Home Tags Posts tagged with "new jersey governor"

new jersey governor

0

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was photographed relaxing on a state beach he had ordered closed to the public.

He gave the go-ahead for non-essential services to be shut down – including the Island State Beach Park – over the July 4 holiday weekend because of a budget impasse.

“I didn’t get any sun today,” Chris Christie said, before the aerial photos emerged.

The images show the governor and his family on an otherwise empty beach.

Other visitors were turned away by police.

Chris Christie said his family was spending the weekend at the governor’s residence there and he was commuting to work by state helicopter.

Image source Flickr

“That’s just the way it goes. Run for governor, and you have can have a residence there,” he said at a news conference on July 2.

“I didn’t get any sun today,” he added.

After being told of the photographs, Chris Christie’s spokesman Brian Murray admitted the governor had “briefly” been on the beach “talking to his wife and family before heading into the office”.

Bridgegate: Chris Christie Gets Criminal Summons

“He did not get any sun. He had a baseball hat on,” Brian Murray added, NJ.com reported.

The partial government shutdown in New Jersey arose because state legislators had not passed a health insurance bill that Chris Christie said had to be passed alongside the state’s budget.

The shutdown included the closure of Island State Beach Park, one of New Jersey’s few free public beaches, and all other state parks.

Chris Christie had been trying to get the state’s largest health insurer, Horizon Cross Blue Shield, to hand over $300 million, some of which Chris Christie wanted to use to battle drug addiction in the state, the New York Times reported.

New Jersey is one of at least nine states that were unable to meet their budget deadlines at the beginning of the month.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has been hit with a criminal summons for his alleged role in the 2013 closure of George Washington Bridge.

The case will move to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office to determine whether an indictment will follow.

The news comes as two former aides of the governor are on trial for allegedly closing part of the bridge after a mayor refused to endorse the governor.

The Republican governor has repeatedly denied knowing about the lane closures.

Photo Reuters

Photo Reuters

Bridget Kelly, Chris Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, a former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey executive, are facing conspiracy and fraud charges for allegedly closing part of the George Washington Bridge, a major bridge connecting New Jersey to New York City.

Federal prosecutors say the move was political retribution to punish Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing the governor in his re-election bid.

Revelations about “Bridgegate” have dogged Chris Christie, who endorsed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in a surprising move after dropping out of the primary race earlier this year.

Chris Christie has become a prominent supporter of his former rival, Donald Trump, and manages the New York businessman’s transition team should he win the White House.

David Wildstein, a former Port Authority official who pleaded guilty last year, testified late last month that Chris Christie was told about the bridge closure at a 9/11 memorial service two days after the lanes were blocked and laughed about the revenge plot.

Activist Bill Brennan filed the official misconduct complaint against Chris Christie in September after David Wildstein’s testimony.

The prosecutor’s office will decide whether there is enough evidence to indict Chris Christie for official misconduct, which could lead to a sentence of five to 10 years in prison.

Chris Christie appointed the prosecutor who will review the case.

The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office had “no comment at this time”, spokeswoman Maureen Parenta said in an email to Reuters.

Chris Christie’s spokesman Brian Murray said the ruling would be appealed and reiterated the governor had no knowledge of the plot.

“This is a dishonorable complaint filed by a known serial complainant and political activist with a history of abusing the judicial system,” he said.

“This matter has already been thoroughly investigated by three separate independent investigations.”

Chris Christie has made a surprise announcement saying that he is endorsing Donald Trump for president.

The New Jersey governor and former Republican candidate dropped out of the 2016 presidential race after a lacklustre showing in polls and state races.

During a press conference, Chris Christie said: “I’m happy to be on the Trump team and I look forward to working with him.”

Donald Trump gives Republicans the best chance to win the White House, Chris Christie adds.Chris Christie endorses Donald Trump

The New Jersey governor said junior senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, both running for president, were “unprepared” for the job.

There is “no question” that Donald Trump will turn around Washington, Chris Christie continued, and keep Democratic candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from winning the White House.

Donald Trump is leading in many state polls and has already won three consecutive state contests in New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, despite never having worked in politics.

He shouldered some criticism from Marc Rubio and Ted Cruz at a Republican debate on February 25 but it is not yet clear whether this has hurt his popularity.

“He is rewriting the playbook of American politics because he’s providing strong leadership that is not dependent upon the status quo,” Chris Christie said of Donald Trump.

“I will lend my support between now and November in every way that I can for Donald, to help to make this campaign an even better campaign than it’s already been.”

Florida Senator Marco Rubio continued to assail Donald Trump the morning after the debate.

He told CBS: “A con artist is about to take over the Republican Party and the conservative movement, and we have to put a stop to it.”

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has officially launched his bid to become the next president of the United States.

