NJ Governor Christie Ups the Ante Against IL Gov Quinn: Releases Ad Compelling Business to Come to Jersey

A couple of weeks ago, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) announced that he would be taking trips to Illinois, meet with business leaders who might want to flee the huge tax hikes that Illinois Governor Quinn (D) had just signed into law, and persuade them to move to New Jersey. In response, Gov. Quinn, basically, told him: Good luck with that.

Now, Gov. Christie seems to be upping the ante with a new ad that is set to hit Illinois airwaves soon:



You have to hand it to the NJ Governor. He has big brass ones.

H/T to Stephen Gutowski aka @collegepolitico

Could Illinois' Loss Be NJ's Gain? On IL Trip Gov. Christie to Lure IL Businesses to NJ After Tax Hike

Following the news of a 66% temporary tax hike that the heavily Democratic Illinois Legislature passed and was quickly signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn (D), it didn't take long for the Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie to plan a trip to Illinois. Why is he going to the Land of Lincoln? He is going there with one goal in mind, and that goal is to convince businesses who may want to avoid the tax hikes and the hostile political climate for business there to migrate to New Jersey:

Watch out, Illinois: New Jersey wants your businesses.

It is a time-honored tradition for mayors and governors of neighboring cities and states to compete for large corporations with tax breaks and other incentives. And so it was no surprise that the steep new tax increases approved this week by the governor of Illinois inspired the kind of trash talking heard more often from athletes than from state chief executives.

"Escape to Wisconsin," chortled Scott Walker, the state's Republican governor. Mitch Daniels, the Republican who runs Indiana, compared Illinois to the Simpsons - "you know, the dysfunctional family down the block?"

But New Jersey? Trenton is about 900 miles from Springfield, Ill. Jersey City is a 13-hour drive from Chicago. None of that deterred Gov. Chris Christie, a New Jersey Republican who spent much of last fall stumping around the country, from speaking up even before Gov. Patrick J. Quinn of Illinois, a Democrat, had signed the legislation.

"I'm going to Illinois," Mr. Christie said in an interview on Wednesday. "I mean soon. I'm going to Illinois, personally, and going to start talking to businesses in Illinois and get them to come to New Jersey."

In response to this story, Governor Quinn basically said: Good luck with that, and for good reason.

This will be a harder task than Christie would like it to be. Even if you taking into account the new higher tax rates in Illinois, the taxes in New Jersey still won't be lower than the taxes in Illinois, overall.

Also, the tax climate in New Jersey is so bad that it was ranked #48 in a list of the best states for businesses, when it comes to taxes. In this list that was put together by the Tax Foundation, Illinois would have dropped from #23 to #36, if the list was published today with the new tax rates. This is a huge drop, but it is still better than New Jersey.

Governor Christie knows that it will very much be an uphill climb, but he said that he has something that Gov. Quinn can't replicate:

Mr. Christie acknowledged that over all, taxes remain higher in New Jersey, but he said he could offer something more valuable, certainty.

“The pitch I’m going to make to businesses in Illinois is, ‘With Pat Quinn as your governor and this Democratic Legislature, you can guarantee this is just the beginning,’ ” Mr. Christie said. “As long as I’m governor, you’re not going to see that happen.”

I don't know how much "certainty" that Christie can give them. It is not a "certainty" that he'll be re-elected in the next election, and the next governor could be very different. Plus, the tax hikes in Illinois are "temporary" and are set to expire in four years. So, some CEOs may be worried that, if they make the move, all of the promises that Christie may make now may be broken by the next governor at the same time that the taxes are set to go back down in Illinois.

However, he is a very smart, charismatic man, and if anyone can entice companies to move there, it's him. It'll be interesting to see what companies that he will go after and if he is able convince them to make the move. The economy in New Jersey needs him to convince at least some new businesses to come to the Garden State, so that their economy will have a better chance to recover and grow.

Rueters: Can NJ Gov Christie Overcome Weight to Become Legit Presidential Contender?

Even though, he has denied that he is running for president again and again and again, a reporter from Rueters still questions whether New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) can overcome his obesity to become president or not:

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is a rising star of the Republican Party seen as having a shot at a White House run, raising questions whether his obesity could impede his chances.

Now, I'll admit that this article does a pretty good job of making their case without being too biased, but the fact that they brought it up is a bit questionable. Someone's weight has nothing to do with how good of a president they could be. It's a cheap shot.

If fact, the reporter admitted that going after Christie's weight has backfired, when opponents have tried to go after his girth:

Referring to Christie's size may have backfired on former Governor Jon Corzine, whose 2009 campaign ads showed unflattering images of Christie and accused him of "throwing his weight around."

