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Chris Christie Talks Corruption, Running For Governor
By Bill McLaughlin
NEW JERSEY - After speaking to residents of Leisure Village West, Manchester, for nearly an hour last Wednesday night, U.S. Attorney Chris Christie asked for questions from the audience.
First hand goes up, the expected question is asked: Will you seek the Republican nomination for governor in 2009?
Christie replied, "I made a promise to the president to stay on in this job as long as he wants me to stay."
Since George W. Bush's second term expires in January 2009, political pundits have said a run for higher office by Christie seems logical. Christie, however, declined when pressed for an official declaration.
Christie's theme for the speech was getting involved in politics. He cited the startling decline in participation by using figures culled from two recent gubernatorial races. In 1993, he said, 60 percent of registered voters turned out on Election Day; Jim Florio Christine Todd Whitman. But in 2005, only 46 percent voted Jon Corzine into the highest elected position in the state.
"I'm tired of 'The Sopranos' and being the butt of late-night comedians' jokes," he told the audience.
He said voters should not ask the next governor to solve high property taxes or school funding or any of the other myriad of problems we face.
"Honesty and integrity," Christie said. "It's not solving property taxes, the environment or education. Just tell us what we want to hear. And we need to hold them to it. Make sure we vote, let 'em know we're watching."
He said only an alert citizenry can solve the state's problems, so everyone should get involved. He decried the fact that New Jersey's budget is $7 million more annually than Pennsylvania's and wondered why.
"I'm not going to prosecute our way out of this," he shook his head.
As records go, 124-0 is pretty impressive and closely mirrors that of another former prosecutorial star, Democrat Brendan Byrne, who served two terms as governor in the 1970s.
Christie said his office has taken on new tasks never envisioned as federal problems until very recently. The proliferation and pervasiveness of gang violence is one target.
"It is spreading to the suburbs," Christie said. "A lot of kids have lost hope. They have no families so the gang is a substitute. Our children are slaughtered by drugs and illegal guns. The gangs take the same approach as the Mafia, they fill the void they left behind."
Christie said the second biggest challenge is terrorism and said, "It angers me when people tell us the war on terror is nothing more than a bumper sticker."
He said the 900 Garden State residents lost on September 11, 2001 was more than all but one state, New York, so this is personal.
He called prevention of a similar attack his No. 1 priority and cited the cases of a planned attack on Fort Dix and the proposed sale of shoulder-fired propelled grenades in Newark as very strong causes for concern.
But Christie has no illusions about where most of his time and energy are spent, and it's not chasing Osama bin Laden.
"If after six years as U.S. Attorney I'll be remembered for anything," he smiled, "it's the fight against political corruption."
He said he puts all politicians on notice that those who break the law will have Christie as "his worst enemy."
The audience laughed as he told of investigators reaching into a drawer in Hudson County administrator Robert Januszewski's desk and pulling out $75,000 cash in envelopes.
"That's walking around money," the nowconvicted felon told them.
Christie told the audience that major busts like the Monmouth 13 band of freeholders and underlings and the 11 school officials in Atlantic and Passaic counties show a pattern of unchecked conspiracies. The Pleasantville School District has been run by the state of New Jersey for years, so the federal prosecutor had to inform the state Education Department about the bid rigging and other crimes that happened under their noses.
"All of us should ask the question, 'What's going on here?'" he said.
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