The Republican said both political parties “have failed our country” and called for more compromise at a rally on Tuesday.

Many Republicans sought out Chris Christie, 52, to run in 2012, but he is now considered a long shot.

He is the 14th Republican to enter the race for the party’s nomination.

Chris Christie said he was running because Americans were “filled with anxiety because of bickering in Washington” and it was time for a strong leader to set the country on a new path.

Photo Reuters

Photo Reuters

“I mean what I say and I say what I mean, and that’s what America needs right now,” he added.

The outspoken governor said he was now heading out on the campaign trail to New Hampshire where he will hold the first of what is expected to be a series of town hall meetings with voters.

Chris Christie is hoping to use these sessions to turn around his political fortunes and launch a comeback in the polls.

His image was badly by a scandal in New Jersey known as “Bridgegate” that involved politically motivated lane closures on a busy bridge to New York.

A close ally of Chris Christie’s pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges last month but he has denied any wrongdoing.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who has been under fire from conservatives for his effusive praise of Barack Obama after Hurricane Sandy, telephoned the president after his election win but only sent an email to Mitt Romney, it was revealed today.

Chris Christie told reporters at a press conference on Thursday that he had talked to Barack Obama.

“We didn’t have a political strategy discussion,” he said.

“I said, <<Congratulations on your win last night, Mr. President>>, he said, <<Thank you>>.”

Asked about whether he had spoken to Mitt Romney, Chris Christie said: “No. We exchanged emails last night. We haven’t spoken on the phone yet.”

Chris Christie, who is up for re-election in New Jersey next year and is a likely 2016 presidential candidate, is partly blamed by some senior Mitt Romney aides for the Republican nominee’s defeat.

They believe that his outspoken commendations of Barack Obama helped create an aura of bipartisan appeal that was invaluable.

Stuart Stevens, Mitt Romney’s top strategist, has said that Mitt Romney was “winning this race by five or six points before Sandy” but “came out of Sandy one or two behind”.

Part of Mitt Romney’s post-Sandy drop was due to his being all but absent from the television screens for three to four days. But conservatives have been quick to condemn Chris Christie, a one-time vice-presidential possibility for Mitt Romney, for what they regard as a deliberate undermining of the former Massachusetts governor.

When Chris Christie was asked at the time by Fox News if Mitt Romney had any plans to visit New Jersey, he said: “I have no idea, nor am I the least bit concerned or interested. I’ve got a job to do here in New Jersey that’s much bigger than presidential politics, and I could care less about any of that stuff.”

Governor Chris Christie telephoned Barack Obama after his election win but only sent an email to Mitt Romney

Governor Chris Christie telephoned Barack Obama after his election win but only sent an email to Mitt Romney

In an opinion article entitled “Excommunicating Chris Christie”, Brett Decker of the Washington Times blasted Chris Christie as a moderate on guns, climate change and social issues and as being either “politically tone-deaf” or “purposely” trying to help Barack Obama.

“Mr. Christie handed Mr. Obama a big gift in the form of photo-ops, public hugs and gratuitously complimentary statements about the opposing party’s standard bearer.”

On Wednesday, Chris Christie appeared to be at pains to deny that he had been anything other than completely supportive of Mitt Romney.

“I wouldn’t call what I did an embrace of Barack Obama,” he said at a Wednesday press conference.

“I know that’s become the wording of it, but the fact of the matter is, you know, I’m a guy who tells the truth all the time.

“And if the president of the United States did something good, I was gonna say he did something good and give him credit for it.

“But it doesn’t take away for a minute the fact that I was the first governor to endorse Mitt Romney, that I travelled literally tens of thousands of miles for him, raised tens of millions of dollars for him and worked harder, I think, than any other surrogate in America other than Paul Ryan, who became his running mate.”

According to the Huffington Post, Chris Christie declined an invitation by Romney to an event in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, some three miles away across the Delaware river from Trenton, New Jersey’s capital, in the final week of the campaign.

While this was seen by some as a snub, the political downside of Chris Christie appearing at a political rally when many in New Jersey were still suffering extreme hardship after Hurricane Sandy would have made any appearance unlikely.

Responding to the story, Chris Christie lambasted the “know-nothing, disgruntled Romney staffers” who had made the accusation.

He added that he had told Mitt Romney before Hurricane Sandy hit that he would probably not be available for the rest of the campaign.

“I said to him, <<Listen, Mitt, if this storm hits the way I think it’s going to, I’m off the campaign trail from here to Election Day>>,” he recalled.

“And he said to me, <<Chris, of course. That’s what you have to do. Do your job. Don’t worry about me. I’ll take care of things>>.

“So all this other noise, I think, is coming from know-nothing, disgruntled Romney staffers who, you know, don’t like the fact that I said nice things about the president of the United States. Well, that’s too bad for them.”