"That was seen as a desperation move in New Jersey," Galen said. "The fact is that Corzine tried an ad hominem attack against Governor Christie and Corzine is now a private citizen and Christie is now governor of the state."

It's not like we haven't had overweight presidents before. Taft was very fat, and Teddy Roosevelt was a bit hefty, too.

Considering that a recent pollhas Christie not just ahead of every other GOP hopeful in a hypothetical field but he is the ONLY one to actually be beating Obama in a hypothetical one-on-one race, it doesn't seem to be hurting him at all.

So, if it has backfired to go after his weight before and polls show that he's not hurting in the polls in the slightest, why mention it?

NJ Governor Chris Christie Takes Vacation As Blizzard Hits State, Takes Heat For Being Absent During Crisis

GOP darling and NJ Governor Chris Christie is suspiciously absent these days, while a blizzard has just blasted through his state. Instead, he went to Disney World. Don’t worry, though, his #2, the Lieutenant Governor, is in charge and getting things done. Oh, wait:

New Jersey's Constitution, in its wisdom, dictates that someone in the state must always be ultimately responsible for its bureaucracy. Normally, that person is the Governor. But when the Governor leaves the state's borders, the Constitution devolves that responsibility upon another person. Until a few years ago, the first person in line was the State Senate President, which meant that anytime the Governor left, our state government became a parliamentary system*. Then we amended the Constitution and created the position of Lieutenant Governor to prevent that sort of problem. Now it takes the absence of both the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor for us to devolve back to the parliamentary system.

That is what we have right now. Chris Christie took his family to DisneyWorld for the holidays and Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno took hers to Mexico, so State Senate President Steven Sweeney, elected by fewer than thirty thousand people, is now simultaneously the leading officer of the State Senate and the state's chief Executive. Paul Mulshine sees this as evidence that Guadagno's political career is limited and sees plenty of mischief for Senator/Governor Sweeney to get into, if he so chooses.

But the problem is not Guadagno's. She was not elected Governor; Christie was. She is second-in-command, in military terms. That means that he does not clear his travel and vacation with her; she clears her travel and vacation with him. While authority can be delegated, responsibility cannot. And so it was Governor Christie's responsibility to ensure that the separated powers of the executive branch remained separated. Either he should have scheduled his family trip at another time, or he should have been a boss and told Guadagno that she could not travel at the same time as he was.

For someone who seems eager to exercise the power of the bully pulpit at public events; the reticence to exercise the legitimate powers of his office responsibly is puzzling, and alarming. It is a dereliction of duty and an abrogation of responsibility. Yes, the world will keep turning. But it isn't the Governor's duty to keep the world turning. It is his duty to ensure the administration of the state government and to run the executive branch. Especially in an emergency. Especially when there is almost a week's notice that the emergency is going to hit. It is inexcusable.

If the statewide problem is irresponsibility; then the local problem (here in Jersey City) is one of ineptitude. At this point, there are still streets unplowed. Officially, the city is blaming residents for abandoning their cars, causing streets to be impassible for snow plows. Jersey City officials find this unbelievable. And, I can attest to the fact that in the decade or so that I have lived here, I've never seen cars abandoned in a snowstorm.

Ok, I am usually a big fan of Chris Christie, but this is just ridiculous. I realize that this vacation was planned for quite a while, but he should have postponed the trip, until the emergency was over. The blizzard didn’t just pop out of nowhere. If he had been paying attention to the weather at all, he would have had ample warning.

Let’s not forget that the Lieutenant Governor is on vacation, too. That is just pure stupidity for them to plan their vacations at the same time, regardless of what is going on. Even if it is perfect weather and everything is running smoothly statewide, they shouldn’t go on vacation at the same time. There should always be an executive at the helm, just in case. It makes you wonder, if Christie’s office knew that the Lt. Gov. would be gone at the same time and did they approve it. If they knew it and approved or at least allowed it, it is just beyond incompetence.

Even some conservatives in New Jersey are expressing their displeasure over the Governor’s bumbling of this crisis:

Mr. Sweeney’s graciousness is overshadowed by the sheer incompetence of the Christie administration - incompetence bordering on stupidity. Yes, I know the odds of something unfortunate happening to BOTH the Governor and Lt. Governor are infinitesimal. That’s not the point - and if you can’t see the point you are either blind or a clueless Chris Christie cheerleader.

