Tom Kean

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.

The homeless, the unemployed and the underemployed deserve to know why Governor Corzine isn't using every tool at the state's disposal to combat this recession, says Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean. It's time for the governor to call a special session on job creation, or explain why this issue isn't important enough to take immediate action, the senator said.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean (R-Westfield), right, at last night's Environment New Jersey forum with, from left, Rick Dovey and Independent gubernatorial candidate Chris Daggett.

WESTFIELD - When the Senate reconvenes on the first Tuesday after the first Monday to choose a state Senate President, Republicans will line up as a block of 17 votes, says state Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield).

"Our number one focus is getting Chris Christie across the finish line in the governor's race and getting (Assembly Minority Leader) Alex DeCroce (R-Parsippany) elected speaker of the Assembly," said Kean. "The other discussions will take place later."

Kean wouldn't say whether he supports Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland) or challenger state Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford).

But "seventeen Republicans will be united," the senate minority leader affirmed.

Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland) greets Newark South Ward Councilman Oscar James II at President Barack Obama's rally this summer.

Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts' retirement announcement means the north-south civil war just intensified, as veteran Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland) looks to defend his chair at the head of the rostrum against Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford).
 
These two Democratic Party leaders come from different places, and not just geographically.
 
Ironworker Sweeney operates within the structure of the same South Jersey organization developed in part by Roberts and South Jersey Democratic Leader George Norcross III, which numbers 18 legislators strong. Roberts's departure at the end of the year places the burden on Sweeney - the next highest ranked South Jersey lawmaker - to wrest control of the upper house from the North Jersey-based Codey.
 
A insurance broker by trade with 35 years of legislative experience, Codey survives because of his ability to embody the solitary lawmaker who keeps his own counsel, who doesn't get bullied, and who relies on public appeal developed during his service as interim governor from 2004-2006 to counter the perception of statewide rule by machine politics.
 
If Sweeney's status as a dual office holder (he serves as freeholder director of Gloucester County in addition to senator) and machine product weaken his ability to stand convincingly on the Democratic Party's new era pedestal, Codey's image suffers as the former holder of multiple public sector insurance contracts, which made him a bundle of money during the course of his career in public service.

Until the 1970's, Assembly Speakers served a single one-year term under a system where party leadership positions were rotated annually in both houses of the Legislature.  Legislators worked their way up in the rotation, usually from Assistant Whip to Whip to Assistant Leader to Leader to Speaker. 

Thomas Kean (R-Livingston) became the first two-term Assembly Speaker.  He was elected in advance of the 1972 session after the 39-member Assembly Republican caucus cut a deal with four Democrats from Hudson and Union counties to organize the Assembly.  He spent two years as Speaker, and four years as Minority Leader after Democrats won 66 seats in the 1973 election.

Christopher Jackman (D-West New York) became person to serve four years as Speaker (he served from 1978-82), followed by similar stints by Alan Karcher (D-Sayreville) and Chuck Hardwick (R-Westfield).  Jack Collins (R-Elmer) became the first person to spend six years as Speaker - the longest stint in state history.

Getty Images Photo

Former Gov. Thomas Kean thinks the race for governor needs to become more civil

Speaking in a conference call set up by Republican Chris Christie’s gubernatorial campaign, former Governor Tom Kean today called on Governor Jon Corzine to change the tone of the race.    

“It seems to me there are so many tough issues – difficult issues – facing the state, all the way from the tax structure to education to land use, and on and on. And we haven’t got much time,” said Kean, who is the honorary chairman of the Christie campaign.  “It’s September, and I think the public deserves the candidates out there to talk about the issues.”

Kean’s comments echo recent statements by the Christie campaign, which has faced an onslaught of negative advertising by the Corzine campaign since the June 2 primary.  By mid-August, Corzine had spent 10 times as much as Christie on advertising – most of it negative, although spending against Corzine by the Republican Governors Association (RGA) narrowed that margin to about two-to-one.  

Christie, however, has faced criticism from Democrats and some conservative Republican columnists for not providing a specific enough plan for cutting taxes.

Kean responded that Christie has “outlined a broad philosophy that is different than the Governor’s.”

LETTER TO ELEC FROM REPUBLICAN LEADERS

Republicans are hoping that a new Appellate Court ruling that towns which already have satisfied their Mount Laurel and Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) obligations may still be required to consider affordable housing zoning applications will move the focus off of Karl Rove and Michele Brown.  Mount Laurel has always been a great Republican issue, as long as Republicans don't step on their own feet. 

Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) wants the Legislature to come back into session to overhaul COAH - a move that might annoy at least one of his top supporters.  The Council on Affordable Housing was created in 1985 by his father, who was then on his way to winning 70% of the statewide vote in his bid for re-election as governor.  A year later, Gov. Thomas Kean ignited a firestorm among Republicans by naming the author of the Mount Laurel decision, Chief Justice Robert Wilentz, for a tenured term on the top court.  Earlier this summer, Kean Jr. caught heat from conservatives by being only one of four Senate Republicans to vote for lifetime tenure for Associate Justice Barry Albin, a former partner at Wilentz's old law firm.

Sadly, it took the indictment of another 44 people for Governor Corzine to move forward with one piece of the ethics reform New Jersey needs. The long suffering citizens of New Jersey can only hope the Governor will put partisan politics aside and call a special legislative session to close the remaining ethical loopholes that help foster corruption.

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken) speaks today at Metro Park with, from left: U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park), Gov. Jon Corzine, Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood), and U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-Hopewell Twp.).

WOODBRIDGE - Saddled with a subpoena to nowhere - at least to date - during his 2006 U.S. Senate bid by the office of then-U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken) has lived with the open-ended question mark of that probe ever since.

Now Christie is running for governor and Menendez allies say the senator has a personal stake in reelecting Gov. Jon Corzine.

Testimony this week by former George W. Bush mastermind Karl Rove that Rove had political conversations with Christie while the latter served as U.S. Attorney, intensified Menendez's own questions about whether Christie pursued him politically in that 2006 battleground campaign as a way of currying favor with Bush.

Rove said the discussions he had with Christie related to New Jersey's top cop's prospective gubernatorial aspirations, but Menendez sees deeper, more troubling implications.

Going back to January of 2006, Christie's name appeared on a federal Attorney General's list of U.S. Attorneys slated for firing, then came off the list after information leaked in the middle of a contentious U.S. Senate campaign that Christie was probing Menendez.

Despite campaign time headlines about the U.S. Attorney's Office examining the Congressman-turned Senator's rental of property to a nonprofit organization receiving federal funds, Menendez defeated state Sen. Tom Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield).

But with the subpoena back story unresolved and Christie beating incumbent Democratic Gov. Corzine by nine points 81 days until Election Day, Menendez now wants a stepped-up Congressional counter probe of how Bush's AG Office and U.S. Attorney's offices such as Christie's administered justice.  

"Clearly the Rove information under oath creates very serious concerns about the political process that took place at the Justice Department and U.S. Attorneys offices across the country and the effect upon those U.S. Attorneys offices," the senator said today after appearing with Gov. Jon Corzine, U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood at Metro Park to celebrate the state's receipt of a $298.7 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Transit Capital Grant from the feds.