistic tone despite the Quinnipiac University poll from this morning showing his candidate trailing Gov. Jon Corzine by five points.

“The good news is that voters are paying attention: 2 of the 3 public polls released in the last 24 hours show Chris ahead!” said Stepien, referring to surveys from Rasmussen Reports and Public Policy Polling that both showed Christie with a four point lead.

But neither of those polls have the heft of Quinnipiac.  The campaign itself seized on Quinnipiac’s summer poll numbers, which showed Christie leading by double digits.  

Stepien did not discount today’s poll, but he did pick out one statistic that looked positive for Christie.  

“Chris's lead among the all-important Independent voters grew from 9 points to 15 points since their last poll,” he said.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie in Toms River this afternoon.

TOMS RIVER - Energizing a town hall chamber filled with supporters, Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie launched his final week, 21-county tour this afternoon in the heart of Republican Ocean County.   

"I believe hope is real," said Christie. "You have to go out now and convince not just fellow Republicans, but Democrats and independents: in your church parking lots, soccer and football fields, school yards. We can say hope is real with a sense of conviction. We must have the courage to believe New Jersey can be a better place."

This was where Christie began his campaign last February, and with six days remaining in his bid to unseat Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine, he again expressed his desire that "Toms River and Ocean County will provide (running mate) Kim Guadagno and me the margin of victory we need to win this election."

A Quinnipiac University poll released this morning shows the Republican trending in the wrong direction and five points behind Corzine, but two other polls this week, including one released by Rasmussen, showed Christie four points in front of the governor.