I could certainly understand if the Governor were already on vacation when a natural disaster hit the state - in the present case, however, there was ample warning days ago (anyone watching the Weather Channel could see the massive storm system crawling its way up the Eastern seaboard) and the Governor had plenty of time to reschedule his Disney World vacation so that he could be close to home in the event some fresh hell revealed itself. Instead, he skipped town a couple of hours before most flights out of Newark were canceled and the storm system descended upon the Garden State - leaving hoi polloi to fend for themselves midst the snowdrifts. Can someone on the Governor’s staff please tell us what the hell he was thinking?

Adding insult to injury, the Lt. Governor likewise skedaddled out of Dodge City, leaving the more curious among us with lots of questions: Is there no reliable communication between the offices of the Governor and Lt. Governor? Was Gov. Christie aware that his second in command would be absent from New Jersey at precisely the same time he was absent? If not, can we expect to see an otherwise useless staff member collecting unemployment checks soon? If so, why did he not importune her to take her vacation after his return?

Imagine if a hurricane was headed to New Orleans again and Obama decided to step out for a couple of weeks the day before landfall, how much hell would come down on him for being absent, during a time of crisis? Bush was chastised just for flying over New Orleans, after Katrina, and not landing to survey the rescue efforts and clean-up, but at least, he did that. Christie is still talking to Mickey Mouse and Goofy in Florida, when she should be back home and talking to people of New Jersey and coordinating an effort to guide his state through this blizzard.

On the other hand, Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) is doing a fantastic job of trying to take control of the effort in his city. He has been on Twitter all day sending out comfort and encouragement to those affected and asking for people to send him a private message through Twitter, if they are stranded somewhere, and he gets help out to them. In this case, the Governor should take a page out of Booker’s book and be on-hand and more hands-on, when dealing with this crisis.

Gov. Christie to Group of Students: I'm Not the One Keeping You Down, Teacher's Unions Are

After hearing all of the propaganda coming from teacher's unions, students are worried about how New Jersey Governor Christie's "war" against unions are affecting their own teachers. So, some students recently questioned Christie about it. Christie responded by saying that he's not hurting their quality of education the unions are, and he's not going after the union not the individual teachers:

Gov. Chris Christie took his fight with the state’s largest teachers union directly to the kids today, telling a room full of Trenton students their schools were short on supplies because of greedy teachers union officials — not state aid cuts.

"There’s a lot of really great teachers in the state," said Christie. "But their union cares more about how much they get paid than they care about how well you learn."

A spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association said the remark was ironic considering the governor’s April statement that teachers were using students as "drug mules" by discussing state aid  cuts with them.

"The governor apparently has a double standard, because he claimed that teachers were using kids as drug mules," said NJEA spokesman Steve Wollmer. "Now he’s speaking directly to children about matters political."

Let's all go back to that "drug mules" comment and put it into context:

“Scaring students in the classroom, scaring parents with the notes home in the bookbags, and the mandatory ‘Project Democracy Homework’ asking your parents about what they’re going to do in the school board election, and reporting back to your teachers union representatives, using the students like drug mules to carry information back to the classroom, is reprehensible.”

h/t Cubachi

NJ: "Tight Race" Not So Tight, Christie Pulling Ahead As Independents Are "Unhappy" With Gov. Corzine's Job Performance

Many predicted that the New Jersey governor's race would be the closest race of all this year. Corzine evened the numbers in some polls and pulled ahead in others, over the past month. Yesterday, the polls started showing that Christie pulling ahead:

The final Public Policy Polling survey in New Jersey finds Chris Christie (R) pulling ahead of Gov. Jon Corzine (D), 47% to 41%, with independent Chris Daggett at 11%.

Three weeks ago, Christie led by just one point but Corzine's momentum has stalled in the last two surveys.

Analysis: "Christie's advantage is due largely to his support from independents and because he has Republicans more unified around him than the Democrats are around Corzine. Christie leads Corzine 52-29 with indies, as Daggett's support with that group has declined to 16%. Christie is getting 82% of Republicans to Corzine's 72% of Democrats."

Why the sudden support for Christie at the end? Why are independents and former Daggett supporters flocking to the Republican challenger? Apparently, as Election Day looms ahead of us, they have been getting nervous about the chances that Corzine could get re-elected:

“Independent voters are simply unhappy with the job Governor Corzine has done over the past four years. After a brief flirtation with Daggett’s candidacy, many seem to have returned to Christie as their best chance for change,” said (Patrick) Murray(director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute).

That isn't surprising considering that Corzine's apporval are a horrible overall, 35% approve to 55% disapprove, and an abysmal 21% to 69% among Democrats.